Chemical dependency assessment Cleveland OH
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You could say that we are all creatures of habit. We go through life hacking it out the best we can. Exploring and experimenting with new things. Through experience we learn to avoid some things and hold on to others. We do this by accumulating and consolidating information.
Past events help us determine which choice or action will most benefit us for the new and changing situations that come our way. Our ability to adapt and change, integrating new information along the way is one of the great features of survival. We try a few things and once we find something that works or meets our needs we tend to remember and repeat it. Even if we only perceive this "something" to satisfy one of our needs, we remember it, it brings us some temporary comfort and we will tend to return to it when the need arises again. Life changes quickly and stress can accumulate and come at us from many angles. We often have to balance many things at once and this can become overwhelming. We often have to decide quickly which coping skills to pull from our repertoire of experience. Which coping tool we use will most likely be the one we feel will propel us through the experience the quickest and with the least effort so we can focus on the next issue that comes our way.
If what we choose works, we will remember it. We will come to value it as a useful resource. We will make it familiar as a way to satisfy a need. Satisfying ones needs in times of stress is individual. This is why one person may turn to chemical dependency to get some comfort from their fear and others will sit down with a good book or go running. Satisfying our needs also coincides with where we place our values. How we value something will determine how we incorporate it or use it to cope with our changing lives. In some cultures it is a taboo to publicly display drunken behavior. They do not value this behavior and therefore do not incorporate it into satisfying needs. Others view the use of alcohol as a way to relax and let off steam.
For them, drunkenness is acceptable and perceived as something that can satisfy a need (it doesn’t matter if it is right or wrong, just what it is perceived to do - it’s purpose). Ok, what is all this babble about? At one point in your life, to satisfy a need, you tried alcohol or drugs. You discovered something about this chemical dependency experience that you decided to make familiar. You discovered it changed the way you felt. Things seemed better (at least for a short time). You felt bigger, faster, smarter, more alive. You liked this short and temporary escape through chemical dependency and started to use it more often. Chemical dependency became comfortable and familiar. Some would say that chemical dependency is like a habit.
They don’t even think about using alcohol or drugs but when needed just go right to them. This is not true. What chemical dependency does is give the person something familiar. Chemical dependency is something they remember that gave them a desirable feeling at one time. So they try to achieve this feeling again through what is familiar (drinking or drugging). However, they can never fully achieve that original feeling or purpose they thought chemical dependency served. So you know the rest of the story. They start on a quest, the search for the ultimate buzz. So what we seek to make familiar is the desire to be connected with a time in our life that we associate with being happier. What?
Hear me out now. Anyone who is struggling with chemical dependency can tell you (if they are honest) that they do not enjoy the way they feel any longer. The drinking and drugging has become no fun. So why continue doing it? Because they still associate the time drinking or drugging felt good with their actions now (even though they do not get the same results). If we did not associate the "good times" with our present chemical dependency behavior we would not do it any longer.
We block out the bad times and hurt we have caused or experienced with chemical dependency and replace it with the original association of "feeling good". Maybe you were at a party drinking and were able to talk with all the cute girls or guys. Maybe you were able to open up and be the center of attention while smoking weed. Whatever it may be, you perceived some sort of gain through the use of chemical dependency. So here we are. Doing something familiar to ourselves through chemical dependency because we are trying to "relive" a time in our life that was good or better than what we perceive we have now. But it does not work anymore. We don’t get the same results we use to get through chemical dependency. We end up feeling miserable and wanting to change but unable to let go of the familiar cycle of chemical dependency.
Author: Timothy Welch
For more in depth information on chemical dependency you can check out: Alcohol Help
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Posted on: Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 9:51 am 
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