If addiction were full of healthy, functional thought processes, it probably wouldn’t cause men the immense amount of suffering that it does. Here are four more broken thoughts addiction tells you.
You Deserve It
Substance use and substance abuse are experienced as rewards in the brain, even when they become punishment in someone’s life. Mind-altering substances influence the brain in the nucleus accumbens, the reward center of the brain. Deep associations are made between life circumstances and the idea of reward. More specifically, addiction associates anything possible with a necessity for the reward of using drugs and/or alcohol.
The idea of “deserving” addictive behaviors in general, is a broken thought process. One doesn’t “deserve” to intravenously administer heroin and put their lives at risk for any reason. One doesn’t “deserve” to throw away months of treatment, therapy, and incredibly hard-work by relapsing on alcohol because all of that hard-work “deserves” a drink. Deserving is an ego-based idea in the brain. With addiction, the ego is always out of place thinking it deserves whatever it wants- like abusing drugs and alcohol, regardless of the cost.
You Don’t Deserve Better
Deserving can take another angle in the broken thoughts of addiction. Rather than create the thought that a man deserves to use, addiction creates the thought that a man doesn’t deserve to not use. Self-sabotage is a common manipulation tactic caused by the undercurrents of addiction. Men start to believe that they don’t deserve better than what addiction has to offer them, meaning, men don’t believe they deserve everything recovery has to offer.
Recovery Isn’t Worth It
Much of treatment and recovery under the guidance of a treatment center is geared toward helping convince the brain that recovery is as rewarding as drug and alcohol use. Addiction sees this as a battlefront. Men can experience what feels like a battle of thoughts in their mind. In their core, they know that the fight for recovery and everything life in recovery involves is worth it. Yet the familiar reward structure of addiction offers the opposing perspective, often with a closing argument. Not only is recovery not worth it, you aren’t worth it.
You Aren’t Worth It
This is perhaps the most damaging and defeating broken thought addiction has to offer. After bullying the idea of recovery, addiction chooses a more vulnerable target: you. Addiction tries to tell you that you aren’t worth recovery, the work recovery requires, or the rewards recovery can bring to your life. Instead, addiction tells you that you only deserve the worst that addiction has to offer, not even the best. The sickness, the lying, the endless cycle of suffering- addiction goes out of its way to reduce you to believing this is all you are worth in life.
Never believe the lies addiction tells you. You deserve the life of recovery. Recovery is always worth it. You are always worth it. Your life is worth living.
The man who creates change creates himself. With our innovative treatment programs and adventure based recovery, we’re transforming men’s lives inside and out. Call Tree House Recovery today for information on our men’s addiction treatment programs in Orange County, California: (855) 202-2138
