Painkiller Addiction: Self-Medicating Emotional Pain
Painkillers, especially opiate painkillers, are extremely addictive. It doesn’t matter who you are: if you take prescription medications like OxyContin, hydrocodone, Xanax, Vicodin, Fentanyl or codeine, you will build up a tolerance to the drug, requiring more and more to achieve the initial pain killing effects. This physical tolerance is one of the characteristics of prescription painkiller addiction and once it sets in, you will need a medical detox to break its hold.
There are a number of reasons that people become addiction to prescription painkillers, but high on the list is the attempt to self-medicate emotional pain. The emotional reasons we abuse drugs and alcohol can be broken down into four different categories:
- Inability to handle pain
- Feelings of unworthiness
- Need for approval from others
- Need for control
Emotional Painkiller Addiction: Inability to Handle Pain
As a child, it is normal to feel overwhelmed by emotional pain, experiencing feelings like helplessness and loneliness. However, as an adult, it is possible to learn to manage these feelings in a healthy way rather than turning to drugs for assistance. Taking a painkiller doesn’t make the feelings or the problem disappear. Instead, when the effects of the drug wears off, the original problem is still there and is now compounded by the issue of prescription drug addiction.
Emotional Painkiller Addiction: Feelings of Unworthiness
Feelings of unworthiness may come from not receiving the affection you needed as a child or the perception that you did not get what you needed from the adults in your life. A very small child may speculate on the cause of this and decide that he or she does not deserve to be loved. The essence of these feelings is shame. Sadly, these feelings can follow us into adulthood and hinder us even if we find a loving spouse and community. Taking painkillers may seem like the only way to feel better about ourselves. Unfortunately, the mechanism of opiate addiction is such that, over time, without the pills, we feel even worse than we did before we started.
Emotional Painkiller Addiction: Needing the Approval of Others
Approval from other people is a core need for most individuals. While wanting and needing recognition is healthy overall, it can be debilitating if too much importance is placed upon the opinions of others. Again, painkillers may seem like the best way to combat obsessing over what other people think of us.
Emotional Painkiller Addiction: Needing Control
The need for control is another reason that a person may turn to painkillers. The fact that life is uncontrollable is scary, but unfortunately, painkiller addiction can become dangerously out of control, too. You may be able to control your mood with the first pill, but the second and third and fourth will control you.
End Painkiller Addiction at Michael’s House
Healing from painkiller addiction is not impossible. At Michael’s House, we know that facing the pain and discomfort can be an unimaginable thought, and we are here to help you every step of the way. At Michael’s House, we have the tools and resources you need to become healthy again, breaking your addiction to painkillers with an painkiller detox and rehab program that is personalized to suit your needs. Call Michael’s House today for more information.
I have been taking oxy for about 6 years,1 or 2 times a week, never more than 2or3 5mg pills in a day. I dont feel worthless or need approval, or feel un loved, or any of that psycobabble.
It’s real simple, I like the buzz once in a while.
It does matter who you are.