- Hello.
You are about to watch a video produced by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Next, let's talk about the phases of addiction
and how the conditioning process develops.
There are four phases of the addictive process--
introductory--
maintenance--
disenchantment--
and disaster.
During the "introductory" phase of addiction,
a "person uses drugs infrequently
or only on special occasions."
- I started using--
when I first started using cocaine,
I used very sporadically,
so I didn't really have access to cocaine,
so the person who introduced me to it
was my only supplier of it,
so I only used when I was invited to.
So that might have been once a week,
once every couple of weeks, to start,
and it was very sporadic, and I didn't crave it every day,
like what ended up happening to me, you know, down the road.
When I first started using,
it was only at the invitation of somebody else.
- When I first started drinking,
it was pretty much what I thought was normal.
I was probably 13ish and I was drinking with friends.
You know, we would steal it from our parents, et cetera.
That lasted, probably, for a year or two
and then I think I noticed that I started to like it
a little more than everybody else.
You know, when it got passed around, I would sneak extra.
And it didn't matter if I had negative consequences
because I was a big puker.
- In this phase,
the positives of using still outweigh the negatives.
When a person uses drugs,
he or she may have many positive reactions to using.
For example, methamphetamine
gives the person relief from negative feelings;
increases a sense of status, energy, and confidence;
provides euphoria;
and increases the person's ability to work longer
and think more clearly.
At first, the negative aspects are few--
drugs are expensive and illegal
and can cause a person to miss work.
- At the core of my being,
there's a lack of self-acceptance
and I know that, for many people that get into addiction,
there's self-esteem issues and things like that.
You know, I had to be high, just to be with me all day,
and that says a lot, because, you know,
internally, I was very uncomfortable.
So I could get high, I could get larger-than-life,
I could become the life of the party, tell jokes,
and the gift of gab,
but, in the absence of the chemicals, you know,
I was like the proverbial wallflower
and looked down at my shoes a lot and felt less-than,
so the chemicals actually,
kind of like, brought me to life.
- When I first found alcohol, I thought it was the solution.
I could dance. I could talk.
I could do things that I felt I couldn't,
although, I mean, you know, this is somebody getting honors
and everything else at school.
But, you know, I felt worn down.
And I identify with the people, since then,
that say that alcohol showed them
what it felt like to be "normal," whatever that means.
It's just something that many of us feel.
- Drugs are used in the introductory phase
for very specific purposes,
such as a party or special occasion or event.
The person makes a conscious choice to use drugs or alcohol.
This choice is made in the rational brain.
There is little, if any, conditioning that occurs.
In this phase, there are good thoughts about using
and substances are used infrequently.
Life continues normally, except for infrequent drug use.
The person thinks of drugs only occasionally.
The craving response has not developed yet.
Everything is a conscious act.
The person buys the drug, uses the drug,
and gets the effects of the drug.
The second phase of addiction is "maintenance"--
"drug use increases and becomes a regular feature of life.
Negative consequences start to develop."
During this phase, the person still experiences
some positive effects of drug or alcohol use,
but, as drug use increases,
the negatives begin to happen more and more.
- When I started to understand how out of control my life was
and how out of control my use was,
that's when I started to justify, you know,
"Just a little" or "Just while I'm home alone"
or "Just when I'm not going to be driving"
or, you know, "Just when--", "Just when--", "Just when--"
- Conditioned responses become stronger
as more and more things in the person's life become triggers.
The drug or alcohol use begins to take over
some of the normal parts of the person's life
and obsessive thinking about drugs begins to develop.
- I was confused by the fact that--
or it kept me in denial, I should say--
because I always maintained the other parts of my life.
So I didn't really think I had a problem with alcohol.
Even though I drank a lot and I drank a lot every day,
I still had a job, I still was pretty high-performing,
you know, I was very functional, in terms of my behaviors.
At a really young age-- I was 24 years old--
I ran for the State Senate and got elected.
But, you know,
when I look back at it now, as a person in recovery,
I know that my drinking really affected my life.
I saw alcohol and drug use as ways to kind of reduce stress
and relieve myself of some of the stress
and escape from life for a short period of time.
I didn't understand the progressiveness of the disease.
I didn't understand that it was going to progress
and that, eventually, I wasn't going to be able to stop
and that's what ended up happening.
- In this phase, the craving response develops.
The addicted brain is driving drug use.
The person obtains the drug or alcohol
and gets a physiological response,
as if the actual drug had been used.
All this occurs before the drug or alcohol is used
and drives the push to use.
- Weekends were huge.
You know, "There's no school, it's Friday night.
Let's get some dope, let's get some alcohol,
let's go to someone's house
where the parents weren't present
or there wasn't a lot of supervision, and let's party."