Recovery Notes by www.peacewolf.org

I celebrated 21 years of sobriety, thank to the people of AA and everything else I have done to stay on a spiritual path and to teachable.

http://www.peacewolf.org/

“The gift of learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live, and die, well.” - Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

All successful alcohol recovery programs include spiritual development, and  spiritual development requires prayer and meditation.  People who want to maintain their sobriety and improve the quality of their life will learn to meditate daily.  The peace it provides is astounding.

Most people know how to pray — that is, to make requests to a higher power.  And every college student has prayed around finals time.

Meditation, on the other hand, is much more mysterious and difficult for the recovering alcoholic and much of the general public as well.  Most of the world’s religions include meditation and meditation techniques.  Also, there is secular meditation whose only purpose is to relax mentally and physically.

Explore various meditation techniques to include in your recovery program.  Many find that group meditation is more effective, especially in the beginning phase.  One technique becoming more popular is Buddhist meditation.

According to wikipedia, “Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of meditation techniques that develop mindfulness, concentration, tranquility and insight.

“Non-Buddhists use these techniques for the pursuit of physical and mental health as well as for non-Buddhist spiritual aims.^[1] Buddhist meditation techniques are increasingly being employed by psychologists and psychiatrists to help alleviate a variety of health conditions such as anxiety and depression.^[2] As such, mindfulness and other Buddhist meditation techniques are being advocated in the West by innovative psychologists and Buddhist meditation expert teachers such as S.N. Goenka, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Alan Clements, and Sharon Salzberg, who have been widely attributed with playing a significant role in integrating the healing aspects of Buddhist meditation practices with the concept of psychological awareness and healing.”

For more info:  For beginning meditation classes in the San Jose area, try the drop-in classes in Los Gatos, or San Francisco.

Visit www.peacewolf.org for AA Big Book Concordance

September is the federal government’s official “Recovery Month,”sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the Department of Human and Health Services.

Many local recovery organizations in San Jose and the Bay Area are hosting events to bring awareness of resources available to people seeking recovery.

“Friends of Recovery”, for example, are hosting a Recovery Fest ‘09 picnic with live music at Vasona Park in Los Gatos on the 19th.

To find recovery events in your area, nationwide, visit
http://www.recoverymonth.gov/Home/Community-Events.aspx

People in recovery have a wonderful quality — they love to celebrate their new path and share the recovery experience with those still suffering from addiction.

“Be there or be square.”

[For a recovery concordance based on Alcoholics Anonymous' "Big Book" visit Peacewolf.org]

Alcoholics Anonymous in Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, has meetings for it’s diverse population as well as it’s “special interest groups.”  The table below lists the major meeting types.

An “open meeting” means the meeting welcomes the public, but especially to those who are not quite sure if they have a drinking problem.  Non-alcoholics, such as an accompanying partner, are welcome too.  In addition, people from other groups, such as Ala-non or Narcotics Anonymous attend open meetings.  Occasionally, psychology and medical students sit in on open meetings to help with their research.

A “closed” meeting means it is for alcoholics or people who are having problems with alcohol.  They need not be a member of AA, but perhaps have a desire to quit drinking.

None of these meetings, by A.A. traditions, are allowed to exclude anyone by race, creed, politics, sexual preferences, etc.  If they did then they could not call themselves an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.  Whatever their preferences, alcoholics generally attend a variety of meetings, learning and helping others to achieve sobriety.

*Some meetings are Gay and Lesbian combined.

Other Resources:

Alcohólicos Anónimos

Tagalog (Angeles City, PI)

Vietnam (Vietnam Alcoholics Anonymous)

Carrying the A.A. Message to the Deaf Alcoholic, A.A. Guidelines

[keywords: peacewolf.org, big book reference manual, recovery, alcoholics,alcoholism,big book,adobe acrobat,adobe reader,alcoholic,acrobat,document,addiction,recovery,rehab,alcohol,manual,examiner]

If you find that the more traditional methods of alcoholism recovery are not working well for you, perhaps you are ready to try aversion therapy.

On method uses an “emetic,” which is defined as “a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting.”  This is the method used in the classic 1971 movie, “A Clockwork Orange.”  In that movie, a violent criminal was brainwashed to vomit when the impulse of violence occurred, thus preventing him from causing phyical harm to others.  Unfortunately, he was unable to defend himself when his equally violent enemies caught up with him.

Another method of aversion therapy is “Faradic,” a nice name for a type of shock therapy.  Take a drink of beer, receive a mild, but painful electric shock.  Have fond thoughts of drinking, receive a mild, but painful electric shock, as so on.

The Schick Shadel Hospital of Seattle, Washington offers both types of therapies.  Some people cannot afford professional treatment so they try it themselves, and seem to be having some fun with it.  Dr. Ralph Elkins believes in the use of of Faradic methods, and there is a Yahoo group called Electrodiet that dedicates itsef to using electricity to control behavior.

Neither type of aversion therapy is recommended, but if the more conventional approaches are failing, then seriously consider aversion therapy.  Behavioral changes are more responsive to rewards than punishments, in the long term at least.  Never give up hope.

visit: www.peacewolf.org

[keywords: peacewolf.org, big book reference manual, recovery, alcoholics,alcoholism,big book,adobe acrobat,adobe reader,alcoholic,acrobat,document,addiction,recovery,rehab,alcohol,manual,examiner]

Another consequence of alcoholic drinking is damage to children.  Newspapers abound with stories of children being abused by alcoholic parents or being removed from the home because of abuse by the alcoholic parents.

What often goes undocumented is the gradual but subtle damage to children’s emotional health. Compounding that damage is the alcoholic’s denial that their behavior damages the children.  One familiar aspect of alcoholism is denial – denial of alcoholism and denial of damage to others.  Often, too, the non-alcoholic parent is in denial as well, making excuses for their partner’s behavior and perhaps over-compensating with money and gifts to the children.  The children are still damaged, however.

Fortunately, good-hearted people – recovered alcoholics and survivors of alcoholic relationships – created organizations to help adults and children of alcoholics.

In San Jose, there are alcohol and drug abuse counselors, school counselors, Alateen, and Alanon.

Alcoholics, during a moment of clarity and compassion, whether or not in recovery, can provide outside help for their children.  They could do it right now.

Many believe alcoholics are intelligent, logical thinkers–except when it comes to consuming alcohol.  Within the alcoholic brain the sequential and infallible logic that prevents an alcoholic from jumping in front of a bus because it will cause bodily harm fails to meaningfully comprehend the type and severity of consequences possible when consuming alcohol. Rationality, defined as “The state of having good sense and sound judgment”, is easily defeated when alcohol or the anticipation of alcohol crosses the blood-brain barrier.

Moreover, just ask an alcoholic to just stop drinking for a month or even a year and see what happens.  That wonderfully logical and resourceful brain will find many reasons why forsaking alcohol is unnecessary, or would not prove a “thing”, or yes, they will stop, but today is not the right time. Or, as is often the case, the alcoholic delays treatment (and it is only a delay because all alcoholics will quit, either on their own, with help, by death, or by involuntary incarceration) because they do not believe in the 12-step or spiritual approaches to recovery.

Not a problem. Most 28-day treatment centers are non-secular and most advocate the patients maintain sobriety by attending a self-help group. The following organizations and methods are not based on 12-steps or spiritual awareness or growth methods. They are listed here not as endorsement but as more examples of resources to help the alcoholic who still suffers.

· A sobriety “pill”: See your doctor about topiramate. A recent U.S. News article reported positive results in reducing heavy drinking.

· Smart recovery: A self-help group that emphasizes a practical approach, and embraces members who also use A.A.’s approach.

· Secular Organizations for Sobriety A secular approach to recovery from addictions, including nicotine. They believe in the abstinence approach.

· Rational Recovery: They do not believe in the disease concept of alcoholism, and is critical of Alcoholics Anonymous. They claim that by reading their website and perhaps attending their treatment center people can stop drinking by following their rational thinking approach.

· Women for Sobriety is an organization on the East coast that follows a secular approach to alcoholism.

· Health Recovery System: This is a nutrition-based approach, “Health Recovery Center strives to uncover and treat the true physical underpinnings driving addictions.”

·

For the alcoholic and the people affected by the alcoholic many approaches work. Belief in the disease concept is not important for the individual alcoholic. (See: Places to get treatment in the San Jose area.) Find a recovery program that works, because it may take many tries to find the right one. Do not give up a minute before the (secular, perhaps) miracle.

Ad: Big Book Reference Manual www.peacewolf.org

Does getting drunk once in a while mean alcoholism? Maybe. Is it okay to party-hardy in college or at an Halloween bash and not be an alcoholic? Maybe. There are popularized cases where people drink heavily all their lives, lived a long time, and were productive members of society. See this article on Winston Churchill for example, or this site listing others, such as Ulysses S. Grant. These famous people supposedly drank more than their share, yet accomplished some level of historic recognition. It will take the expertise of forensic historians, however, to determine what they really felt inside and how much alcohol induced damage they left in their wake.  Perhaps their accomplishments would have been even greater but for their full potential tempered by alcohol abuse and dependence.

To minimize the potential for alcohol abuse or dependence tempering or sabotaging everyday life and accomplishment consider these resources to evaluate drinking patterns:

Boston University School of Public Health – This is an useful, professional online self-assessment questionnaire. It also contains an zip code look-up for treatment options. The look-up for one San Jose zip code resulted in over 400 contacts with phone numbers, addresses, and websites within a fifty mile radius.

More formal evaluations of substance abuse patterns include the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-IV)for Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependence. One website to check is Family Practice Notebook.

Alcoholics Anonymous‘ self-evaluation website has a series of questions relating to the consequences of drinking patterns.
T hey offer a Spanish language version as well, ALCOHOLICOS ANONIMOS.

Services are available for younger people too. The San José State University Student Health Center, for example, offers students assessments and evaluation services.

Wherever you are, no matter how young or old, if alcohol might be a problem, take a self-assessment exam, but always seek the help of others in the evaluation — be they members of the various self-help groups, trained alcohol and drug counselors, or your doctor. Many successful recoveries included all of those resources.  Learn from the experience of others.

Go To Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/x-17175-San-Jose-Alchoholism-Examiner

[keywords: alcoholics,alcoholism,big book,adobe acrobat,adobe reader,alcoholic,acrobat,document,addiction,recovery,rehab,alcohol,manual,examiner]

The most common definition of an alcoholic is one who drinks alcohol to excess habitually*. Some claim, often including the alcoholic themselves, that such a person drinks to excess habitually because they are responding to a tough life, a new job, an ending relationship, a bad childhood, a recent accident, a great accomplishment, or just about any other reason. If the alcoholic’s life ran perfectly, some believe, they would not drink alcoholically.

Some people believe that alcoholism is a disease. This means that no matter what is happening in the alcoholic’s life, they will drink alcoholically. By definition, a disease is an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning*. That broad definition fits an alcoholic comfortably since all of us know people whose health is affected by their drinking and still do not stop. Moreover, most of us have enjoyed videos of drunk drivers failing sobriety tests on the roadside. Obviously, they are not functioning normally. In truth, it does not matter if alcoholism is caused by biological factors in the brain, the result of behavioral conditioning, or a combination of both.

The most effective treatment for alcoholism is abstinence of alcohol. Unlike the ineffective sexual abstinence programs promoted by the Bush administration, abstinence from alcohol is 100% effective in treating the alcoholic. Nobody, save the severe alcoholic suffering from delirium tremens during alcohol withdrawal, has died or been made worse off by eliminating alcohol from their diet. Many people, when they finally realize they might have a “slight” control problem of when and how much they drink, try to control to their drinking by creating drinking rules for themselves. One common rule is to limit the number of drinks. Another rule might be to drink only on Saturday nights where there is a high frequency of sun spots. These approaches will fail if they are alcoholic. If they are not alcoholic, then this mindful approach will probably work, at least for a while. Another approach is to give up alcoholic for a year with no exceptions.

The real problem, then, is finding treatments for the alcoholic that cannot abstain from drinking despite their best efforts to “just quit.” Possible treatment options include individual and group therapy, Alcoholics Anonymous or other recovery-type meetings, pharmacological agents that reduce the cravings for alcohol or prevent ingested alcohol from being fun, staying at recovery and mental institutions, prayer-a-thons and many other religious methods. Successful alcoholics, those that have long term sobriety, take most of these paths. Their cravings for alcohol -their shame and emptiness- motivated them enough to accept help and the advice of friends and professionals in the field. They gave up their preconceived notions of what would work best for them and embraced the courage and strength of others who recovered from alcoholism. To stay abstinent the successful ones followed the path set down by fellow recovering alcoholics.

A great place to start, whether you are rich or poor, is an A.A. meeting in your neighborhood.

For the San Jose and Silicon Valley area contact: Alcoholics Anonymous in Santa Clara County, California. Their 24-Hour Helpline is 408-374-8511.

Another source is Santa Clara County’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Services at 1-800-488-9919.
There is always hope. May peace in sobriety be yours.

*Source: Wordnet 2.1, Princeton University

It does not matter whether alcoholism is a “disease” or a behavioral problem or a “moral weakness.”  (SeeAlcoholism 101: Places to get treatment in the San Jose area).  That distinction is best left to the medical community and academics.  For the alcoholic the best treatment is simple:  abstinence.

Abstinence is the most effective treatment for alcoholism and any long term recovery program must focus on maintaining abstinence. That concept scares many alcoholics away from seeking or maintaining treatment. The national statistics demonstrates that.

The facts: Although suffering from occasional misery and despair, many people with alcohol problems do not seek treatment.  According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2007 there were 20.8 million peoplein the U.S. who needed but did not receive treatment for illicit drug or alcohol abuse.

Of those, about 19.4 million people did not believe they needed treatment while 1.4 million admitted to needing help.  Of those 1.4 million, only 380,000 made an effort to get help, leaving 955,000 waiting for a more convenient time perhaps.   These official numbers do not include treatments sought at self-help groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or spirituality-based recovery programs found in churches, temples, or mosques.  Quantification of those approaches is not feasible.

Still, the numbers are astounding and tell a common story:  There are millions of untreated alcoholics and substance abusers out there.  Everybody knows the personal, social, and economic damage that causes.  Damage is sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle.

Proposed Hierachy of Treatment Options:

1. Stop drinking for one year on your own. Anyone that handles the bad and good days without drinking for one complete year is probably OK.  (Caution:  Check with your doctor before suddenly giving up alcohol.)  If that fails, however,
2. Go to A.A. meetings.  They are free and anonymous.  Socializing with others is optional. If that fails or does not seem to be enough, join an outpatient group.
3. Outpatient groups, run by therapists, counselors, or psychiatrists, provide support outside twelve step methods. If that fails an inpatient treatment facility gives a jump start to recovery.
4. Enter a treatment facility. To find outpatient or inpatient services contact the Employee Assistance Program representative, a healthcare advisor, people at the A.A. meetings, Santa Clara County’sDepartment of Alcohol and Drug Services, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’Treatment Facility Locator. Other resources are at the National Institute of Health.

Cities, counties, states, the federal government, employers, friends, and family provide a tremendous amount of financial and human resources to alcoholics seeking treatment. Help, effective help, isavailable to anyone who wants it, whether they are rich or poor, democrate or green paarty, homeless or live in a beautiful home.  There is always hope.  Just ask.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services