Recovery Coaching » addicted

This volume provides a comprehensive review of the essentials of the Therapeutic Community (TC) theory and its practical “whole person” approach to the treatment of substance abuse disorders and related problems. Part 1 outlines the perspective of the traditional views of the substance abuse disorder, the substance abuser, and the basic components of this approach. Part II explains the organizational structure of the TC, its work components, and the role of residents and staff. The chapters in Part III describe the essential activities of TC life that relate most directly to the recovery process and the goals of rehabilitation. The final part outlines how individuals change in the TC behaviorally, cognitively, and emotionally. It is an invaluable resource for all addictions professionals and students.

10 Faces of Denial

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:16:49 +0000

Denial, they say, is “not just a river in Egypt”. Denial is a strange beast. It is on the cycle of change (or, rather, just off it), as ‘pre-contemplation’. That time when you are not thinking about change because you don’t need to. You are a ‘happy user’. Other people are starting to suggest that you have a problem. Then denial raises it’s ugly head and starts to show its various faces.

1. Avoidance.

Avoidance is saying “I don’t think about it. I don’t talk about it.” Whenever the small inner voice starts it’s prompting, it is submerged, drowned under more drink, more sex or with any other distraction.
Avoidance is not going there, saying, “What I don’t know can’t hurt me”.

2. What Problem?

When suggesting that an addict might have a problem, brings out a show of more needles than you would see on a cornered porcupine, you know you’ve pressed a button. The response is a puffed up “What problem? I don’t have a problem.”
He may feel that his righteous indignation has won the day. He has managed to fend off another attack on his character, but the still small voice inside starts to niggle his conscience again.

3. Minimising.

When you cannot convince yourself that you are not in denial, then it’s best to minimise the problem. You may say, “It’s not that bad, it’s such a small thing. It was a problem last month but now I’ve got control of it. If I put my mind to it, I can stop whenever I want to.”

4. Rationalising.

If I can explain the causes of it, I won’t need to sort out the problem. When I get down to the root cause, it will be alright. It’s due to the stress I’m under at work, and that’s putting pressure on the marriage. It’s how my personality is, It’s the way I deal with stress – I can live with it.”

5. Blaming (Projection).

It’s not my fault. If you had been what I have been through, then you would drink. How can I take responsibility for my drinking when it’s not my fault.

6. Comparing.

There are plenty of people with a far more serious problem than me. For example, there’s so and so who’s marriage has just broken up. Compared to him, I don’t have a problem. I don’t need to get help.

7. Manipulating.

If other people want to help me, that’s their business. I’ll just let them do it. If it fails, it’s not my responsibility. I can blame them. They are the one’s who will feel bad. If anybody else wants me to change when I am not ready, my subsequent lapse will be their fault.

8. Feeling Better.

This happens during the first or second week of treatment. Ten days without the symptoms of the problem. Like a revelation it comes. “I’m cured. I don’t need this treatment. I’ve never felt better in my life. All the drugs are behind me.”

9. Compensation

I cannot be acting or behaving the way you say because I always act the opposite.

10. Justification.

I did it because it was the right thing to do at the time. I didn’t think it would lead to anything.
Extended denial can affect a person physically, mentally and spiritually. It can lead to a state of hopelessness.

Hopelessness is itself, another aspect of denial. It denys that we have the ability to change. It means that there is no point in carrying on. It is not even worth anybody trying to help us it would be a waste of their time.

Knowing that you have a problem, does not automatically make bad news into good news. It takes a while for it to sink in. Acceptance does not come easy. It is considered that Denial is, paradoxically, part of the process of recovery. For some, the road to recovery means getting to a place of brokenness, and Denial is often the first step.

10 Faces of Denial is a post from: Recovery Coaching

Alcoholics to lose benefits unless they sober up

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:54:33 +0000

Alcoholics who are unable to work as a result of a drink problem will be stripped of their benefits unless they accept help to get sober. Read more of the Daily Telegraph report about alcoholics to lose benefits

Alcoholics to lose benefits unless they sober up is a post from: Recovery Coaching

Am I addicted?

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:25:38 +0000

Most addicts don’t need to ask this question, they already know the answer. A life that revolves around the next fix, it fills your waking hours. Getting up in the morning (afternoon?) and getting everything into place. First, set the scene for the first act. Scheming and plotting for the money, then for the substance. Fixed! First you get the habit. Then the habit gets you.

Addicts live to use, and use to live. Very simply, an addict is a person whose life is controlled by a substance or action. Addicts are people living with a chronic relapsing illness steadily progressing to the same end, prison, illness, poverty, and death.

Only you can decide if you have an addiction. How do you know if you are being impartial even to yourself? The following questions may help you make this decision. If you answer Yes to four or more questions, you may have a problem that can be solved with the right help, if you bring it into the open. Remember, that it is no disgrace to admit that you have a problem. Answer the following 12 questions to find out if you need to take the 12 Steps!

1 – Have you ever decided to stop drinking/drugs for a week or so, but only lasted for a day or two?

2 – Do you wish people would mind their own business about your drinking or drugs and stop telling you what to do?

3 – Have you ever switched from one kind of drink or drugs, to another, in the hope that this would keep you from getting hooked or stoned?

4 – Have you needed something to help you face the day when you wake up, during the past year?

5 – Do you envy people who can drink or do drugs without getting into trouble?

6 – Have you had problems connected with drinking or drugs during the past year?

7 – Has your drinking or drug taking caused trouble at home?

8 – Do you ever try to get “extra” drinks or drugs at a party to top up?

9 – Do you tell yourself that you can stop drinking or doing drugs any time you want to, even though you keep getting drunk or stoned when you don’t mean to?

10 – Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking?

11 – Do you have “blackouts”?

12 – Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink or do drugs?
Did you answer Yes, four or more times? If so, you are probably addicted. Why can this be stated with such authority? It is because thousands of people in recovery have had to answer these questions. They found out the truth about themselves, the hard way. Ask yourself one more question. Where will you be in one year’s time if you keep doing what you are doing now?

Decide if you are going to take the first step to sort out your problem. Try to keep an open mind. There are many people waiting to help you move forward. Remember, there is hope. It’s never too late to make a brand new start.

Am I addicted? is a post from: Recovery Coaching

4 Stages of Addiction

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:10:58 +0000

According to the dictionary addiction means:-

1. Being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit forming (especially alcohol and narcotic drugs).

2. An abnormally strong craving.

3. (Roman Law) a formal award by a court sentence of a thing or person to another (as of a debtor to his creditor), a surrender to a master; “under Roman law, addiction was the justification for slavery”
The Chinese have a saying about heroin ‘You begin chasing the dragon but then it jumps on your back and begins chasing you’. Jackie Pullinger, the British woman who set up a ministry in Hong Kong t, wrote a book about her experiences there in ‘Chasing the Dragon’.

This expression relates to smoking heroin, but it could be applied for all mood altering drugs, alcohol, painkillers, tranquillisers, speed, solvents, LSD, cocaine, heroin, crack, ecstasy, barbiturates, and cannabis. It can apply to adrenalin based addictions like gambling, sex, shopping, people (co-dependency) and eating disorders.

Addiction doesn’t just happen. There is a progression towards chemical dependency, or any other addiction. It passes through four main stages.

1. Experimental Stage of Addiction

The Experimental Stage could happen out of curiosity or peer pressure. The user may say “I’ll just try it I don’t have to use it again” The user may experience pleasure or mood swings. The outcome may be intoxication or being stoned, or a ‘rush’ of some sort. Many who experiment with drugs do not progress to the next stage of addiction.

This may start in early teens (sometimes younger) with trying alcohol, cigarettes or cannabis. It is easy to get high because of the body’s low tolerance. Often done with their peers away from a parent or guardian. It may be seen as acting grown up, or a simple act of rebellion.

2. The Recreational Stage of Addiction
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During the recreational stage the user may use at the weekends with friends, just to unwind from a stressful week. Looking for relief. Tolerance increases and more substances may be used, amphetamines (speed), larger quantities of alcohol. Symptoms may include stopping out late, suffering hangovers.

The user is by now starting to plan for use. Waiting for the weekend to be with friends, but also risk taking may increase by smoking on the way to school. Starting to lie about how much, and what is being used. Parents may react at this stage by grounding their child.

3. The Early Dependency Stage

During this stage, the regular user becomes an abuser. Now maintaining an addictive lifestyle that starts to affect others. The young user may be missing school and stealing money to feed the habit. Older users may be struggling to keep their job and running up debts. There is a daily preoccupation to source drugs and this often leads to meeting dealers.

4. The Full Dependency Stage

During this stage of addiction, there is a self destructive and compulsive desire to escape to oblivion, or escape from reality. Sobriety is too difficult to face. If left untreated, the addict may now face despair and risks premature death through overdose, suicide, accidents or side effects. Many end up with legal problems, imprisonment and family breakdown.

Addiction causes two main problems, a chemical (or an adrenalin) dependency problem, and a lifestyle problem. These are explored within the framework of other articles. Has addiction faced you or your family?

4 Stages of Addiction is a post from: Recovery Coaching

What is Recovery Coaching? 10 Life-Saving Benefits

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:24:11 +0000

Thomas Edison once said “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

We often feel that ‘just one more time’ is a step too far. The thing that has overcome us now stands on the victory side, and we are a defeated. We may go through many challenges in life. Addiction, financial ruin, divorce and bereavement are just some of the ‘things’ that life throws at us. Can we really recover from these traumas and move forward?

Recover Coaching answers this question in the affirmative. Not only can we recover from life’s traumas, but with the right coaching support, we can become stronger and move forward in ways that we did not think were possible.

Recovery coaching does not deal with the past issues or traumas – for example it will not explain why an addiction has occurred, nor identify the causes.

So what does recovery coaching do?

1. Recovery coaching deals with ‘the here and now’. It encourages clients to look forward and not let their past dictate their future.

2. Recovery coaching recognises future potential not past performance.

3. Recovery coaching assumes that there is a positive attitude in clients who seek to improve their lives through coaching and that this in itself provides the first step to recovery.

4. Recovery coaching helps clients define their own values and strengths to find their way to success because it believes that clients who are clear about their life goals and values are better able to achieve and maintain a long-term recovery.

5. Recovery coaching would agree with Robert H. Schuller in saying, “Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.”

6. Recovery coaching recognizes that pursuit is the evidence of desire, and that we change in the process of pursuing that which we desire. Zig Ziglar said it best, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

7. Recovery coaching recognizes that people in recovery may lack some life-skills or need new skills to move forward.

8. Recovery coaching helps clients fill in the gaps by encouraging them to know that learning is part of life, whether they need budgeting skills or a vocational qualification.

9. Recovery coaching is about asking the right questions. Sometimes, powerful motivational questions are needed to allow clients to think in a different way, thus enabling them to overcome a stuck point in their recovery process.

10. Recovery coaching recognises that recovery is a process not a one-time event, and helps clients to move forward from one stage to the next by helping them decide what is right for them.

What is Recovery Coaching? 10 Life-Saving Benefits is a post from: Recovery Coaching