Cravings as a Barrier to Recovery
There are many different barriers to recovery, all of which are important to recognise for anyone planning on staying sober. Awareness or knowledge of something is the first step into being able to understand and control something. Once rehabilitation is complete, being able to control one’s response and handling of these barriers is vital.
One of these major barriers to recovery is cravings.
Cravings are defined in The Oxford Dictionary of
English as:
‘A powerful desire for something’.
For an addict or ex-addict, a craving is the body or mind’s desire to re-experience the effects of a drug; be this pleasure, euphoria, numbness or a multitude of different effects.
A craving itself is not necessarily a bad thing. The body has vital nutrients that it requires, and may crave. For example, a craving for bananas may be your body telling you that you need more potassium. Of course, drug cravings are a little different, the body does not need these substances, in fact they are toxic.
Why do these cravings occur?
When a person uses drugs or alcohol, drug metabolites are created and released by the body. The metabolites remain in the body, stored within fat cells; they are then released over time whenever the fat cells are used. A person is essentially under the effect of the drug once again, as these metabolites re-enter the blood system.
Fat cells can remain unused for quite some time, remaining as storage until the body is in need of them. For that reason, these metabolites can also be ‘on hold,’ in storage for a lengthy period. Only reactivating at a point that the body is in need of those fat cells for fuel.
When these metabolites are re-released, the person feels the desire to get high again. This is the start of drug cravings and can lead to the cycle of once again using drugs. No matter what the person’s good intentions are, once the body re-experiences (even in such a minute amount) these drug metabolites, the body reverts to ‘thinking’ as it did while using the drugs. These cravings can then override the intention to remain sober and lead to a relapse.
What can be done about cravings?
We believe that rehabilitation needs to consider the latent effects which may be caused by metabolites. That is why the New Life Detoxification part of the Narconon programme is revolutionary, using the sauna, sweating, vitamins and minerals as a big step of our rehabilitation programme. Eliminating drug cravings is a big step towards achieving a sober life. Here at Narconon everything is done to help our students not only come off drugs but to help make it possible to stay off drugs for good.
