First Aid for Your Emotional Hurts: Addiction: Addiction

By Dr. Edward E Moody Jr.

Readers will find words of comfort and hope through practical advice on surviving the difficulties they are facing, and through Scripture and examples from the Bible of those dealing with similar difficulties as well. Details of emotional and physical symptoms are shared as ways to overcome addiction. Dr. Moody shares a biblical model for recovery from addiction as well as gives appropriate resources available when professional help is needed by giving contact information for those resources.. He speaks with a qualified voice to the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs in various situations faced in today's society. The size and price of the book make it a perfect outreach tool tht will not overwhelm those who are hurting and need guidance through difficult times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Randall House
• Release date: Jun 29, 2010
• ISBN: 9781614840091

Dr. Edward E Moody Jr.

Edward E. Moody Jr. has been a counselor educator at North Carolina Central University since 1995. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Counselor Education. Moody also serves as pastor of Tippett's Chapel in Clayton, NC. As a minister he has helped people with a variety of difficulties, and as a psychological consultant he has counseled troubled youth. He has a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in counselor education, an M.A. from Middle Tennessee State University in clinical psychology, and a B.A. from Free Will Baptist Bible College in pastoral training. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor in NC as well as a Licensed Health Services Provider-Psychological Associate. His first book published was "First Aid for Emotional Hurts - Helping People Through Difficult Times" and has become an excellent resource especially for ministers. Dr. Moody has also published several articles in scholastic journals and serves as a workshop leader for various events within the Christian community and counseling community. He and his wife, Lynne, live in North Carolina, along with their two children.

Book preview

ADDICTION

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Romans 7:15

Do these words describe your life? You don’t understand your actions. You do things you don’t want to do. You fail to do the things you wish you did. You find yourself eating more, gaming more, smoking more, using more, looking more, shopping more or working more than you want. You may find yourself doing the very things you hate. You are using substances that are destroying your body, looking at that which is twisting your mind, wasting your time, or gambling away your hard earned money. Yet you aren’t doing the things you really want to do. Being healthy, faithful, honest, trustworthy, or there for your family.

Paul’s words show us there is nothing new about our problems. Anyone can become entangled, trapped, chained, dependent, enslaved, addicted, or whatever word you wish to use, when they go their own way.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

It may help to get a perspective regarding the prevalence of these entangling behaviors. Thousands of people suffer from a variety of these behaviors.

Prevalence of Entanglement

• Almost a quarter of men and one-fifth of women in the United States smoke cigarettes with more than 700,000 more people beginning each year.¹

• Approximately 27 million Americans either use illicit drugs or are heavy drinkers.²

• 36% of American can be characterized as obese.³

• More than 5 million children may be addicted to gaming.⁴

• 50-60% of evangelical Christian men, at least at some time, have struggled with pornography.⁵

• 86% of the US population gambles at some point over a lifetime. $50 billion a year is legally gambled in the United States.⁶

• At a minimum, it is believed that 10 million people would be described as excessive shoppers.⁷

The term addiction is thrown around a great deal in our culture. The term is synonymous with dependence. How do you know if you are dependent upon a substance or activity? When you are addicted to a substance or activity you experience tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. Tolerance is when you want increasing amounts of a substance or activity to experience the feeling or the high you felt as you began using the substance or engaging in the activity.

Anyone Can Struggle

Even the great church leader Augustine experienced a continual struggle to keep sexually pure throughout his life.

Withdrawal symptoms occur after a brief period without the substance. Withdrawal happens because the body has become dependent upon the substance. Symptoms of withdrawal continue until the body begins to learn to function again without the chemical. If you are regularly engaging in an activity you might find yourself feeling down after going a while without performing it. Your brain has become accustomed to the stimulation that is produced by the behavior.

You may crave the substance or the activity and find yourself spending significantly more time engaging in the activity than previously planned. This happens despite knowledge that you may experience enormous consequences for the behavior (e.g., loss of a job, driving privileges or a relationship). For example, you may have intended to buy only one or two items at the mall only to spend all of the money you had with you. There is a tendency