Our alphabet letter of the day, boys and girls, is “D”. “D” stands for Desperate. Desperate because a Florida man, out of cell phone minutes, called 911 multiple times and attempted to arrange a sexual encounter with the dispatcher. He was arrested at his home about 15 minutes later. “D” also stands for Denial. Reportedly, the 29-year-old man told officers that he did not know he would get into trouble for his calls. “D” also stands for Defense. He will need a good one.

To many people this is just a funny story that you preface with, “Did you hear what some guy in Florida did? You will not believe this one!” To others of us, we recognize the signs and symptoms of addiction that this story illustrates. Caught in the throes of addiction, addicts will often go to extreme lengths to get their lust fix. For example, why did this man call 911 for sex? Because he was out of minutes on his calling plan. One of the characteristics of addiction is loss of control, or the inability to stop your behavior, especially in situations when “normies” would have quit long ago. However, being out of minutes is certainly no barrier to a determined sex addict. Another illustration of loss of control is the fact that he allegedly called back four times to 911 even thought the dispatcher hung up on him. Addicts just do not know when to stop.

For some of us, the harder thing to comprehend in this story is the fact that the man claimed he did not know that he would get in trouble for his calls to 911. Addicts, however, understand all too well how their denial and rationalizations cause them to see the world through a unique set of rose-colored glasses. Things that would be so obviously inappropriate to everyone else seem perfectly acceptable to the addict. In recovery programs they call this “stinkin’ thinkin’”. Good call, that one.

Sometimes addicts are aware that they have a problem and seek out help for themselves. Recovery from an addiction is typically not something that a person can accomplish alone. There are many types of help available from online sober communities, to 12 step anonymous programs, to psychotherapy, and even hospital programs. For other addicts their denial is so strong they genuinely do not believe that they have a problem. These unfortunates do not typically ask for help for themselves and have a much farther fall to find their “bottom”. For some, eventually, the progressive nature of the addiction leads to a situation like this one, where they are caught, confronted, and in all likelihood in this case, convicted.

This article was written By Laird Bridgman Ezine article.