Is addiction an issue of bad choices or is it a case of biological compulsive necessity?
If you know anything about me and my views, you know that I think little of anyone who tries to separate these. I see and talk to people all the time who are stuck in compulsive behavioral patterns but with some education and good helping of supportive tools they can begin to change these patterns and return to normal life.
But then there are those who just don’t seem to ever get better.
Be it lack of motivation, readiness, mental health issues, or a simple case of not having found a good enough reason to stop, these addiction clients can be the most frustrating and the most rewarding to work with. Any victory, no matter how small, with a difficult patient can put a big smile on my face. I love nothing more than to have someone tell me that they’re sending me a very “tough” or “resistant” client only to discover that when they’re with me, neither of these traits is really representative of their personality.
Or maybe it’s just a matter of perception , right?
Life is about choices, and compulsive or addictive behavior is certainly included in that equation. But that doesn’t mean that all choices were created equal. Indeed, all the evidence points towards the conclusion that choices are differently easy or difficult depending on a person’s experience, biology, and environment. Compulsive or impulsive behavior can be helped when you’re not approaching the client as if they are somehow flawed but that doesn’t mean they weren’t compulsive in the first place.
Trying to make the picture simpler is like trying to draw a Picasso without being able to sketch a simple bowl of fruit – it might fool those who don’t know much but it’s far from true cubism.
Is addiction an issue of bad choices or is it a case of biological compulsive necessity?
If you know anything about me and my views, you know that I think little of anyone who tries to separate these. I see and talk to people all the time who are stuck in compulsive behavioral patterns but with some education and good helping of supportive tools they can begin to change these patterns and return to normal life.
But then there are those who just don’t seem to ever get better.
Or maybe it’s just a matter of perception , right?
Life is about choices, and compulsive or addictive behavior is certainly included in that equation. But that doesn’t mean that all choices were created equal. Indeed, all the evidence points towards the conclusion that choices are differently easy or difficult depending on a person’s experience, biology, and environment. Compulsive or impulsive behavior can be helped when you’re not approaching the client as if they are somehow flawed but that doesn’t mean they weren’t compulsive in the first place.
Trying to make the picture simpler is like trying to draw a Picasso without being able to sketch a simple bowl of fruit – it might fool those who don’t know much but it’s far from true cubism.