ANSWERS

1. What is Addiction?
We believe addiction is a disease of a very primitive part of the brain which is responsible for survival. This part of the brain usually operates independently of the person’s intellect. Addiction occurs when this part of the brain sees the drug as a new way to survive.

We believe there is a strong genetic susceptibility to addiction which helps explain why some people become addicted to alcohol or drugs and others do not.

We do not confuse the person with his or her addiction. When a person is addicted he or she is desperately trying to control his or her drug use. They want to use the drug but not have problems using. When a problem occurs the person feels such a need for the drug they will blame themselves for not controlling the drug. This is called denial. Each time a problem occurs the person records this as a failure of themselves, not the drug.

We believe in many cases there is a strong interconnection between substance dependence and untreated mood and anxiety disorders. Unfortunately shame, guilt, and societal stigma prevent a lot of people from seeking treatment. Addiction leads to isolation of the self which is a major obstacle in recovery. (Solitary Confinement is used as a torture in prison camps).

2. Do people drink or use to self medicate?
For some people the use of alcohol and drugs starts as a way to feel good that may be socially acceptable as in the case of alcohol. Using a drug may be something that is part of a social group, such as smoking marijuana or as part of being “grown up”, as in the case of nicotine.

Studies of college freshman indicate that the most common early sign of going on to have an alcohol problem, is having high tolerance for alcohol. This seems to be genetically inherited.

However, some people use alcohol or drugs to also disconnect from life’s problems and that may be their pathway. Others may find that alcohol or drugs calm down negative emotions which are part of another separate mood disorder or to deal with physically painful conditions. Such painful conditions often also have significant emotional impact. These conditions need to be dealt with if the person is to recover from their addiction.

3. Common psychiatric and medical conditions that interfere with sobriety include.
Depression
Anxiety Disorders
ADD (Attention Deficit Disorders)
Eating Disorders
Chronic Pain

Mood disorders in some cases also have a strong genetic component that affects how the brain processes emotional or cognitive information. In other cases the disorder results from overwhelming life events, grief, loss, or difficulty adapting to new situations.

4. Is addiction an illness?
Responsibility vs. Control with an illness.
We are used to recognizing that there are medical problems we can’t control. We are responsible for treating these problems, but we are not in control of the illness. A person whose heart goes too slow or too fast must take responsibility to treat a condition they cannot control. In the brain there are parts of us we can control and parts we cannot control. We are responsible for being accountable to both.

5. What is the emotional impact of alcohol or drug addiction?
Addictive drugs produce one feeling, but as the nervous system adapts to the drug, coming off the drug produces the opposite feeling. The emotional centers of the brain then become dependent upon the drug to keep oneself “emotionally” in balance. Psychologically, one of the major functions of a drug is to chemically say “shut up” to a part of self. When this is repeated over and over again it becomes automatic. The part of self that is told to “shut up” is shamed and not respected which leads to anger and isolation. This compounds the emotional impact of addiction. In addition, people do and say things under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or fail to do things which results in serious losses, shame and guilt. These emotions compound the above emotional trauma

The Recovery Road Program helps the person to listen to and acknowledge what is inside and to reestablish respect for self. Through daily treatment the person goes from rejecting what is inside as a way of dealing with feelings to sharing what is inside as a way of learning what to do with what is behind the feelings.

We believe each patient should be treated with respect and have access to and knowledge about different treatment modalities that suit his or her needs.

6. What drugs does the Recovery Road Program deal with?
Substances that we deal with: alcohol, cocaine, prescription drugs, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, hallucinogens, marijuana and opiates.

7. What if I have failed several programs? Does that mean there is no hope for me? What is different between Recovery Road and other programs?
The Recovery Road Medical Center program provides psychiatric, chemical dependency, pain and medical evaluations, and the ability to provide individual and group programs at the same location. We believe that this coordination of services provides an added benefit to the patient who is seeking recovery. We also recognize that recovery is something that is learned experientially over time, similar to learning a sport, learning to drive or learning to dance. People may start and make mistakes, but they can pick themselves up and continue the process of learning that eventually will lead to a sustained recovery.

8. If you are on Opiate maintenance with Suboxone or methadone are you in recovery?
The question is more about your function and your relationships than whether you are on a maintenance opiate. With our current medical technology some people are not able to stay off of opiates and function and have found that being on maintenance opiates has allowed them to return to productive lives.

9. What about the 12 Steps?
We facilitate patients progressing through the 12 Steps of AA. The goal for most patients is to complete the first five steps while they are going through the Recovery Road program, because of the high emotional content of these steps. The step work is expected to be done through the AA program which runs parallel to the work done at Recovery Road.

10. How drugs work.
Drugs work because they mimic certain messengers in the brain that carry survival information. When needs are met such as food, water, and safety, our brain uses certain chemical messengers to send important survival messages. The centers where these messages go have powerful control over behavior and generally operate independently of the intellect. Normally, these centers are only stimulated when survival needs are actually met. When addictive drugs are used the drugs can stimulate these centers. Depending on a person’s genetic make up, the drug may be able to more or less powerfully stimulate these centers and suppress the function of the normal system. When the drugs provide powerful stimulation and suppress the normal function, then addiction can progress, as the survival brain learns that using the drug is a new way to survive.