Quite often, the first consciously sober reality drug addicts and alcoholics realize is that of their closest associates, usually family, no longer seemingly to trust them. Believe it or not, to the affected, this often comes as a shocking surprise. The destruction of trust takes place at a time when the addict or alcoholic was not mentally conscious but was infact inebriated. We seem to “wake up” into a new world where trust is shattered in the opening moments of our fledgling sobriety. This new reality in and of itself can be an enormous hurdle for the newly sobered and presents its on challenge.
Six months after my on last drink, one rainy evening I was rear ended sitting still with my foot on the brake at a municipal red light. By the time I could shake the rattling shock from my head; a local municipal police officer had come upon the accident and was “working the wreck”. To a witness, the accident would have been easily obvious as to who the perpetrator was and who the victim was. The attending police officer, doing his standard sworn duty worked the accident in a text book fashion and first tended to the person at the rear of the wreck. Soon the police officer came to me and initially was polite and business like. It didn’t take long for the officer to process my driver’s license and pretty soon the entire demeanor of the wreck changed completely. All of a sudden I found myself being given a field sobriety test, questioned in regards to alcohol use, treated as if I were about to be a DUI client and the sole 100% cause of the accident!
Typically, we spend many years destroying the trust provided us as a respected birthright. In my on case, I had spent thirty one years destroying the trust the ones around me had placed in me. Just because I had finally had enough alcohol, did not in any way mean the world realized I had finally had enough alcohol. I had proven to the world that my personal best was yet another drink and that is what the world had come to expect from me. Just like I had come to the point of trustlessness one drink at a time, it would take one responsible act at a time to rebuild the trust I so desperately wanted. In time, that much needed trust did return… one drink-less day at a time.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Why does AA seem to work?
Why does AA seem to produce more lifetime sobriety than all other forms of “help”? After all, tremendous amounts of money, research and time have been invested in all forms of drug and alcohol rehab. What makes the success of one stand out over another?
Make no mistake, it is note worthy to state that people do in fact get sober in a huge variety of ways. Some find relief in churches, others from doctors and hospitals. Perhaps some even get help from psychiatrist and/or psychologist, treatment facilities and detox centers. Jail has even produced sobriety at times. Some people have just simply decided to stop drinking all on their on. Be all that as it may, no other form of “help” has the percentage of life time success as the twelve step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Why is that?
When I was drinking, which was over half my life, everything occurring in my world was “I, I, I” or “Me, Me, Me”. I had no other moral compass by which to live. The spiraling pit of painful self obsession was truly my greatest addiction of them all! How much money can “I” make? How big of a house can “I” have? How powerful of a career can “I” get? On and on the progressive mental illness continued and with every thought would always come a drink.
The very first word of AA’s twelve steps is not “I” or “Me” but it is “WE” and in those simple two letters lay the mystical and miraculous spiritual healing qualities of AA’s entire program! The first half of AA’s first step reads “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol” and thusly a program of “WE” came into existence! The absolute power of “WE” has now saved the lives of millions of otherwise hopeless drug addicts and alcoholics. The concept that “I can’t do this by myself but somehow because YOU are sober, I gain the strength to live sober today also” is the “WE” power of AA.
A single sewing thread has no strength what-so-ever and will snap with the lightest tug. But weave a thousand threads together and suddenly you have the strength of a cable that can pull an aircraft carrier! Such is the miraculous qualities of AA, the strength of “WE” allows “ME” to live happy, joyous and free just for today.
Make no mistake, it is note worthy to state that people do in fact get sober in a huge variety of ways. Some find relief in churches, others from doctors and hospitals. Perhaps some even get help from psychiatrist and/or psychologist, treatment facilities and detox centers. Jail has even produced sobriety at times. Some people have just simply decided to stop drinking all on their on. Be all that as it may, no other form of “help” has the percentage of life time success as the twelve step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Why is that?
When I was drinking, which was over half my life, everything occurring in my world was “I, I, I” or “Me, Me, Me”. I had no other moral compass by which to live. The spiraling pit of painful self obsession was truly my greatest addiction of them all! How much money can “I” make? How big of a house can “I” have? How powerful of a career can “I” get? On and on the progressive mental illness continued and with every thought would always come a drink.
The very first word of AA’s twelve steps is not “I” or “Me” but it is “WE” and in those simple two letters lay the mystical and miraculous spiritual healing qualities of AA’s entire program! The first half of AA’s first step reads “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol” and thusly a program of “WE” came into existence! The absolute power of “WE” has now saved the lives of millions of otherwise hopeless drug addicts and alcoholics. The concept that “I can’t do this by myself but somehow because YOU are sober, I gain the strength to live sober today also” is the “WE” power of AA.
A single sewing thread has no strength what-so-ever and will snap with the lightest tug. But weave a thousand threads together and suddenly you have the strength of a cable that can pull an aircraft carrier! Such is the miraculous qualities of AA, the strength of “WE” allows “ME” to live happy, joyous and free just for today.
Are YOU an alcoholic?
The first and strongest reaction of everyone that has ever been confronted with the aspect of being labeled an “alcoholic” is always the same, “DENIAL”. Immediately, the individual begins to build a silent wall of defense erecting invisible barriers designed to keep this perceived albatross from being placed around his on neck. Every imaginable verbal defense is mentally prepared beginning with quick sound bytes designed to ward off the “alcoholic labeling” attack being brought on by well meaning family members. The question has always been the same, “are YOU an alcoholic”?
Countless arguments in the alcoholic debate for both sides have been built since grapes were first stomped. One of the better list of questions designed to identify an alcoholic is being presented in today’s Columbia addictions examiner column. This “list” is from The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and is intended to help a person determine whether he or she has symptoms of alcoholism. Also, this list has been used many times by many resources for many years and is considered quite reliable by many professionals. Here's the list:
1. Do you occasionally drink heavily after a disappointment, a quarrel or when the boss gives you a hard time?
2. When you have trouble or feel under pressure, do you drink more heavily than usual?
3. Have you noticed you are able to handle more liquor than you did when you first started drinking?
4. Did you ever wake up the “morning after” and discover you could not remember part of the evening before, even though friends say you didn’t pass out?
5. When drinking with other people, do you try to have a few extra drinks when others will not know it?
6. Are there times when you feel uncomfortable if alcohol is not available?
7. Have you recently noticed that when you begin drinking, you are in more of a hurry to get the first drink than you used to be?
8. Do you sometimes feel a little guilty about your drinking?
9. Are you secretly irritated when family or friends discuss your drinking?
10. Have you noticed an increase in the frequency of your memory blackouts?
11. Do you often find that you wish to continue drinking after your friends say they have had enough?
12. Do you usually have a reason for the occasion when you drink heavily?
13. When you are sober, do you often regret things you have done or said while drinking?
14. Have you tried switching brands or following different plans for controlling your drinking?
15. Have you often failed to keep promises you have made to yourself about controlling or cutting down on your drinking?
16. Have you ever tried to control your drinking by changing jobs or moving to a new location?
17. Do you try to avoid family or close friends while you are drinking?
18. Are you having an increasing number of financial and work problems?
19. Do you sometimes have the shakes in the morning and find it helps to have a little drink?
20. Do you eat very little or irregularly when you are drinking?
21. Do you get terribly frightened after you have been drinking heavily?
22. After periods of drinking, do you ever see or hear things that aren’t there?
Those answering yes to several of the questions from 1 through 8 may be in the early stage of alcoholism. Additional yes answers to questions 9 through 22 may indicate the middle to final stages of alcoholism.
If you are concerned this column means “YOU”, please know that millions have preceded you on this path and it can lead to living a beautiful life of being happy, joyous and free!
Countless arguments in the alcoholic debate for both sides have been built since grapes were first stomped. One of the better list of questions designed to identify an alcoholic is being presented in today’s Columbia addictions examiner column. This “list” is from The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and is intended to help a person determine whether he or she has symptoms of alcoholism. Also, this list has been used many times by many resources for many years and is considered quite reliable by many professionals. Here's the list:
1. Do you occasionally drink heavily after a disappointment, a quarrel or when the boss gives you a hard time?
2. When you have trouble or feel under pressure, do you drink more heavily than usual?
3. Have you noticed you are able to handle more liquor than you did when you first started drinking?
4. Did you ever wake up the “morning after” and discover you could not remember part of the evening before, even though friends say you didn’t pass out?
5. When drinking with other people, do you try to have a few extra drinks when others will not know it?
6. Are there times when you feel uncomfortable if alcohol is not available?
7. Have you recently noticed that when you begin drinking, you are in more of a hurry to get the first drink than you used to be?
8. Do you sometimes feel a little guilty about your drinking?
9. Are you secretly irritated when family or friends discuss your drinking?
10. Have you noticed an increase in the frequency of your memory blackouts?
11. Do you often find that you wish to continue drinking after your friends say they have had enough?
12. Do you usually have a reason for the occasion when you drink heavily?
13. When you are sober, do you often regret things you have done or said while drinking?
14. Have you tried switching brands or following different plans for controlling your drinking?
15. Have you often failed to keep promises you have made to yourself about controlling or cutting down on your drinking?
16. Have you ever tried to control your drinking by changing jobs or moving to a new location?
17. Do you try to avoid family or close friends while you are drinking?
18. Are you having an increasing number of financial and work problems?
19. Do you sometimes have the shakes in the morning and find it helps to have a little drink?
20. Do you eat very little or irregularly when you are drinking?
21. Do you get terribly frightened after you have been drinking heavily?
22. After periods of drinking, do you ever see or hear things that aren’t there?
Those answering yes to several of the questions from 1 through 8 may be in the early stage of alcoholism. Additional yes answers to questions 9 through 22 may indicate the middle to final stages of alcoholism.
If you are concerned this column means “YOU”, please know that millions have preceded you on this path and it can lead to living a beautiful life of being happy, joyous and free!
Local drug and alcohol rehabilitation in Columbia SC
Television and radio advertisements often lead us to familiar names in the drug and alcohol treatment industry that are really more national in scope and less localized. Sometimes when an issue as intimate and personal as drug or alcohol addiction can be, it may be helpful to seek services from someone that is more like family and a part of the local community. In Columbia SC, just such services are available from a well known institution called “Morris Village”. A more complete association name would be “Earle E. Morris Jr. Alcohol and Drug AddictionTreatment Center” but locally well known as just Morris Village.
Morris Village is located at:
610 Faison Drive, Columbia, S.C. 29203
Telephone: (803) 935-7100
www.state.sc.us/dmh/morris_village
Morris Village is a 160-bed inpatient addiction treatment facility and it’s purpose is to provide treatment for persons requiring inpatient level of care for alcohol and other drug addiction. The Morris Village mission statement is as follows:
“Morris Village is to provide effective treatment of chemical dependence through comprehensive evaluation, safe detoxification, and state-of-the-art treatment services. Our staff respects the dignity and rights of patients and promotes their return to normal, productive lives in their communities. We are committed to professionalism, quality and excellence”.
All this week this section of the Examiner has highlighted several selected treatment facilities in the Columbia SC area. The purpose has not been to focus attention on any specific institution over some other institution but rather simply to indicate the vast array and variety of services available in Columbia. Available treatment facilities are indeed numerous and varied from private to public institutions, inpatient to outpatient institutions and clinical environments to name a few. If there is a commonality with any of these, it is that they are all “initial”, short term (first 30 days) treatment regarding this deadly subject. All of these institutions should be viewed as a “start” on a new path in life that will lead to living happy, joyous and free.
Morris Village is located at:
610 Faison Drive, Columbia, S.C. 29203
Telephone: (803) 935-7100
www.state.sc.us/dmh/morris_village
Morris Village is a 160-bed inpatient addiction treatment facility and it’s purpose is to provide treatment for persons requiring inpatient level of care for alcohol and other drug addiction. The Morris Village mission statement is as follows:
“Morris Village is to provide effective treatment of chemical dependence through comprehensive evaluation, safe detoxification, and state-of-the-art treatment services. Our staff respects the dignity and rights of patients and promotes their return to normal, productive lives in their communities. We are committed to professionalism, quality and excellence”.
All this week this section of the Examiner has highlighted several selected treatment facilities in the Columbia SC area. The purpose has not been to focus attention on any specific institution over some other institution but rather simply to indicate the vast array and variety of services available in Columbia. Available treatment facilities are indeed numerous and varied from private to public institutions, inpatient to outpatient institutions and clinical environments to name a few. If there is a commonality with any of these, it is that they are all “initial”, short term (first 30 days) treatment regarding this deadly subject. All of these institutions should be viewed as a “start” on a new path in life that will lead to living happy, joyous and free.
Private or public help?
Today’s world is more complex than ever and consequently, victims from the ravages of drug and alcohol abuse are also vastly complex. In today’s world, people suffering addiction are ingesting a mixture of intoxicants. A lethal combination of alcohol, illegal drugs and even prescription medications are often combined into a new and deadly brew.
“Help” for addiction is likewise a complex tangle of resources that must be sorted through often at very difficult periods of time for affected families. Over time, our society has developed both public (government) and private resources in this ongoing battle of chemical dependence. Personal insurance also comes into play in the treatment of drug and alcohol dependence and plays a role in a patient’s treatment.
One of the many reputable and familiar private treatment facilities in Columbia SC is “Three Rivers Behavioral Health” located at:
2900 Sunset Boulevard
West Columbia, SC 29169
(803) 796-9911
www.threeriversbehavioral.org
Three Rivers publishes a public statement of “Creating New Beginnings” and offers free assessments for their services. Three Rivers also divides their services into distinct groupings with offerings for adolescents, adults and then seniors. In addition to the standard alcohol and drug inpatient and outpatient programs commonly offered throughout help facilities, Three Rivers offers assistance with the following issues:
Teen Depression
Panic
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Troubled Adolescent
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Social Phobia
Three Rivers offers free assessments for each of the above listed issues. If you or a loved one is suffering from addiction issues, Three Rivers may be the place you can find your way back to a happy, joyous and free life.
“Help” for addiction is likewise a complex tangle of resources that must be sorted through often at very difficult periods of time for affected families. Over time, our society has developed both public (government) and private resources in this ongoing battle of chemical dependence. Personal insurance also comes into play in the treatment of drug and alcohol dependence and plays a role in a patient’s treatment.
One of the many reputable and familiar private treatment facilities in Columbia SC is “Three Rivers Behavioral Health” located at:
2900 Sunset Boulevard
West Columbia, SC 29169
(803) 796-9911
www.threeriversbehavioral.org
Three Rivers publishes a public statement of “Creating New Beginnings” and offers free assessments for their services. Three Rivers also divides their services into distinct groupings with offerings for adolescents, adults and then seniors. In addition to the standard alcohol and drug inpatient and outpatient programs commonly offered throughout help facilities, Three Rivers offers assistance with the following issues:
Teen Depression
Panic
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Troubled Adolescent
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Social Phobia
Three Rivers offers free assessments for each of the above listed issues. If you or a loved one is suffering from addiction issues, Three Rivers may be the place you can find your way back to a happy, joyous and free life.
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