Along with a dependency upon drugs and/or alcohol I also experience very poor self esteem in those who come to treatment or for counseling. Poor self esteem is one of the major problems that most if not all addicts have to deal with. It is part of an addicts depression. I have found that the belief of “not being good enough” is present in all addicts. If this problem is not openly and directly changed much of what the person has done with his life will be duplicated. I believe that our life is lived from one central source, the view that we have about ourselves, our self image. If that self image is not positive but rather a negative one then the individual’s life will be the same, negative in nature. Once a person starts to change his or her self image and to the point of thinking positively about oneself then their life will truly transform, deleting the need for drugs and/or alcohol.
