Wichita State University’s Carolyn Williams teaches a class on a serious subject matter: Alcohol and addictions. The class begins in August and is already filling up fast. Williams talked to In The Mix’s Carla Eckels and says addiction is more complex than most people think.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You say addiction is real and shows up in families everywhere. What do you mean?
Well, addiction, number one does, not discriminate. Also, who do you know in this world that doesn't have an addiction? It's how we look at addiction. Addiction could be drinking too much coffee. Addiction can be to have to have earrings on. Addiction can be anything we want. It's a behavior pattern that the mind controls, that affects the mind.
You believe in sharing with students a different side of addiction and opening it up for conversation.
We don't talk about all of the problems of how you become addicted, how the addiction affects the brain, how the addiction ... affects the system. One example [is] alcohol … [which] affects every organ … [every] tissue … in our body. Alcohol affects all of that.
We don't talk about eating disorders, not only [in] women, but [also in] men. Not only Blacks, but it [also] affects whites. We don't get into the real issues of the origin of the problem and how it affects us.
We just say, "You know, there are 2.7 billion people that are affected by fentanyl, or that use meth or that snort cocaine or that drink alcohol."
So, we really need to have more conversation and communication about the root of the problem, what it does, and [we] definitely ... need to have more facilities within our system for those that are affected by this.
Why did you decide to teach this particular class, Gender, Alcohol and Addictions?
Because during my master's my subject was HIV AIDS, and during [my] research ... other areas were real broad, and addiction was one of those. Also, our society does not emphasize enough on addiction, with the amount of people that are affected by ... addictions.
When did you decide you needed to teach a class on this?
We had an option and there were a lot of classes that had been taught by Carol Koneck, who started the Women’s Studies Department at the time, which was the second oldest department of its kind in the U.S.
Koneck had a course and kind of touched on that. And so, as a result of that, I ... took that information and expanded the course. My class is online, it’s not ... in-person. ...Students say that they wish it could be longer. I teach an eight-week course and they want it to be a semester — 16 weeks.
What can be done to reduce the stigma of addiction?
Well, I think personally, that we should change the language, [and] add new ideologies — such as it shouldn't be called just an addict or addiction. It's either [the] disease of addiction or addiction disease, and the reason is the fact that it affects the mind. It's psychological and you have to combine the mental and the emotional and attach it to find out the cause of the addiction. If you have a disease, you have to have several things, you have to have medical attention. Once you get the medical attention — [which] ... absolutely identifies the problem — then, because of the different treatments, you can identify the root of the problem for the addiction. You change all your psychological patterns, you change your behavior patterns. Then, we have what we consider a solution to help people who have an addiction.
You said a solution, so you teach that?
I teach ways of understanding and I provide them information. Hopefully, it alters their mindset about addiction disease. ...Knowledge is so powerful. Knowledge alters our thoughts and beliefs and habits and how we treat people. You become more aware of different areas of society that are affected. Even though it may not affect you directly, at least you understand why your best friend can't get clean. Why your best friend doesn't seek treatment. You also might think, "Why doesn’t the person seek treatment?" It’s because it’s not easy to seek treatments.
For example, there's one designated in-patient facility here for women with substance addiction. ...A lot of times the reason women don't seek treatment [is] because they have children [and] no one to watch their kids while they’re in a treatment center.
We need to have more facilities and even when you go to a drug facility, you have to pay for treatments. If you don't have insurance, you may not be able to pay. If you have a heroin or methamphetamine or fentanyl addiction, and you need methadone, you have to pay for that. It’s not free. So as a result, if you can't get treatment, what are you going to do? You're going to resort to the same things that you've been doing.
It's a constant fight, you have to replace your old habits with new habits. You have to have [a] support system to constantly be in your ear, about what you shouldn't do and how it happens. You have to change your whole lifestyle, you can't go back to [being] with the friends that you've had, because they may not be where you are, and you have to reallywant to change. The key is that you want to change. No matter how many resources, no matter how much money, no matter how much help, if the individual just doesn’t want to change and has not accepted the fact that they have an addiction, it’s really hard to change.
And I’d like to stress, How do you spell the word disease? D-I-S…ease. If you hyphenate it, you have ... dis-ease, which is what addiction is all about. Those that are carrying addiction have a disease and until we can get everything coordinated, like the mental health part of it, with the addiction, we will continue to be troubled with drugs in our society.
You’ve been teaching this class for 14 years. Why are you so passionate about this?
Because Carla, somebody has to talk about this, you know. Addiction has been in my family and I think that I'm from an outstanding, honorable family. ...I know friends that have an addiction, it's all around us. ...For me, I'm really passionate about it because I just feel like there is something that I might be able to say that will change how society looks at addiction. There may be something that I can say that directly affects a person that has [an] addiction that might say "Hey, can you help me?"
