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One of the obstacles to the rehabilitation of the drug addict is the
lack of desire. By the time the addict gets into serious drug use,
drugs have become an integral part of his life. In fact, he has
built a whole new lifestyle around his drugs.
His focus is on getting enough drugs to satisfy
his cravings, his addiction. He loses his desire to do much of
anything else. He drops out of the normal kind of living that you
and I are into. Most often he stops working if he can afford to or
if his family continues to support him. He no longer cares to strive
to better himself.
He is into an irresponsible lifestyle.
Neglecting his family, his wife and kids, his drug-using friends
become more important to him. Not only are they sources for his
drugs, but they become partners and associates in the actual drug
taking experience. He is more comfortable with them than he is with
straight people.
Crazy and self-destructive as his lifestyle
might be, still it is what he has come to be accustomed to and feel
at ease in. He feels alienated from the world of the straight
people. In short, he has become a creature of the drug subculture
and that is exactly where he wants to remain.
Consequently, the Filipino addict will almost
always have to be forced into rehab. Rare is the addict who walks
into a rehab center and says “I need help, please take me in.
“Families have to compel the addict to change. It is the family,
the spouse who will seek help for him. Or, the courts will give him
the choice: jail or rehab.
The addict who arrives in the rehab center
doesn’t want to be there. This is why almost all rehab centers are
locked as tight as a drum. (Our Nazareth House is one of the few
exceptions. No guards, no guns, no walls.) The challenge of the
addiction therapist is to motivate the addict to want to change.
This is no small task. You might think that addicts are easy to
convince. Wrong! They cling like glue to their ways.
This was made abundantly clear the other day
when I held a session with my Nazareth House residents. I asked them
to tell me what was more difficult for them to give up, their drugs
or their lifestyle.
It was unanimous. Every single one said that
giving up their lifestyle was far more difficult than surrendering
their drugs.
That might come as a surprise to you. It
shouldn’t if you look at what they are up against. Many have never
worked a day in their lives. Most who did work have become
dysfunctional. Their drug taking has caused them to drop out of
mainstream society. Going back to the normal life you and I live is
scary to them. Having to go back to school, back to working an
eight-hour day is a great challenge to them. Giving up the lifestyle
they are comfortable with (even if it is self-destructive) is
frightening.
This is why the first phase of rehab is all
about getting the addict to want to change. There is great
resistance to change even if he follows the routines of the house.
He goes through the motions even if, in his head and heart, he still
clings to his old ways.
If we are successful, that will change. Slowly,
he will come to realize that he not only can change (which he surely
doubts) but that the change of lifestyle will actually make him a
lot happier than his drug-taking lifestyle. Remember that addicts
think that the straight lifestyle is exceedingly boring. It lacks
the tremendous highs that their drugs afford them. They also find
the straight lifestyle to be very stressful compared to the
easy-going, irresponsible, pleasure-centered lifestyle of the
addict. Convincing them otherwise and getting them to abandon their
old ways for a new, uncomfortable lifestyle is no easy matter.
Still, it is essential if the addict is to get well.
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If you have problems about drugs, alcohol and
behavior/attitude call my office at 8206107 or 8251771 or e-mail me
at gvcbuenca@vasia.com or write me at P.O. Box 2099 MCPO, Makati
City.
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