Dr. Denise A. Fleurant, PsyD, MFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist working as a private practitioner in the Newport area. Dr. Fleurant holds an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Chapman University, a Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from American Behavioral Studies Institute in California and a Post-Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology.
Dr. Fleurant is a member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She is a certified diplomate of Psychotherapy of the American Psychotherapy Association and Certified Relationship Specialist. Dr. Fleurant is an affiliate member of the Midwest Center for Anxiety and Depression and continually receives advanced training in integretice medicine.
Newport Psychological Services Counseling and Assessment Center has two locations:227 West Main Road in Middletown, RI 02842, and The Polo Center, 680 Aquidneck Avenue, Middletown RI 02842. The office is handicapped accessible. Regular office hours are accommodated with evening and weekend appointments as needed.
Please call (401) 864-1493 for more information or to schedule an appointment.
We are all pleasure seekers. There are pleasure centers located in the human brain, which, when activated, are associated with feelings of euphoria. This happens to us every day. Every day we go through naturally occurring periods when we feel comfortable, secure, happy, and fulfilled. These feelings are often followed by periods when more negative feelings are aroused, for example anxiety, insecurity, and discomfort. Humans are highly reinforced by positive feelings of pleasure. We want to experience euphoria again and again.
Addictive behavior can be seen as an attempt to control our daily cycles by maximizing pleasurable feelings and decreasing the frequency of negative feelings. At first we may even succeed for awhile in doing this, but our basic nature has a way of catching up with us. We need our down phases of the daily cycle as much as we need the more positive ones - if for no other reason than that the negative parts of the cycle help us appreciate the positive ones even more. Our negative experiences strengthen us and help us to become survivors. They assist us in learning wisdom and integrity.
Addiction is an uncontrolled search for gratification through a relationship with a substance or activity to the exclusion of other more diverse life experiences. The substance or activity with which the addict forms a relationship varies with each person. Common sources of addiction are alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, prescription medication, sex, love, food, shopping and shoplifting, gambling, television, computers, video games, pornography, and work.
Many addictions aim to increase arousal. This is the all powerful feeling that might come from cocaine, amphetamines, the first few drinks of alcohol, shoplifting, sexual acting out, videogames, or gambling. This omnipotent feeling, however, is eventually undermined when the addict realizes that a dependency has been formed. A feeling of fear replaces the feeling of being all powerful - fear of losing the source of the addiction and fear that others will know how powerless the person actually is. Negative experiences always accompany the positive feelings the addict is seeking.
Other addictions aim to increase satiation. This is the feeling of happiness and fulfillment that might be achieved through the use of heroin, marijuana, tranquilizers, pain medication, watching TV, or overeating. The feeling of satiation serves to camouflage a person’s underlying pain. Again, however, negative feelings always show themselves. The person who strives for satiation not only re-experiences the underlying pain when the feelings of satiation wears off, but also experiences the grief accompanied by the loss of the satiation high. Satiation addicts must increase the dosage of the drug or the frequency of the addictive acting out behavior to cover up the original pain. The quest for the satiation high takes over the person’s life until, ultimately, the pain returns in the form of despair.
Recovering from addiction:
Coming to terms with addiction may be the most important journey of a person’s life. Because the addict’s primary relationship is with the addictive substance and everything else is secondary - only used to pursue the addictive high - the addict’s safety, security, and life dreams may suffer. The tragedy of addiction is that people can lose their families, friends, money, homes, jobs, and ways of life. The single mindedness of the addictive pursuit prevents the addicts from dealing with life in a more mature, complex, and responsible way.
One way of coming to terms with addiction is to work with a trained therapist. Because addiction is such an entrenched pattern in one’s life and essentially an emotional issue, individual talk therapy may not provide all the support one needs to come to term with the problem, but it is the best starting point. Coming to terms with addiction means exploring the beauty, joy, and excitement, of the full and complete person that all of us have the capacity to become.