The Real Answer to Addiction

The problem of addiction is on the rise all over the world. More than 60,000 people die each year from drug overdoses in the United States, which is up from 20,000 just a few years ago.[1] More than 19 million American adults are currently battling a substance abuse disorder. That’s about one out of every six people. Around 65% of all people in an American prison or jail are there for a charge related to addiction. Addiction costs the United States $200 billion each year. All of these numbers are the highest ever recorded.[2] We are in the middle of an epidemic.

Possibly the most difficult aspect of addiction is the limitation of current methods to provide real help that leads to real freedom. We seek treatment while hoping this will be the last time we’ll ever have to endure this painful process, but a few weeks later, we return to our old ways, hurting everyone in our path. We have a genuine desire to change our ways, but nothing seems to work.

The leading methods of treating addiction have often been found lacking by continual relapse and the failure to treat the real issue. I tried most of the popular treatment methods. I committed myself to mental hospitals, starting at age sixteen. I was prescribed dozens of different medications (antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, opiate blockers, methadone, Suboxone, antipsychotics, and blood pressure medications, just to name a few), with differing results; none was sufficient. I ended up selling most of them to get more of the good stuff. I sat through dozens of counseling sessions. I went to multiple treatment centers. I went to twelve-step meetings. I met with religious and secular addiction professionals. I was put in court-mandated addiction classes. None of it worked for me.

There are not many quality statistics with hard data out there that show the effectiveness of the leading treatment methods, but even the most optimistic statistics report a relapse rate of 40 to 60 percent.² From my experience and that of thousands of people I’ve met all over the world, the “success” stories are few and far between.

Can you relate?

What if addiction isn’t the main issue but is instead a fruit of a problematic root? Addiction may have the most direct connection to the legal issues, health issues, broken relationships, and the rest of the chaos and destruction of our lives, but what if it’s not the original cause? What if it’s the branch that holds the dead fruit but the cause lies still deeper at the roots? I started to realize this when I would emerge from twenty-eight days of rehab, after the physical withdrawal and craving had ceased with a strong resolve to not use drugs again. I’d endure a few hours of the “normal life” but would soon feel like I had before I started using drugs. The mundane life mixed with the dreaded emptiness was the perfect environment for my mind to begin swirling with the possibilities of getting high again. I could not handle my internal state and would return to my vomit. What if the real problem is not addiction but the internal emptiness you and I both know so well?

[1]“Overdose Death Rates,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Health, last modified March 10, 2020, https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates.

[2]“Alcohol and Drug Abuse Statistics,” American Addiction Centers, last updated June 1, 2020, https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics/.