Addictions – Opiate Nation

Born Imperfect, Complex, & Unique

(Translation into most languages at tab to the right.)

I think we would all agree that each and every one of us is born imperfect. There are so many complex and unique aspects to the human body which generations of genes have contributed. The things that make up our physical and mental attributes. One example is our face. It is estimated that only 2% of the world’s population has a truly symmetrical face. The right side usually appears larger than the left and eyes, nose and ears are not perfectly aligned. When you see a photo of a face with both sides exactly the same, its actually creepy. They lack character and look like AI.

Some of us are born with deficiencies that make life difficult and challenging, like being born blind, or deaf, or with a physical deformity. Because of amazing advances in science and medicine in the last century, many of these problems can be corrected. I had crowded teeth when I was young and am so thankful I was able to get braces and have a normal smile. We would not understand if someone had the opportunity to receive this kind of help and didn’t access it because they or others in their community thought they should just live as they are. We all want to feel comfortable and that we belong, are ‘normal’ in this world.

What about when someone is born with an internal deficiency such as a heart condition or kidney problem or blood disorder? We never think twice about having medical help or drugs and lifestyle changes to remediate the problem if it is possible. So why is there any discussion on whether someone who is born with an imbalance of normal brain chemicals or hormones should live in constant struggle and not access medication?

This thought came up as I considered the reasons behind why some people seem to need something like drugs to make them feel ‘normal’ to themselves and to the people around them. When everyone else seems to easily roll with the ups and downs of life while they get stuck on the downs. When how they think and process input and information is not the same as others. When their ability to be at peace or sleep is chronically unobtainable.

I’m not at all suggesting that individuals who seek drugs all have legitimate genetic or biochemical voids. As we know, many young people start drug use because of peer pressure and the environment that surrounds them. But underlying mental struggles or health conditions may be the determining factor that pushes them into, rather than away from, repeated use. I found it interesting that among my son’s high school and college friends, many tried all the drugs – uppers, downers, hallucinogenic – and some went on to addiction to uppers like cocaine and meth while others to downers like opioids and benzos and some walked away from all of them.

But once repeated and continual use happens, the chemicals and receptors in the brain are changed and more than ever, medication and therapy are going to be a big part of recovery from use and restoration of normalized brain signals. The need for medication may be short term or lifelong. Regardless, we all need to remember that just like shaming someone because they have a physical deformity is totally unacceptable, shaming someone who is struggling with mental health and/or addiction problems is also unacceptable.

This does not mean we enable destructive behavior or stop supporting someone to get professional medical and psychological help along with a supportive community. Never. If we want to see someone who is struggling become as healthy as possible, our love and support are crucial. And we know that in a country where public health care is a privilege rather than part of a foundation of society, finding the right care can be daunting. Let us be there to help our family, friends, and community receive the care they need by being encouraging and supportive.

Stigma of Addiction: The Effects, The Reasons, and How to Reduce Stigma

by Chris Elkins, MA

https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/stigma/

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Info Hazelden Betty Ford:

https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/mental-health-services/cognitive-behavioral-therapy#:~:text=Learn%20more%20about%20this%20popular,techniques%20in%20working%20with%20patients.

The Importance of Friends – Pt 2

(Translation into most languages at tab to the right.)

How do clean and sober friends stay involved with a friend who is in active addiction and/or alcoholism? I ended last month’s blog asking this question. In particular, I want to discuss ways that teens and young adults can deal with this difficult and at times very frustrating problem.

What does being a good friend to someone who is addicted look like?

The first thing is to not pretend you don’t know about their addiction. Talk about it openly but without judgment. Understand that they may deny any problem, so you may have to cite specifics that have made you concerned. Express that you care about them and don’t think less of them as a person because of their struggles. Risk your comfort zone. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down your life for your friends.” (1)

Be a good listener. A problem with drugs or alcohol may start from just experimenting with drugs at a party or concert. It may then turn into addiction and be fueled by problems at home or with friends or underlying mental health issues. When your friend feels cared for and accepted and not confronted with more guilt or shame, they will be willing to open up. Nobody planned to become addicted and nobody wants to be an addict. Here’s links to good info on how to help someone trapped in addiction. (2,3)

But, if you remain a good friend to someone who is living a self-destructive life, how do you help them without enabling their addiction? For young people who are good friends, enabling might be keeping secrets for them about their problem, especially from adults who may need to know in order to take life-saving action. It may be loaning them money or driving them to get drugs. The pressure would sound something like: “If you’re my real friend, you won’t tell…” Or “If you really want to help me you would…” Basically, when you support their problematic behavior in the name of ‘helping’ them, you are actually keeping them from living with the consequences of their poor choices. And this will only prolong their problems and delay change. (4)

Encourage them to get help through programs like SMART Recovery groups or AA for alcohol and NA for narcotics. Very few people overcome addictive behaviors alone. Community is key. Go with them if you can or drive them. And remember, drug and alcohol recovery take lots of time and most people don’t succeed the first time they try to quit. Dr. John F. Kelly, clinical psychologist and addiction medicine expert, says it can take 8 years and 4-5 treatment attempts at recovery to achieve one year of sobriety from opioid and other drug addiction. It can take years to achieve stable recovery and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) is an important aspect. Gone are the times when a 30-day detox/treatment was seen as the solution to addiction. It may be an important first step in the process of ongoing recovery. People can and do recover, but it will likely be a lifetime journey. Here’s a YouTube 2025 video of Dr. Kelly giving a session on: The New Science on Addiction Recovery. (5)

You can encourage your friend with each small step and success, even through relapses. In our son’s recovery program, we ended each session by saying together: “Keep coming back ‘cause it works if you work it.” It takes hard work and it can be very discouraging for your friend to relapse because your friend wants to be free. No one wants to live controlled by addiction. No one. Encouragement to stick with it is vital.

If your friend or family member is using opioids, you should get naloxone (a medicine that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose) and keep it handy. Available through local community-based programs or pharmacies.

It’s worth saying again: Friends are SO important for people in active addiction.

Don’t ever give up on your friends trapped in addiction. They need friends more than ever, friends who love them and will invest in their lives and let them know they are a worthwhile human – while you also need to encourage them to seek help in order to become sober and stable. And to remind them by example of what a normal and joy-filled life is like and one that they too can have.

A best friend is someone who believes in you

even when you’ve stopped believing in yourself.

– Unknown

John 15:13, New Testament
Helping Someone with a Drug Addiction

https://www.helpguide.org/mental-health/addiction/helping-someone-with-drug-addiction

How to help someone who is misusing drugs or alcohol:

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/help-someone-who-is-misusing-drugs-or-alcohol#:~:text=Celebrate%20small%20successes%20and%20try,Narcotics%20Anonymous%20and%20SMART%20Recovery.

Four Signs of Enabling and How to Stop

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/enabling

Dr. John F. Kelly, Ph.D. The New Science on Addiction Recovery (lecture)

Adrenaline Junkie or High Sensation Seeker? Part 1

(Translation into most languages at tab to right)

Have you ever pondered how different people drive and approach the objective of getting from one place to another? Are there certain people you would rather not get into a car with when they are driving? I was thinking about this the other day when John and I were driving to meet friends and the same scenario played out when he is driving: the race is on. It’s not that John exceeds the speed limit too much – he’s only ever had a few tickets in his entire life – although he drives on the high end of the limit. But it is the way he views the entire undertaking.

This is nothing new. Years ago, we had rented a car to drive across Italy with our kids. We were on unfamiliar freeways where the speed limit was more of a suggestion than a limitation. Not much time passed before I, as the navigator in the front seat, was looking for anything I could hold on to in fear of my life as John joined in the race. After my repeated shrieks of “Slow down!” and exclamations of “Watch out!”, we decided that I needed to be in the back seat and close my eyes while someone with steadier nerves took my place.

His adrenaline was flowing and so was mine. But the difference was that for John, this was exciting. For me, it was terrifying. I am a risk-averse person and tend to avoid risks in most areas of my life as much as possible. Yet, I am also an anxious person and my adrenaline can flow when there is no real threat. But the ways it affects my life are different. One thing we all have in common is that these predispositions have a physiologic base and are most likely passed down to us from preceding generations.

What is adrenaline and what role does it play in our bodies and lives?

Adrenaline (epinephrine) is a hormone our adrenal glands make to help us prepare for stressful, threatening, or dangerous situations. Adrenaline rush is the name for the quick release of adrenaline into our bloodstream and turns on our sympathetic nervous system which gets our body ready for a “fight or flight” response to a real or perceived danger.

An Adrenaline Junkie is someone who seeks activities that give them that “rush” which is addictive. Recent studies have shown that dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that regulate risk-taking and impulsivity, are downregulated in people with substance use disorders. (1) This means that if we constantly stimulate our adrenal glands, dopamine and serotonin are no longer able to help protect us from high-risk and impulsive decisions. We are then in need of, craving, more adrenaline, a vicious cycle.

But when I looked at the characteristics of an adrenaline junkie and thought about the things my husband seeks out and enjoys, he didn’t quite fit the pattern of seeking one-off thrills like skydiving, bungee jumping, hang gliding. He instead seems to regularly engage in high-risk activities and behaviors. How is this different than being an adrenaline junkie?

What I discovered in my search to understand is another type of adrenaline-seeking personality, High Sensation Seekers. When I looked at those characteristics, they fit him much more closely. I will go into them in Part Two of the next blog.

For others like me with minds that race full of thoughts and worry, adrenaline and other stress-related hormones like cortisol are released. The anxiety can be most pronounced when we are lying in bed and keep focusing on what has happened or what might happen in the future. That extra boost of energy has no use and instead leaves us restless and unable to sleep. The parasympathetic nervous system relaxes us and predominates in quiet and rest and drives our “rest and digest” systems. It conserves our energy for when it is needed. So, any type of adrenaline-using behavior depletes our adrenal glands and overrides our parasympathetic system leaving us exhausted.

In relation to addictions, we can easily see how risk-taking and thrill-seeking behaviors include heavy or binge drinking, using drugs, high-risk sex, gambling etc. Adrenaline addiction of any type brings with it withdrawal symptoms like cravings, decreased interest in other activities, and negative emotions and restlessness.

Regardless of how we deplete our adrenaline reservoir, here are some suggestions to help us respond to unhealthy urges or stress in our lives and to help restore our sense of well-being and peace:

prayer and meditation
deep breathing and muscle relaxation
regular exercise – which releases endorphins (3)
balanced diet– low in refined sugars and carbs, high in protein
avoid cellphones, bright lights, computers, loud music, and TV right before bedtime
leisure activities
listening to peaceful or positive music
creativity
social support
practicing gratitude
counseling/therapy

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https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-tell-if-youre-an-adrenaline-junkie-3145035

https://www.verywellmind.com/tips-to-reduce-stress-3145195

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23040-endorphins

TEMPTATION: Fight it or Heed the warning signs?

(Translation into most languages at tab to the right)

I have been thinking about temptation recently and how differently we each respond when we face something that is hard for us to resist. How do we resist something that is alluring and that we have repeatedly succumbed to in the past? Something that we are addicted to like lying or shoplifting, alcohol or drugs, gossip or gambling, social media or overeating? The list of behaviors that can derail our lives in one way or the other is endless. It’s not just how an addiction can cause us harm, but also how it can debilitate or destroy our relationships, that makes learning how to beat temptation important.

So, when we are tempted to indulge in our pet addiction, what do we do?

I read an article on Medium about temptation and willpower that supports the thoughts I’ve held throughout my life. Riikka Iivanainen (1) confesses that she has high self-control and discusses her research into why some people succeed at resisting temptation while others don’t.

She says, High self-control does predict many positive life outcomes: People who’re good at self-control do better in school, have fewer mental health problems, have better relationships with friends and family, and generally exhibit fewer impulsive behaviors like binge eating and alcohol abuse. They’re even happier.

From the many scientific studies she researched, she goes on to say, Having good self-control doesn’t mean a constant battle against temptations. The kind of self-control that gets you all those good outcomes is more effortless than what’s commonly suggested by the term’s “willpower” and “self-discipline.”

Psychologists tell us that constantly resisting temptation is exhausting and will soon leave us with ego-depletion. Relying on self-control in the face of temptation is destined to fail. So what kind of self-control is “more effortless”? Riikka says, The people who reported fewer problematic desires and less conflict related to those desires were good at avoiding temptation, not resisting it.

Isn’t this insight what the basis of what most recovery programs are built upon? The acronym HALT is a tool to remind us to take a moment and avoid temptation by being aware of the primary things that can lead us to it: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. We are susceptible to self-destructive behaviors, temptations, and relapse when these basic human needs are unmet. HALT is a reminder, an early warning system. Being self-aware helps us recognize our needs and address them in a positive way before turning to harmful habits or destructive people.

Hungry – being hungry can be physical or emotional hunger

Angry – being angry at someone else or at yourself

Lonely – being lonely can be while in a crowd or from self-isolation

Tired – being tired affects our body, mind, and spirit

Some ways to deal with these needs is the subject of my Opiate Nation blog post April 14, 2018, H.A.L.T. https://opiatenation.com/2018/04/14/h-a-l-t/

We need to know ourselves and be honest about what our problematic desires are and avoid them rather than flirt with them. Desires are matters of the heart and we need to do all we can to support the healthy, life-affirming desires we have. I’ll end with pertinent insights from some of my favorite sources:

There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.(2)

Strength comes prior to temptation, not during it. Overcoming is a prior act. It involves making a decision to remain pure before the temptation comes. (3)

Rather than waiting for temptation to raise its inevitable head and struggling to resist it, researchers at the University of Wyoming say it’s more effective to plan in advance to manage those temptations with well-thought-out self-control strategies. (4)

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them. (5)

Paul repeatedly told the early Christians in their very pagan cultures to “flee” temptation. (6)

Learning takes us through many states of life, but it fails utterly in the hour of danger and temptation. Then faith alone saves. (7)

But for persons needlessly to expose themselves to temptation, and to do those things that tend to sin, is unwarrantable, and contrary to that excellent example set before us. (8)

Jesus showed us by example when we are confronted with unavoidable temptation to speak the truth in order to help us resist until we are able to escape. (9)

Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair. (10)

https://riikkaiivanainen.medium.com/the-secret-life-of-people-with-high-self-control-its-easier-than-you-think-7dd26fb5282c
Mark Twain
The Mind of Christ by T.W. Hunt & Claude V. King, 1990
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/cravings/201911/4-ways-avoid-temptation-and-reach-your-goals
Benjamin Franklin
I Corinthians 10:14; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 2:22
Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi, Homer A. Jack (2005). “The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi”, p.40, Courier Corporation
Jonathan Edwards, https://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/temptation.htm
Matthew 4:1-11
Martin Luther

Disordered Loves, Disordered Lives

(Translation into most languages at tab to the right)

A common feature of an addicted persons’ life is its lack of order. Chaos seems to swirl around them like clouds circling the earth. There is very little, if any, organization to their life and the only structure is what must be done in order to score the next hit for their chosen addiction and survive. Their lives are in disarray, they are dis-ordered. I remember this from when our son was using Oxy’s and heroin. Thinking about this brought up a related thought.

“Disordered Loves” is a phrase taken from the writings of St. Augustine who lived and wrote in the 4^thcentury A.D. I have only read a fraction of his impressive work, and I am amazed at how modern many of his insights on the human psyche and condition were. In City of God he said, “…though [something] is good, it can be loved in the right way or in the wrong way – in the right way, that is, when the proper order is kept, in the wrong way when that order is upset.” (1) He writes elsewhere, real love knows how “to love things…in the right order, so that you do not love what is not to be loved, or fail to love what is to be loved, or have a greater love for what should be loved less.” (2)

For example, we can look to the workaholic. They love their work and want to do a good job and be successful. But they love work more than loving the people in their life: family, friends, co-workers, and employees. To succeed, they may become dishonest even if they are normally an honest person. The need to feel successful and to be recognized supersedes all other things in their life – they fail to love what is most important. This is true of any addiction. When we love “what is not to be loved or have a greater love for what should be loved less” – anything from travel, purchases, drugs, alcohol, events, prestige, etc. – the important relationships and responsibilities will suffer.

Augustine agreed with Cicero that humans are mostly discontent and lack joy. Because of that, we search for happiness and fulfillment. So, we attach ourselves to objects that we hope will make us happy. We prioritize those objects by how valuable they are to us. We put them in order. His point is that what we spend our time on, what we value and prioritize, is what we love. And what we love directs our lives. And Augustine believed that when we place our ultimate love in temporal and finite objects, or even another person, we will still not be fulfilled because God is the ultimate source for joy, contentment, and fulfillment.

Even for people who do not embrace the spiritual truths Augustine taught, the principle remains: look at your life to see what you prioritize and spend your limited time doing and this will tell you what you love. If your life revolves around filling your life with things such as accomplishments, money, drugs, alcohol, food, pleasure, excitement, etc. – i.e., your loves – your life is disordered.

Re-ordering our loves, and therefore our lives, is not easy. As with any major change, the first step is recognizing that something is wrong. After that, seeking help from counselors or trusted and knowledgeable friends or programs can help us with the next steps. Sacrifice will be required and we do not embrace the loss of anything we love without pain and struggle. However, we can choose to not live with turmoil and discord. We can choose to bring peace and order to our loves and to our lives.

(Special thanks to the late Dr. Timothy Keller’s work on Augustine in Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical. Keller’s writing and teaching has informed my life in innumerable ways.)

City of God, XV.22
On Christian Doctrine, I.27-28

Addiction Constriction

John Leif Trang – March 10, 1989 – August 2, 2014

(Translation into most languages at tab on right)

On March 10th, our son would have been celebrating his 33^rd birthday. That day is now a painful reminder of all the potentials and possibilities that a young person should be experiencing in the 4^th decade of their life.

After JL died of a heroin overdose in 2014, I began the dreaded process of sorting through his belongings – which included his computer and phone. Many of the photos on his phone I had never seen and some have now become permanently seared into my visual memory. One is of JL with a Boa wrapped around his shoulders and neck.

Boas are constrictors. Constrictors don’t chase their prey. They are ambush hunters. A boa grabs its prey with its teeth, then quickly coils its body around the prey and squeezes. It doesn’t break the bones – it constricts so tightly that its prey can’t breathe. With each exhale, it tightens its coils until its prey dies slowly from an overwhelmed circulatory system due to blood not getting to the brain. Once dead, the snake swallows its prey whole.