It’s Only In Your Head by Peter T. Seal

It’s Only In Your Head!!!

How many times have you heard that before?!

Little did we know! It seems the world is full of Freudian Slips – we often
know more than we know we know! Thoroughly confused?

What I’m talking about is that it really is “ALL IN YOUR HEAD”!

Think about it – how for years we’ve all been told “It’s only in your
head”, and “You’ve just got to get your head together.” All that
time, all those people (your parents, friends, treatment professionals, etc.)
were talking about the correct general area, but thinking in terms of psychological
issues, instead of chemical issues. The brain chemistry IS
where the problem lies. Their overall understanding was far off base!

Your addiction/disease has nothing to do with beliefs, morals or attitudes.
It is the BRAIN CHEMISTRY -the metabolic processes that are deranged,
and NOT the psychological condition in our heads. It is this lack of
understanding that prevents nearly all of us from achieving success in recovery.

Think about it – have you read any research articles on neurotransmitters?
The reason that drugs make us feel better or normal is because of their chemical
action in the brain. Does it not make sense that the daily use of a substance
whose chamical action is in the brain would eventually change the way the brain
works? For example, lets say that for 2 years a person injected insulin every
day. Eventually the body would say, “I’ve got all this extra insulin
floating around I guess I’m making too much. Better cut back on the insulin
manufacturing.” That is what happens to your brain when you put drugs into
it daily. From some drugs we can recover and eventually the brain will return to
normal. Unfortunately, for heroin use this does not seem to be the case – the
damage is permanent for some people. For others who have been dependent on
heroin the damage is a matter of degree. They may feel fine under normal
circumstances, but should a crisis occur – whether physical as in a medical
condition, or psychological as in the death of a close friend or family member,
change/loss of job, divorce, or any life crisis – they are unable to respond
within the normal range. This eventually leads to relapse. So, does not heroin,
cocaine, alcohol or any other drug usage change a person’s BRAIN CHEMISTRY??

Isn’t that what Drs. Vincent Dole, Marie Nyswander, and Mary Jeanne Kreek
said before and after discovering methadone maintenance treatment thirty years
ago, back in 1963?! When are we going to get it?? What the hell is “rebound
effect”, “protracted withdrawal” and relapse in general? The
first two are nothing but the fact that your brain chemistry is still expecting
extra drugs. The last one is your brain may never be normal and you just can’t
take it anymore, so you relapse. And, in fact, your brain may never have been
normal to start with, but that is for genetics and science to answer. However,
it is looking more and more like some individuals are predisposed to drug use in
general and heroin addiction in particular.

But even all the experts who know these things, along with the self-righteous
“recovering” people, can not believe in 30 years of scientific
research, documentation, evidence and facts. Hell, addicts themselves/ourselves
do not want to admit it is really is only in our heads’! We are told and sold
all these psychological, emotional and spiritual things to do to achieve
recovery, but they have such minimal success that more of us are dead,
incarcerated or still strung out. Yet, the one thing that is missing from the
picture – the BRAIN CHEMISTRY of an addict – is rarely addressed, with
the rare exception of “quality” methadone treatment.

Most addiction professionals’ are behaviorists and know zero about the brain
or pharmacology. They do not believe in giving a “drug” to an addict.
Because of this, they usually sabotage methadone treatment by doing it
incorrectly. The medical profession and medical treatment are the only hope that
addicts have!

It’s so simple – if it IS “only in your head” – then you
must address the problem in the only way that will address the CHEMICALS
in your head. I know this so very well. When I detoxed from methadone, it was
the “right” thing to do afterall. So for 13 years I lived in a state
of protracted withdrawal! I never felt normal the entire 13 years — not one
day. You can’t even go to sleep and forget about it — first it’s hard to
get to sleep and even harder to stay that way. And it affected my feelings too
because I had to put up a wall of protection. I dared not feel or it I might be
overcome by my own emotions. I have learned the hard way, that denial is a
powerful thing! Until, finally I got damn tired of it and I addressed the
chemicals in my head. I will never again be “drug free” at such a
cost. THANK YOU Drs. Dole, Nyswander, Kreek, Joseph and other younger
researchers such as Payte, Zweben and others. You have given me the power of
knowing that my addiction is truly a disease. With this knowledge I have
regained the humanity that I lost as an addict. Without it I would have never
had the confidence to learn that “the power of one addi
that “the power of one addict helping another
cannot be equaled”- NOT! It can be surpassed by going to the cause of the
problem! I can firmly say as a drug therapist that going to therapy and
spirituality never did a thing for me, except to side track me and waste 13
years of MY LIFE!. I denied myself my own humanity, as we all do to “stay
clean at all costs”.

So please learn about your disease –join an advocacy group learn
about methadone, find out if you have ever had proper treatment or correct
doses. And then demand quality methadone maintenance treatment with dignity,
not psycho-babble! When given in the correct therapeutic dose, methadone can
normalize your brain chemistry, so that you can normalize your life! NAMA is
right.- Methadone really does save lives!