My Secret Therapy Technique and Why Marijuana and Video Games are the Deadliest Addictions

Saturday.  6 AM.

I’m drinking coffee and reading addiction case reports.

I’ve been doing a deep dive into psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and the Freudian death drive.

If none of that makes sense to you, it’s okay.  You don’t have to understand it.  But I need to.

I became fascinated with addiction in medical school.  These were patients that were considered hopeless.  Out of touch and out of reach.

I worked at the behavioral health hospital doing intakes on the detox ward.  Heroin addicts would come in, we’d assess their medical needs and put them on medications to lessen the withdrawal.  Rinse and repeat.

The patients were frequent flyers.  Some had already been through the process 6 times the past year.  We cleaned them up and sent them to therapy.  They’d go home.  Relapse.  Then come back.

I knew there had to be a better way.  Not that the therapy didn’t work or that detox wasn’t helpful.  There was something missing. And I was going to find out what that was.

My methods have been ridiculed by many professionals.

I’ve been told to not waste my time treating addiction, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

I’ve been offered large amounts of money to do other jobs.

But here I am sitting in my chair, drinking coffee, and studying psychoanalytic theory before anyone else in my house is awake.   This isn’t what keeps me up at night, it’s what wakes me up in the morning.

I’m thinking about my schizophrenic meth addict and how we might adjust some medications and go deeper into his childhood traumas without causing regression or other set backs.

I’m thinking about the stay at home mom and her fear of abandonment, loneliness, and anxiety.

I’m thinking about the guy that works construction, has bipolar disorder and obsessive thoughts of violence.

I’m definitely not writing this because I have all the answers or that every patient I see stays clean, finds happiness, and reaches enlightenment.   In fact, if that’s how you measure success, then you can consider me a complete failure.

But here’s the thing….

I have a secret technique.

That I have found to be more successful than any other treatment out there.

Here it is…

I. Never. Give. Up.

That’s my secret.

And now you know.

p.s.

The most dangerous addictions are marijuana and video games.

Because they are safe, affordable, and kill you slowly.

Apathy is a bitch.

Get perspective.

And choose life.