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Is love the connection needed to heal addiction? by Malissa Lakin-Watson for Infinity House

September 8, 2015 By Sharon Vincz Andrews Leave a Comment

Love-connection-702x336Few families today are exempt from the blight of addictions. In my town in southern Indiana, there are regular meetings of  many “anonymous” groups that help addicts to cope with this societal curse.  But is there an actual cure for addiction? My colleague, Malissa Lakin-Watson sites interesting research on the need for connection–the need for love–in handling addictions. She shows us from her personal experience that the ultimate connection that heals addiction is our connection with the Divine. Here’s Malissa:

No matter who we are or where we come from, I believe we all want the same things – to feel like we belong and to feel loved by those closest to us must be somewhere at the top of the list.

But when life doesn’t go as planned or the relationships dearest to us begin to falter, turning to drugs or alcohol for comfort to fill a seeming void may feel like a solid thing to lean on.

In a recent TED talk, Johann Hari explains that new research has been shedding light on the fact that everything we think we know about addiction may not be entirely true. In his desire to help those he loved who had become drug addicts, he was impelled to go on a quest; an unplanned, 30,000 mile quest. After extensive and exhaustive research, he came to this conclusion, “the opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety but connection.”

And just what is this connection he is talking about? He explains that we, as human beings, need to bond with other human beings. Nothing new there, but when some seem unable to maintain close relationships or “can’t bear to be present in their lives”, he says, because of trauma or some other adverse circumstance, “(they) will bond with something that gives relief.” That “something” more often than not can be the very substances which, when indulged in too heavily and too often, can lead to addictive behavior….

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Drug addiction: Find freedom at your most desperate moments by Steve Drake for The Southeast Missourian

September 30, 2014 By Sharon Vincz Andrews Leave a Comment

@GlowImages Model for  Illustration Only
@GlowImages
Model for Illustration Only

 Are happiness and a sense of well-being so unlikely for many people that the “high” drugs bring is their only answer? My colleague, Steve Drake, writing for the Southeast Missourian in the September 25, 2014 edition, shares some great stories of lives turned around through prayer. Steve shares the good news that his state of Missouri is no longer the meth capital of the USA. Guess which state is? INDIANA. So, here at home, there’s work to do in overcoming the pull of drug addiction.  Enjoy this excerpt of Steve’s article and click below to read the entire piece. Here’s Steve:

For meth and recreational drug users, the pursuit of a manufactured feeling of “happiness” is so out of control that to friends and family looking from the outside, it is as if they are being swept out to sea by a riptide. Loved ones, community members, law enforcement, health care professionals and others go to great lengths and expend significant resources to save them, often without success. Some addicts do start swimming parallel to the shore, a recommended strategy to get out of a riptide, and realize that recreational drug abuse leads to dead end feelings of emptiness and hopelessness.

That’s what Jeff Rice felt after an 18 year addiction to alcohol and drugs. After being on a high that had kept him awake for seven days and about to do drugs yet again, he heard this question run through his mind “how long are you going to keep doing this?” In a state of feeling alienated and isolated from friends and family, he had an epiphany. Jeff described it as the “gift of desperation” compelling him to get down on his knees to pray. In a way, this was Jeff’s version of starting to swim parallel to the shore to get out of the riptide. It led him soon after that to take up a Bible-based approach to prayer.

Please Click Here to Read The Entire Article 

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Addiction: A Spiritual Antidote to Prescription Painkillers – Ingrid Peschke in The MetroWest Daily News

June 11, 2014 By Sharon Vincz Andrews Leave a Comment

Stock Photos Portrait of a man having back pain © Glow Images. Model used for illustrative purposes only.
© Glow Images. Model used for illustrative purposes only.

Can addiction be permanently healed? My colleague, Ingrid Peschke, has written a helpful article in The MetroWest Daily News of June 4, 2014 that focuses on a spiritual solution. Here in Indiana, we have the 17th highest drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, according to a survey last fall by the Trust for America’s Health. The overdose rate in Indiana has quadrupled in the past 15 years. Here’s an excerpt from Ingrid’s article. I hope you’ll click the link below and read the full article.

“My only concern is that I have something to get me off E–to get me off empty.”

These are the words of a drug addict in a recent Boston Globe story that reported on the alarming rise in overdoses and deaths from Fentanyl-laced heroin.

Fentanyl is a pain-killing drug used after surgery or in end-stage cancer, but recently it’s being mixed with heroin and sold on the streets. Rhode Island now considers this dangerous combination the number one health emergency in the state.

My heart reaches out to anyone struggling with addiction. It seems to me, the real question is, how can they get from “E” to “F”–from empty to truly fulfilled? Despite their vacant promises, drugs can’t ever lead to satisfaction or joy. The stories of broken lives, damaged health, and tragedy, as in the case of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, are all too familiar. But getting out of the grips of addiction can be a lifelong battle for some.

The irony is, painkilling drugs, while often highly addictive, do not truly treat chronic pain. Experts say physical pain is only one symptom of chronic pain. A 2008 Mayo Clinic study found that patients who were weaned off opioids and put on non-drug based programs actually experienced less pain and had improved function. (A soldier’s war on pain, The New York Times).

Please Click Here to Read the Complete Article 

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Welcome to Indiana!

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I'm Sharon Andrews. I look forward to conversations with you about the connection between health and consciousness. How does thinking affect the body? What makes us healthy? I am a Christian Science practitioner and the media and legislative liaison for Christian Science in the state of Indiana. I like travel, bicycling, organic gardening, and basketball!

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