Jewish Addicts
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Share my Story
Oct 28th
Sharing my Experience about OJA http://www.jewishaddicts.org
Id like to share my story how OJA truly saved my life:
I’m proud to say that today is my 82nd day clean and sober, and I never thought I would be saying that with a TRUE smile on my face!! Going back to about July 6th I got a phone call from on the other end of the phone was a man who requested to meet with me. My response as a user was “SURE”, well I never met him.
The next day I get a call its the same man, I can hear the smile on his face, and again asked if he can meet with me, well again I said “SURE”, well I was to high to ever make it. This went on for a week and a half. Now a week and a half went by and I was sitting on my bed nodding out (because I just smoked up and snorted a concoction of things) and the thought of this guy came to me.
I said to myself “WOW!! this guy must really care, he is the first person in my life again IN MY LIFE that didn’t and wasn’t willing to give up on me. So I decided to go and meet him. Now I come in to meet a jolly happy man who tells me he himself once used.. Now as an addict I thought ” haha what a sales pitch but he is definitely full of shit.
Well after talking for an hour (and I came to him so high on oxy’s) we were done. He shook my hand and looked at me and said one word…”Heroin”??…. when he said that I knew he was ligit. (for those who don’t know oxy and heroin go hand in hand. Now knowledge to me is nice but doesn’t faze me. what got me to go forward and listen to this mans advice was the feeling. (I have been to other counselors and what not but they were all a bunch of slogans and books they weren’t people if you know what I mean)
I felt that when I spoke to him and I was in pain he too was in pain and when I smiled he smiled with me and it wasn’t a show!!!!
As an addict you know when some one is real or not YOU CANT FOOL AN ADDICT!!!!!
Well about two weeks after that, I hit my bottom!!! 
I was tripping acid while on Molly’s smoked up and on Addy’s and I felt death!! (for the 4th time) I was happy I wanted to die, My fear was I might not die and if I don’t I totally ran out of money and used up all the people I can borrow from SO I WAS SCREWED!!!
So I got home and I am tripping face!! and I have this thought that when I come down from this trip I am going to kill myself!! 20 min later I text this guy “is there such a thing as a 10 day rehab??” he texts me back “ I will be outside your house in 5 min.” This is on a Friday Aug 6th. 5 min later literally he is outside.. he tells me go into your house get some clothing were going to take a ride. Me as an addict tell him NO!! He tells me “WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE!!!!
I was stuck, he got me!! I had NOTHING to lose.
So I get some clothing and hop into his car ! 15-20 min after we start driving I tell him ” I’m sorry I made you crazy but I overreacted please take me back home!!!!
He again tells me “Lets just check it out (and I’m tripping hard) so an hour and a half later I pull up to detox…15 min later I’m in and settled!!
That Sunday guess who comes to visit me This Tzaddik but not only is he there to visit me he is there with a bag full of food, challas, grape juice, cake, snacks…..you name it, it was in there. 10 days later I was released. Guess what he was there to pick me up. Not only that he drove me and got me into Rehab which is a whole story in itself. Every Sunday he came to visit me in rehab (48 days) food, if I had any problem he was there ( a two hour drive just to get there)
WHEN I SAY I OWE HIM (OJA) my life I truly mean it!!!! THANK YOU AGAIN!!!
A very grateful recovering addict 
Understanding The Power of Addiction
Oct 24th
If someone is suffering from Drug Addiction or Alcoholism, people around them would wonder why wouldn’t they or cant they stop using the substance if it only creates for them negative or dangerous consequences.
Chances are that the user doesn’t even have the power of choice to stop using and its no longer in their control to stop.
Most people that become Drug Addicts or Alcoholics start using only occasionally or just as an experiment, the more they use, the brain structure and its functions are altered, by now they depend on the substance not only to feel good but just to be “Normal”, by then its not any more their “Choice”.
After that they will do whatever it takes for them just to be Normal, it becomes the most important thing in their life, and nothing else matters.
Addiction is considered to be a chronic disease that needs to be managed for the rest of the Addicts life.
Therefor no matter how long the Addict has bean Clean and Sober, their brain could always have triggers to fall back into their full Addiction like before, if they will just take even a small amount of any mind altering Substance.
The only way for an Addict to stay Sober is by completely changing their lifestyle and staying away from any triggers that could lead them back to their old habits, or else they will for sure relapse.
http://www.jewishaddicts.org
MODELS OF ADDICTION
Oct 16th
Moral model:
Personal Choice: the cause of addiction.
The individual is choosing to use alcohol in a problematic manner. Alcoholics are inherently weak, or unable to control or tolerate their consumption of alcohol.
1988 US Supreme Court: alcoholism: “willful misconduct” and not a disease.
Most manageable for society rather than optimal for the addict.
Temperance Model:
Substance itself: the cause of addiction. Evolved into the prohibition movement.
Legalizing caused conceptual dilemma because most believed that alcohol problems were caused by the nature of the substance itself. Solution:
Disease Model (Medical Model)
1957 AMA declared alcoholism a disease on the basis of 3 criteria:
(1) a known etiology [cause]
(2) the progression of symptoms that get worse over time,
(3) a known outcome: dependence, physical symptoms, and eventual death
1. Addiction is a medical disorder as much as diabetes.
2. Alcoholism is a progressive condition that is qualitatively different from social drinking.
3. There is a biological disposition toward addiction.
4. Rests on the assumption that some people have a biological vulnerability to the effects of a chemical or chemicals which is expressed as a loss of control over their use.
5. Alcoholics are different and are incapable of drinking in moderation.
6. Central symptom of alcoholism is the loss of control over alcohol, the inability to stop drinking once a person has taken a drink.
Genetic Model:
Blum et al. 1990 identified a link between the receptor gene for the neurotransmitter dopamine and alcoholism. Established clearly the significance of a genetic factor in predisposing people to alcoholism.
Adopted sons of alcoholic biological parents are 4X more likely to become alcoholics than adoptees whose biological parents were not alcoholics.
Identical twins [100% shared genes] vs fraternal [50% shared genes] studies show 71% – 32% concordance, 26% – 12%,
Psychological Model
Psychological vulnerability: prior psychological factor that makes a pattern of substance dependence more likely to develop.
Personality Traits:
1) High emotionality.
2) Anxiety and over reactivity
3) Immaturity in interpersonal relationships
4) Low frustration tolerance
5) Inability to express anger adequately
6) Anger over dependence and ambivalence to authority
7) Low self-esteem with grandiose behavior
Perfectionism
9) Compulsiveness
10) Depression.
11) Dependence in interpersonal relationships
12) Rigidity and inability to adapt to changing circumstances
13) Simplistic, black and white thinking
Conditioning Model:
Problems with drinking are simply learned habits.
Drinking: alcohol is rewarding: such as tension reduction; removal of inhibitions; reinforced through peer pressure.
If learned it can be unlearned. Try to teach an alcoholic to drink moderately.
If An Addict Is Not Ready To Get Help, Can You Do Something About It ?
Oct 13th
You cannot force an addict to change or to take on treatment
Many addicts don’t believe that they even have a problem and most of the times the only way for an addict to seek treatment is when they themselves realize that they need help after a court order or if something medically happens to them and they cannot do it on their own, then they take on treatment or Rehab “Voluntarily”.
This does not mean that family or friends cannot bring the addict closer to that so called “Rock Bottom” for them to realize and acknowledge that the time has come and they should agree to go to a treatment program.
There are a few things that Family and friends can do.
Stop Enabling Them. Stop covering up for them. Stop taking the blame for their behaviors. Stop giving them money to feed their addiction. Stop giving them a safe shelter, the more you give them the more comfortable they feel that there is no problem and that they are not causing any harm since nobody confronts them. It could be difficult but in the end it could be the best thing that you have done for them.
Talk to the Immediate People Around the Addict. Its not only you that the addict takes advantage of its many other people around them too. So if you get all of the people around them on the same page, when you work together with others around them that also care about them and together you come to the agreement to do whatever it takes to help them in the right way then the addict will feel cornered to surrender.
Learn and Understand About Addiction. Understand and learn from Addiction Professionals what the disease of addiction is, Learn how and when to talk to the addict what to say or what not to say about their problems, Know some of the treatment or Rehab options there are available and Prepare yourself for when the day will come and the Addict will be ready to take your advice, you are ready to act upon that decision.
Discuss it with them at the Right Time. You cannot confront an addict while they are using. So plan this in advance to find the right time or the right place, for example, after an argument or a loss of a job or anything that is related directly to their addiction, that’s when it has the strongest impact and they have guilt and shame. But remember never to talk with them when they are using, only when they are sober and in a non-threatening place where you can express your true feelings and concerns and then offer your assistance.
Don’t be Judgmental be Specific and Direct. Be very specific about what their addiction means to you and what it has done to you and others around them.(when you use you forget… when you use you brake things, when you use you lose things….. ) without being judgmental, Be focused on what your goal is (getting them to treatment). Be specific with what you will do or not to do for them if they will not listen or take your advice. Don’t threaten them if your not prepared to back it up.
Be Fully Prepared. It is possible that after such a confrontation the addict will be ready and willing to go to treatment or willing to talk to a professional for help. Then you have to be prepared to be able to do whatever needs to be done to make it happen, taking care of their children, their job, their ride, their payments, This is a small window of opportunity that you have to catch fast and swift, So be well prepared.
Cocaine Addiction Destroys Family and Friends Too.
Oct 8th
Even though the cocaine addict has no intention to draw anyone into their addiction, The fact is that they do. Cocaine is one of the most common addictions in today’s society and its also one of the toughest addictions to fight, most Cocaine Addicts start innocently they could get introduced to it at a party, or a get together with friends, But after some time it starts controlling their life’s and they start, Stealing, Lying, Cheating and Manipulating so far that their own Family and Friends wouldn’t even recognize them. For most of them it leads to bad relationships they lose weight they could get dehydrated, the addict could even “think” that they are “Fooling” everyone around them.
Everything that used to be important in the Addicts life is gone, the addict that used to get great marks in school now has no interests in even attending school any more. The person that was about to become the CEO of a big company is now jobless. The only thing that matters to them now is the “Drug”.
No Addict gets up one morning and says “Today is a perfect day for me to become a Cocaine Addict” most of the times they become addicted so fast that they don’t even realize yet that they are addicted already.
But the fact is that this Disease is Curable
It could take a lot of determination and many times trying but its Curable, there are many people that where once strong Cocaine Addicts and made it through and today they have Healthy and Happy life’s, the stronger the support they get for what “they” are doing, from friends or family the more chances they have to overcome this disease, Therefore it is very important for the people around the “Addict that’s “Doing” their work towards recovery”, To support them for the courage in changing their lives around. Don’t get discouraged even if the addict is going through a rough time and they could get very angry and frustrated at times especially at the time of their withdrawals.
The right thing to do is, Looking for help from professionals that have the knowledge and understanding about addictions they can also help you with Interventions to get the addict to a place of “Choosing” their recovery but most importantly is for you to know that “Somebody has to make the first initial move and most of the times it not the Addict themselves”.
ADDICTION:
Oct 8th
Behavioral Definition of Addiction: 3 C’s
Compulsion: obsessive-compulsive behavior with drugs.
Users think about alcohol and drugs in a vicious negative cycle;their obsessive concern and preoccupation follow incessant use of drugs in a continuous pattern and compulsive lifestyle.
Control: inability to stop using.
Users cannot stop for at least three months,And/or make feeble attempts to cut back in a progression of stop-then-start patterns. They are unable to refuse readily available drugs.
Consequences: continued use despite adverse consequences.
Users are caught up in their addictions, illustrating the pervasive defense mechanisms of denial (rationalization and minimization)
Harvard Mental Letter 1955: elements for diagnosis of alcohol/drug addiction:
- Compulsion/loss of control. Using more than intended. Unable to cut back or stop.
- Tolerance: to the effects of the chemical. Withdrawal symptoms.
- Impairment: preoccupation with further use. Medical, social, psychological, legal, or vocational complications.
Compulsive search for happiness outside of yourself.
REWARD CASCADE
Oct 8th
There is one form of compulsive disease syndrome that characterizes all chemical addictions/dependence and even Eating disorders, and that is “Cocaine Addiction”.
Because there is an imbalance or deficit of the neurochemicals especially Dopamine that creates the Cocaine Seeking Behavior.
The neurotransmitter serves as a target messenger in the limbic System of the brain. That Creates Reward Feelings.
Reward Cascade Model starts in the hypothalamus, that is the principal site for the Emotional Behavior.
When it is in Balance this Cascade provides homeostatic regulation for Activity or Inactivity.However if one neurotransmitter becomes dysfunctional, or the receptor site is imbalance/non responsive,then the homeostatic balance becomes upset, and that,causes the change of feelings or Behaviors.
Imbalances in the reward system can come up through different reasons
1.if the person inherited genetically neurotransmitter deficits:
2.dysfunctional neurochemicals that creates stress:
3.alteration in drug abuse:
4.a nutritional imbalance:
When the Normal Reward System gets introduced to Cocaine then the acute response is.
1.The recycling of serotonin and dopamine is inhibited so that they have a prolonged affect at the synapses.
2. The transmission of the dopamine, nor epinephrine, and serotonin gets increased, so as a result it increases supply to the synapses.
The net effect is that it creates an oversupply or it floods the synapses with more neurotransmitters, that creates a euphoric state.
The Chronic response would be:
1.Depletion of Neurotransmitters
2.With the continuous use of Cocaine molecules it further interferes the release of the neurotransmitters and blocks the receptor site in the reward area.
3.At the same time the number of receptor sites increases, resulting an even greater discrepancy between the amount of transmitters that are available and the number of receptor sites occupied.
4.There is a stronger need of Cocaine in order to obtain a High.
5.The craving remains at a very high level, and the User experiences a feeling of unhappiness and depression.
6. these symptoms become more severe, and the user experiences a “CRASH”
Alcohol Facts
Oct 8th
“Alcohol Use”
The consumption of alcohol beverage within some socially prescribed or ritualistic context.
“Alcohol Misuse”
Unintentional or inappropriate use of beverage alcohol resulting in the impaired physical, mental, emotional or social well being of the user.
(Three or more drinks before bed time prevents REM (dreaming) sleep, which is the part of sleep in which we recover.)
“Alcohol Abuse”
Deliberate or unintentional use of beverage alcohol which results in any degree of physical, mental, emotional, or social impairment of the user, the
user’s family, or society in general.
Legal intoxication: .08 BAC (blood alcohol concentration)
“Alcohol Dependence”
Psychological and/or physical need for beverage alcohol – characterized by compulsive use, tolerance, and physical dependence manifest by withdrawal syndrome. 10 to 11% of those who drink develop the problem of alcoholism.
The Role of The Enabler
Oct 7th
Unfortunately, most times, the loved ones of the addicts are actually enabling the addiction through their well intentioned desires to help the addict or alcoholic. How does this occur?
Consider the role of the addict: their intention is to continue the using behavior at all costs. What better way to continue that use than to enlist someone to “help” them. Without the enabler, the addict would have to start facing consequences of their actions, and that might interfere with the continuous using. The well intentioned enabler, out of “love” for the addict will “protect” them from consequences.
I watched a “Intervention” where a mother gave her son, living at home, in his mid twenties money for Heroin, drove him downtown to buy the drugs and back home so he could use “safely”.
She was afraid he might have uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms or get hurt in a dangerous part of town. That was one of the more dramatic examples of addiction enabling I have seen. Are you lying, making excuses, and creating alibis for your loved one? These are signs that you may have crossed the line from “helping” into “enabling” addiction.
Enabling behavior usually starts out very slowly and gradually with trying to smooth things out with others outside the relationship or family. There is a desire to keep family secrets or not rock the boat. Part of enabling, just like active addiction, is “denial”. In the beginning the enabler will make all sorts of rationalizations and try to minimize the problem, Ignore it and hope it goes away. This usually does not happen.
This is the way the vicious cycle of enabling and addiction works.
The chemically dependent person is being shielded from the negative consequences of their use. Since these consequences are not hitting home, they can continue to use, or increase their use even more. This means the enabler gets drawn even deeper into the web by having to deal with ever increasing chaos. The increasing chaos in the home can be just the excuse the dependent person needs to keep on using.
Where and how does the madness end?
For the enabler, though there may be fear and shame about the situation, it usually ends in anger. The enabler typically tries to hold things together and keeps the mounting frustration and anger bottled up…until one day the explosion occurs. They opt out of continuing the excuses.
Paradoxically at this point, with the rug pulled out from them the user may encounter the crisis that will be “motivation” to seek treatment.
Pain is not pleasant, but it is a wonderful motivator.
People who seek addiction treatment usually come from one of two places.
1. They simply get sick and tired of being sick and tired. They get worn out. More commonly is the second option:
2. A crisis occurs that hits them with the force of a 2 x 4 in the side of the head.
Being protected from crisis may simply be doing nothing more than preventing engagement in addiction treatment and delaying the entry into addiction recovery.
