Police Psychology | Rising from the Chains of Addiction

Guest Blogger — Law Enforcement Officer’s Child

(name redacted for potential of negative future consequences)

The Little Blue Pill.  An instrument of healing that leads to drowning.  My first experience with Oxycontin was gleefully numbing and chemically satisfying.  It served its purpose: diverting pain until the next dose.  Small yet powerful, the little blue pill led to a life of murdered motivation, crippling dependence and cunning denial.  Consumption induces euphoria, sedation, itchiness and drowsiness so the bottle says, yet the side-effects not listed on the bottle are much farther-reaching.  These slow assassins can be bought on the street or delightfully delivered by a pharmacist. I spent time, money, energy and shed my dreams in favor of the twisted comfort of Oxycontin.  Addiction is a physical and mental manifestation of chemical dependence, which may well lead to a vicious cycle of denial and self-destruction.  My progression was slow, until it wasn’t.  Lying to myself and others was the first step down the dark corridor of addiction.  Then came the cheating, stealing and desperation.  My story is one of despair and rapid deterioration.

The problems in my life stacked up high. I couldn’t face challenges in my relationships, platonic or romantic, I couldn’t find the motivation to chase my dreams, I couldn’t see the slow decline in my health and most of all I couldn’t see a way out.  Opiates had taken the wheel.  I was driving on autopilot deeper into a slow and lonely existence.  I am the son of a corrections officer and they had a psychological service that saw all law enforcement families.  Eventually, I agreed to see a psychologist to get my family off my back.  He called himself a police psychologist. (more…)