Leah, Carl Jung discussed on Dr. Drew Podcast
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
And again, I don't think people should be just turning against her and team him. No. Totally not just some innocent victim, but everyone is very polarized and they're thinking and no one thinks with any nuance. And that's really cool. Let's bring in the nuance on the Johnny dep, because very few people do this now. When he was using, he's a severe addict alcoholic, severe, blacked out a lot. I bet he was a scary fucking dude when he was wasted. So scary. Yeah, and that's abuse. That's abusive. If she were my patient, I'd say get the hell out of there. Who knows where this is going to go? Who knows what he's liable to do? But the problem with the borderline is they go in for the drama. That's the problem. Oh, yeah, they rival off of it. Yeah. So how do we solve this, Leah? Come on now. Solve it for us right now. I'm just happy that with all my issues, I'm not borderline. I know that. Well, I bet when you were using you appeared borderline. I bet you. Oh, for sure. When I was using absolutely a 100%. I also really don't believe that I'm bipolar two, which I've been diagnosed with because I think bipolar two is such a like all those hypomanic traits are also coping mechanisms for addicts who are not getting the help they need. So very interesting, you would say that. I would say the vast majority, not just the majority, but the vast majority of addicts diagnosed bipolar in the first two years of their sobriety were not. They were either look, by the way, a lot of them are diagnosed when they're using, which is insane. Because everybody looks bipolar when they're using it. That's insane. However, let me say this. In that first two years of sobriety, mood stabilizing medication can be very, very helpful. Because when you're in that state when your brain is on fire and it's still detoxing for those first two years, your mood's all over the freaking place, right? And so it has some so when people get that diagnosis, I just go, okay, fine, take the depakote or take the lithium, whatever. And it's helpful. It's helpful. But two or three years out, you should be thinking about getting off because the probability of being bipolar is very low. And you're right about hypomania. Hypomania is not bipolar. Right? There's a lot of hype. Exactly. Yeah, there's a lot of, it's a thrill state and addicts are prone to being into that. That's what workaholism is. It's what a lot of business people do. It's a lot of government people do. They don't sleep. They're into it. They're excited about stuff all the time. And they're hypomanic. But that's not really bipolar, really. I mean, it could be, but it isn't exclusively so, which is, it's interesting that you brought that up. I bet you talk to your peers in the rooms about that. You're still going to meetings? Yeah, I still go to meetings and I definitely talk about my outside issues or whatever. You know, I just, yeah, I was actually diagnosed with all my 30th birthdays, so that was like my third year into sobriety. And I was on, you know, they put me on so many different things that didn't work. And obviously, if I was on SSRIs, which helped. And if I was actually truly bipolar, it would have spun me into like an actual mania. So I just don't think that's exactly right. There's not that many doctors that know how to deal with addicts. There just isn't. Leah, I rarely come across them. Rarely. And there's a shit on the claim and don't know what the fuck they're doing. They really don't understand this illness. They don't understand it. And less than the illness, they don't understand recovery. They don't believe in it. They have no faith in it. They don't understand the process and all the stages of recovery. I mean, this is a highly nuanced experience that's getting you back to a fully thriving life. Better than you ever knew you could be. You know, dealing with all the pain and all the shit, you're finally getting there. And very few physicians have experience with that very, very, very few. And it kills me. It kills me. The spiritual aspect of the program really throws because I've had doctors be like, why is God involved? And I'm just like, oh, stop. Well, we know what's interesting about that is we can leave that alone. We don't have to participate in any of this, not our business. Carl Jung, Carl Jung. That alcoholics need a spiritual aspect to recover. He did. A spiritual experience, he said. They have to have an spiritual moment, spiritual experience. And he's right. Yeah. And I would say it's even a little more nuanced. You have to have a moment of clarity. You have to have a moment of change. And you have to find something in the spirit after that, or even as part of that. And whatever that means, I have no fucking idea what that even means half the time. I just know that alcoholics know what it means. And so I have great reference for it. And that's my point, doctors can stay.