Shamani Recovery 3

addictions to most substances are a combination of psychosomatic false beliefs and physiological dependence. For sure, there is no easy way out. But sure fire way to remain addicted is to remain in situ, take to bed and focus attention on the body. Here, the snivelling junky will search his consiousness for symptoms, drawing them up to the fore and retaining primary focus on them. Being in the same place, normally their will breaks and they go score. Yet this is not Nevessary. One will always incur discomfort but if you are able to refocus, abandon all objects, sights, smells, locations one associates with the substance by relocation, an addiction can be easily overcome. There is no need to go through the breaking down and rebuilding of rehab. True, for some gutter rats, retraining is necessary. If denial is deep it requires thoroughly u rooting. But there is another way.

Why most can't do it is it requires the abandonment of ones life. Relocation to an environment where nothing is in common. Avoidance of anyone you knew whilst on drugs. Giving up your job. A shedding of the psychic skin. Once removed to the new location one must explore and exercise. One rattle, my first in fact, I spent six days in hell then flew out to Gambia on a Christmas Eve. Once there all symptoms disappeared. New smells, different air, temperature, culture, food, music; nothing must remind you of your previous life. There will be moments of minor discomfort, particularly for heroin addicts. But this is possible.

A dark culture of brainwashing has arisen around addiction and rehab. Instead of recognising that the environment, job, relationship is wrong and the addict is merely medicating to endure it, this can be through GP prescribed SSRIs as easily as heroin, it is assumed the person is at fault. What follows is horrendous. The individual will be detoxes, subjected to a three month period of brainwashing, then relocated. This final bit is the only good sense. Most return to where they lived, to old partners, patterns. Sometimes the brainwashing is successful and they will remain shadows of their former selves, repeating formulaic cliches to support their new false, often religiously supported, new selves. Most just go back to drugs.

Addiction is usually a symptom of depression, depression being the mind telling the individual, "I am not happy here, I hate my wife, I hate my job, I hate my life, I want to be elsewhere". The secret is quite simple. Trust your nose. Act on instinct. Do what the fuck it is you really want to do. Initially you may smash a marriage, divorce a family, lose a career, lose your money. But none of it was making you happy. Going to a doctor or a smack dealer to get drugs to force you to endure a life you hate is not the answer.