The disease of addiction causes people to do things that seem to defy reason. Parents endangering children, children engaged in horrific acts, husbands destroying families, mothers destroying themselves.
Meanwhile spouses, children, parents, grandparents, friends and loved ones watch, try to help, try to protect, cover behaviors, make excuses, and eventually become bewildered and frustrated.
Addiction is a disease of the brain. It’s symptoms are exhibited through behaviors or actions (Or lack of action) that can defy logic.
Understanding the disease of addiction can help us:
- Know the disease, the causes, the symptoms, the treatment and the recovery
- Recognize that the symptomatic behaviors of the disease are symptoms of a medical disease and not intentional actions, choices or failings of a rational person
- Find help to treat the disease of addiction
- Get support for fighting the disease or dealing with the disease
- Live with the disease of addiction
- Spot people that might be in the active stages of the disease
- Avoid enabling active users
More importantly, with understanding can come compassion. If you have the disease, gaining understanding can help you love yourself again. You are not a bad person, you have a disease and with treatment, counselling, and support you can put your disease into remission and have a long, wonderful recovery. For the rest of us, gaining understanding allows us to truly and totally forgive, see addicts as people with a disease and embrace and love them as humans deserving of our care and compassion.
With love and compassion we can have healing. Love can make a difference in the disease of addiction. Love breaks down the walls thrown up by the disease. Love rebuilds the foundation destroyed by the disease. Love supports, the person with the disease, the loved ones and the community, as we work toward long term recovery.