Managing Strong Addictions

Those of you who have succeeded in managing (I prefer this wording to something dramatic and final like "defeating" or "overcoming") a strong addiction, how did you do it? What would you say are the general principles to managing strong addiction or addiction in general? By "strong addiction," I'm referring both to addictions to substances generally recognized as being highly addictive and to addictions that at one point seemed to you to be almost hopelessly irresistible.

Meditation for me, which over time strengthened by mind to the point that I could see the cravings in my mind rise before they I actually felt them, and then let them slowly while keeping my focus on other things. I recommend a book called 'The Mind Illuminated'.

I wouldn't really call myself an addict, but I was using cocaine on a regular basis for a year. Eventually I just ran out and my dealer didn't call me back for a while, so I quit cold turkey. I crave coke sometimes, but it doesn't have the strong physical addiction that drugs like heroin have, so it really wasn't all that difficult to stop once my supply ran out.

>>3513 Does anyone have any experience with heroin addiction? I'd like to know how one would go about quitting for good, but I suppose it has its reputation for a reason... Actually, nicotine is supposedly about as addictive as heroin, surprisingly, so I will welcome advice from ex-smokers as well, which I expect are more plentiful here than ex-heroin-junkies.

>>3628 One difference is when you're a smoker, one day you find walking up a hill to be more strenuous than it used to be and think, oh this might kill me in 20 years, I should stop. With heroin it's more like, I might die this afternoon. The urgency is different, and hence the motivation. People I know who kicked opiates had to change their whole lives, leave their friends and old environment behind forever. With smoking, even people who still smoke will encourage you for being stronger than them, and avoid lighting up in front of you.

Leo Gura of Actualized.org has been a major inflience on me when it came to overcoming addiction. / "Overcoming Addiction - The Root Cause Of Every Addiction" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ZYV-IMIUU> "Understanding Awareness - The Staggering Depth Of Your Unawareness" >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugvMqHkUO-0> / He creates good work. Check him out.

fuarrrk addiction. We are all capable of recovery

definitely id say its an ongoing struggle. I had a general stimulant addiction that culminated I guess in using meth, just once surprisingly so far actually about a month or two ago. Oddly that wasnt at my worst, my worst was I could barely go a day sober and id either procure cocaine or adderall, or id drink or do literally anything including dxm or benzedrex inhalers or even psychs which always kicked my ass and got me to stop everything for a few days. Its now at some adderall every once a week or its been a few weeks now. I dont drink at all or smoke weed as it gets me far too depressed, and my adderall usage is a lot more responsible with potential finally to quit forever. I no longer snort it + do it as soon as I get it. Il wait until day time so im not up all night (or for a few days). Prior to stims I had a benzo addiction which was minor and lasted just about a month. The stimulant addiction went on for two years and is ongoing you could say but on the decline. Still unlike the benzos I can tell this is one il have to be careful forever, il never not want to use stims especially amphetamines, it was the first time I genuinelly would want to stop and couldnt. With the benzos I didnt want to stop and when I did (because I was drinking and taking a lot and almost died) I quit. I just couldnt stop, and the time I bought meth I had been sober for weeks and all it took was someone offering it to me and I couldnt help myself. Prior to that moment my strategy was just to avoid it, but where I live that isnt really possible as at some point youl be offered something. I started off going to my college counselor who helped me get out of the dirt, id seen her before but needed her again. She told me about an AA group nearby which I attended and it provided some moderate help but nothing extreme. They were all older and I had a lot of anxiety and trouble relating, id also feel like "oh maybe im not truly an addict and im wasting peoples time" stuff like that, etc. I would still go and it wasnt unhelpful and I reccomend trying that first. I was also reccomended to seek actual therapy (even though my counselor did have a phd and my therapist didnt). I got that and was also put in an outpatient program for general mental illness which is probably the most helpful thing I could reccomend. It provides very structured, focused therapy and interaction to prevent you from isolating yourself. I also got medicated which I understand especially for ex addicts can seem bad, even for people who arent. But its whats been working and helping immensely. Im not on any addictive medication, there are side effects, but no side effects that can match the side effects of me being unmedicated which is debilitating addiction, inability to plan ahead, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Those are things that could kill me or make me go homeless. Addiction is almost always a product of something else, it doesnt have to be mental illness but it often is. Often it can create or exacerbate mental illness too, from lack of sleep and lack of care. Addiction itself is a mental illness. There isnt any reward if you tough it out all by yourself besides a higher chance of relapse. Same with medication if you have depression or something else. If we were in the past and you had an infected leg that was spreading to your heart cutting it off would be ideal to dying. The current treatment options, medications, might not be the best possible just as cutting the leg off wasnt, but its what we have now. If in the future we discovered some great new way to deal with addiction and depression I wouldnt be sad or upset that I chose the treatment options I did, id just be happy that I and other people now get to enjoy the benefits of these new ones. What spurred me to get help at all was sorry to say it to you but religion. I read the Quran and parts of it resonated it with me, I wouldnt say im a muslim now, I have my own ideas. But it just helped me conceptualize and face challenges addiction presented with regards to my free will.