Drug Addiction – Treating Feelings Like Facts
Feelings are important for human beings, there’s no doubt about it. they are interwoven in our daily human experience from birth to death. But the thing that sets us apart from other animals is our use of higher-level thinking. Our feelings and thinking work together in unique advanced ways. But the key for success is keeping them in balance with each other. Unfortunately, people with drug addiction have a lot of trouble with this balance. Emotions often take over their lives, creating a chaotic and stressful existence.
Feelings Are Not Necessarily Factual
When a person makes decisions, emotions and logic may both play a role. Emotions are considered, but practical matters are also examined. Sometimes the decisions may be more heavily influenced by logic and factual information. For example, a person needing a job may feel desperate for money but would not allow that feeling to take over and make them steal something.
When someone uses more emotion, they may intentionally throw most of their logic out the window and hope for the best. While these decisions can certainly work, sometimes they aren’t well thought out. Feelings can be so strong and hard to ignore that they may be seen as absolute truth. If there is little good sense to go along with strong feelings, people can really pay a price for decisions made in this state of mind.
Emotions Justify Everything With Drug Addiction
Let’s take a look at how this blend of emotion and logic changes when a person is addicted to drugs. Drug addiction causes emotions to drive a person’s life. They have most likely misused drugs or alcohol to cope with painful feelings. Drugs and alcohol stimulate emotions and make it difficult to think clearly. When a person is addicted, they are like this all the time day and night. Whether they are down, up, or indifferent, it seems their emotions are always out of whack. They become used to instant gratification and twisting logic to fit their addiction needs. Therefore, emotions become as important as facts to someone with a drug addiction.
When a person with drug addiction becomes angry, this feeling justifies and explains everything they do. If they feel disrespected or cheated by someone, their feelings will trump the facts in this situation. It matters less what the other person really did and more how the addicted person reacts emotionally. Since their internal balance is tipped toward emotions, they have great difficulty accepting facts that contradict their reality. If they feel they need drugs to get through each day, the facts about how drugs affect their life are not given much importance. This is why it is often so frustrating when a person refuses to go to drug rehab, even when they obviously need the help.
Drug Rehab Helps Clarify Feelings And Facts
When someone goes through drug rehab, they begin to understand how off-balance their feelings and logic have been for so long. They can start to see how their emotional decisions have added to their destructive lifestyle. Finally with the clarity they get at drug rehab, they can start to put emotions and clear thinking back in the proper balance.
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