The Addiction Complex
By Gordon Patrick Boyce
Topic at a glance:
- A recovering addict explores the question тАЬWhy do some people become addicted and others donтАЩt?тАЭ with the help of Carl JungтАЩs Complex Theory and learns some surprising things about addiction and himself along the way.
- How do the different theories around the cause of addiction relate to the authorтАЩs personal journey and life today?
- Why and how does spirituality seemingly help people break free from substance dependency?
Is an individual born an addict? Or is the addiction a result of unresolved issues during childhood? As a recovering addict, I have asked myself these questions many times. ThatтАЩs why I became intrigued by Carl JungтАЩs Complex Theory. Based on JungтАЩs theory I want to explore the questions mentioned above as well as the spiritual aspect of addiction and how spirituality can seemingly help people break free from substance dependency. IтАЩll also discuss how these different theories relate to my own experience of being an addict and to my life in recovery today.
What is a Complex?
When I started this essay, I was perplexed as to what the┬аComplex Theory┬аactually implies, and so I looked towards┬аthe work of Jung┬аand Freud to gain a better understanding. One of the most comprehensible summaries I found of JungтАЩs Complex Theory is by David Hartman who used it for his article on тАЬHow Complexes Create Archetypal Reality In ChildhoodтАЬ: тАЬComplexes are the basic building units of psychological reality, and thus are simply┬аnormal parts of the mind. Our complexes┬аallow us to multitask┬аin everyday activities, and to operate on тАЬautopilotтАЭ without having to consciously attend to every environmental stimulus. They are┬аformed when a strong emotional experience, or one that is repeated many times, produces a patterning of the mind. The┬аresulting pattern is behavioral┬а(habits), and also consists of beliefs and expectations. A defining characteristic of complexes is that they tend to be bipolar or consist of two opposite parts.тАЭ
The Complex Theory and how it links to addiction
Applying this theory to drug and alcohol abuse made total sense to me. However, I was surprised to find that nowhere in psychology anyone ever theorised the existence of an тАЬaddiction complexтАЭ before. I, therefore, hope that maybe this essay will bring about a better understanding of the connection between JungтАЩs Complex Theory and addiction.
What is addiction?
From my personal experience, I can tell you that┬аaddiction means to have no control over using a substance┬аor a particular behaviour, such as sex, gambling, food or shopping. ThereтАЩs the physical and the psychological addiction.┬аPhysical addiction┬аis when one builds up a tolerance to a substance, like heroin, whereupon cessation physical withdrawals will be experienced.┬аPsychological addiction┬аis much more complicated. It seems to mainly come from the pleasure reward center in the brain and neurotransmitters like dopamine play a huge part in it. Psychological addiction appears to stem from learnt behaviour of short-term gain, long-term pain. I would argue that this kind of dependency is a human condition, as it seems to me that the majority of people are addicted to one thing or another, whether it be TV, sex, shopping, money or food. Drug addicts are just at the extreme end of addiction (about 10% of the population), as substance dependency often ends in death and has a more profound effect on the rest of society (e.g. through crime involved in maintaining a drug habit).
Is it the experimenting with drugs at an early age that causes addiction later on?
So what makes someone more predisposed to an addiction to drugs? From my own experience, and from what IтАЩve seen from others during my years as a counsellor in a rehab center,┬аdrug addiction usually starts out as experimentation at an early age, mostly during the early to mid teens. Over time the teenagerтАЩs initially recreational use progresses to addiction. My personal experimenting phase started when I was about 12 years old. When I was 16, I smoked cannabis daily. Today, I wonder if my experimenting with drugs during those formative years has taught my brain to respond to drugs differently compared to other peopleтАЩs brains.
Though, in saying that, many of┬аmy peers experimented with drugs in a similar fashion but never developed addiction problems. Many of my peers went on to get jobs, formed relationships and only used or drank occasionally. Whereas for me drugs became my life. I never held down a job for longer than three months. It was always just a way to get money for drugs anyway. I also never managed to have a long-term relationship. The only serious relationship I had was with drugs.
We lived to use and used to live.
тАУ Who Is An Addict, NA Basic Text.
So what makes someone like me, an addict, different to others? Perhaps itтАЩs in my brain chemistry, as┬аscience is beginning to show.┬аMaybe my brain was wired up to be more predisposed to developing addiction problems┬аwith drugs from the day I was born.
Could childhood trauma be the cause for addiction?
On the other hand, it could be argued that people become addicted to drugs as a result of traumatic childhood events, such as experiencing abuse and therefore use drugs as a way to cope. It is a common rationalisation among addicts that they justify their use to themselves with the trauma they experienced тАУ something I did myself for many years.┬аYet┬аmany people have had very traumatic childhoods and never developed a drug addiction. And there are also people who had a wonderful upbringing in a safe & stable family environment and became addicts nonetheless. It therefore seems to me тАУ at least at first glance тАУ that childhood trauma has little impact on whether someone will grow up to be an addict, and can only add fuel to the fire when the addiction has already been developed.
Why addiction has very little to do with the physical dependence
I never realised I was an addict until I became physically dependent on heroin. I focused solely on the physical addiction. But looking back I was addicted to drugs from the age of 16 or maybe even before. As hinted at before, physical addiction is only a small part of the problem; psychological addiction is the major part of any substance dependency. Even today, after having been drug-free for over 5 years, I still experience triggers or thoughts of using тАУ even though IтАЩm well over the physical addiction. Hence I conclude that┬аaddiction is first and foremost a psychological problem, a mental illness even, or тАУ to say it with Carl Jung тАУ a complex! And therefore addiction is maybe indeed linked to childhood trauma.
How Complexes influence our lives
The idea of Complexes as Carl Jung defined them later┬аhas been around since Aristotle, but it was Jung with his accurate observations of human behaviour who broadened it to the theory we know today. As mentioned above, Jung believed that a person developed a complex due to an incisive experience in their life. The┬аwebsite┬аoutlawpsych.com┬аcites Carl JungтАЩs words from his work┬аThe Symbolic Life┬аas followed: тАЬA complex is an agglomeration of associations тАФ a sort of picture ofтАж a psychological nature тАФ sometimes of traumatic character, sometimes simply of a painful and highly toned character. Everything that is highly toned is rather difficult to handleтАж It is simply an important affair, and whatever has an intense feeling-tone is difficult to handle because such contents are┬аassociated with physiological reactions, with the┬аprocesses of the heart, the┬аtonus of the blood vessels, the┬аcondition of the intestines, the┬аbreathing, and the┬аinnervation of the skinтАж it is just as if that particular complex had a body of its own, as if it were localized in my body to a certain extentтАжтАЭ
Complexes are hidden in our subconscious and take over when triggered by external events
In other words: A complex is тАЬusually unconscious and repressed emotionally-toned symbolic material that is incompatible with consciousness. тАЬStuck-togetherтАЭ agglomerations of thoughts, feelings, behavior patterns, and somatic forms of expression.тАЭ (Daniels, тАЬHandout on Carl Gustav JungтАЬ). For instance, if you had a leg amputated as a child, even though you overcame this handicap and went on to lead a full and prosperous life if thoughts about the amputation still troubled you then┬аJung would argue that you had a complex┬аabout this. That person would┬аmostly not even be aware┬аof that fact though, and itтАЩd┬аonly show in certain behaviour patterns┬аor emotional/verbal reactions┬аtriggered by external events.
Childhood trauma may play a bigger part in addiction than I ever wanted to admit
In the light of this, the theory of an тАЬaddiction complexтАЭ seems to go against what I initially thought about becoming an addict had nothing to do with the childhood you had.┬аPerhaps your childhood plays a massive part indeed in whether you grow up to become a drug addict┬атАУ even though you might not be aware of it.
When I was in rehab, I remember my counsellor saying to me that I had been abandoned from an early age. I didnтАЩt have a clue as to how he knew this. Maybe he had seen it in my behaviours. But I always thought I had a relatively good childhood. It wasnтАЩt great, but it didnтАЩt seem that bad to me. It was only after my counsellor had said this to me, and why, that I started to reflect and could see what he meant.
Acknowledging how my own childhood & upbringing couldтАЩve led to my addiction
Apparently, I was emotionally abandoned from an early age. According to the attachment theory, the first 18 months of a childтАЩs life are the most important and can have a massive effect on how that child may grow up. It seems likely that if a child isnтАЩt given enough secure attachment from an early age, this could harm them as they grow up. I can now see that my mother is still sometimes emotionally vacant towards me. This┬аemotional abandonment┬аat an early age could have caused the┬аanxiety┬аI experienced when I reached my teens, where I┬аstarted to use drugs as a way to cope with my emotional problems.
Intervention can help us become aware of our complexes and reduce their impact
Even after years of abstinence from drugs, a person can still be affected by their past тАУ may it be through childhood trauma or the life they led when they were caught up in addiction. In his Complex Theory, Jung also stresses the point that we usually think we are way more conscious of whatтАЩs going on for us on a psychological level than is actually the case: тАЬWe are not really masters in our house. We like to believe in our will-power and in our energy and in what we can do; but when it comes to a real show-down we find that we can do it only to a certain extentтАжтАЭ It is, however, possible to┬аbecome conscious of the complex through intervention and by doing so to reduce its impact significantly┬а(Daniels, тАЬHandout on Carl Gustav JungтАЭ).
Different ways of overcoming negative thought- and behavioural patterns
This is why a recovery program is so important, as itтАЩs not as easy as just putting down the drugs and getting on with life. Whether it be ACT,┬аCBT┬аor the 12 Steps, a recovery program of some kind is essential to help a person become aware of their negative thought- and behavioural patterns, move away from their old lifestyle and develop new coping strategies.
JungтАЩs influence on the 12-Step programs and why spirituality is so important
The most popular recovery program in the world is the 12 Steps. It is a spiritual program that Jung тАУ┬аnot a stranger to the effects of alcohol himself┬атАУ had some influence on. During the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, one of AAтАЩs founder members, was in correspondence with Jung.┬аJung asserted that the alcoholicтАЩs craving for alcohol┬аwas тАЬthe equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: the union with God.тАЭ Jung stated that what an addict or alcoholic finds in drugs or alcohol тАУ a wholeness of being тАУ can be found in becoming spiritually connected. Instead of looking on the outside for wholeness, go within. тАЬGo within or go withoutтАЭ тАУ a saying commonly found in the rooms of NA.
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart тАж Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
тАУ Jung
Finding wholeness within
I can relate to this, as since IтАЩve become abstinent I still occasionally look outside to make myself feel whole тАУ whether this is through food, sex, money or work.┬аI realise, however, that┬аcomplete wholeness can only come from within, and when I┬аpractise a spiritual program, I have no want for anything outside of myself. I feel whole and good within myself.
This subject is vast and complex, and I could have written much more on this. ThereтАЩs so much that I havenтАЩt covered! But I hope, I was able to help you get a better understanding of what a complex is and how itтАЩs linked to addiction. The most important thing to take away may be that even though complexes are mostly hidden in our subconscious, like icebergs of which you only see the tip above the water тАУ you can, with some help, become aware of them and greatly reduce their influence on your life. In other words:┬аOvercoming addiction is possible тАУ and spirituality can prove to be very helpful on that path.
What I learned while writing this essay
I suppose what IтАЩve discovered while writing this is how addiction is mostly a psychological problem when years ago I thought it was just about physical addiction. IтАЩve also come to see addiction as more of an actual illness, as this is something IтАЩve always struggled to believe. I found it especially interesting to discover how much of an impact a personтАЩs childhood can have on the life they experience when they reach adulthood and how it can relate to addiction. Reading more about JungтАЩs take on spirituality and his influence on the 12 Steps and how spirituality can remedy an addiction really hit home. It showed me that I could still be doing more in my own recovery in regards to spirituality.
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