How do I prepare for my recovery from addiction?
A life of recovery in a harm-me-at-you perspective is a continual sort of orientation to reducing the harm that the bad habit the substance the behavior has caused you. It often includes making room for occasional relapses, and most importantly, learning from your relapses rather than seeing your-self as a failure in some way. Life [...]
How can recovering addicts strengthen their recovery?
Regarding the actions in your recovery, first of all, we have to address the idea that there are fears involved in taking actions. Part of the addiction, we must understand, is the avoidance of the discomforts; the fears, so taking action, by definition, is facing fears and you’re already beginning to take action when you’re [...]
Why is it so difficult to give up an addiction?
During the course of involvement in an addiction and we start to give up friendships and ballgames and other ways of feeling good. We go through a process I call “unlearning.” We unlearn ways of coping with life. I work with many people that knew how to ask a girl to dance and by the [...]
What are the “stages of change” and how do they apply to addiction treatment?
Stages of Change’ was developed by Prochaska & DiClemente. It basically was a basis of research about cigarette smoking literature, and it helps cognitive behavior therapists, in particular, understand the motivation of an individual who’s coming in for treatment. The first stage in the ‘Stages of Change’ is called precontemplation, meaning the client just says, [...]
What skills do I need for a successful recovery from addiction?
The skill base for a successful recovery from behavioral addiction obviously depends on the skill base of the someone that came into the recovery room or came into the doctor’s office. Many people come into the recovery room and they really have very few life management skills; very few skills of how to cope with [...]
Will I ever be cured of my addiction?
Cure is a very funny word. Cure also comes out of the disease model. Cure sort of says “Well I was healthy prior and then I’ve gotten sick and now I’m going to return to health.” In many respects, there are no real cures to addiction. Unfortunately as an addiction evolves, especially a behavioral addiction, [...]
About Addiction Alternatives
Alcohol Addiction, Biology and Behaviors According to the National Institute of Health an addiction to alcohol depends upon the effect alcohol has on one’s life: “Generally known as alcoholism and alcohol abuse, alcohol use disorders are medical conditions that doctors can diagnose when a patient’s drinking causes distress or harm.”