I was riding home on my bike earlier today when I noticed a bill board sign (see right) and it set me thinking about life, more specifically about making behavior changes in life.
In 1943, Abraham Maslow published a paper titled-"A theory of human motivation"
which stated that each of us is motivated by needs, the lower order needs, physical and emotional well being, needing to be satisfied before we will be concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personnel development.
In my experience of addiction and homelessness there isn't a lot of understanding around this concept, I'm talking about professionals here! People who work day in, day out in the field, and if these people aren't passing this message to their clients then how is it going to be heard? Should we start treating those with substance misuse problems as equals and give them this kind of education or continue to try and bail out a sinking vessal, treating the symtoms but not the causes?
Put simply- How can somebody conquer their substance misuse problems when they don't have adequate information and education on possible ways of doing this?
There's a BIG piece missing.
2 comments:
Wow Kevin, you've started with a BANG!
Good luck in your recovery Kev.
You're spot on, we so called professionals need to understand that it is the addict that needs treating not the addiction.
The latter is the outcome of those missing pieces you mention, and which is one of the many reasons,so many in an attempt to feel complete, experiment with different addictive and destructive substances, without being aware that far from being the antidote they were led to believe, serve only to aggravate and exacerbate their emptiness.
It may seem to be a paradox, but material possessions whilst important and insofar as food clothing and shelter are concerned absolutely vital, are insufficient to bring about the feeling of being complete.
Over the years I have had the privilege of working with those seeking recovery, who as they become better begin to live to their potential and are thus are able to acquire the 'good things' in life. Sadly some of them never seem to achieve that inner peace that is so essential to lasting recovery.
Good luck with your blog, we need more of them.
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