Thank you to all that have supported us both with physical donations and financially. Our efforts keep growing as we try to serve more people so our needs for resources and finances keep growing too. Many of our friends have problems with addiction; yet we hear others opine that they just need to stop using.
This note is to help both people who have addictions and their friends and family that want them to overcome addictions. The American Medical Association has long classified addiction as an illness to the objections of some that say using is simply a choice. Treatment professionals and neuroscientists know that perspective to be false. Using starts as a choice but addictive substances and actions soon rewire people’s brains. Neurologists specializing in the brain have used CT and MRI scans to clearly demonstrate that addict’s brains are damaged as to their ability to function. However, that certainly does not mean addictions cannot be broken. They can but it takes recognizing them rather than denying them. It requires understanding that the addiction was started as a solution to some other problem—anxiety, stress, trauma and that problem has to be identified and be dealt with in a healthy manner so the need to self-medicate is removed.
This note to say, if a friend or family member has an addiction, thinking and acting as if it is their fault and they just need to stop will not be fruitful. There are many caring individuals that can steer people to professionals that understand and can help with these issues. Contact us for help in finding them.