The Way Out Recovery SCV officials are opening up a discussion about a few “telltale signs” of addiction and the role genetics can play by inviting a woman in recovery to share her story during the latest “The Way Out Recovery Hour” on KHTS.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize how difficult it is to pull out of the grasp that addiction has on a person,” said Bob Sharits, program director at The Way Out Recovery SCV. “There’s a difference between somebody who has the ability to stop if they get in trouble and somebody who, if they’re in trouble, it makes it worse.”

Trisha, who is celebrating six months clean and sober, can see the connection between her addiction and her genetics, noting that both she and her half brothers followed in their father’s footsteps of addiction despite never having a relationship with him.

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“He left my mom and I before I was born,” she said. “I don’t have any contact with him, any kind of relationship with him, but I do know and have heard that he himself has major addiction problems.”

“That’s important for people to understand,” Sharits added. “Certainly environment plays a part … but an even bigger factor is the genetic process that takes place. And here’s an example of somebody that’s never met the person who they got their genes from, but yet that alcoholism transfers over.”

After growing up with a stepfather who was also addicted to drugs and alcohol, Trisha tried alcohol for the first time with her friends at 13-14 years old.

“I had a lot of things happen when I was a young child and it made me for a long time very uncomfortable with myself. I was shy, I never felt in place, I just always wanted to fit in,” she recalled. “(When) I had that first drink … it allowed me to just — I felt like at the time — be myself, be fun, be outgoing. It just gave me a different identity that I really liked.”

Sharits noted he often hears those in recovery describe this type of feeling when looking back on their early experiences with drugs or alcohol.

“That’s a common thing we hear a lot in people describing their story is, ‘I felt like I was standing over here, and when I took those drinks or or when I did anything that made me feel different than I do all the time, it allowed me maybe just for a moment, but maybe for longer, to be a part of,’” Sharits said. “Alcohol or drugs becomes the solution to a problem that I don’t even know I have.”

While she didn’t drink every day, Trisha found herself relying on alcohol as she got older, getting to the point where she focused much of her thoughts around the next party or social gathering.

“It wasn’t something I would say I was addicted to at that point, but I definitely looked forward to the days we were going to drink,” she said. “There was nothing else I could think about but we were going to go out and we were going to get drunk.”

Sharits called this a sign that Trisha was becoming addicted to alcohol, describing it as “renting space in your head.”

“It’s one thing to look forward to like, ‘My friends are having a party this weekend, cool,’” he said. “But when it rents space in your head and (you’re) thinking about, ‘I hope they have a keg there,’ or ‘I wonder what they’re going to be drinking there’ or ‘I better starting thinking about Uber now’ or whatever like five days ahead of time … that’s one of the signs.”

Trisha noted she even took it one step further, carefully planning the timing of when she would start drinking so she could “make it through” the entire party before she passed out.

“That’s a telltale sign of early onset of alcoholism, is when I’m planning what I’m going to drink, how I’m going to drink, it’s renting space in my head,” Sharits said. “How I’m going to get away with it, how I’m going to get my fill, I hope there’s enough and if there’s not enough, I better bring my own… Those are telltale signs.”

Sharits continued, “The purpose of today’s show is so that listeners … can (hear) this and go, ‘Me too. Wow, what Trisha is talking about right now, I’ve experienced that. I may have a problem.’ And be able to take a look at that and get a hold on it.”

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