What is AddicitiveThinking?

I have decided to alter my blog posts a little, by adding to the content more information about sign's, symptoms and behaviours of alcoholics and addicts. Generally I don't like to label anyone as an addict or alcoholic, it's more successful if the addict can come to his own diagnosis and seek the help that he needs. 
Intervention is a word that people like to use, thinking that it will bring the addict to 'his senses' especially for family and friends who have had their lives destroyed by a sufferer.
I will be writing about intervention in a later post, because interventions are not so simple and can delay the correct treatment necessary for the addict.
I hope that these future posts will be of help for the suffering alcoholic/addict who might just be 'sick and tired of being sick and tired' and also to any family member of the addict who might be just plain sick and tired of him.


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The phenomenon of abnormal thinking in addiction was first recognized in Alcoholics Anonymous, where the highly descriptive term 'stinkin thinkin' was coined. Old timers in AA use this term to describe the 'dry drunk,' or the alcoholic who abstains from drinking but behaves in many other ways much like an active drinker.
For example: I knew of a young woman who was procrastinating turning in her term paper for school. When I asked her why she hadn't finished her paper, she said:
"Oh but I've finished it."
"So why haven't you handed it in then?" I asked
"Because I need to do some more work on it," she said.
"But I thought you said it was finished," I remarked
"It is," she said

Whilst this statement appears illogical to most people, it can make perfect sense to someone who thinks addictively. Further more, although distorted thinking does not necessarily indicate addiction, the intensity and regularity of this type of thinking are most common amongst addicts.
To recognize the statements ....  "the paper is all finished" "I have more work to do on it" are contradictory. These contradictions can be very subtle and to 'normal' thinking people they can be confusing but very convincing at the same time.

HOW ADDICTIVE DISEASES RESEMBLE SCHIZOPHRENIA

Sometimes people with an addictive disease can be misdiagnosed as schizophrenic, because they may have some of the same symptoms.

• delusions
• hallucinations
• inappropriate moods
• very abnormal behaviour

All of these symptoms, however, may be manifestations of toxic effects of chemicals on the brain. These people have what is known as a chemically induced psychosis, which may resemble, but is not schizophrenia. Once the addict is free from the drugs or alcohol these symptoms usually disappear.
For the addict/alcoholic there is hope of getting back on track but for the schizophrenic treatment is much different and usually medication is prescribed to stabilize the patient.

Being confronted by the addictive thinking though can be tough especially for a family with a late stage alcoholic (drug addict) they see the sufferer whose life is steadily falling apart; perhaps the addicts health is deteriorating, family life is in ruins, and job is in jeopardy. All these problems are obviously due to the effects of the alcohol or drugs, yet the addict appears unable to recognize this and he will come up with other 'quite plausible' excuses as to why the drinking or drugging have nothing to do with any of his problems. This is stinking thinking mixed in with the next symptom of Denial!!

If you are suffering from alcohol or drug abuse please seek help. These blogs are not intended to be a medical source to 'cure' you of your addiction.