18/07/2021
Addiction isn’t about the substance.
We teach kids about the dangers of drugs. To avoid them. Without understanding what drives people to use them.
Our greatest need is to be seen, heard, loved, + authentically expressed. We need this the most from our parent figures, who our survival depends on.
If that parent has their own trauma, they have a distorted self image.
This self image impacts the relationship they have with their child. With distorted self image comes emotional neglect, lack of boundaries, + shaming, rage, shut down, + many other dysfunctional coping behaviors.
This distorted self image is passed on generationally.
Children internalize the belief that something is wrong with them.
If our own parent doesn’t love or accept us it means we are unloveable.
Children don’t have the ability understand behavior is how a person feels about themselves— they personalize behavior.
This wounding has us enter dysfunctional relationships, self sabotage, + continue to betray ourselves.
Using substances is the only way we see to escape this pain.
Being within the cycle of addiction is a living nightmare.
There’s shame, rejection, abandonment— + it makes perfect sense because it’s re-creation of the same childhood painful environment.
Until we hear the root cause of addition (the painful childhood wounding) we will continue to see addiction.
Fear tactics, punishment, + the “war on drugs” have failed miserably. For good reason— shame is WHY people turn to drugs.
Add more shame + you get more people using.
The “gateway” drug is the lack of safe/secure attachment we all need as children.
The “gateway” drug is a dysregulated nervous system.
The “gateway” drug is a society that rejects talents, people, + ideas that are out of the mainstream accepted narrative