The Disease of Addiction

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Patria
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The Disease of Addiction

Quoted from Narcotics Anonymous; NA Step-Working Guides: Step One

"We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable."

The Disease of Addiction.

"What makes us addicts is the disease of addiction-not the drugs, not our behavior, but our disease. There is something within us that unable to control our use of drugs. This same "something" also makes us prone to obsession and compulsion in other areas of our lives. How can we tell when our disease is active? When we become trapped in obsessive, compulsive, self-centered routines, endless loops that lead nowhere but to physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional decay."

"Some of us find a measure of comfort in realizing that a disease, not a moral failing, has caused us to reach this bottom. Others don't really care what the cause has been-we just want out! Whatever the case, it's time to do some step work: to engage in some concrete activity that will help us find more freedom from our addiction, whatever shape it is currently taking. Our hope is to internalize the principles of Step One, to deepen our surrender, to make the principles of acceptance, humility, willingness, honesty, and open-mindedness a fundamental part of who we are. First, we must arrive at a point of surrender. There are many different ways to do this. For some of us, the road we traveled getting to the First Step was more than enough to convince us that unconditional surrender was our only option. Others start this process even though we're not entirely convinced that we're addicts or that we've really hit bottom. Only in working the First Step do we truly come to realize that we are addicts, that we have hit bottom, and that we must surrender."

Patria
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I'm the perfect addict (for

I'm the perfect addict (for once in my life I got to be perfect about one thing).

When I joined AA I thought like an "alcoholic"; didn't think about the "addiction" aspect, I took that for granted. And I knew not to try anything else (like drugs) because I would get addicted to that too. So far so good.

It never occurred to me that games could be addictive anymore than skydiving or spelunking could become addictive. I mean, after all, we give games to kids! and it's out there in public as if it was the number one thing for kids to do, right?

It NEVER occurred to me I'd get back into addiction, and I'd suffer from it.

But I did.

I would love to blame the game companies, I would love to blame the doctor who recommended gaming to me, I would love to blame my husband for getting in my face for gaming addictively. But the fact is, I'm an addict and gaming IS and CAN BE addictive to people like me, and I got addicted.

What do I know now about alcoholism and gaming addiction? I'm an addict. And once a pickle, always a pickle, I can never be a cucumber again.

I really want to take back the last ten years and start my life over. But it's not possible. All I need to know is that I am an addict, whether I started with alcohol and ended up with gaming, or the other way around, it's the ADDICTION that is the problem not the substance.

Go figure.

LearningSerenity
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I like the part where it

I like the part where it talks about how this is the result of a diesease, not a moral failing. For a long time I was convinced that I was unable to stop my compulsive behaviors because my character and my morals were just that messed up. Then I started running into things like this, and I found out that the problem is a disease that screws my brain up, and I felt a lot better. It didn't fix anything to know that, but it certainly has helped me take a kinder approach to how I handle making obsessive or compulsive mistakes...

I also like the point about how the problem is the ADDICTION rather than some given substance. NA's "It Works: How and Why" talks about how any time we find ourselves using something to alter our mood, we need to go back to Step 1 principles. I was reading that this morning, and realized that daydreams fall under that category for me. I daydream in order to alter my mood or to hide from feeling something that I don't want to feel, and so I need to recognize my addiction at work and take appropriate action (yay for catching something before it starts generating cravings)...

When you're going through hell...keep going. --Winston Churchill There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still --Corrie ten Boom

dan1
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Love this.  Yes,

Love this. Yes, yes.

@Learning Serenity--I agree that when I'm *over* using something to alter my mood, my diease is active. But it's the impulsivity, the compulsion, the endless loop that is the problem for me, not so much the activity. Altering our mood is important--when we are down and upset, we need to heal and get into a different place. So I think it's good to alter my mood with meditation, exercise or a hot bath. It's when the activity gets compulsive and dysfunctional that it's not good for me.

I am a recovering computer game and gambling addict. My recovery birthday: On May 6, 2012 I quit games and began working a program of recovery through OLGA No computer games or slot games for me since December 12, 2012. No solitaire games with real cards since June 2013.

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