MONEY ADDICTION AND THE US.

You may think making the jump from addiction being a mind, body and spirit disease to money being an addiction is a stretch, but really it isn't. The current money crisis in the united States gives us some clues about money addiction. Yes, it is on a rather large scale, but I contend it is addiction nonetheless. And, while I don't proclaim to be an economist, I do know a thing or two about addiction.

Let me explain: Let's look at some definitions and comparisons. Like alcoholism, money addiction can be chronic, progressive and incurable and is characterized by loss of control of debt and/or spending....hmmmm. Does this sound familiar in terms of the American Economy and our spending habits as a country? It has gotten progressively worse, our debting as a nation appears to be progressing and perhaps we are near the fatal stage. Apparently, we didn't learn our lesson from the savings and loan problems in the 90's; Enron took it up a notch and now we are told that we are in the ultimate crisis/panic mode on Wall Street.

Ok, now, stay with me. Let's look at a definition of financial compulsivity (or money addiction) as being a dependence on compulsive behaviors centering around money that is so strong it may appear that the person (or in this case institutions) may be unable to break away from the dependence. The behavior causes problems in the person's (or institution's) life (e.g. family, work, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, legal, etc.) Beginning to strike a chord? Compulsive debtors cannot live within their means.....can our government? can our financial institutions? Is our country's financial problem causing us problems? Are we as a country unable to stop spending more than we have?

Ok, so, what would constitute money addiction? With alcoholism, for instance,there is a course, an outcome, and a prognosis to the disease. When looking at America's financial problem today would you say there has been a course? Are we in early, middle or late stage debting addiction? What is the prognosis? You decide......

As stated in my last blog, dependence is a brain dysregulation in the neurotransmitter system. How does this idea fit with our money ills? Compulsive spenders/debtors are addicted at times to the highs and lows. It's a high when they get the new $10000 credit card limit..They feel relief - ahhh! problem solved! However, they hit a low when they reach their max. What will I do now? Who will bail me out? Can I possibly get another loan from grandma? And the cycle repeats itself over and over again. Sometimes for greater and greater amounts of money. (Does $700 billion ring a bell?) Compulsive debtors live on drama and adrenaline. This drama and adrenaline changes brain chemistry. Would you say there's a lot of drama going on in our government right now?

Making the connection? To summarize then America seems to be heading toward chronic compulsive debting or financial compulsivity. So, what's the solution?

Well, in twelve step circles, one has to admit powerlessness and turn to a Higher Power. They tell the newcomer that HOW the program works is HONESTY, OPEN-MINDEDNESS AND WILLINGNESS. Debtors Anonymous (DA) also suggests that the newcomer not create any new debt "one day at a time".
Perhaps the US House of Representatives and Senate could adopt these concepts to begin their recovery. (A few meetings wouldn't hurt either).

Eventually, we all have to start living on less than we make, get back to what's really important and meaningful in our lives which involves spirituality - not consumerism and enjoy the simple and abundant life God has given us! (You don't even want to get me started on the Corporate Executives' greed and their "golden parachutes")

To learn more about these concepts and money addiction, come to my talk in Austin for The Meadows free lecture series.

MONEY AND ADDICTION: THE BUCK STOPS HERE
NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Stephanie E. Ecke, LPC
and Carol Colhoun, LMSW

Location:
First Presbyterian Church
Rissman Hall
8001 Mesa Drive
Austin, Texas 78731

For information of The Meadows or The Meadows’ Texas Activities, please contact Betty Ewing Dicken at 972-612-7443 or 1-800-892-7799. Continuing Education Credits offered – 1.5 hours.








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TREATING ADDICTION AS A MIND, BODY & SPIRIT "DIS-EASE"

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop in Austin last week, given by Texas Star Recovery. I heard 3 excellent talks and one interesting panel discussion. The keynote speaker was Carlton Erickson, Ph.D, Director of University of Texas Addiction Science Research & Education Center...He has recently written a book "The Science of Addiction". Here's what I learned from Carlton:
1) What we call addiction today is really dysregulation of the brain's mesolimbic system.
2) Addiction is really a misnomer, nonscientific and confusing.
3) There are actually two drug problems - abuse and dependence - abuse is intentional and voluntary, dependence is pathological and not under control - it is a brain disease. Dependence says "I can't stop without help"
4) People with a brain disease really need help!
5) Recovery can be defined! it is a) a voluntarily maintained lifestyle characterized by sobriety b) personal health and c) citizenship;

Erickson says (with apologies to Dr. Erickson for this primitive explanation) that dependence occurs because of neurochemical dysregulations of the neurotransmitter systems. Interestingly, a person's drug of choice reveals vulnerable brain chemicals (or neurotransmitter systems). For instance a person who prefers LSD, can be shown to be vulnerable in serotonin; He says, "physiologically some people 'need' alcohol,nicotine, cocaine, etc." The problem apparently occurs at the cell level, therefore, treatment has to occur at the cell level. Actually, the brain dysregulation is the disease - the addiction is only a symptom.

We are not really sure what causes the neurotransmitter systems to become dysregulated. Perhaps genetic vulnerability, exposure to the drug and other aspects of one's environment all come into play. But the bottom line is that it is a brain chemistry disease and addicting drugs match the transmitter system that is not normal.

What is most interesting is in terms of treatment. Traditional 12 step programs, behavioral counseling, medications, and even talk therapy appear to change brain chemistry and all seem to work at the cell level somehow! What Hope!

The second speaker, Dr. Jason Powers, Corporate Medical Officer TRS Behavioral Inc. spoke on meditation. There are many,many studies on the benefits of meditation. Powers reminded us that meditation changes brain chemistry as well. Hence our 11th step "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with God as we understood Him praying only for knowledge of His will and how to carry it out" had a lot of inherent wisdom in treating addiction - or "brain disease".

The third speaker was Shelley Uram, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Uram was entertaining as well as informative. The gist of her talk was that trauma work changes brain chemistry...YAY!

I will share more about her talk in my next post.....

until then....

LET THE TRANSFORMATION BEGIN!

If you are suffering from brain dysregulation (i.e. addictions, maybe I can help. I have over 15 years of experience helping people with all kinds of addictions! you can contact me at 210.287.4002; or visit my website at www.stephanieecke.com

TRANSFORM YOUR TRAUMA

This past week, I did a 3-day trauma intensive. The workshop titled "Healing Pathways" involves 3 days of transforming our trauma into a thing of beauty. Believe it or not there are many gifts in our trauma if we can separate our adult selves from the child that was hurt. We can transform those hurt child feelings into the joy, celebration and freedom of the "divine child" once we're healed. We can develop a functional adult that can meet the needs of that child and never leave or abandon him or her.

Those of us who suffer from addictions be it chemical, alcohol, food, money, love addiction or sex addiction, have all had childhood trauma of one sort or another. (Childhood trauma = physical illness, depression or addictions = problems with being intimate)

A lot of healing happened this weekend and it was a beautiful thing to see. I am honored and blessed to be called to this work and see the dignity and strength of those who choose to heal

Many thanks to Amy Fisher Hodges, RN, LCDC, who cofacilitated with me! Amy used to be the supervisor of the Survivors Program at the Meadows. She truly was a joy to work with and I learned a lot from her....God is so good!

If you are interested in the three day Healing Pathways workshop or would like more information about it, please email me or call me at 210.287.4002, or visit my website at www.stephanieecke.com. Let the transformation begin!!