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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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Magazine |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Addiction
- Cry for help
Addiction is a way of life for those who want an escape from reality. Two in every five people in the UK are locked in a cycle that can be broken only when they reach rock bottom.
She is aware of nothing beyond the flashing lights and the noise of the wheels turning. She's been there for three hours, winning, losing, showing no elation when the money tumbles out, no disappointment when it doesn't. Feeding the machine is as instinctive as breathing. She cannot leave until the supply of coins is exhausted. Midnight Rani hesitates for a moment in front of the open fridge. She knows that what follows is inevitable: cold, congealed pasta, spoonfuls of peanut butter, lumps of cheese, ice-cream - all crammed into her mouth in an uncontrollable frenzy. When it is all over she leans back against the sink, temporarily satiated; at peace. Later she picks herself up, goes to the bathroom, kneels over the toilet and with practised ease vomits the entire contents of her stomach. A young woman comes out of a shopping mall with Rs. 2,000 worth of clothes she has bought on credit and will probably never wear, and cannot hope to pay for; a housewife swallows her daily dose of the lorazepam she has been taking for five years to keep the despair at bay; practically all of us knock back a little Dutch courage before a party. All these are manifestations of an addictive process that may have started out as a means of enjoyment, a harmless way of boosting confidence or calming nerves. It is estimated that two in every five people in the UK are addicted to some form of mood-altering substance or activity. According to the charity Action on Addiction, more than 700,000 people are dependent on alcohol; around 100,000 use heroin; 30 per cent of the population are addicted to nicotine; about a million suffer from long-term dependence on prescribed drugs such as sedatives and minor tranquillisers. From the addict's view-point, the addiction is not a problem it's the solution to a problem. Addiction is a way of life. The rituals involved take precedence over all else, pushing fears and worries aside with the planning and execution of the next fix, the next drink, the next binge... The suggested causes of addiction are as varied as its agents: genetic, environmental, social; it could be due to behaviour learned from parents, an inability to cope with stress, or a simple habit turned to physical and psychological need. One theory is that addiction is a disease, probably genetic, which can lie dormant until stress creates a need for a means of escape that those susceptible may later find they cannot do without. The anonymous fellowships, of which Alcoholics Anonymous was the fore-runner, base their programmes of recovery on this theory of addictive disease. And they believe the only treatment is total abstinence. The principles and concepts of AA form the basis of what is now known as the Minnesota Method for treating addictive disease. Widely practised in the US, the method is now gaining popularity in British clinics. It is a cycle of behaviour which stems from 'a disorder of mood which can be alleviated by certain mood-altering substances (tranquillisers narcotics, alcohol) or behaviour (gambling, compulsive spending, bingeing, stealing, work, exercise...). We all do this to a certain extent: drowning our sorrows with a few drinks; eating for comfort when we feel unloved; taking coffee or chocolate for a quick energy boost - but it becomes a problem when we can't get by without it. Once an addiction takes hold, it is played out in a continuous cycle of feeling low, craving the 'cure', satisfying the craving, and the subsequent guilt and shame which can only be relieved by the drug of your choice... The cycle can be broken only when the addict reaches their personal rock bottom and is shocked into seeking help. It is only when there is no further to fall that they can start to climb back up. For Rupa, who was a heroin addict for five years, the crunch came when she was thrown out of her flat by an exasperated friend who realised she was stealing from him to support her drug habit. She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to, and this proved to be the slap in the face necessary to force her to look for treatment.
She is convinced that her alcohol dependence will never leave her, no matter how long she abstains, so she will never be able to return to social drinking. She believes she was born with a predisposition to addiction which found its outlet in alcohol. This predisposition is not usually enough in itself to bring on the addiction - some other catalyst is needed. When we are born we are totally dependent on others; we learn to please and pacify to get what we need, and to manipulate to get what we want. Some people carry this dependency into adult life, with their emotions becoming dependent on other people's reactions.' If these reactions are insufficient, a potential addict may turn elsewhere for reassurance. The solution to unhappiness is to forget - by whatever means available. Jackie was 14 when she started drinking, and from the word go she always drank to get drunk. In her 20s her drinking had reached the point where throwing up became a normal part of an evening out. Aware from a young age that she was gay, but unable to confide in her parents, drinking became an escape from the deception of daily life. She became aware of pushing herself to the limit. 'I was drinking and drinking to see how far I could go. I felt bad and wanted to feel worse.' Many addicts want something else to take control of their lives. Like attempted suicide, it is a cry for help. 'If it hadn't been so awful I would have gone back to drinking.' Jackie feels she is the type of person who has to go over the top with something. She has now become passionate about swimming. She has to go everyday. Those who have sought refuge in tranquillisers find that when the pills are stopped, not only do they have to cope with the terrible physical effects of withdrawal, but also with all the unhappiness and emotional problems that may have been suppressed over the years. Addiction is due to biological, psychological and social factors, and that the addictive personality traits are a symptom, rather than the cause. 'Taking alcoholism as the best researched example, people use their consumption to alleviate various unpleasant symptoms. Eventually, the pattern of drinking becomes more and more entrenched as a psychological and physical support until the alcohol problem develops an autonomy of its own. The alcoholic no longer drinks for the original symptomatic reasons, but for the sake of drinking.' The boundaries between physical and psychological dependence are not well defined. However strong the physical dependence, it is often the psychological need that is hardest to replace. An addict's days are devoted to satisfying a craving. Obtaining the drug, financing it and protecting the source becomes totally absorbing. The void created by abstinence is one of the biggest blocks to recovery. Anonymous fellowships try to fill this void with group therapy sessions. These are a lifeline for the members who often become as dependent on this support as they did on their drug or behaviour pattern. For most of them the meetings are the only thing that stands between them and potentially fatal relapse. Whether or not the addictive personality theory rings true, there do seem to be certain characteristics common to most addicts: lack of self-esteem, past unhappiness or trauma, feelings of inadequacy; a need to escape anything negative in life by whatever means available. There are, of course, many who do things to excess but never become dependent. But then it would seem it's not what you do that counts, but why you do it. - Life |
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In the corner of an amusement arcade, two drunken men are fighting.
Sita doesn't seem to notice them. She maintains her rhythm as one of them
almost falls against the one-armed bandit she is mechanically filling with
coins. 
For Samantha, an alcoholic, the turning point came when, after years of
neglecting her two small children in favour of the bottle, she realised
that she was in very real danger of having them taken into care. She rang
an alcohol clinic, hired a car to get there and drank her last bottle of
vodka outside the gates. 
