DISCOVERY: Health & Stigma
I am a Hostile Witness to the barriers to treatment for mental, chronic, physical, and community health. If a trained advocate like me has this much trouble navigating the opaque system, the rest of you are fucked. Let’s unfuck the barriers together.
Addiction Is a Disease, Not a Moral Failing
Do You Believe Addiction Is a Disease? I suspect nearly every person who is reading these words has been touched by addiction and pondered whether addiction is a disease or not. Some believe it is. Others think it’s a matter of self-discipline. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s abrupt death rocked the foundation of the addiction community by […]
MoreMyth: Addiction is a Choice
Part Two: Do You Believe Addiction is a Choice? (Read Part One here.) When you are in the throes of dealing with the chaos an Addict creates, it is hard to see the disease clearly through a lens clouded by your completely justified anger and disappointment. Addiction is unlike any other disease. You would never […]
MoreWhich Superhero Are You: Empower or Enable?
Recognizing Professor Empower and General Enable Do you use your superpowers for good or evil? Do you empower or enable the people around you? Here’s a simple motto: Empowering people = good. Enabling = bad, mkay? The superhero I just made up, Professor Empower, knows that healthy relationships are those that empower, not enable. The […]
MoreAddiction Myth: Addicts Must Hit Rock Bottom
You have heard it hundreds of times: Addicts must hit rock bottom before they can get better. The more I read and understand about addiction makes that until recently uncontroverted “rule” seem as sound as putting leaches on my skin to suck out the demons. When have you ever heard of a problem, health or […]
MoreSubstance Abuse vs Substance Addiction
It is a common misperception that substance abuse is the same as substance addiction. In fact, each of these conditions affects different parts of the brain. It doesn’t help that abuse looks similar to addiction and can ultimately lead to addiction. Substance Abuse vs Substance Addiction: Defining Abuse The essential feature of abuse is a […]
MoreWhat Does It Feel Like To Live With An Addict?
To Live With an Addict Is To Live With Shame As an adult, it felt like someone in the passenger seat was pulling the steering wheel into the path of an oncoming truck on an unfamiliar curvy mountain road. It’s scary as shit and fraught with stress, instability and humiliation. As a child, it felt […]
More
Addiction Stigma: Being Anonymous Isn’t Helping
The Addiction Stigma of Anonymous I am a proponent of any addiction rehabilitation program, be it medical, spiritual, physical or magical, that helps addicts get a handle on their addiction. It is amazing to me that at this stage in my life that I am still susceptible to the pitfalls caused by the stigma of […]
MoreMost Doctors Do Not Address Addiction
This is a continuation on a series of blog posts about Addiction. You can read the other posts by clicking Addiction is a Disease and Myth: Addiction is a Choice. Most Doctors Do Not Address Addiction Half-way through non-sobriety, I scheduled a routine doctor’s appointment for my Addict which I attended. I wanted to get insight from […]
More