When does self medicating become addiction? Is it possible to keep up a regimen of alcohol and other intoxicants without it becoming a problem. Now, I am not referring to the underlying cause that necessitates such activity. I'm talking about whether this method of silencing the voices in one's head is a possible benefit, or is it a problem?
Toonage:
Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Morning Coming Down
Blind Willie McTell - I Keep On Drinking
The Damned - Drinking About My Baby
7 comments:
The Weiss Guide to Vice, as outlined by my old man:
"If it brings you more pain than pleasure, then it's a problem."
Only problem is when the voices in your head are created by your addiction. I have a friend doing looong ass time in Avenal Penitentiary. Back before it all caught up with him, he would tell me, "The only reason I do this stuff is because I'm in so much pain without it." Trouble is that addiction is not about your conscious mind or your will power or any of that shit. Addiction will see to it that you are in so much pain that you "need" to medicate. It creates the appearance of cause and effect to maintain itself. Meanwhile you are jumping like a frog leg on Dr. Galvin's table. So, do you want me to tell you if you've crossed the line from recreation, to medication, to compulsion? I really don't know.
thanks guys- all hypothetical (of course)
The real question when self-medicating is how much do you trust your prescriber to make informed decisions? Or, rephrased, how's that working for you, so far?
I set the bar pretty high when it comes to alcohol overuse. That bar was set by Jack Kerouac. He died when he was 47 if I remember right. Drank two bottles of scotch a day. That is too much of a good thing, some would say.
Everyone is addicted to something - Food, Money, Liquor, Religion, Shopping, Lotto.
If you're addiction/affliction is causing a problem with your immediate loved ones then you have a problem. But it may mean that you just need to find someone who also loves collecting Disney memorabilia.
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