When it comes to Target, we always go in and leave with things we did not originally go in for. No matter how many pep talks we give ourselves, we know that we’re going to leave spending way more than we planned with way more than we needed. And, half of the time we don’t even get what we originally needed in the beginning. Oh, Target, how you love to do us dirty.
Tag: addict
7. Oh My God. They fit perfectly. Look at me. I’m Adriana Lima. Look at these legs baby. Legs. For. Days.
10 Things That Will Make Every Iced Coffee Addict Say ‘Preach, Sis’
Coffee Addict ?
How much iced coffee do you drink a day? Is it almost too much to keep track of? Are you known for your caffeine addiction? Would you date it if you could? Do you have a coffee problem? That’s okay, you’re in good company. Addicts read on.
1. You always have some with you.
2. It doesn’t matter if it’s negative fifty degrees, you have some.
3. You really can’t make it through the day without it.
4. It doesn’t matter what place you’re at, you’re definitely ordering coffee. Starbucks? Dunkin Donuts? Greasy diner? Your grandma’s?
5. Your barista knows your order without you saying anything because you get the same iced coffee every day.
6. You sometimes order two and drink them both.
7. You spend more money on coffee than on rent.
8. Your car is filled with the detritus of coffee—empty cups, straw wrappers, coffee-stained napkins…
9. You get happy just thinking about coffee.
10. You’re on your way to get some right after you read this.
12 Signs You’re Addicted To Chick-Fil-A
How many times a week do you eat Chick-fil-A? A) one to two, B) three to four, C) more than you can count, or D) you’re kind of embarrassed to say? If you chose any of those options above, there’s a pretty good chance you might be a Chick-fil-A addict.
But don’t worry, you’re not alone. Chick-fil-Addiction is a well-known condition, which can be determined by seeing if you have any of the signs below.
1. Chick-fil-A is your absolute favorite breakfast.
2. You are certain that their hash browns are the best around.
3. Chick-fil-A is always your first choice of fast food.
4. You honestly don’t get how some people can “get bored of” Chick-fil-A.
5. You get legitimately bummed that they’re closed on Sundays.
6. Basically everything on the menu looks delicious.
7. But somehow you always seem to get the same thing.
8. You could write an ode of joy to their ice cream.
9. You will gladly defend Chick-fil-A from any hater, anywhere, anytime.
10. When you go on vacation, you have to find out if there’s a Chick-fil-A close to you.
11. If there isn’t, that’s the first place you go as soon as you get home.
12. You would put Chick-fil-A as your emergency contact if you could.
I’ve Come To Learn That Drug Addiction Is A Disease, Not A Choice
I grew up in a small neighborhood where kids grew up pretty fast. It seemed as though when we hit high school, something switched in my friends’ minds that going to dinner and seeing a movie just wasn’t fun anymore. We began drinking and partying at an age that was much too young for any of us to handle. When our parents were out, away, or even going to bed early, we’d sneak in booze and liquor, partying until late hours—hindering our childhood and rushing into adulthood far too soon for us to handle.
I could handle the drinking. I was never a huge drinker, so I didn’t feel as though it was hurting anyone to have a few beers on a Friday night or drink a mixed solo cup at a party. But, when kids started bringing drugs into the picture—I took a step back. I wasn’t ready to experiment with drugs the way that my friends were, and I wasn’t ready to let it tear me apart.
I have two older sisters, and they’d warned me about drug use at such a young age. They told me scary stories of their friends, losing their lives and their innocence to experimenting with things they couldn’t handle. So, I stayed away, I chose to stay away. My friends chose to partake in the experience. They chose to step through a door that they had no idea was going to be locked shut on them for years to come.
I’ve heard so many stories in the media about drug use, how it’s a choice to use drugs so often that you overdose on them. That every time you use drugs, you’re making a choice to put them in your body. That if you overdose, you chose to die. Every time a celebrity death comes up that is drug related, I brace myself for the comments that will come through social media, how selfish it is and how stupid they are to have chosen such a life.
I used to think that taking drugs every day was a choice. When I was young and my sisters told me about using drugs, they told me I had a choice—a choice that would affect my life for years to come. I agreed, that trying drugs, and beginning to take them—it’s a choice. It’s a choice to succumb to peer pressure and other pressures of society telling you to do so. It’s a choice to decide if your SO uses drugs, you should, too. It’s a choice to try a stronger drug, once the other drugs have lost their strength.
But, once you become addicted to drugs, it is no longer a choice for you—it becomes a disease.
Being an addict is a disease. It’s one that should be recognized as a health condition and treated as such. I never thought this way until I saw friends—close, family friends of mine—battle addiction with drugs for years. I watched friends I grew up with go to rehab multiple times. I saw friends of mine die from overdoses. I saw friends in abusive relationships with addicts. It was hard to escape the epidemic that was taking over my town and neighboring towns—everyone was sick.
The way that people look at addicts disturbs me. They look at them as though they’re disgusting, they’re pathetic, they’re a burden on society. But, they don’t look at people with other illnesses the same. People who develop diabetes from poor diets, they made a choice to eat the way they did. They didn’t choose to develop the disease, but they chose what to eat. Those who are diagnosed with cancer due to smoking—they did not choose to develop cancer, but they chose to smoke. However, if you find out someone is sick with cancer, or diabetes and heart disease—we don’t look down on them as though they are horrible, disgusting people in society.
There is a stigma that is associated with addiction. People look at addicts as though they are trash. But, I’ve come to learn that they are not trash, they’re not horrible, they’re not disgusting. They are sick.
They are sick with a disease that needs curing. They are sick with an illness they cannot shake. Instead of looking at these people as though they are horrible and disgusting, be kind. Understand that—like a person with cancer—they, too, are terrified to lose their life. They are fighting every day to stay alive. They didn’t choose to be an addict.
But, just as any other sick individual, they are fighting to stay alive.
The Effects of Drug Addiction on Family Members
About this disease
The cunning, baffling disease of addiction is multifaceted, and continues to be a growing epidemic across the United States. Drug addiction carries an unending amount of dangers to an individual’s physical, mental, societal, and familial well-being. Effective treatments have proven to be successful in battling this disease, and layered prevention tactics are making addiction a preventable health condition; however, even though it is treatable and preventable, there are significant elements to pay attention to. This disease is deadly, and Straub (2012) notes the toxic reality of drug and alcohol addiction has produced more deaths, illnesses, and disabilities than any other unnecessary, preventable illness. Jason Shiers Certified Psychotherapist with UK Addiction Treatment says “While commonly it is believed that addiction is a disease, the truth is, this is only a concept and a way of explaining an unexplainable phenomenom, when we look beyond concepts, psychology and psychiatric diagnoses, addiction is a simple misunderstanding, this doesn’t make it any less devastating”.
Addiction is monstrous and calculating, and it houses many victims. Unfortunately, an addict’s family remains in the crosshairs of this fatal disease. Imagine addiction as a glass of salt water. Now, pour the water into a healthy plant. Over time, you will watch the plant slouch, wither, shrivel up, and if you continue to use this same food source, the plant will eventually die. The effects the salt water had on this healthy plant mimic the effects of drug and alcohol addiction. This disease is not defined by the act of drinking or using drugs; there are many other layers including the impact on one’s physical and mental health, attitude and behaviors, inner spirit, and the mere destruction of relationships with family members. One family member suffering from addiction paves the route for their entire family to suffer, as well.
A Family Disease
Addiction is often referred to as a family disease. This simply means that while the person using and abusing drugs is suffering, his or her family suffers also. As it is important to recognize how each member is affected, it is just as significant that each family member receives treatment to heal their relationship and emotional wounds. Recovery is a process that requires every single person within an addict’s familial and societal circle to be unified. Though it may be difficult for some family members to hear and fully accept, their behaviors, emotions, and relationship with their addicted loved one directly and indirectly promote and support their addiction – this unhealthy interaction and family illness is called codependency.
The Roles
An addict’s family suffers the brunt of many layers of this disease. The immediate family, as well as those extended family members, is right in the path of their loved one’s addiction-driven chaos and mayhem. First, everyone’s feelings are exposed and vulnerable. The relationship that existed prior to addiction is completely overshadowed by someone the family no longer recognizes. An addict’s attitude, feelings, priorities, trust, behaviors, thoughts, and even their personality are gravely affected. The fact is that each person is impacted in a unique way, and how he/she is affected really depends on their previous relationship with the addict.
While some family members blame themselves for their loved one’s addiction, others in the family unit take on a sterner role, to the point of seeking out protective orders against the person abusing drugs (SAMSHA, 2004). The most important familial strategy to begin fighting this treacherous battle is to identify who takes on which role. Each family member, by acknowledging, understanding, and taking accountability, can construct a therapeutic plan of action. Now, let’s understand how family roles hinder one’s addiction.
Just like a “non-addicted” functioning family, there are roles each person fills. When addiction enters the family unit, the roles shift, trying to maintain a balance in this new, unhealthy group (Low, 2015). The major family roles include the addict (chemically dependent), the hero (the caretaker of the family), the enabler, the scapegoat, the lost child, and the mascot. While the addict lies within the center of everyone’s attention, the enabler essentially provides the addict with the financial, emotional, or even physical (driving them to pick up drugs) aspects to support their disease. Enabler’s feelings consist of helplessness and guilt, and often these codependent roles are filled by a parent, partner, or spouse (Kelly, 2015). The lost child role is the one whose life is put on the back burner, as the addict’s role has taken precedent over everything else. Those who embrace this role are normally filled with resentment, anger, and loneliness, as their emotional and physical needs are not being met (Kelly, 2015). Often, a sibling will take on the role of a scapegoat as a way to cope with their drug-addicted loved one. This person is known to act out and draw attention to themselves in an unhealthy, distracting manner, as they are weighed down with feelings of emptiness, shame, and guilt (Kelly, 2015). Finally, the mascot diverts attention away from the underlying problem of addiction, using humor as a distraction while attempting to alleviate the constant stressors that accompany their loved one’s addiction.
The disease of addiction has the potential to tear a family apart from the inside out. The addict can be viewed as untrustworthy and undependable. At times, drug addiction can lead to the addict lying, cheating, and stealing from their own loved ones to support their habit. Stress builds and fights break out, and what once was a healthy, loving family unit is easily turned into a family just trying to emotionally and physically survive from day to day.
The Interpersonal Destructions of Addiction
A number of recent studies have revealed exactly how addiction can wreak havoc within a family. The National Institutes of Health (2016) noted that parents who are addicts severely impact their children by replacing their parental responsibilities with using drugs and maintaining their addiction. Not cooking meals, forgetting about meetings with teachers, ignoring homework, not monitoring their child’s social circle, and just being detached from their child’s life has a damaging consequence. It has a rippling effect, as the NIH (2016) explains children of addicted parents are extremely vulnerable to following the same unhealthy path of living unstable lives and falling into addiction themselves. They are susceptible to poverty, teen pregnancy, and unhealthy behaviors including drug use and addiction. A pregnant addict’s drug use impacts their unborn child’s weight, eating and sleeping habits, cognitive abilities, and developmental milestones (Lander, 2013). As the child grows, they are vulnerable to learning disabilities and social problems. As you can see, this cycle is vicious and reoccurring, and it can easily be passed on from one generation to the next.
There is Hope, There is Help
All families of addicts require professional, therapeutic assistance. First and foremost, they must all learn how to accept and embrace the fact that none of them caused their loved one’s addiction, none could control their loved one’s addiction, and none of them can cure this cunning disease. The light at the end of this addiction tunnel is treatment. While emotional, financial, physical, and psychological damages are left from the storm of one’s addiction, there is hope. Many studies and treatment models have revealed that family members must not only get treatment as a family unit, but must also receive therapeutical services on an individual basis. For those seeking a comprehensive recovery program in a serene environment, visiting a luxury rehab facility in San Francisco can provide the peaceful setting and high-quality care necessary for healing and rebuilding lives. Whether it be a 12-step program, group therapy, or individual counseling, there are many options available to help families heal and move forward after the devastation of addiction.
Addiction is a family disease, and even though a family’s turmoil may have begun with their loved one’s addiction, they all have a responsibility to themselves and to their loved ones to learn healthy thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors to support a road to recovery and abstinence.
Recovery is a lifelong journey. It may have started as an individual problem, but it has the potential to evolve into a beautiful family passage.
Karen Corcoran-Walsh, CAP, ICADC, MFT, ASAM is nationally known as an expert in the treatment of mental health and drug or alcohol abuse and addiction, also known as Dual Diagnosis, with a specialty in working with teenagers. Renowned as an adolescent addiction treatment center professional, she has worked in the professions of education and drug treatment for approximately 20 years. Karen is the co-founder of Inspirations For Youth And Families, LLC an adolescent treatment program and The Cove Center For Recovery, LLC an adult addiction treatment center.
References
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment and Family Therapy. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2004. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 39.) Chapter 2 Impact of Substance Abuse on Families. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64258/
Kelly, V. A. (2016). Addiction in the family: What every counselor needs to know. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
Lander, L., Howsare, J., & Byrne, M. (2013). The Impact of Substance Use Disorders on Families and Children: From Theory to Practice. Social Work in Public Health, 28(0), 194–205. http://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2013.759005
Low, M. (2015). Substance Abuse and the Impact on the Family System. Retrieved from
http://www.rehabs.com/pro-talk-articles/substance-abuse-and-the-impact-on-the-family-system/
NIH. (2016). Drug Abuse Hurts Kids. Retrieved from https://easyread.drugabuse.gov/content/drug-abuse-hurts-kids
Söderström, K., & Skårderud, F. (2009). Minding the baby. Mentalization-based treatment in families with parental substance use disorder: Theoretical framework. Nordic Psychology, 61(3), 47-65. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1901-2276.61.3.47
Straub, R. O. (2012). Health psychology: A biopsychosocial approach (3rd ed.). [VitalSource digital version]. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.