with tens of thousands of people dying each year from drug and alcohol related
deaths it's time that we start rethinking the way that we think of
rock-bottom stay tuned what's up everybody this is Chris from
the rewired soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution and
today we are going to talk about rock-bottom the myths the misconceptions
and the massive overdose and death rates when it comes to the disease of
addiction I'll be completely honest with you after the mass shooting in Las Vegas
and as the authorities and the news are trying to put pieces together and seeing
what this guy's tendencies were it's becoming more clear to me that a lot of
people don't know what rock-bottom looks like and this is something I teach in
treatment all the time and why addiction is so hard to spot so let's talk about
it real quick now when I say rock-bottom most of you watching this video you
probably have an idea of rock-bottom looks like you probably think that it's
the homeless person on the streets no family no loved ones they're begging
for change just to get loaded they're using you know they're selling plasma to
get money for heroin or they're turning to prostitution they've lost everything
because of their addiction while this is very true that many people hit that kind
of rock-bottom it is not the standard in recent years
maybe a little over a decade since the opioid crisis really first began we
started to see how it started to spread into middle America and every time
there's a death or every time somebody but comes an addict people are so
they're shocked they're like but he had all this money she had a family she had
a house he had a job she had children and that's why we need to realize that
the disease of addiction doesn't care what you have or what you don't have I
teach my clients in treatment what I learned when I first got clean
she is that addiction only has two primary symptoms a mental obsession and
a physical craving addiction has nothing to do with the amount of money in your
bank account whether you're married or not whether you have children whether
the other house whether you have a job it does not care the best way that I can
put this into perspective for the average person is let's take a look at
some primary examples Chris Farley Heath Ledger Carrie Fisher Michelle McNamara
what do all of these people have in common not only were they all very
successful but they all died of drug overdoses so looking at these four
celebrity deaths and there are many many more we can no longer associate success
with lacking a rock-bottom addiction will kill you or will lead to terrible
things whether you have lost things or not addiction doesn't discriminate so
when we're talking about this it's important for anybody out there who's
watching whether you're in recovery whether you're in active addiction or
especially if you have a loved one because if the only signs that you're
looking for is if the person has hit the rock bottom which you have a
misconception of this means that that person may die and it'll come as a shock
to you two other examples that hit very close to home with me
is my mother and my best friend my mother when she got clean almost 12
years ago she managed to get a PhD in psychology while being a full-blown
alcoholic she was very successful from the outside everything was going amazing
for her but she hit a mental and spiritual rock bottom the other example
is my best friend I thought he was going to die see for me when I hit my rock
bottom it was what many people think I lost everything
friends hated me my family hated me I lost all my money I couldn't see my son
I was getting evicted from my apartment I lost my truck I lost
thing so when it came to my best friend and seeing what addiction was doing to
him but the fact was he was making more money than he's ever made in his life he
was living in a high-rise on the Las Vegas Strip which costs thousands of
dollars a month for a tiny little one-bedroom he was with his then fiancee
who is now his wife I was like my friend's gonna die because he has not
hit what many people believe a rock bought him to be but luckily he had the
moment of clarity it took to call me up and we got him into treatment and my
best friend has over two years sober today so I really want you to rethink
the way that you're looking at what the word rock-bottom means because if we
change the way we look at rock bottom that means we can start noticing the
signs earlier on an addiction is a progressive disease which means it's
much easier to treat when it's in the earlier stages so don't wait to the
point until you or someone you know hits that very low rock bottom because the
problem with that is sometimes death happens before that rock bottom that we
think and if you would like to learn more about the disease of addiction how
it works how to overcome addiction go ahead and check out my course on the
rewired soul comm this is a course that I teach in the treatment center I work
at I teach it to families and it has a lot of information in there and in the
description below there's a coupon in there for 50% off if you would like to
check out this course but thanks for watching if you like this video please
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also to the left of me it click or tap on the thumbnails those are other videos
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again there's Chris from the rewired soul I'll see you next time