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What Are The Common Underlying Causes
of Opiate Use and Addiction?
In all people for whom opiate use has become a problem, one or several (usually several) of the following Common Underlying Causes will have led to that problem with opiates.
Once you have done The Beck Mini DISCOMFORTS/DYSFUNCTIONS Checklist and know which of these Underlying Causes you have signs of, you can quickly learn to understand your problems and how to fix them, by reading whichever of the following summaries that apply to you. Read them at least 3 times until you start to really understand what goes wrong inside of you, and why, and how it can be fixed. Don’t worry that these Disorders will be too difficult for you to understand. Just stay calm and cool and persist in reading and discussing the following summaries and you will be rewarded by developing an understanding of yourself and other troubled people that will greatly improve your Quality of Life.
The Common Underlying Causes of Opiate Use and Addiction are:
- Sleep Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders
- Major Depression
- Bipolar (Manic Depressive) Disorder
- Adult ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder
- Social/Psychological Shock/Injury Disorders (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Distress Disorder, Dissociation, Low Self Confidence/Self Esteem, Split Personality Disorder etc)
For more information on these Common Underlying Causes read on. Click HERE and do The Beck Mini DISCOMFORTS/DYSFUNCTIONS Checklist when you are ready to discover which are Your Own Particular Underlying Causes of Opiate Use and Addiction.
Sleep Disorders
These include the inability to get off to sleep, frequent waking during the night and/or waking much too early in the morning. In more extreme cases you may lie awake night after night getting only a few hours sleep each week, resulting in feeling exhausted, desperate for sleep, and abnormal sleepiness during the day.
Alcohol is often used as self-medication for Sleep Disorders, but brain tolerance for alcohol develops quite quickly so that greater and greater amount are needed to get a sedative effect. Eventually only extreme amounts of alcohol may be sufficient to produce sleep. These extreme amounts of alcohol are often not affordable, disrupt nutrition and are toxic to the gut, liver, brain, nerves, heart, pancreas and hormone levels.
More careful, more accurate analysis of Sleep problems and their causes, and using combinations of medications (e.g. a Benzodiazepine + an SNRI or a Tricyclic ± a Major Tranquilizer ± a Mood Stablilizer) are now giving much better results for people with severe sleep problems. These medicine may be prescribed separately and Doxepin + Temazepan or Mirtazepine + Oxazepam are very good for moderately severe cases. However fot the really severe cases putting a Benzodiazepine + and SNRI + a Major Tranquillizer + and Anticonvulsant/Mood Stabilizer all together in 1 capsule give the best result.
These combinations also greatly reduce the problem of addiction to benzodiazepines, which is common among people who take benzos alone or with alcohol, for severe insomnia. For more detail click HERE to go to www.BeatingBenzodiazepines.com
Anxiety Disorders
The Anxiety Disorders include Worry, Stress, Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder, Anxiety in Social Situations (Social Phobia), fear of going to places where it might be more difficult to cope with panic attacks (Agoraphobia), Specific Phobias and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Severe forms of Anxiety Disorder are probably the commonest Underlying Causes of Substance Abuse (and also of benzodiazepine addiction).
We now have much better medications than benzodiazepines for the moderate to severe forms of Anxiety. These medications include
(a) Major Tranquilizers (sometimes also called Antipsychotics),
(b) SNRI Medications (Serotonin/Noradrenalin/Dopamine Boosters, usually called anti-depressants but which are also very effective for Anxiety, Sleep, Low Self-Confidence, Low Self-Esteem and ADD and therefore should not simply be called antidepressants) and
(c) Some Mood Stabilisers (eg. Lamotrigine).
Benzodiazepines are similar in addictiveness to alcohol in most people with moderate to severe Anxiety. Benzos are not strong enough to control moderate to severe Anxiety (e.g. Panic Attacks, Agoraphobia, OCD and Social Phobia) so the patient takes more and more in an unsuccessful attempt to calm themselves, until they get hooked on the benzodiazepines. In many of the cases of moderate to severe Anxiety that we see we find there is already a serious addiction to benzodiazepines, which is even more difficult to treat than the Anxiety for which the benzodiazepines were taken in the first place. This is a major problem in treating moderate to severe anxiety disorders for which stronger but non-addictive treatments should have been used right from the beginning.
In recent years we have found that methods such as combining a Benzodiazepine, an SNRI and a Major Tranquilizer, all in 1 capsule or tablet, and simultaneously providing a printed Information Handout explaining Anxiety Disorders and how to treat them, gives very good results, even in severe cases. The addition of Counselling and EEG Biofeedback gives even better results.
Major Depression
This is a horrible feeling with a sense of hopelessness and no light at the end of the tunnel, with self doubt and loss of self confidence and self esteem, low motivation low energy and loss of the ability to get things done, poor sleep, disturbed appetite and weight, loss of enjoyment and pleasure, and sometimes self harm. Severely depressed people often self-medicate with alcohol in large amounts. This usually makes their depression worse as tolerance to the alcohol develops and greater and greater amounts, with more and more toxic effects and malnutrition, are needed to produce the desired sedative effect.
Fortunately every few years new and better antidepressant medications become available and antidepressants become more and more widely accepted. Also we have recently discovered that many cases of depression that didn’t get better on one single antidepressant, even in high doses, will get better when given smaller doses of 2 or 3 different antidepressants simultaneously.
Unfortunately sometimes the people who need antidepressants most, refuse to take them. This is often because they think antidepressants are addictive in the way that benzodiazepines are addictive, or they don’t realise that SNRI “antidepressants” are not the same as Benzodiazepines. In over 40 years I have only seen 3 or 4 people addicted to antidepressants, which really are very very different to Benzos and much much less dangerous. Aropax (paroxetine) is the only antidepressant I have seen people addicted to and even that is rare but I never prescribe paroxetine now. Even with paroxetine addiction it is not very difficult to overcome the problem – I simply put the patient on low doses of 2 other SNRI Boosters, wait a week then wean them off the paroxetine over an 8 week period.
SNRI and Tricyclic Antidepressants are “addictive” only in the sense that breakfast is “addictive” for most people. Every morning when most people get up they need and want to have breakfast, but they are not really addicted to breakfast – they don’t have to have bigger and bigger breakfasts as the weeks go by!
Some people only develop depression once in their life and only need to take antidepressants for 6 to 18 months till that depressive period passes. They have no difficulty stopping those antidepressants and then never need antidepressants again. Some other people have 2 or 3 periods of depression in their lifetime and need to take antidepressants for 1 or 2 years each time but still have no difficulty weaning off the antidepressants once the depressive period has passed.
Some people have inherited depression strongly through their genes, or have suffered severe Social/Psychological Shocks that have permanently damaged their brain’s capacity to produce sufficient Serotonin, Noradrenalin and Dopamine. These people have frequent bouts or very long periods of depression and they need long term antidepressants to boost their Serotonin, Noradrenalin and Dopamine. Their depression is relieved by antidepressants but is not cured and it comes back if they stop their antidepressants. But they are not addicted to antidepressants any more than they are addicted to breakfast.
In Australia there are 2 fairly reliable ways of telling whether an Anxiety/Depression medicine is addictive. Firstly, if the chemical name (not the brand name) ends in “am” such as with flunitrazepam, nitrazepam or alprazolam, then these medicines are benzodiazepines, all of which can be addictive, especially with more severe levels of nervous disorders. Some are more addictive than others and I refuse to prescribe the more addictive ones and am very strict about the number of the less addictive ones I will prescribe – never more than 2 or 3 per 24 hours.
Secondly in Australia under the subsidised Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme a doctor cannot prescribe repeats for benzodiazepines or other habit forming or addictive medicines without ringing Canberra and getting special permission and then writing the prescription with repeats in a special larger “Authority” prescription book with the Authority number written under the Doctor’s signature. Any prescription which a doctor writes with repeats in a normal prescription book is very unlikely to be addictive. (Not all Authority medicines are addictive. Many are new expensive medicines and we have to ring for permission to use them to keep costs down)
EEG Biofeedback is now giving very good results with depression, in conjunction with printed Information Handouts about Depression, as well as Counselling and the Medications. Our treatment of moderately to severely affected patients is now always Quadruple Therapy – Information, Counselling, Medicines and EEG Biofeedback.
All the other Underlying Causes must be diagnosed and successfully treated when treating major Depression e. g. ADD is a very depressing problem to live with and it is hard to recover from depression if your ADD is undiagnosed and untreated, which is often the case.
Bipolar (Manic Depressive) Disorder
This Disorder causes a person to have periods when they are 1. Normal, periods when they are 2. Depressed, and other periods when they are 3. Manic or “Hyper” or “Hypo”. They have unbalanced and unstable production and flows of the chemicals and electricity in their brain that determine their moods, energy levels, emotional intensity and pace or speed. It is as if their brain had a 3 speed gearbox and jumped, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly, from 1 gear to another.
In the Manic “Hyper” Periods you are racy, fast, go go, emotionally very intense, with non stop loud talking, crazy over optimism or euphoria and far too much energy. You don’t sleep much, may be irritable and may spend your money thoughtlessly and recklessly. Serious Manic periods can get you into financial difficulties or even send you bankrupt. Manic Periods stress and damage your relationships and can lead to serious family difficulties, getting fired from your job, or divorce. A few people become very sexually driven and uninhibited when manic.
Bipolar Disorder is inherited but doesn’t usually develop fully till the teens or twenties. It is sometimes present but difficult to be sure of in childhood, and in a few cases doesn’t show up till the thirties or later. The average person with Bipolar Disorder takes 10 years to get it diagnosed and some people have it for 40 or 50 years before it is diagnosed. No doubt some people suffer with it all their life without ever being diagnosed or treated correctly. Some Bipolar People resort to self-medication with large amounts of alcohol when they are Manic, to try to calm themselves down, or to enable them to sleep, or to block out all the troubles they get into because of their Bipolar Disorder.
Many of the Bipolar patients we treat do very well because we diagnose them early by using comprehensive Screening Checklists. We teach them to learn to quickly recognise when their brain changes gears from Normal to Depressed or to Manic and how to adjust their medicines according to whichever gear their brain is in. We teach them how to prevent and minimise and manage the Low and the High Periods. We teach them to take full advantage of the artistic and musical gifts, originality, inventiveness, lateral thinking and problem solving gifts and above average intelligence that so often go with Bipolar Disorder.
We also encourage them with the fact that Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, suffered from Bipolar Disorder. Some people consider he was the greatest Englishman who ever lived, and that without his wartime efforts we might all be speaking German today!
Adult ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
This Disorder is mainly due to the Front Part of the Brain (the Frontal Lobes) being half asleep, as the result of the Base of the Brain not producing enough of the chemicals Dopamine and Noradrenalin. These 2 chemicals usually keep the Frontal Lobes of a person’s brain normally active and functional and if there is not enough of these chemicals then the Frontal Lobes don’t work properly.
In some cases as well as the Frontal Lobes being Underactive there are other parts of the brain which are Overactive, for example, the parts under the Temples (the Temporal Lobes).
This Underactivity/Overactivity of different parts of the brain causes problems such as mental discomfort and distress, poor concentration and comprehension, distractibility, difficulty getting started, difficulty finishing things, confusion and disorganisation, relationship employment and money difficulties. All of these things lead to underachievement, despite the fact that ADD sufferers usually have above average intelligence of a streetwise non-academic kind.
Irritability, anger, rage and sometimes violence occur in those people with the types of ADD in which parts of their brain are Overactive eg. road rage and domestic violence may occur in Temporal Lobe ADD, in which one of the Temporal Lobes is Overactive.
The Mental distress and dysfunctions may lead to self medication with and addiction to street drugs which may then lead to poverty, lack of basic living needs, crime and a very difficult life, if the ADD is severe. (Different cases of ADD vary in severity from very mild right through to very severe). Self medication of ADD dysfunctions and distress with street drugs is a comparatively common cause of alcohol abuse in undiagnosed and untreated cases of ADD.
These ADD negatives are often combined with positives such as giftedness in art, choosing colours, music, drama, literature and athletics.
Modern SPECT brain scans can now clearly show any areas in a person’s brain that are Underactive or Overactive. This has recently led to the discovery by Dr Daniel Amen in California that there are 6 different common Abnormal Brain Activity Patterns. We now know what the Discomforts and Dysfunctions are that correspond to each of these Abnormal Brain Activity Patterns.
We also now know that most of these 6 different Abnormal Brain Activity Patterns need to be treated differently. We were unsuccessful with many cases of ADD in the past because our knowledge of the range of types of ADD was incomplete. We therefore didn’t know until recently what special treatments some ADD sufferers needed.
A major step forward in the treatment of ADD occurred with the discovery of the value of Anticonvulsant/Mood Stabiliser medications (e.g. lamotrigine and sodium valproate) in those Types of ADD where there is Overactivity of parts of the brain, leading to Irritability, Anger, Rage or Violence.
Another major step forward was the discovery that SNRI medications (Serotonin/Noradrenalin/Dopamine Boosters e.g. fluoxetine, reboxetine, fluvoxamine, mirtazapine) are very effective in some types of ADD, especially when as is usually the case, ADD occurs in association with other Disorders such as Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression, Anxiety Disorders, Substance Abuse or Addictions.
While making the Underactive areas in the brain more active and more functional, stimulant medications such as Dexamphetamine, Ritalin and stimulant SNRI’s may make the Overactive areas in the brain even more Overactive and even more irritable and dysfunctional. We now know how to overcome this problem by giving Anticonvulsant/Mood Stabilizer medications with the stimulants to calm the Overactive areas while the Underactive areas are being activated by the stimulants.
The Stimulants Dexamphetamine and Ritalin may be very helpful for people who only suffer from ADHD (Hyperactive ADD) or ADDD (Inattentive or Day Dreaming ADDD). However the SNRI medications (Serotonin/Noradrenaline/Dopamine Boosters) may have a more helpful effect overall for people who suffer from Anxiety Disorders, Sleep Disorders, Major Depression and/or Low Self Esteem and Low Self Confidence, in addition to suffering from ADD.
The recognition of the importance of diet and exercise in treating ADD has also greatly improved the results in many ADD sufferers. This is especially so in those ADD cases whose diet contains a lot of modern manufactured foods and drinks, which don’t contain fish oils and which have chemicals in them that don’t occur in the natural environment and that irritate the ADD brain. Also in those cases of ADD who have physically inactive jobs and recreations, and whose brain functions better when they exercise more. The increase in ADD in recent years is largely due to the great increase in unnatural chemicals in manufactured foods and drinks in our diet and to the reduction in physical exertion in our work and our recreations.
By normalizing brain function with these lifestyle changes and medication treatments we can largely fix the distressing Discomforts and Dysfunctions of ADD. This in turn reduces the urge to self-medicate with alcohol excesses and other drugs in order to relieve ADD distress.
Social/Psychological Injury/Shock Disorders (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Distress Disorder, Dissociation, Adjustment Disorder, Split Personality Disorders etc)
Damaging Shocks to the brain may occur in the event of Severe Sicknesses Accidents or Near Death Experiences, Family Breakdowns, Physical Mental or Sexual Abuse in Childhood, Financial Disaster, Wartime Migration Natural Disaster Refugee or Prison traumas etc etc.
If you receive shocking news or information, or if your eyes see or your ears hear or you touch or feel or smell shocking things, this information passes from your sensory organs, through your peripheral nerves, to your brain. These things may shock or disturb your brain.
The shock to your brain may cause it to produce less or more chemicals and electricity than is normal. The chemical and electrical flows may then be too weak, too strong, unbalanced or unstable.
Your brain may therefore be unable to manage itself and unable to manage the rest of your body normally. This will cause you to suffer Discomforts and Dysfunctions.
Your brain may also keep consciously or subconsciously replaying disturbing “Mental DVDs”, which it recorded of the events or the information that caused the shock. These shocking or disturbing “Mental DVD’s” also cause you to experience Discomforts and Dysfunctions.
These disturbed chemical and electrical flows and disturbing “Mental DVDs” are the basis of “mental injuries” such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, Dissociation, Adjustment Disorder, and Split Personality Disorders.
These Social/Psychological Shock Disorders may be Short Term or Long Term, Temporary or Permanent. They may result in relationship difficulties and/or breakdowns and the development of Substance Abuse, including Alcohol Abuse, which may then make the consequences of the Shock Disorders much worse.
The support of family and friends can help to minimise and heal Shock Disorders. Shock Disorders can also be minimised by Serotonin/ Noradrenalin/Dopamine Boosting Medications, by Counselling, Information and Understanding, and by restoring normal brain electricity flows using EEG Biofeedback.
A terrible problem in our communities is that the individuals and groups who have suffered the most shocks or the most severe shocks in the past are the ones most likely to suffer from more shocks in the future. They are also usually the ones who have the least resources to recover from shocks, and the ones who are most likely to become desperate enough to seek relief through alcohol abuse. They are also the ones who usually have the most Alcohol Abusing role models around them. This is a vicious cycle for which I believe NaltrexoLite Plus will be a very important solution.
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Take 30 Minutes and Discover Your (or His or Her) Particular Underlying Causes
of Opiate Addiction
Did you know that these days you can discover your (or your partner, relative or friend’s) Particular Underlying Causes of Opiate Use and Addiction in just 30 minutes?
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And that this is a free service!
With Opiate Addictions there are always Underlying Causes. You don’t get addicted to Opiates unless you have one or more very significant NeuroPsychoSocial Disorders. You really need to know what your Particular Underlying Disorders are if you are going to become strong and healthy enough to avoid relapsing.
It will take you only approximately 15 to 30 minutes to answer the questions in The Beck Mini DISCOMFORTS/DYSFUNCTIONS Checklist. Then within a few minutes, day or night, 365 days a year, our software program will calculate the relative significance of each of your answers and send a report to you by secure email, outlining your most significant Underlying Causes, in order of importance. Information Printouts about your Underlying Causes that will enable you to understand those Causes and the best treatments for them will also be emailed to you free of charge with your DDC report.
Click HERE to do The Beck Mini DISCOMFORTS / DYSFUNCTIONS Checklist
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