acoa    adult child of an addicted person

addiction    Any activity that repeatedly harms self or others. The repeated overruling of the human will. The continued maintenance of a level of a substance in the bloodstream (medical definition). "Everything in excess is opposed to nature (Hippocrates, c. 400 B.C.)"

addicted society    "The time has come to admit, without reservation, that society is an addict and functions on a systemic level the same way as any decompensating or deteriorating drunk. In order to tolerate this system you have to be addicted (Dr. Anne Wilson Schaef, 1987)". "The poor have little, beggars none, the rich too much, enough not one (Benjamin Franklin, 1743)." An addicted society is most characterized by its denial which includes, among other things, punishment of those who use drugs not preferred by the addicted majority. (See 'societal denial' below.)

addiction assessment    essential to effective counseling in many areas which seem unrelated to addiction because its effects are often hidden causes of other problems

addiction treatment    the attempt by one individual(s) to cause another individual(s) to cease or reduce a harmful behavior. "The path to Hell is paved with good intention (Karl Marx)."

age at onset    the age of a person when he/she first engaged in addictive behavior. Perhaps the single most important factor in the assessment of an addiction.

circumstances Circumstances (e.g., family stress, job loss) may have "caused" consumption of drugs at first; but once addiction has set in they are no longer the cause of ongoing consumption

codependence the suffering of the side-effects of an other's addiction, e.g., family members

cognitive-affective therapy  An approach to treatment that avoids childhood  and/or unconscious causes of present behavior in favour of examining the counselee's present assumptions about life.

compulsion The involuntary repetition of a behavior. Compulsion is functionally equivalent to addiction when the repeated behavior is harmful to self or others. Compulsion contrasts with obsession which is an involuntary repetition of a purely mental process such as a thought, daydream, image, or emotion.

counseling goals The counselor must set realistic goals and not "go for the gold" when finishing the race is not likely. In the case of addiction, total abstinence in the first few years of recovery is not a realistic goal for most persons as has been indicated by many studies of recovery. Possibly the first target should be the reduction of depression.

denial The failure to admit or even realise that one is addicted; or to recognise and accept the degree of harm caused by an addiction uch as nicotine, alcohol, the synthetic opiates in prescription mood elevators, and in hunger-causing foods.

depression The most frequent distress seen in counseling, it is often not identified as such and its importance in treatment is often not identified. Coca Cola, which contained cocaine, was a late-19th Century form of self-treatment for mild depression (called 'melancholy' then). Later, caffeine, a drug with a milder anti- depressant effect, replaced the cocaine.

dysynergy The tendency of one addiction to cause another. Also, the tendency of addicted persons to combine substances, most often with alcohol (e.g., cannabis + beer, cocaine + alcohol, nicotine + alcohol, fat + carbohydrates + caffeine + sugar).

euphoria the alteration of consciousness in a powerfully pleasurable way; the reason one addictive substance or behavior is preferred over another; the "first cause" of addictive behaviors

fame addiction "The last addiction cast off even by the wise (Tacitus)."

family therapy First put forth by Peter Menuchin, it requires all members of the family to take part in therapy as a group and also separately. Compare to Network Therapy which tries to include the entire network of family, friends and acquaintances.

gateway drugs (See 'dysynergy' above.)

harm-reduction Attempting a more realistic goal of reducing therapy rather than ceasing the target behavior, "...better a probable silver than an unlikely gold." Can also be the first stage of addiction treatment.

illegal drugs An entire category of addicted-society denials: users of highly addictive alcohol and cigarettes are respected and rarely criminals; the complete lack of regulation of the life-long addictive drug caffeine; and the lack of laws against the abuse of legal prescription drugs.

inflation the tendency of an addiction behavior to slowly and imperceptibly increase in frequency, e.g., the size or number of drinks consumed per week. In the case of an addicted society, the tendency for corporations to crave more and more profit, often to the point where they define lower profit as loss.

legal drugs those drugs which are not used for medical purposes and addict the most persons: alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, carbohydrates, wealth & power

money addiction "The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion (Aristotle, c. 350 B.C.)"; "A great fortune is a great slavery (Seneca, c. 50 A.D.)"; "His money owns him rather than he owns it (Cyprian, c. 250 A.D.)"

obsession The mental equivalent of the physical compulsion (see 'compulsion' above)

opium In its synthetic form as 'opiate', it is one of an addicted society's most popular and denial-protected drugs in its role as the central ingredient in tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and muscle-relaxers

power addiction "Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with habit (Bertrand Russell, 1951)"; "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (Lord Acton, 1888)"; "The enjoyment of power inevitably corrupts the judgments of reason and perverts its liberty (Immanuel Kant, 1800)"; "Power buries those who wield it (The Talmud)"

Psychological Fallacy, The Just because two things are logically connected does not mean that one CAUSED the other in the mind, e.g., childhood trauma and last night's dream content. The latter could be logically connected to nearly anything--even the afterlife as Jung suggested.

Reality Therapy Put forth by William Glasser, it avoids the philosophical and practical problems of the Freudian Unconscious by avoiding analyzing the past and focusing on the here-and-now and then retraining the mind with new habits.

recovery The process of reducing or ceasing consumption of destructive substances and/or the enactment of compulsive behaviors, followed by the creation of a new personal life within a supportive social environment.

recovery rates The percentage of persons in treatment systems who avoid the target behavior for the first year is usually 5% - 20%, including those using self-treatment.

screening The assessment of a person's addictions by using a self-completed questionnaire, and a life-history assessment by the counsellor.

societal denial Failure by the majority in a society to recognise or accept that euphoria and drug-induced pleasure have historically been a valued part of its life. This can be seen in the (1) legalisation by the majority of its preferred drugs and activities which are highly addictive or habit-forming, and its banning of drugs not preferred by the majority; (2 ) its failure to even recognise that its preferred drugs are indeed drugs, e.g., nicotine, and using the term "drugs and alcohol" as if both weren't one and the same; (3) its forgiveness of young persons who use cigarettes and alcohol illegally but rarely punishing them except for their use of 'illegal' drugs thus covertly encouraging them to continue using the more harmful legal drugs and avoiding illegal drugs as adults; (4) its reward of power, wealth, and work addictions; (5) its use of addictive television to advertise addictive foods, caffeine, compulsive gambling, and grooming and shopping compulsion; and (6) its inability to avoid pollution of the environment because it is "too expensive."

splitting the setting of one person or group against another, usually for the purposes of maintaining power ("divide & conquer"), or by acoa's as a survival strategy

Sullivanian Theory Harry Stack Sullivan, a brilliant and somewhat  unsung hero in the history of psychology, possibly with ancestors in Kerry. He proposed revolutionary concepts such as comparing consciousness to the headlamps of a car driving at night, "...all that is not seen is not in principle out of reach."

urge-peak the sudden and unpredictable increase of addictive cravings, they usually involve temporary unconsciousness ("the next thing I knew I had finished the drink").

urge-peak cycle the random cycle of urge-peaks, usually sooner or later followed by relapse, i.e., the resumption of the addictive behaviors

© 2001 by danmahony.com