The Connection Between Self Control and Drug Addiction
Half of drug addiction is physical: your body builds up a tolerance over long-term use, requiring significantly higher doses of the drug to continue to effectively block pain. The other half of drug dependence is mental, the compulsion to pop that pill even though you know it will only harm you, your health, and your ability to maintain relationships at home and at work. Compulsive behavior is the root of many addictions and it’s not something that you can cure with a pill.
If you’re taking buprenorphine—Suboxone or Subutex—to detox off of an opiate painkiller, then you are effectively treating your physical dependence to a wide variety of prescriptions including Vicodin, OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet, Lortab, Norco and more. If you have only recently begun using prescription medications to control pain, then you may very well have no real problems with the compulsive aspect of drug addiction. If, however, you have been taking prescription pills for a long time, then you may find yourself craving the euphoria and sedation that often accompanies the drug. If so, then this study is speaking directly to you.
There were two major findings in this University of Toronto Scarborough study that are important to note. One is that self control is a not a never-ending resource. Exert it to control your impulses once and the next time you are faced with an opportunity to indulge, you’re less likely to be able to stop yourself. This means that constantly putting yourself in situations where drugs are available (or sweets, if you’re compulsion is eating or around casinos if you’re a gambler) the more likely you are to relapse or fail. Removing yourself from temptation is a huge part of successfully breaking your addiction to drugs.
The other major finding of the UT Scarborough research was that if people do not realize that they have an issue with self control that they will be unable to change their behavior. It is for this reason that it is a cliché that “admitting you have a problem is the first step.” If you are currently taking buprenorphine to treat your opiate addiction, you have already accomplished this. If not, getting a prescription for Suboxone treatment from a Meditox doctor will take care of that for you.
For more information about the psychological studies being done on drug addiction treatment, check out Association for Psychological Science. www.psychologicalscience.org
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November 26th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
The saying may be cliche but it is most definantly true. “Admitting that you have a problem” is the first step to treating an addiction. In many cases, those who are addicted to drugs are not aware of his or her addiciton or that he or she has self control issues when it comes to controlling impuleses. Many of these cases are displayed on a specific show in which I am promoting entitled A&E Intervention. The show consist of people who are aware of their addicitons. To his or her knowldege, they are being filmed for a documentary about their habbits. What they do not know is that the show is actually to help them with his or her problem. Experts in that field have been hired to help with these types of conflicts. Admitting one has a problem may be the first step of many. Examples of different clips displayed on the website which is http://www/aetv.com/interventions.
December 4th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Interesting facts! Drug addiction is a MAJOR problem now, and has been for a very long time. Thankfully, there are many people out there giving information on the problems that come with drug abuse in America today. This is why the A&E show Intervention is so important. It demonstrates how difficult addiction can be and uses a highly qualified team of specialists to address the core issues. The show really does a great job of showing what it takes to get on the road to recovery for some of the most difficult addictions, while also showing how it affects everyone involved with the person who has the addiction. Check out http://www.aetv.com/intervention for more on the show. I’m working to help promote the show because I think it can give anyone a great real life example of what it’s like to deal with addiction. A new episode airs every Monday at 9/8 central on A&E.
December 8th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Intervention really is an interesting show. For such a deeply personal moment, it’s unbelievably generous of these families to share their interventions. There’s a lot to learn from this show, not the least of them being that there is always hope for a future without drug addiction.