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Let 8 start on a positive note. All addictions are treatable whether one is addicted to substances such as alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, marijuana, nicotine, caffeine, or to behaviors such as gambling, eating, sex, or spending.
Our nation is filled with millions of people whose lives were at one time extremely miserable due to their being imprisoned by addiction and who are now not only very happy but highly productive.
The bad news. One can have an addiction and not even know it.
How can this be? After all, doesn’t being addicted to something mean not being able to stop? Sure, I have a drink or take a pill now and then, but I take only the amount I want and then stop. Sure, I place a bet here and there, but isn’t everyone entitled to use some of his money to have some fun? So, I like sex. Isn’t that normal? If all this was affecting how well — or how badly — I manage my life, I would know it, wouldn’t I?
Well — maybe.
Most of the time when we are sick we know it before our friends do. “I don’t feel well.” “I have a headache.” “My stomach is queasy.” Our family and friends may not notice that we are under the weather until we tell them. Then, if this continues or gets worse, they sugest that we see a physician. When we do, the physician tells us what is wrong, gives us a prescription, and we follow the instructions until we are better again.
Such is not the case with the disease of addiction — and, yes, it is a disease. Chemical dependence has been recognized as a disease for years by the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the Public Health Association. It is a primary (stands by itself), chronic (life-long), and incurable disease. It is a disease which furthermore gets pro
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