The Addiction Complex
Studies show that 50-70% of one’s likelihood of having addiction is genetic. Genetic predispositions determine how powerful a person’s addiction complex will be and the type of addiction complex that they have. Addiction is an extremely complex disease with many facets to it. It can be thought of as more of a spectrum than a black and white “he has it and he doesn’t”. To illustrate what I mean, let’s say the addiction spectrum ranges between 1-10, and everyone falls somewhere on that spectrum, but most people fall 6 and below. When one falls 7 and above on this spectrum then they will have an addiction complex that is very powerful, so much so that if the person uses a certain substance (what ever substance or substances that particular complex favors most (which is dictated by genetic makeup and experiences)) then their will power will not be as powerful as the addiction complex leading to their inability to control their using.
There are thousands of different factors at play which makeup ones addiction complex – which is why I refer to it as a complex. On the genetic side of things – predispositions will determine how strong one’s addiction complex is innately, which can be measured generally but it gets more intricate than that. For instance in my case my addiction complex strongly favored alcohol, more so than any other drugs. I have been physically addicted to many different drugs although alcohol was exponentially harder for me to quit then anything else. After getting sober from benzos or meth my cravings for those drugs went away in months, whereas my alcohol cravings seem to persist for years. The reason for this is that my genetics lead to an addiction complex which favors alcohol. With this said another individual may have an addiction complex which favors opioids, making it much harder for them to stop using opioids, and making their opioid cravings much longer and much more intense then any cravings they would have for another drug. But also, generally a person with a stronger addiction complex will be more likely to get addicted to any drug even if that complex prefers some drugs over others. This is because there are so many different genes and environmental factors interacting to make up the addiction complex. Some genes are more general and make for more addictive personalities, and some are more specific and make for a stronger tendency for addiction to manifest in specific drugs like alcohol, opioids, and so on. Then you throw environment and life experiences on top of all these genetic factors and it adds a whole other layer of complexity on top of each addiction complex giving it even more variation. My point is that each individual’s addiction complex is much more intricate than generally thought to be and there are thousands of different factors which play into it.
As a result of the fact that each addiction complex varies so greatly, addiction is going to look vastly different for different people. Different forms of treatment will have different rates of effectiveness for different individuals. Different drugs will be easier/harder to quit for different individuals. Cravings for different drugs will appear with different intensities, for different durations and the time which those cravings persist after entering recovery will differ as well. Some people will quit certain drugs relatively easily, with almost no treatment program whatsoever. Some won’t be able to quit those same drugs even when doing very intensive treatment programs. And desire to quit could be the same in both cases despite the dramatically different treatments needed to enter and maintain recovery.
The reason I raise these points is because in our society addiction is looked at from a far to simplistic point of view. Sort of like this. (Particular Substance) is (X addictive) and anyone who uses it for a prolonged amount of time will be addicted to an extent of (X) and will need to do (XYZ) to recover. For instance – Meth is very addictive and anyone who uses it for a prolonged amount of time will be severely addicted and will need to go to rehab and therapy to recover. However this viewpoint only considers a minute fraction of the equation. Sure it is probably true that generally Meth is more Addictive than Alcohol. But I argue that the general addictiveness of the drug actually has a lot less to do with specific cases of addiction than perceived by general society. The real factors which should be considered are the makeup of the addiction complex of the particular individual. Let’s just continue to use meth as an example. Person A – with addiction complex A and Person B with addiction complex B may be both addicted to meth and have been for 1 year. Person A goes to rehab – and once sober from meth has cravings for 2 months but gets home and is able to remain sober through therapy. Person B may do the same thing as person A but has powerful cravings which persist for years and drive them back to use quickly upon exiting rehab. I would argue that Person A and B desire to get sober could be exactly the same yet the differences in their addiction complexes make it so they need dramatically different forms of treatment in order to enter and remain in recovery. Person B tries and tries- and finally they find the only way they are able to remain sober from meth is to do an intensive program which requires attending daily meetings and doing extensive introspection and self work daily, every day for the rest of their life. And despite Person (A) and Person (B) being on the same substance for the same length of time they need dramatically different forms of treatment because Addiction Complex (A) is nothing like Addiction Complex (B). But in the eyes of modern practice today – both people are addicted to meth and their for both need relatively similar treatments. And therein lies the problem and the importance of understanding the Addiction Complex.
I think this idea is important because it’s easy for an individual to get discouraged. One may look around and see other people being able to get sober from the same substances which they are attempting to get sober from yet year after year they fail. Well, it’s highly probable that the treatment programs of the others are not intensive enough for this individual’s addiction complex and therefore, for them to get sober they may need to try a more intensive program. I do not believe any addiction complex is too strong to ever be treated, but I do believe certain addiction complexes will need more intensive treatment than others. As such, there is and will always be hope for all addicts. One may just need to find different more intensive forms of treatment.