Also, especially among the non saved, there can really be a demonic component, as in "demon in the bottle"
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Can an alcholic be cured?
- Thread starter Salty
- Start date
It is. I had liver issues for a while. That does not make it a disease.
Its one of the many results of the fall, as all of us have some kind of issue to deal with on sinning!
One becomes addicted and needs medical help with detoxification in the final stages. There is brain damage also after so many years. I am thinking of skid row alcoholics, people who are so drunk that they can't recall how they get from one town to another & spend every penny on alcohol.
Have you ever been a drunk and homeless?
No, thank God.
I have ben there, albeit short lived but I was there. Several times. They are not what many think they are.
evenifigoalone
Well-Known Member
Most addiction (aside from cigarettes or caffeine) is psychological as well as physical. You can get away from the physical withdrawal, but if you also have mental withdrawals it's harder and tends to follow you the rest of your life, it's something you have to be on guard of. It's most associated with people with an underlying mental illness or with trauma.
For example, last year I went to a conference for recovering addicts and people with mental illness and/or mental disorders, and one of the speakers said he used to drink alcohol to deal with his anxiety. It gave him the confidence he didn't otherwise have.
Psychological withdrawal is this: your brain literally only produces endorphins when you're engaging in your addiction. Other things you once had an interest in become dull and not of interest. There is only your addiction and it is the only thing that makes you happy. You may feel euphoric when engaging in your addiction. But without it, you feel in the depths of despair, perhaps enough to attempt suicide. In order to avoid feeling this way, you have to engage in your addiction more and more.
It's literally a mental illness, and it can create further mental illness that wasn't previously there, particularly mood disorders such as depression.
While I was never addicted to substances or anything considered to be habit forming, I was a psychological addict. As I can now enjoy the thing I was once heavily addicted to without falling back into addiction, I consider myself recovered and not in recovery. But the same might not be true for someone else.
I also lived with chronic depression for quite some time after escaping my addiction.
Side note: you can become psychologically addicted to ANYTHING that stimulates your brain. Especially if you heavily lean on said thing as a coping mechanism. This is why video game addiction was recently recognized as a disorder.
For example, last year I went to a conference for recovering addicts and people with mental illness and/or mental disorders, and one of the speakers said he used to drink alcohol to deal with his anxiety. It gave him the confidence he didn't otherwise have.
Psychological withdrawal is this: your brain literally only produces endorphins when you're engaging in your addiction. Other things you once had an interest in become dull and not of interest. There is only your addiction and it is the only thing that makes you happy. You may feel euphoric when engaging in your addiction. But without it, you feel in the depths of despair, perhaps enough to attempt suicide. In order to avoid feeling this way, you have to engage in your addiction more and more.
It's literally a mental illness, and it can create further mental illness that wasn't previously there, particularly mood disorders such as depression.
While I was never addicted to substances or anything considered to be habit forming, I was a psychological addict. As I can now enjoy the thing I was once heavily addicted to without falling back into addiction, I consider myself recovered and not in recovery. But the same might not be true for someone else.
I also lived with chronic depression for quite some time after escaping my addiction.
Side note: you can become psychologically addicted to ANYTHING that stimulates your brain. Especially if you heavily lean on said thing as a coping mechanism. This is why video game addiction was recently recognized as a disorder.
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evenifigoalone
Well-Known Member
TL;DR version: Most addiction, outside of caffeine or cigarettes, is mental as well as physical, meaning that your brain literally only produces endorphins (the happy chemical) when you're engaging in your addiction, and you're miserable enough to attempt suicide otherwise. It's a mental as well as physical illness.
If you think otherwise you're disagreeing with what has been scientifically observed and proven.
Addiction Science
The Science of Addiction and Recovery
How addiction hijacks the brain - Harvard Health
What You Need to Know About Psychological Withdrawal - Recovery.org
Behavioral Addiction versus Substance Addiction: Correspondence of Psychiatric and Psychological Views
My favorite is the last one
If you think otherwise you're disagreeing with what has been scientifically observed and proven.
Addiction Science
The Science of Addiction and Recovery
How addiction hijacks the brain - Harvard Health
What You Need to Know About Psychological Withdrawal - Recovery.org
Behavioral Addiction versus Substance Addiction: Correspondence of Psychiatric and Psychological Views
My favorite is the last one
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Sometimes the drugs and alcohol can be bridges to where they can be demonic activities coming along for the ride also!
Can be "delivered" in an instant.From Parade Magazine
ASK MARILYN
What Does 'Recovering' Mean Regarding Alcohol?
FEBRUARY 2, 2020 – 5:00 AM – 7 COMMENTS
9
By MARILYN VOS SAVANT
When a person has successfully quit tobacco, he or she is considered cured. But when a person has quit alcohol, he or she is called “recovering,” even a decade later. Why?
—Mary Lanphier, Wichita Falls, Texas
Because former alcoholics face a world in which drinking is socially acceptable and promoted everywhere they turn. Former smokers aren’t given a “cigarette list” when they sit down at a restaurant. They aren’t offered a choice of cigarettes whenever they attend a party and expected to hold one while they’re there. They never read about which cigarettes pair well with what cheese. So plenty of former alcoholics use the word “recovering” to help themselves stay on guard.
OPEN FOR DISCUSSION
evenifigoalone
Well-Known Member
Can be by the grace of God, but not always is. Just like God can and has delivered people from many illnesses and diseases, but many times does not. Have some friends who struggle with addiction but are fighting it and are strong Christians. I knew God when I had my addiction as well. He comforted me during my recovery period many a time, specifically told me that my addiction had created a large laceration on my heart that would take time to heal. He didn't see fit to take it away immediately.
Do you know how many times I prayed for God to take my addiction away? Hundreds, at least. I also at times begged God to take my life because the withdrawals were hell. I felt like death was my only escape.
After months of prayer, I asked a friend to pray for me when I was at my absolute lowest, and that's when God finally granted me the strength to ride out my withdrawals. It was very hard ("very hard" doesn't even begin to describe it), but if you can ride out your withdrawals you can escape your addiction. God saw fit to make me work for my recovery instead of granting instant relief.
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Do you know how many times I prayed for God to take my addiction away? Hundreds, at least. I also at times begged God to take my life because the withdrawals were hell. I felt like death was my only escape.
After months of prayer, I asked a friend to pray for me when I was at my absolute lowest, and that's when God finally granted me the strength to ride out my withdrawals. It was very hard ("very hard" doesn't even begin to describe it), but if you can ride out your withdrawals you can escape your addiction. God saw fit to make me work for my recovery instead of granting instant relief.
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evenifigoalone
Well-Known Member
Oh, and to answer the question in the OP, some alcoholics CAN eventually consume alcohol again without it becoming a problem for them. Many cannot.
Again, this is highly associated with people who have mental illness and/or childhood trauma--mental illness creates an imbalance that leaves the brain hungry for dopamine, which the individual suffers from a lack of. So the brain immediately latches onto anything that's strongly mind altering, because it makes the individual feel "normal" or puts them in a state where they're not suffering. It also affects the frontal lobe, which has to do with impulse control.
Many people live with mental illness and/or trauma lifelong, as a result they may have to fight their brain's addictive tendencies for the rest of their lives
Edit:
Also, as a caveat, saying that addiction is a disease or mental illness does not mean that it's not a sin. Sin is part of our nature, part of our biological nature I believe. We were born with sinful tendencies. Just because we can't help it, does not mean it's not sin. We are literally incapable of living a sinless life.
I knew I was sinning when I had my addiction. I felt very far away from God during that time, and going to church or even reading the Bible was like being tortured because it reminded me I was actively in sin.
My relationship with God was restored during my recovery period, but not when the addiction was active.
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Again, this is highly associated with people who have mental illness and/or childhood trauma--mental illness creates an imbalance that leaves the brain hungry for dopamine, which the individual suffers from a lack of. So the brain immediately latches onto anything that's strongly mind altering, because it makes the individual feel "normal" or puts them in a state where they're not suffering. It also affects the frontal lobe, which has to do with impulse control.
Many people live with mental illness and/or trauma lifelong, as a result they may have to fight their brain's addictive tendencies for the rest of their lives
Edit:
Also, as a caveat, saying that addiction is a disease or mental illness does not mean that it's not a sin. Sin is part of our nature, part of our biological nature I believe. We were born with sinful tendencies. Just because we can't help it, does not mean it's not sin. We are literally incapable of living a sinless life.
I knew I was sinning when I had my addiction. I felt very far away from God during that time, and going to church or even reading the Bible was like being tortured because it reminded me I was actively in sin.
My relationship with God was restored during my recovery period, but not when the addiction was active.
Sent from my SM-J737T1 using Tapatalk
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