PROMIS logo

9 Rue Emile-Yung
CH-1205 Geneva
Phone: +41 (0)22 346 44 66
Mob: +41 (0)79 613 59 72
and +41 (0)79 613 58 92

After Hours Phone Line:
0044 1304 841 700

 
 
 

TYPES OF ADDICTION

Alcoholism
Recreational and Prescription Drug Addiction
Eating Disorders
Compulsive Helping

Alcoholism

Getting help for problems with alcohol can be one of the most frightening experiences any individual can have. Often, the addiction builds up gradually over the years and by the time the alcoholic becomes aware of it, the difficulties involved in stopping and staying stopped are nearly impossible without help. The alcoholic often has multiple problems of a physical, psychological and emotional nature. The patient’s recovery, to be effective, must address each problem area.

At PROMIS, we provide the medical treatment necessary to ensure that the patient is safely and comfortably detoxed from alcohol. Our Psychiatrist, Psychologist and Psychotherapists assess and address in our treatment plans the patient’s psychological needs. The warmth and safety of our clinics engage the patient and by the time they are scheduled to leave are often reluctant to do so.

"Alcohol dependence brought me to the brink of death. Within five days at PROMIS, I was on the brink of a whole new life." (Chris, recovering alcoholic)

The main reason that giving up alcohol is frightening is that it becomes the main method of coping with stressful situations. We believe that any treatment that requires an individual to become and stay abstinent must offer an effective alternative for coping.

PROMIS offers just such a way. We gently help an individual learn a range of coping skills and then provide a safe place to practice them.

Through treatment each patient will learn how to stay abstinent and how to live life to the fullest. All too often problems related to their alcoholism rob people of their dignity, self worth and many opportunities are missed. Recovery from active alcoholism can not be considered a success until the individual realizes his full potential in life.

"I was amazed how quickly the natural rhythms of normal life returned after a relatively short period of abstinence in treatment." (James, recovering alcoholic)

We work as hard as we can to get people through treatment and back into normal life as quickly as possible which means that the treatment process is very intensive.

Recreational and prescription drug addiction

"When I staggered into PROMIS, I had given up totally. Recovery not only saved my life - it gave me a brand new one, and a great future." (Chris, ex-patient)

Drug addiction is the same for people who get their drugs legally from a pharmacy or from drug dealers. They both become addicted and often require professional help to be able to live without them.

Not all users of recreational (street) or prescription drugs are addicted to them, any more than all users of alcohol are alcoholics. However, a major problem for most addicts is that they are often the last person to believe that they are addicted.

"It was clear to me that I had reached a stage where I could no longer live with drugs - and I certainly could not live without them.” (Chloe, ex-patient).

Eventually, addicts seek help when the pain of continuing to use seems greater than the pain of giving up. Anything that reduces the painful consequences of addiction (paying off dealers, providing lawyers, covering the general costs of living, prescribing alternative drugs) simply prolongs active addiction. It makes greater damage to the addict and those around him more likely. It can lead to the addict’s death. The therapeutic challenge, in this as in other forms of addiction, is to persuade personal and professional helpers to let the addict experience the full consequences of his behaviour. In this way they will seek or accept help for their addiction more quickly than if they are enabled.

"What was extraordinary about this aspect of the treatment was that one is forced to face the appalling consequences of addiction - yet the empathy and consummate professionalism of the counsellors, and the support of my fellow peers, gave me a sense of relief, freedom, and release from guilt. That is when my true recovery began. " (Robin, ex-patient)

Any drug that has a mood-altering effect can be used addictively. There is no difference between soft and hard drugs other than (mostly) in the length of time it takes to be significantly damaged by their use.

Initial treatment at PROMIS for recreational drug addiction includes a short course of detoxification when necessary. Contrary to popular belief and the common protests of addicts, detoxification is usually the most simple and straightforward aspect of treatment. Learning how to stay off drugs is much more difficult. Heroin addicts are detoxified on Methadone on a reducing basis over four to eight days. Patients on tranquillisers, sleeping tablets and anti-depressants are detoxified more slowly over a period of two to three weeks. Patients addicted to Cocaine, Amphetamines (speed), LSD (acid), Ecstasy and Cannabis require no detoxification, although mild sedation at night is sometimes helpful for the first two or three nights. A major advantage of employing former addicts as addictions counsellors at PROMIS is that new patients cannot deceive these counsellors about how much detoxification they need.

New patients are introduced to group therapy as soon as they are able to walk from the nursing unit to the group room. Hopefully, by the time detoxification ends (the most likely time for patients to discharge themselves from treatment) there will be an established bond of understanding and encouragement between the new and older patients.

"Bonding with other patients brought it home to me that I was not alone, that we were people with shared experiences who formed a tight-knit mutually supportive group, based on trust, empathy and love.” (Michael, ex-patient)

At PROMIS, addicts of any kind are treated alongside each other. After all, most addicts have several addictive outlets at the same time and therefore need to understand all of these addictions by identifying with other patients. In any case, the human problems of addicts are identical whatever the specific addiction, and it is the management of these underlying human problems that form the core of treatment at PROMIS.

"I was astonished to learn that all addictions and compulsive behaviours - alcohol or drugs dependency, eating disorders, compulsive helping, gambling, smoking - all stem from the same root cause: an inability to accept, embrace and 'sit with one's emotions, feelings and moods '. Learning to do this without drugs has, quite literally, changed my life. Totally. " ( Christopher, ex-patient)

Addicts commonly want to blame their childhood experiences and current social circumstances for their addiction. PROMIS believes that these may influence the specific addictive outlets that any particular addict may use but the basic addictive nature is probably inherited. Thus, the primary form of treatment is to provide an understanding of the nature of addictive disease and what needs to be done to keep it in remission on a daily basis. Quick fixes of any kind don't work; following the Twelve Step programme of Narcotics Anonymous does work - and provides a drug-free life that enables the recovering addict to create happy and fulfilling relationships, develop his or her own personality, and pursue hopes and dreams in life.

"Following treatment, and by following the Twelve Step programme, I enjoy happy, healthy relationships, I am a valued and respected employee, and I have truly learned to be content with no drugs whatsoever. I am happier today than at any time in my life. "

(Alfred, ex-patient)

Eating disorders

"I began to understand that food was merely a symptom of something much deeper. It was my whole life that needed changing. " (Charlotte, ex-patient)

PROMIS was one of the first treatment organizations to treat eating disorders as a symptom of addiction.

Traditionally people recognize three types of eating disorder.

  1. Compulsive Overeating
  2. Bulimia
  3. Anorexia

We believe that there are probably at least five addictive processes around food.

  1. Compulsive Overeating. Here the addictive process or feeling comes simply from being bloated. This feeling is one of lethargy that results from having eaten too much of anything.
  2. Anorexia. Just the opposite of above. The starving process leaves one giddy and 'high'.
  3. Bulimia/Purging. Here the addictive process is to rid oneself of the food. This could be through vomiting, laxatives or simply excessive exercise.
  4. Sugar and White Flour. These chemicals in food seem to have an extremely psychoactive component. One will feel 'high' for a time by eating an excessive amount of sugar.
  5. Behaviour and obsession with food. The behavioural component of the addictive process with food is by far and away the largest component. The perpetual obsession with weight, body image, calorific content of food, vitamins, gluten content, dairy products, etc, are all manifestations of the behavioural nature of disordered eating. 

People may suffer from one or more types of disordered eating at any one time and often oscillate between one and another in just the same way that someone with an alcohol problem may swap from wines to beer or spirits. “I realized, in treatment, that I was as much an anorexic, as ever I was a bulimic" (Charlotte, ex-patient). The advice for people with eating disorders is the same as for those with alcohol or other drug addiction.

For an initial assessment of your eating disorder along with other addictive tendencies, please feel free to try our Shorter PROMIS Questionnaire on-line.

Compulsive helping

Of all the addictive behaviours, those surrounding relationships like sex and love addiction, relationship addiction or compulsive helping can be the most difficult to understand. This is further hindered by the confusing terminology used to describe it. Just as addiction means as many different things to as many people so do terms like co-dependency. We have tried to help clarify the situation by using different terms for different behaviours. Where people are addicted to someone they have a relationship with we call it relationship addiction, where people are addicted to helping others with their problems we call it compulsive helping. Giving these behaviours titles that are more clearly descriptive helps identify the specific behaviour involved. It also more clearly identifies that the responsibility lies with the relationship addict or the compulsive helper and has nothing to do with the other party in just the same way that alcoholism is the responsibility of the alcoholic and has nothing to do with the availability of alcohol.