Posted by brynb on September 16, 2012, at 12:55:18
In reply to Re: Addiction Proof Pain killer, posted by jono_in_adelaide on September 15, 2012, at 17:25:47
> but, that cant be the whole story, as one heres of people who are in genuian pain whos use spirals out of control - Betty Ford being an examply..... I guess some people are born addiction prone and others arnt
True. I'm definitely (unfortunately) in that category. I had quite a few years of intense substance abuse which pretty much stemmed from depression/anxiety and trying to self-medicate. Again, though, for those of us who do become abusers or addicts, I believe it very often stems from the desire to annihilate some type of pain (physical or psychic), and we tend to chase any euphoria or high as it's so remarkably different from our "normal," baseline existence.
There's a distinct difference between dependence and addiction, too, though. Many pain patients are dependent. When I was abusing pills and illegal substances, I was both dependent AND addicted. Still, I believe addiction is more a behavioral issue, not a disease issue as 12-step programs and similar disease models present. That's, of course, a different discussion.
poster:brynb
thread:1025514
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120912/msgs/1025803.html