Speakers use TEDTalks to tell their stories of addiction for more people to know about it. Addiction is a complex issue and a lot of people are afraid to talk about it. Here are two TEDTalks from speakers who have seen addiction first hand and are taking a step towards the fight in addiction in talking about it.
Therapist and author Paula Hall’s “We Need to Talk About Sex Addiction” is about her spreading awareness of how more people need to talk about sex addiction in order for more to be done. Hall explains scenarios that have happened to normal people overcome by sex addiction like Jim who was married for eighteen years with kids. He went on an adult hookup website just out of curiosity and ended up having hundreds of sexual encounters. His wife discovered his secret when she found a video of him having sex with another woman on his phone. He confessed to her that he has had an addiction to porn for twenty years.
Hall says that many people are ashamed to admit that they have a problem and that is what is preventing them from getting help. They feel the need to live a double life. Hall ends her talk by letting people know that sex addiction can happen to anyone and that people need to have more compassionate for those with this addiction so that they will feel comfortable enough to talk to someone.
Mental health and disability rights activist Emily Smith’s “Lessons From the Child of an Addict” is about how she was raised with a mother who was a prescription drug addict just like her mother was and her mother before that. She realizes that addiction can be a cycle and that she has a 50% chance of becoming an addiction too. Smith compares humans to animals in this way how animals will develop instincts based on where they lived just like humans. She explains that the difference between humans and animals is that humans can make choices and be in control. Smith realized growing up that her dream was to be there for children who grew up with parents who were addicts and to stop the cycle. Even though she knows that she cannot guarantee that she will never be an addict, she will still make it her mission to make sure that does not happen to herself or others.
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