The cycle of addiction is created by changes produced in brain chemistry from substance abuse. It is perpetuated by physiological, psychological and emotional dependency. This cycle of addiction continues unrestrained, until some type of intervention occurs (self-intervention, legal, family, etc.).

What Is the Cycle of Addiction?

While I worked at a nonprofit geared toward rehabilitating ex-prisoners, the organization paid one of our graduates to do some renovation work on a transition house. He hadn’t been incarcerated for a drug offense and, to our knowledge, didn’t have a drug or alcohol problem. He apparently hid it well; once the check was in his hands, he disappeared without doing the work. The last we heard of him, he’d blown all the money on drugs and was homeless.

The concept of rock bottom implies that if I want to change a pattern of addictive behavior then I must lose everything and hit the lowest level possible before I will change.  Beyond the disheartening message that I have to destroy and ruin everything that matters to me, there is an obvious logical fallacy in the notion that truly losing everything will motivate much other than an intensification of self-destructive behaviors.  It is precisely when everything is lost that substances are at their most appealing.  The intensity of substance use is a direct reflection of the intensity of pain, so adding more pain and loss by pushing someone towards rock bottom is not only unlikely to be helpful, it is likely to be harmful.