One thing we learn in our recovery is just how widespread the misunderstanding and misinformation continue to be around both addiction and mental illness. People who don’t struggle with addiction often don’t have the information, experience or understanding to really comprehend what we’re going through, and sometimes they can’t connect with us in real ways that allow us to feel understood and validated. They might not possess the compassion and empathy necessary to allow them to be supportive of us. When we’re feeling unheard, judged and looked down upon, this can exacerbate the feelings isolation and separation we’re experiencing. We feel separated from our families and friends, especially those who don’t struggle with addiction. We feel isolated from our communities. We feel shunned by the outside world, and we feel rejected, by the people we’re close to, by casual acquaintances, even by total strangers. What can result is a total separation between addicts and non-addicts, a disconnection that is exacerbated by how little the general public actually knows about addiction.
Misconceptions Around Addiction
There are so many misconceptions about addiction that fuel this cultural separation between those of us who struggle with addiction and those who don’t. One major misconception is that addiction is a choice rather than an illness. There are many people who outright reject the scientific data around genetics, discounting the proof that addictive traits can be inherited. Another misconception is that recovery involves simply making the decision to get sober and then executing it. We know from personal experience that we’ve been determined to quit many times, and we’ve even successfully achieved sobriety, only to relapse because of all the other complex factors involved in getting sober – including reprogramming our subconscious minds to enable us to heal, and revamping our entire lifestyles to support our recovery. All of the many underlying components of our recovery programs are things many non-addicts have never witnessed or experienced firsthand, so oftentimes they’ve never even considered that everything we put into our recovery goes way beyond simply making the choice to get sober.
The Information and Understanding Gap
These misconceptions fuel the separation between addicts and non-addicts, widening the gap between both worlds, creating conflict and generating tension, misunderstanding, apathy and even hatred. One of the ways to remedy this separation is to educate the general public more extensively on addiction and mental health issues, and to share our personal stories to help people put specific faces and identities to the general concept of addiction, giving them more insight into the experiences that they themselves are not personally familiar with.
The caring, compassionate staff of The Guest House is here to support you as you start your journey to recovery and healing.
Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.
theguesthouseocala.com
3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488