What Is an Addict?

The answer to the question “What is an addict?” is one that can get a huge range of answers depending on the experiences of the person you ask. It is often an emotional reaction and not necessarily one that reflects the truth of the situation.

Those that have dealt with addiction, can be overcome with the problems and heartache that is caused, common descriptions of an addict include:

• Ask a family member who has struggled for years and you might hear that an addict is someone who betrays, bankrupts and breaks your heart.
• Ask a policeman who tried to help at first and you might hear that an addict is just a criminal who doesn’t care, and is ruining society.
• Ask a doctor who has seen too many patients screaming for more pills and you might hear that an addict is desperate, rude and out of control.
• Ask an A&E nurse and you might hear that an addict is hopeless, has given up on life, and is just a drain on society and the NHS.
• Ask someone who tried to help an addict repeatedly but gave up after multiple failures, and you might hear that an addict is self-destructive and degraded.

The truth of the matter is often kinder and subtler than most people think.

The Truth About Addicts

The truth is that an addict does not fit a stereotype and will never conform to some exact description or idea that you may get from the TV or cinema.

Addicts can be both not functioning homeless people, and high functioning working productive people—Sherlock Holmes is a famous portrayal of this type of addict.

Addicts can be both warm and loving people, weighed down by the weight of addiction, and unpleasant possibly nasty people – just the same as sober people. Some people are just nice and others maybe not so much!

And that really is the most important thing to take from this— an addict is just a person, and like any person there are good or bad eggs, those with lofty ambitions and those that are happy to just get by, those that are very family orientated, and those that just don’t seem to care.

Finding out that somebody is an addict shouldn’t ever make you think that the person you love has disappeared, maybe those positive characteristics are buried, but most likely their loving and kind nature is still there, they are just dealing with the unmanageable burden of cravings and addiction.

One datum that never seems to change is this—No one started out planning on becoming an addict, and no one wants to be one.

This being said, an addict’s desire to get himself/herself off drugs is often buried beneath a sense of hopelessness, shame and guilt. This can also lead to an addict leaving their family or children, and though this can be viewed as a betrayal, it very often (from our experience) comes from a desire to protect rather than betray.

Bringing Back the Person You Love

Once someone is out of the grip of addiction, the good person that may have become buried under drugs and alcohol often returns.

Here at Narconon UK we always hope to find your loved one and bring them out of the haze of addiction and back to a productive and happy life again, to build a stable and sober life.

To achieve this requires not only the absence of drug use, but also an understanding of how to overcome problems without the use of drugs, how to communicate to resolve problems rather than hiding away with drugs, it takes clear thinking and methods of addressing life and situations.

To find out more about how Narconon UK tries to achieve this every week, contact us.