Drug And Alcohol Abuse, What Is Addictive Thinking?
Posted by: Moran
on Jun 20, 2011 
What is addictive thinking? Well, the answer is actually quite simple. It is the bridge that allows us to deny what we intellectually know to be true and allows us to continue to engage in addictive substance use. Intellectually, virtually every addict knows that drinking and drugging is not good for them. At some level they realize that their life is in shambles, they are putting poison in their bodies, health, relationships, and finances are rapidly deteriorating. These are intellectual facts that are difficult to ignore. But the reality is that an addict wants to continue drinking and drugging. How can they make this possible when they know is not a genius thing to be doing? The answer is to employ addictive thinking. Addictive thinking is simply the BS, blather, and fantasies that make it appear to be okay or even logical continue to drink and drug. Here are some examples: 1. I’m not that bad. 2. I deserve it. 3. I don’t have a problem, you have a problem. 4. Nobody can tell me what to do, I have a right to do whatever I want. 5. The only person I’m hurting as myself. 6. This is the only way I can have fun. These addictive thoughts are repeated so often the addict actually believes them to be true. The strange thing about addictive thinking is the one coldly in a reasonably challenged, they fall apart and disintegrate quite readily. For instance, let’s take this statement “I deserve it”. On the surface it appears to make sense but do you really deserve the poisoning your body? T. really deserve to be inflicting pain and hurt on the people you love? Do you really deserve to have low self-esteem, shame and anger as a daily companion? The trick to combating addictive thinking is to challenge the veracity and reality of the thought. Ask yourself is this really true? One defining principle of addiction that makes challenging addictive thinking very difficult is that addictive thinking and denial go hand-in-hand. The deeper the entrenchment of the addictive thoughts and thought processes the deeper the denial and the more difficult to break through.Drug And Alcohol Abuse, What Is Addictive Thinking?
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barbara rollins
said:
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The Addictive Thinking Bridge I came here looking for writing prompts for my blog, and this is what I came up with. Thanks!!! A writer in a blog on an online recovery site says, "What is addictive thinking? Well, the answer is actually quite simple. It is the bridge that allows us to deny what we intellectually know to be true and allows us to continue to engage in addictive substance use." I deserve it, you know. How could anybody keep on day after day after day after day – especially days like these, drama days with exhilarating highs slammed down by hellish nosedives, impossible to break. It's not as though I'm so hopeless I have to toe the mark, goose-step in line, a lemming. You don't know what it's like to be me. You may need all that rigamarole, but I've got strength you'll never have. Besides, I'm not hurting you or anybody else. Well, yeah, it might hurt me, but what do you care? So, what if it does hurt me? Maybe it does, I guess, but who cares? Why? Why would you care? That's so sweet. So, I'm not hurting anybody if I bend the rules, or is that not true either? Okay. I deserve recovery. Really, I do. As long as it feels this good, day-after-day after-day would feel pretty darned good. Maybe it would really help in this drama, wouldn't make me feel any better, or anything different except stuffed, bummed out, asleep on the couch. But it really might hurt me. So Sponsor, I'll quit these crazy thoughts. I'll recover for today. |
