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Your Addiction Reveals What You’re Running From
What problem the narcotics solve is more important than the substance itself
Written by Constantin Pătrașcu, an alternative practitioner for psychotherapy (Heilpraktiker) based in Berlin.
“I started using heroin because I was in pain,” a client told me. “Physical pain from a back injury. The pills worked, but they ran out. Someone offered me heroin, and it worked the same way. I didn’t intend to get addicted. I just wanted the pain to stop.”
“I used methamphetamine because I needed to keep up. I was working three jobs, barely sleeping, falling apart. Meth made me feel like I could do it all. Like I was strong enough,” another client said.
“I drank because it was the only time I felt normal. The voices got quieter. The anxiety went away. Alcohol was self-medication,” a third client unburdened themselves.
Working with hundreds of people struggling with drug addiction, I learned that the narcotics aren’t the problem. For my clients, narcotics represent the solution to a problem. And what problem each person is trying to solve tells you far more about their addiction than the chemical properties of the drug itself.
