Can You Break the Addiction Cycle? Strategies for Lasting Recovery
In March 2024, CBS News featured a special segment about TikTok star Victor Oliveira, who is known as “The Good Boss” on the popular social network. Oliveira is a 35-year-old small business owner from Boston who was released from a Massachusetts state prison in 2012 after serving a sentence for drug trafficking. These days, he’s followed by 3.5 million TikTok users who praise his charitable efforts to help homeless people break the cycle of addiction that keeps them on the streets. The videos Oliveira posts show him as the owner and manager of a landscaping company that gives jobs to homeless addicts. He’s called “The Good Boss” because he insists on being a kindhearted employer who provides coffee, lunch, cash bonuses, counseling, and referrals for treatment. Through this effort, Oliveira has gotten 34 people to get clean and off the streets.
Understanding the Cycle of Addiction
From a clinical perspective, the cycle of addiction comprises three major stages. Substance abuse comes first. The pleasant and euphoric effects often invite increased use and higher doses. The second step involves the anxiety, depression, irritability, and physical discomfort of withdrawal. This is a negative affect stage that often interferes with aspects of life such as working and supporting a household. The stage of preoccupation is driven by neurochemical or psychological cravings that circle back to the first step of substance abuse. When they seek the services of a sober lifestyle coach or interventionist, Carlsbad residents are trying to break the cycle of addiction by focusing on specific stages of substance abuse.
Breaking the Cycle of Addiction
Oliveira was incarcerated long enough to witness the revolving-door aspect of the prison system, particularly with regard to addiction. Terrible addictions often cause terrible situations like poverty and homelessness, so it’s not unusual for addicts to get involved in crime. When they’re released into streets filled with drugs and despair, their chances of staying out of prison are substantially reduced. Giving homeless addicts jobs where they’re treated kindly targets the negative affect stage of addiction. Although the “Good Boss” method focuses on the second stage, the cycle can be broken at the first or third stages.
Addiction Recovery Is Also a Cycle
Although recovering from chemical or psychological dependence is often associated with the linear 12 steps, many recovery counselors in the 21st century recommend a cyclical approach. The basis for this approach is the expectation that most alcoholics and drug addicts will likely lapse and relapse before they achieve sobriety. This is a more realistic perspective because it acknowledges the various strategies to break the addiction cycle.
Living in the Age of Indulgence
Dr. Anna Lembke, a renowned psychiatry professor at Stanford University and author of the book Dopamine Nation, explains how we’re developing into a dopamine-based society. We’ve become too preoccupied with pleasurable stimuli, from food and social media to sex and drugs. We live in an age of indulgence that conflates a flood of “feel-good” moments with positive undertakings. In other words, we’re losing neurochemical balance without realizing it because we’re blinded by dopamine. This explains the “sober curious” movement of people intrigued by the prospect of enjoying life without getting drunk or high.
For strength-based support with addiction recovery in Carlsbad, CA, reach out to the trained recovery coaches at Sober Lifestyle Coaching. We know precisely what it takes to get sober, stay sober, and live the healthy lifestyle you deserve. We specialize in working with clients with active addictions as well as clients already in recovery. Our sober coaches help clients work through potentially challenging events such as going to work and attending family gatherings while providing encouragement, accountability, insight, and understanding through our own recovery experiences. To learn more about how a sober lifestyle coach can help you or someone you love, call us today.