Everybody’s Got Something

We use a term in treatment and recovery called “underlying issues”. Addiction is never just about addiction. There are few people in the entirety of the world who simply had a drug or alcohol problem without having a single other issue in their life. As a result of their drinking or drug use they might have developed problems in their life. Until then, however, things were relatively normal. For most, on the other hand, this is not the case. Most everybody in recovery has some kind of something that they experienced, that they felt, or who they were, which contributed to their drinkings. Anything from ADHD to a parent’s divorce, from getting bullied to feeling a pressure to be perfect, the tiny little “flaws” in a person’s history and make up predisposed them to addiction. Years of our life might be spent thinking we’re the only ones to have these life experiences. Through treatment, therapy, and recovery, we learn that everybody’s got something.

Discovering underlying issues is considered a necessary part of the treatment and recovery process. If there were a leak in the house that was causing the floor to flood would you merely lay down some towels or would you find the source of the leaking water? Underlying issues are like breaks in the pipes. Some might be small and cause a tiny leak while others are large and significant, causing big leaks. Since addiction is addiction and comes with a wealth of shame, stigma, and stereotype, the leaks get ignored. For too many years, treatment programs have focused on the flood on the floor- that is, the most obvious issue at hand. Treating the addiction alone left people with leaks, breakages in mind, body, and spirit. Sadly, many people relapse because they never confront their underlying issues.

Addiction is easy to blame. Drugs and alcohol are easy to pinpoint. “The Big Book”, Alcoholics Anonymous, best describes underlying issues when it states that for alcoholics, “our liquor was but a symptom.” We uncover our recovery, our true recovery, when we uncover our underlying issues. Recovery is, as the metaphor goes, like peeling back the layers of an onion. The more layers we peel back, the further away from addiction we get.

If you are seeking transformation and looking for a dual-diagnosis treatment, our facility’s amazing program could be the answer you’ve been searching for! Enlightened Solutions offers a clinical, holistic and 12-step approach for the addiction recovery process. For more information call today: 844-234-LIVE.