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When a person becomes addicted to a substance, it can be all too easy to start thinking that the activity itself is the root cause of the problem. But when a person drives while they’re intoxicated, gets into fights or acts abusive toward their family members, or in some other way acts out, this is nearly always nothing more than a sign of something underneath the surface.
When any kind of addiction gets out of hand, the addicted individual can no longer control the parts of their life that are affected by their addiction. In the case of a sex addict, their unrelenting desire for constant sexuality can hinder their work and family life. In the case of a drug addict, the drugs they cannot stop taking become how they deal with any kind of problem, as well as how they celebrate any kind of positive happening. In time, these activities even tend to stop being pleasurable, and end up merely being for the relief of pain.
The underlying causes of these addictions, however, are never so simple to see. For the addict, the pain generally began a very long time ago, and has merely been repressed throughout the addict’s adult life. In order for anyone to help the addict, regardless of what group meetings they may attend, the underlying problem needs to be both understood and actively dealt with in a kind and caring fashion. Trying to beat a problem into submission or cover it up with techniques will only result in failure in the end. An addict’s addiction is not the real problem, but there is one.
