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LOCATION: Home >
Philosophy > Basic Principles of Addiction
Alternatives
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Basic Principles of Addiction Alternatives (AA2)
- If you engage in any behavior (i.e.: brushing your teeth) long
enough, it will become a learned habit. It will become familiar,
comfortable and you will never totally forget how to do it.
- Habits are normal and an essential for survival and growth. Habits
cover a spectrum of severity-- from very healthy to somewhat
destructive to life-threatening. At Addiction Alternatives, we refer
to destructive habits as "unwanted repetitive behaviors" -- that is,
undesirable activities, repeated over and over and that interfere with
the quality of life.
- Altering one's state of consciousness is also normal (for
instance, children like to spin or swing on a swing, adults go
to amusement parks and movies). Your present destructive habit or
addiction is now mostly an unconscious strategy -- which you started
to develop at a naive, much earlier stage of life -- to enjoy the
feelings it brought on or to help cope with uncomfortable emotions or
feelings. It is simply an adaptation that has gone awry.
- Although addictions are fundamentally similar, each individual and
each individual's situation is different. That is why Addiction
Alternatives believes there can never be only one solution that works
for everyone.
- Self-blame, guilt, and shame undermine change and are truly
misguided. You never consciously intended to become addicted; you
became stuck in a seductive, slowly entwining relationship. You did
not get hooked because you are bad, stupid or diseased.
- Stopping or reducing your primary unwanted habit is never enough.
To assure long-term success you must develop a balanced life by
adjusting a much larger assortment of lesser bad habits that are
intimately connected with your primary bad habit.
- In some cases it may be realistic to reduce, rather than
completely eliminate, an unhealthy repetitive behavior. As such,
moderation is a realistic and sensible goal for some people. In other
cases, abstinence from certain behaviors is essential to attain and
maintain a stable change.
- Your involvement with alcohol, drugs, or other bad habits started
because you liked the way they made you feel. Unhooking yourself
mandates developing one essential skill: learning to face, cope, sit
with, or tolerate unfamiliar (both positive and negative)
feelings--without the aid of the bad habit. You cannot avoid this one
skill and the sooner you start the sooner you will be free of your
addiction. (Note: You acquire this skill gradually, not overnight)
- Learning the origins of your unwanted habits will not stop your
present destructive behaviors. Because over time, habits and
addictions acquire a life of their own -- independent of the "Whys".
At a later point in time however, finding out the origin of unwanted
behavior may be useful in dealing with uncomfortable feelings and
thoughts from the past which could lead to a return to the bad habit.
- Willpower alone will work for only an indefinite time. To
maintaining long-term change it is essential that you create a life
for yourself that is more enjoyable (feels better) than the life you
experienced with your bad habit. Fortunately, this can be an extremely
enjoyable and creative adventure for you.
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