Have you heard the old saying “the truth hurts”? Addiction is, at a very fundamental level, about believing a lie. The lie is that heroin, methamphetamine, alcoholism, or some other substance or behavior can permanently make me feel better. The truth is that we can’t get around pain – in order to make life work we have to learn to walk through it.
This is not a terribly popular message. In fact, the entire advertising industry is built around the idea that if we have the particular product or service being offered it will relieve our pain. We all have a desire to go around rather than through.
Explaining the value of pain is one of the most difficult elements of recovery to present to the addict. We say “You’ve not experienced pain without medicating it for a decade (often longer). We’re going to take away your medicating and leave you in tremendous emotional, spiritual and physical pain. It will typically last about 5 months. Once the 5 months is finished, you’ll have less pain, but still quite a bit more than you’re used to. You’ll need to develop skills for coping with that – the same skills everyone else you know developed in junior high school. So, I can promise you a life full of the pain you have been working so hard to avoid. Ready to sign up?
It’s the truth and it hurts. A lot! It’s a tough sell, to say the least.