CR, it's all down to willpower in the end, innit?

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Please see below what I thought was an interesting and informed post

on the main CR mailing list that I thought you interested in also.

Cheers, Al.

Al,

Yes, you can forward it, but please credit it to me:

Liza May, M.S.

phone: 301-261-0555

fax: 410-451-6105

email: lizamay@...

1153 Route 3 North

Suite 41

Gambrills, MD 21054

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Alan Pater [mailto:apater@...]

> Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 5:55 AM

> lizamay@...

> Subject: RE: CR, " it's all down to willpower in the end, innit? "

>

>

> Hi Liza,

>

> Thank you for your post.

>

> Would you give me permission to forward your message to the

> ! CR Support Group, please.

>

> Cheers, Al.

>

> -----Original Message-----

I wish I had time to respond at length to the message below, but I

can't now. But some quick comments:

1. Overcoming addictions is HARD for most people. NOT easy. If it was

easy, it wouldn't be called an addiction.

2. Articles like this, particularly when they come from an MD, are

discouraging. People already hate themselves enough and endure

relentless self-criticism about being addicted without having to hear

that they don't even have a reason to be struggling.

3. Food addictions are harder than drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes

because:

A. You can't stop eating like you can stop other things. You have to

practice moderation, which is *much* harder (especially for " extreme "

types, like addicted people often are) than stopping completely.

B. Quitting smoking requires one decision. Quitting " too many

carbohydrates " means making decisions over and over and over again,

continually, for the rest of your life. And having to *keep* thinking

about the thing you're trying to not think about anymore.

C. Societal pressure to eat, to eat enough, to eat certain foods, to

" eat what I cooked for you, " people's fears (hard-wired and ancient)

about distressed eating behaviors, an onslaught of unhealthy " foods " (a

misnomer) attacking you wherever you try to hide, images and attitudes

in the media ... all this makes food and eating a treacherous

labyrinth of seductions and confusions.

4. People surely differ genetically as far as the strength of their

addiction to a particular substance. It is *nonsense* to say

how " easy " or " hard " addictions " in general " are, for " all " people.

There are genes that make one person almost chained to nicotine while

another can give up cigarettes cold turkey with no problem.

5. People differ genetically when it comes to the *psychological*

aspects of addictions. It is *nonsense* to say that addictions

(which?) " should be " easy for everyone to kick. We have different

personalities.

6. Everyone's circumstances are different. There is a reason a person

becomes addicted in the first place, and it was a *good reason.* No

one can say if or when another person should be able to figure a

better way of dealing with his or her particular challenges.

7. Fat stores toxins. The more fat you carry, the larger the toxic

load that will have to be broken down and eliminated. Circulating

toxins can make you sick, in fact they can kill you. If you are very

fat, you will have to be very careful stopping any toxic

substance " cold turkey " to make sure that your system is able to

handle the high level of poisons being eliminated. Advice

that " anyone can and should " go cold turkey is not only incorrect,

and frustrating, it is also dangerous.

8. Some people rip off band-aids and jump off the high-dive into icy

water. Other people pull their band-aids off bit by bit and wade inch

by inch into the lake. There is no " right " way to do anything, and

that includes kicking addictions.

9. It seems obvious to me that the person who decides to kick a habit

on his own, without any outside help, would be pretty motivated to

succeed. Not a well reasoned article.

10. Addiction " industry? " What in the world is that?!? The people I

know who work in substance abuse are truly good people, most working

for very low pay, because they want to work " in the trenches " helping

people who are struggling on very base-line, core life-and-death

issues. The work is inspiring but it doesn't pay. If you've never

seen heroism up close,or want to learn about grit and the sheer

fierceness of will and human spirit, I recommend it.

Liza

Hi All,

The below may be as " man in the street " reporting from Lancet as it

becomes. But it may bear on how easy or difficult that it is to do

CR. I prefer to compare myself with others who have greater problems

than myself or have achieved more than I have. So it may be for some

of us useful to take a perspective of challenges such as CR presents

to some of us. Genetics can be a difficulty, but there are obese who

take it upon themselves to make necessary changes or desired changes.

Cheers, Al.

--------------------------

Mike Fitzpatrick

Doctoring the risk society

Addiction myths

When a patient came into the surgery

recently about some mundane problem,

I recalled that the last time I had seen

him—several years ago—he had told me

about his long-standing heroin habit.

He was now looking conspicuously

healthy and well groomed and he

confirmed that he had given it up.

So what happened? He said he had " just

got fed up with it " . How had he done it—

methadone, rehab, religion? No, he just

decided one day that he had " had

enough " and stopped. Just like that?

Pretty much—he was " a bit rough " for a

few days, but then " that was it " .

This account, like many other similar

stories I have heard over the years,

confirms that " cold turkey " is a myth.

Although the notion that stopping heroin

induces a devastating withdrawal

syndrome is sustained by druggy novels

like Trainspotting, it seems to have little

foundation in reality. Just as many

patients who have been prescribed opiates

in high doses for therapeutic purposes

stop suddenly without significant adverse

effects, so do many who use heroin

recreationally. I have met more people

who have succeeded in giving up drugs

through their own efforts than I have

those who have emerged successfully from

treatment programmes.

It has become fashionable to claim that

various demonised substances, such as

nicotine and, most recently, junk food, are

" as addictive as heroin " . This relieves

consumers of personal responsibility for

their behaviour and delivers them into the

hands of the professionals. But if, as my

patient and many others can testify,

heroin is not so addictive after all, then

perhaps breaking these bad habits is not as

difficult as it is made out to be? Perhaps

people can manage their lives without

professional intervention after all.

This may be bad news for the burgeoning

addiction industry, which incorporates an

army of health-promotion activists,

counsellors, and lawyers pursuing class

actions against manufacturers of

cigarettes, alcohol, and hamburgers. But

it is good news for all those who fear

that they are in the grip of a chemical

dependency, when all they really have is a

bad habit. As my former junkie succinctly

put it, " it's all down to willpower in the end, innit? " .