>This doesn't apply to every drug addiction, but too a lot.
Its a common myth that drug users want to escape reality. They want to see reality, they just can't handle the truth, so they use drugs to numb the pain of reality. So when they're sober, they live in a mushy feel-good fantasy land and call that reality. thats why they can't ever quit. You will hear these sorts of people in support groups talking about the "lies" that they used to believe about themselves and life that kept them doing drugs, lies like: "Nobody wants me around", "my life is ruined I'll never be able to recover from past mistakes", "people suck", and "life is suffering". These are all true. Optimism and hope have a place, but only in the light of these realities. Not being able to hold these facts in your head without drugs is the problem. Its why people that "Get sober" seem so insincere and insane, because their only way of being sober is denying reality. Once reality creeps in they go right back to self-destructive lifestyle.