I think a lot of addicts have personality disorders or mental illness. If you read the AA literature, they spend a lot of time focusing on changing the way they live and changing the way they view life.

My girlfriend is a decade sober, but for the most part still acts like an addict. Stopping the drugs was a good start to healing, but it's been a long road in dealing with the rest of the illness. She has been diagnosed with ptsd and a personality disorder...

Us non addicts think that all the addict has to do is stop the drugs and suddenly they will be healed. I used to think that way. But now I have learned the issues are much deeper.

So in your case, no, it is probably not just the effects of the drugs you are seeing. It is an underlying illness that you are seeing, and part of that illness is a compulsion to use drugs and act out.

I know there are drugs to get people off of heroin aand opiates called suboxone or subtext or methadone. these drugs help the user to get off of the other drugs. they are prescribed by doctors. sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. this may be what your sister is on

I agree with the person who said that a lot of addicts have mental illnesses. I've been in a long-term relationship for 4 years with an addict, and it is true, in his case. He was diagnosed as being Bi-Polar, and also as having Social Anxiety Disorder.

He is an ex-cocaine addict, and currently recovering alcoholic. He managed to stay sober for a year at one point, but fell off the wagon again. It is very hard, and I do not know if I will be able to stay in this relationship much longer, because I am starting to feel that it will never stop, ever, that I will always be angry or hurt or worried about him or something.

Anyway, he feels that the cocaine and the alcohol was a form of self-medicating. The alcohol for anxiety, and the cocaine to deal with his bi-polar moods.

So, the root of many addictions, I think, is often a mental illness or other problem. The problem, in a certain way, isn't the addiction...I mean, the addiction is a problem, but, to solve the addiction, you have to solve the underlaying problem. In other words: what's causing the addiction?

I hope that makes sense.

Thank you very much for explaining that.
Many years ago I went to AA meetings with my now X and a lot of the time they kept blaming the booze and now tha they are not using -they are wonderful.
I did not see that at all and was very confused and very discouraged after having such high hopes.
Reality is they can stop using but are left with the underlying illness to deal with and can be worse because they are no longer medicated.

I agree that all addicts have mental illness. All the addicts in my family do. My ex-husband is a recovering alcoholic and is bi-polar. Now that he is sober he is addicted to himself. He thinks he is a world famous musician. He is a fabulous piano player but he is not world famous but he thinks he has fan clubs and he thinks he is in the Rock-a-Billy Hall of Fame. My son is an Alcoholic and has Social Anxiety and my brother has OCD and takes numerous medications. He is a prisoner of his own mind and the grumpiest person I know. He is NEVER happy and always has to be obsessing about something. He drives me nuts (hence my user name....lol) So, I don't know what the answer is but to keep our own sanity we have to stop worrying about them and focus on our own lives instead of letting them control our lives which they are really good at.

Mary

I can't tell if people self medicate to treat their mental illness or if the abuse of brain chemicals causes the illnesses...or a combination of both.
But as I have said many times...my sober alcoholic son said if they were a-holes as drunks, when they get sober they are just sober a-holes....
I do think that due to working his 12 step program and then getting balanced enough in life to not be so dependent on it daily, my kid is now less mentally unbalanced than he has ever been since about 2nd grade. He worked hard to get there, and although I may not love everything he does, he does it sober and with a grateful heart....so there is my statistic of one, somebody who got healthier in mind, body and spirit.
people who don't work the program to get better? they are just working the program to get whatever they can for free. No work? no gains, no improvements.

From previous reading, I read where 40% of all addicts have other mental issues. Then there is the damage to the front part of the brain from using or drinking. I find it easier to not try and ask myself why, you can drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out.
As for your sister, its her life, haven't heard of any drugs for stopping meth, but did read where sometimes a benzo like valium or xanax may help with depression, but it is her life and she has to get clean her way or not. The choice is still hers. Many people stop very slowly only a very small number stop cold turkey and never go back.

While I'm no doctor, I'm pretty sure my husband has been in his addiction so long that he's jacked his brain chemistry up. I think people use to self-medicate misery and mental illness. Many of the psych meds the doctors prescribe have the same chemical composition as street drugs, just in lower doses. It's a vicious cycle but at least with the prescriptions, they can be monitored by a doctor.