RE: Addictions structures
Greetings All,
This is a good time to think about addictive behaviors,
just look around at the commercialisation of Christmas
to see how society teaches us to seek our happiness in
external, material things.
We're all agreed (I hope) on the idea that all humans
(and probably all sentient beings) have a very strong
drive towards pleasure. We will actively seek out things
that either make us feel good or take away our
unpleasant/painful feelings.
We live in a society - especially in the USA - which has
institutionalized racism, sexism, violence toward women,
and addiction. The process of socialization teaches us to
take our pleasures in ways that are socially acceptable
-- e.g. tobacco, coffee, and alcohol are acceptable
(within limits); marijuana, heroin, cocaine are not.
We are taught not to respect each other or the planet that
is our home. We are taught to be disconnected from each other.
Why are we suprised that so many people are suffering from the
psychological consequences of dissociation and disconnection.
MPD is a very extreme form of the "normal" dissociation that
we all suffer from. I think it is a fairly healthy response
for someone to create an "addicted" personality to handle
that response to social pressures.
Back in the 60s and early 70s the women's movement and
some of the radical leftist movements (especially the
anti-Vietnam war ones) were criticizing the social
structure of the West for its inhumanity to all people.
The patriarchal system was deemed unhealthy for all people
(not just women). The Greenham Common Women's group was
also vocal in protesting the violence of our society against
all its members.
Has anyone looked at the connection between violence and
addiction? Is there a link between addiction and a failure
to live up to society's expectations? Many soldiers in Vietnam
turned to drugs either to blot out the horror of what they were
doing or to give them the ability to do what was expected of them.
Most returned from the war and put aside the drugs without a
problem. What about those that didn't? Has anyone done any
studies on why these (mostly) men remained addicted? Probably
not -- most of them were either non-white or working class and
therefore not worth bothering about in society's eyes.
Back in the radical 60s/70s there was a saying "the personal
is political". There has been a move away from that. The self-help
movement tells us that we must change ourselves to fit society:
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know
the difference." This leads to a static state -- social change
comes from the refusal to accept things that are wrong and which
we cannot -- as individuals -- change but trying anyway. I cannot
"change" society's racism by myself, but if I refuse to accept it
and refuse to condone racist behavior in myself or others, I can
bring the possibilty of change closer.
The self-help movement and conventional psychology encourage
us to focus on the self in isolation. Small wonder that they
achieve so little. We cannot exist in isolation, we are communal
creatures. Yet we are taught relational models that are out of
balance and are "codependent". We are not encouraged to relate
to each other as equals -- least of all in the therapeutic
relationship!
Because we can't get what we need from other people (respect,
mutual affection, etc.), we seek our comfort, safety and
pleasure in things. Things cannot feed our souls for long so
we repeat the behavior, because it worked once, even though it
no longer works. We become so emmeshed in our addictions that we
cannot challenge the social causes of our pain.
To cure addiction we have to change society. To change society we
have to cure enough people to catalyze the change -- like yeast
in bread dough. The personal is political.
The solstice has come, the Sun is returned, the wheel of the
year takes another turn.
Blessings to you all,
Jenni