in terms of the changed perspective, you're never going to forget that feeling. it will forever be an "option" that has to be staved off with will. the memory of a feeling like doing heroin is different from, say, the memory of a fact. it forever pulls you towards it in the most primal, low-level way, the human desire to feel good. emotionally trying times, in particular, are the worst because you know you can spend $10 to be yanked into bliss.
a good 30-40% of my friends were addicts and from talking to them i think they'd all agree that it's a long, slow climb back to emotional normalcy. i think it's healed only by time. a lot of time. and i think it's a half-life sort of curve where you get 50% better after the first 5 years, then 25% better after the next 5, then 12% better.. etc. more than anything you're trying to reorient yourself towards a life where the joys are small and fleeting, and waiting for those potent memories of having your bliss-button chemically held down to fade.
a good 30-40% of my friends were addicts and from talking to them i think they'd all agree that it's a long, slow climb back to emotional normalcy. i think it's healed only by time. a lot of time. and i think it's a half-life sort of curve where you get 50% better after the first 5 years, then 25% better after the next 5, then 12% better.. etc. more than anything you're trying to reorient yourself towards a life where the joys are small and fleeting, and waiting for those potent memories of having your bliss-button chemically held down to fade.