Addiction Treatment

In The Addictive Personality, Craig Nakken writes:

ADDICTION AS A PROCESS: There have been, over the years, many different ways of describing addiction. To cite a few examples, addiction has been described as a moral weakness, a lack of willpower, an inability to face the world, a physical sickness, and a spiritual illness. If you are a family member or a friend of a practicing addict, you may have more colorful ways of describing what addiction is. Nearly all descriptions have elements of truth about the nature of addiction.

Addiction must be viewed as a process that is progressive. Addiction must be seen as an illness that undergoes continuous development from a definite, though often unclear, beginning toward an end point.

Although there are many kinds of addictions, no matter what the addiction is, every addict engages in a relationship with an object or event in order to produce a desired mood change.

• The alcoholic experiences a mood change having drinks at the neighborhood saloon.
• The food addict experiences a mood change bingeing or starving.
• The addictive gambler experiences a mood change placing bets on football games and then watching the action on television.
• The shoplifter experiences a mood change stealing clothing from a department store.
• The sex addict experiences a mood change browsing in a pornographic bookstore.
• The addictive spender experiences a mood change going on a shopping spree.
• The workaholic experiences a mood change staying at work to accomplish another task even though he or she is needed at home.

Although all of the objects or events are different in many ways, they have in common the fact that they produce desired mood changes in the addicts who engage in them.
Addiction is a pathological love and trust relationship with an object or event.

To be pathological is to deviate from a healthy or normal condition. In an addiction, the addict departs from the normal and socially acceptable function of the object and sets up a pathological or abnormal relationship. The food, gambling, or drugs take on a new function: the addict develops a relationship with an object, hoping to get his or her needs met. This is the insanity of addiction, for people normally get emotional and intimacy needs met through intimate connections with other people, themselves, their community, and with a spiritual power greater than themselves. It is through a balanced combination of these relationships that people get healthy emotional nurturance.

The goal of the Addiction Treatment Program at The New Leaf Center is to help clients establish a strong recovery system that supports physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and leads to more positive, fulfilling relationships with their friends, families, and significant others.

The Addiction Treatment Program at The New Leaf Center begins with an evaluation to identify the appropriate level of care. Specific recommendations and treatment plan assignments are formulated to address physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual problem areas. Therapists will help them understand how they have been affected by the disease of addiction, and how it has impacted others in their lives.

The Addiction Treatment Program will help clients understand addiction and to identify their addictive behaviors. For all addictions, it is necessary to address distorted, irrational thinking and break down denial systems in order to recognize the need for change. Clients will be guided through the process of making lifestyle changes that will help them begin making healthier behavioral choices.

Spouses, significant others, family members, and friends are encouraged to participate in their own individual and/or group counseling sessions to address co-addiction issues. Couple and family sessions are also helpful to address specific relationship problems. Everyone involved in an addictive system will benefit from learning more about addiction and the progression of the disease. The New Leaf Center provides all of these services.

Addiction has a strong negative influence on our self-esteem, self-confidence, and lifestyle choices. Breaking the cycle is challenging and a lot of hard work. The recovery process puts us on a road to personal, emotional, and spiritual hope and freedom. The New Leaf Center is grateful to be involved in the beginning of that new journey.