Fragmented: Piecing Together the Mind of an Addict

(An Addiction Memoir)

By: C.K. Murray

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Piecing Together the Mind of an Addict

Drug abuse and addiction don't start with a drug. They don't begin with that first use, or first high; and they certainly don't manifest in the ensuing darkness of drug dependence and depression. Addiction and alcoholism, true addiction and alcoholism, begin well before we ever indulge. It is the mind before matter, a unique clockwork of chemicals and wirings, of thoughts and feelings that bring us to truth: We, the drug addict, are not like the others

Mental illness can be seen the world over, in numerous forms and numerous ways. For some of us, the depression is subtle, creeping slowly into the furthest reaches of our mind. For other drug addicts and alcoholics, mental illness is obvious

Although many of us may appear to show a normal face to the world, this is but a facade. Drug dependence and mental illness go hand-in-hand... Alcoholism and drug addiction are an illness; a disease.

Quite literally, a disease. We are anxious, we are worried and scared and depressed and unsure. Our minds and bodies are unable to rest, unable to deal with the worlds we perceive. And so we imbibe. We intoxicate. We cast ourselves--sometimes knowingly--full-blown into the rabbit hole, hoping to escape, hoping desperately to find an inner place of safety. But alcoholism and drug addiction and drug dependence--these are not the issues. They are merely symptoms. The real issue, the true underlying problem...

Is the mind of the addict. And it is this narrative, this personal drug story, that is told time and time again. The psychology of addiction, in all of its tales and tellings, has always one, central theme: The mind. The dark, deep, fragmented mind of the addict...

Tags: Drug Abuse, Addiction, drug addict, depression, drug Dependence, Alcoholism, Mental Illness