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The Definition Of Quitting Addiction

Saturday, October 7, 2006 - dr.bomb

As I continue within my research of the Recovery Group Movement (RGM), its business Arm known as the Addiction Treatment Industry (ATI), and the So-Called Anti-A.A. Movement (SCAAAM), I realized that there was one thing missing from these mainstream and fringe organizations: A solid definition on what quitting is. Instead it's euphemized by academic know-nothings through Buchmanese as "spontaneous remission".

Quitting is simply choosing to NEVER engage in that problem behavior ever again. That's all it is. One simply makes up their mind, breaks through the ambivalence of addiction and quits, leaving their addiction behind. Cult nonsense, such as "Many Roads, One Journey" and other related propaganda, only serves to obscure that very simple fact. If one wants to quit drinking, smoking, etc. the only thing one needs to do is to simply never drink, smoke, etc. again. Indeed, the only REAL choices available to the currently addicted are to either QUIT or CONTINUE.

Conversely, addiction is simply defined as ambivalence best exemplified by this statement: "I want to quit...BUT I CAN'T!" It's not mental illness and it's not a disease. It's just simple hyper-hedonistic pleasure-seeking stupidity where one need only to smarten up by making a simple choice. Anyone can do that.

Their better judgment, their own authentic self a.k.a. their conscience, knows quite well that the person has let their bad habit get out of control and suffered some bad consequences as a result of it. Then there's that bestial side, their bad habit, which promises that despite that negativity it's still okay to risk it all for that next fix. Addiction, the diction of saying yes, is where that person chooses to surrender their better judgment, indeed to "say yes" to do that bad thing again.

And the "cure" for addiction, to say NEVER AGAIN and following through by ceasing and desisting in engaging in such deplorable behavior against one's better judgment, is what quitting is. After than one is free to do whatever they want simply as a normal person who doesn't engage in that addictive behavior which got them into trouble in the first place.

When one makes that choice that feeling of inner resistance will be felt and even heard though self-doubting self-talk such as, "Yeah, right!" sarcasm or "You'll do it again so you might as well just do it." (think of the cartoons which represent this as angels and demons resting upon one's shoulders). This is to be considered to be nothing more than a post-addiction hangover which will quickly fade. It can range in intensity from dread and loneliness right on down to what feels like depression or the flu. In reality it's nothing more than a simple and short adjustment period as the mind and body adjusts to being deprived from what was mistakenly considered to be essential for survival. And, given that such behavior did serve the purpose of providing pleasure, OF COURSE that deprivation is going to temporarily feel nasty!

Every human being wants to feel good. No human being wants to feel bad. As part of the ongoing education known as life itself one does have to take the direct hit of that nastiness to break free into a liberated addiction-free life. Instead, a bunch of know-nothing do-gooders have even pathologized the means on how one chooses to enjoy pleasure beyond the simple question of, "Is this activity directly harming another nonconsenting person or property?" Thus is born the ideology and crusade of the neo-prohibitionist movement, a.k.a. "The War On Some Drugs".

Now if I can define what quitting and addiction as well as the tragic flaw within the current system within a few paragraphs then what's the excuse for all of these groupers and so-called "educated" professionals who can't do the same? The answer is that the RGM/ATI is a multi-billion dollar industry which is designed to make addiction and recovery from addiction as difficult as possible for the sake of its own survival. It's that lie, that "Treatment Works", which has become a major talking point accepted as fact within AAmerican culture. The so-called "opposition", the SCAAAM, is nothing more than the next phase in the RGM/ATI's evolution as the membership in the 12-Step ideology of Buchmanism shrinks.

The tragic irony is that one also has to unlearn the lies of a hyper-hedonistic culture steeped in groupism. It means finding that courage in taking a risk by going against a highly misguided vox populi and its own institution, Alcoholics Anonymous. And yes, when one realizes that millions of people have gone along in parroting the Big Lie, including SCAAAMers, they have the human right to be very concerned and angry with being deliberately misled.

More irony: Anger, much less anything which goes against the status quo, is now seen as politically incorrect and is pathologized within AAmerican culture as a symptom of mental illness. Specifically, within the book Alcoholics Anonymous, such resentment is directly pathologized within the claim, "From it stem all forms of spiritual disease".(1) Therefore, independently quitting addictions and speaking out against the system, a system which erroneously claims to have helped millions of people, are now seen as very revolutionary and radical actions. With that in mind, dissent has been effectively silenced and action has been suppressed not by the industry per se but self-inflicted by those who claim to be the opposition.

The SCAAAM is nothing more than a farce which claims to represent leftist ideals, liberty and democracy in general. The truth is that there is nothing liberal about the SCAAAM. In fact, just like the Degenerat Party, the SCAAAM sold out long ago for the sake of token representation within the RGM/ATI. And, just like the freezing out of any idea of quitting addiction a.k.a. self-recovery within the RGM/ATI, the SCAAAM does the same as it scapegoats anyone who doesn't fit within its own narrow definition of what being an "alternative" is. And, if one doesn't toe the party line a.k.a. being politically correct, one is seen as an outcast and one's existence is pathologized or denied.

When these so-called professionals and therapists of the SCAAAM denies their clients the truth that quitting an addiction is easy and uses the excuse of political correctness in that suppression, that's unlawful behavior. Specifically, as mentioned by Stanton Peele in the book "Resisting 12-Step Coercion", that's known as denying their clients the legal right to Informed Consent.

It gets worse: Instead of taking that vital energy into actually taking constructive action against the pro-addiction cult (such as infiltrating A.A. meetings and giving newcomers information on self-recovery, for that's where the newcomers are at) it would rather keep things the way they are. After all, the majority of those who are SCAAAMers are those with vested interests. From being currently employed as counselors right on down to running E-mail list groups online, the truth that quitting is not the drudgery it's falsely believed to be is also going to be neutralized. Time is wasted on litigative and legislative nonsense while newcomers who want to quit are denied that vital lifesaving information in the meantime, RIGHT NOW!

Even decisiveness, the very action of decision making itself, is pathologized by SCAAAMers who claim to be against the cult known as A.A.(2) To these morons, indecisiveness and flip-flopping are considered virtues (think of John Kerry in 2004) and that there are not such thing as absolutes or constants in their deluded minds. To them, such rational, logical and clear-cut thinking is consider to them a characteristic of cult programming known to them as "black & white thinking". These people are so deranged that they'd rather accept a long, complicated and convoluted mythological theory on addiction rather than accepting the simple fact that the vast majority of people quit their addictions all of the time, once and for all, for good (even A.A. confirmed this). Even I question if they're still in a cult and if they just haven't figured it out by now how pro-addiction their ideology is.

That's not liberalism. That's stupidity based in pacifistic cowardice and nonquestioning acquiescence, censorship, mixed with neoconservative extremism, prejudice and zealotry, which ultimately forms the political poison of neoliberalism itself. It's not something to be embraced. It's something to be ashamed of. But then that would require a conscience.

It's insulting to someone who is a Christian to find someone telling lies in God's name. It's downright evil when someone appears very daft while parroting the same lies yet claims to be an atheist or agnostic as well. Likewise, it's proof that there's no difference between either a two-hatting Buchmanite or a SCAAAMer. Ultimately, all groupers are the same and are NEVER to be trusted. SCAAAMers are nothing more than part of a disgruntled Buchmanite splinter sect and nothing more.

As I witness the numerous missed opportunities in light of the arsenal of information available online and in book form, I realize how large of a risk I have undertaken by stating the obvious. And now what was once a movement which claimed to offer something which certainly doesn't exist within the RGM/ATI, information on how to quit an addiction without rehabs, shrinks, groups or other cult nonsense of the therapeutic state, died long ago. In its wake is just a SCAAAM which uses the ruse of "alternatives" to justify its existence. Sadly, that existence is nothing more than the evolution of the pro-addiction cult into something more politically correct. Coincidentally, the RGM/ATI isn't afraid of any uprising by that spineless "opposition", especially when that "opposition" will state within that "There is some truth and logic in the written words, throughout the 12 steps" and not question such a claim outright (much less decrying such inquiries).

And, quite frankly, it would be quite beneficial to addicted people who want to quit if both factions of that evil empire would just quit and go home. That's much better than having them handicap or kill off more addicts with their pro-addiction political posturing. Thus, the lifesaving value in the abolition of the entire social services system: A system based upon perpetuating dependency (fostering addiction itself) instead of promoting the independence of its clientele.

Permanent planned abstinence simply will not occur within this pro-addiction system simply because the system doesn't know what quitting is. I certainly am reconsidering whether or not to continue training regarding becoming a clinician within such an obvious fraud.

Footnotes:

1) The full quote is: "Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically." -- William Griffith Wilson, "How It Works", pp. 64 Alcoholics Anonymous (Third Edition)

2) While creating the links within this Article today I found that the EFTCOAA E-mail list has now gone private. This is typical cultish behavior from those who are afraid of having full disclosure and letting the truth be known. Could it be that I've already posted some embarrassing and previously public information concerning a recent example of a destructive act not criticized by the SCAAAM, much less the lies of another SCAAAM group within the Moby Mailbag? Their silence speaks volumes as they go about their little Todschweigen crusade of cowardice within their little cult of personality.

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Last updated 2006/10/07

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