Video Transcript: “Hey, this is Matt Finch. I’m a certified addiction counselor and a certified addiction coach. In this video, you’re going to learn about an NLP principle that views addiction as an ‘exhausted resource’.
So to do this, I’m going to read you a portion of chapter 4 of my new book that I’m writing.
The word resource has several definitions that could be applied to it. In the description of opioid use being described as a resource, it means “a possibility of relief” or “a source of support.” Opioids were my resource for self-medicating my anxiety and depression, for giving me energy to work full-time as a single dad and to numb my emotional pain and dull my fear of life and people. Indeed, opioids were a valuable resource for me, albeit an unhealthy resource that led to more pain and suffering than I was experiencing prior to becoming a daily user, but a resource nonetheless.
Essentially, there are two categories that opioids can be a resource for. Physical and psychological resource categories. When opioids are a resource for pain relief, energy, and delayed ejaculation in men, these are physical areas of resource.
When opioids help a person to not feel anxiety, or depression, loneliness, guilt, shame, and other emotions, opioids are acting as a psychological resource. The people that get addicted to opioids nearly always get both physical and psychological resource benefits in ample quantities. Opioids become their “Ultimate Resource for Making Life Better.”
Opioids made me more empathetic, better in bed, more creative, more motivated and energized, more productive, more confident, and I just loved feeling so powerful because without opioids I almost always felt generalized anxiety, social anxiety, intermittent depression, and much more.
Whether a person is using opioids as a resource for physical pain, emotional pain, to self-medicate mental disorders or trauma, or to help them be a more productive, energized, and creative entrepreneur or business owner, it’s all for the same purpose. They are using opioids as an Ultimate Resource to Make Life Better.
Unfortunately for many of us, the positive benefits from using opioids as a resource usually begin to fade away, and in their place often come negative consequences. This is devastating, and in many cases, which are all too common, eventually, opioids are no longer a resource, but something else entirely, and once they become this new thing the longer a person continues using opioids the worse their lives typically get. This is a chapter that hits home big time for many, as this chapter probably did for you, too. Let’s now begin the discussion of opioid addiction being an “Exhausted Resource”.
When you first start using opioids if you become a daily user it’s because it’s a resource for you. It can give you benefits and when something’s giving you benefits and it’s really helping your life that can be a resource. But once it’s not giving you the same benefits or you’re getting significant negative consequences from the daily opioid use then I refer to it as an exhausted resource. I learned about this concept from a book on NLP for alcoholism.
For some people, it takes a couple of months for a substance to go from a resource to an exhausted resource. For other people, it can take years or a decade or longer before it becomes an exhausted resource.
Here’s how you know if opioids have become an exhausted resource for you: You get more negative consequences than positive benefits. You may still be getting some benefits from opioids but if you’re getting a lot of negative consequences that override the benefits such as you’re spending too much money or it’s causing pain in your relationships or maybe you’re not as present of a parent or maybe you’re lying or stealing, these different negative consequences can begin to outweigh and then heavily outweigh the positive benefits.
When this occurs, in NLP we call it an exhausted resource. It’s also an exhausted resource if you haven’t received the good benefits in weeks months or even years and you’re basically just using to avoid getting sick and prevent the withdrawal syndrome.
There are so many people that can’t afford to use enough opioids to get that mood boost, to get that energy, to feel good on it, there’s a lot of people that can’t afford that. And once you have. really big tolerance and dependence a lot of people are just using enough to prevent the withdrawal syndrome.
Each person is different and only you for yourself can decide whether or not opioid use is still a resource or if it’s an exhausted resource. To each their own and to each person their own path. Take care. Thanks for watching this video. Please give it a like if you learned anything new or enjoyed it. Subscribe if you have not already. And I’ll see you in the next video.”
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