With the recent awareness surrounding addiction, one would think that the addiction recovery rate has increased significantly and that addiction would have decreased in existence, persistence, and detriment.

But no, addiction has risen significantly while also costing families and the government billions (literally) of dollars. The yearly number of addiction-related deaths has gone up in shocking numbers.

So what is wrong with the way things are being done?

Addiction is a disease of the mind. It is the only disease that when a professional gives advice, the patient will completely and sanely hear the professional diagnosis, hear the advice, and hear which medication they need, and then do an about-face and just decide to go another way. The other way is the patient's own personally made-up advice. Advice that has NEVER produced results.

Addiction is a disease that requires more than a physical professional diagnosis; it requires something that is hard to come by, called trust.

One of the hardest markets to gain trust with is the addict community. They have burned others and been burned so many times that they don't trust them. If you cannot convince an addict that you 100 percent understand what they are going through, they will not listen to a word that you say. It's just how they are.

Additionally, they are great at feeling out whether someone is being truthful. If you do not truly understand what they are feeling, they can see that, and they will disregard your advice.

So that kind of dumbs it down. Addiction recovery, having spent the money that it did, produces fewer results than one addict sitting and talking face-to-face with another addict. That much is (or should be) obvious.

Because addiction is a mental disease more than a physical disease, most people assume that the mental health industry (psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and psychologists) holds the reins and has the most say in treatment recovery. However, it is not so.

Recovered addicts, although they do not claim to hold the reins, do have the highest rate of success working with addicts and alcoholics.

Although it is hard to say, it would seem that the issue with recovery is that since there is a lot of money to make in this industry, the wrong people have been providing the necessary help to struggling addicts and alcoholics.

The AZ House is changing this, one small step at a time.

The AZ House, located in Jerusalem, Israel, is a men's program run by former addicts and alcoholics who work with the residents out of the goodness of their hearts. The AZ House in Jerusalem does not charge its residents any tuition, removing any dollar signs from their foreheads. Instead, we fundraise within the community and leave the recovery to the "professionals."

If you or any of your loved ones need help, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

We're here to help.