Alcoholic Recovery Treatment Alternative One approach does not fit all!
Reframing Faulty Beliefs &
An Alternative Look At The Term "Alcoholism"
AA Alternative
Alcoholic Recovery ~ Alcoholism Help
1. Alcohol or drugs help me escape problems.
False. They numb your senses and mind. They do not address the originating problem or stress but rather intensify and compound it. A great example of this is if your car’s engine light came on. Would you rewire the circuit so that the light did not come on, or would you take your car to a mechanic to have your engine checked? Obviously, rewiring the circuit would do nothing to solve the problem. Likewise, alcohol and drugs only numb you to the real issues that need to be addressed and looked at. What happens is that your belief (thinking) that escape is possible through the use of drugs or alcohol actually pushes you farther away from life and the issues that are important. The farther you isolate yourself from life and others, the more you come to believe and depend on alcohol or drugs as problem solvers. They are all you have. This makes sense to you since you probably have pushed most of those who would support you away. To stop this isolating behavior you need to start addressing the real issues. 2. Alcohol and drugs relax me. False, to be truly relaxed you need to address what is causing you the stress. Alcohol and drugs only deaden the senses; they do not remove the stress. Physically, they do nothing to replenish the body, but rather strip it of more vital nutrients. Sleep is also hindered. If you fall asleep by using the "pass-out" method, you actually aren’t getting deep, quality sleep. 3. It takes willpower to quit and I don’t know if I have enough. False, there is no willpower involved here, simply a choice. Willpower is only needed if we think we are "giving something up". There is nothing to give up when one decides to quit using alcohol or drugs, for these things do nothing for you to begin with. What? Yes, you read it right. It is like buying a new pair of shoes. You exchange the old beat up pair for a new pair. Likewise, you replace drinking or drugging with a new coping strategy like running or reading. In actuality, what you are deciding to do is choose an alternative way to handle life. This doesn’t take willpower (although it may take some practice). All it takes is an active choice. Alcohol and drugs do not demand you use them. You use them because you believe you can’t handle life without them. The choice to use or not use alcohol or drugs is always present. Anyone who has struggled with an addiction to alcohol or drugs can verify they have, at times, refrained from use. It’s a choice to use or not use. Don’t complicate it. A simple illustration would go as follows: What if I said I have milk and orange juice in the fridge, and I would like the milk. Would it take willpower for you to not grab the orange juice? Of course not. It would just be a simple choice. View alcohol and drugs the same way. You can use or not use; it’s your choice. Willpower has nothing to do with it. 4. I drink to be sociable. False, alcohol and drug use are done out of fear. They do not make someone more sociable, but rather remove inhibitions and common sense. They give false courage and often with much embarrassment. 5. If I don’t continue using alcohol or drugs, I will be physically sick with withdrawal. Not necessarily, most people I have encountered experience flu-like symptoms for around three days. They may be a little shaky and disoriented, but it is no worse than the common hangover or flu for most. The major battle is mental. For the hard-core alcohol or drug user I would consult a physician, for your body will be going through a major adjustment. Be smart. If you are at all concerned about the physical symptoms, consult your physician. 6. I enjoy drinking. False, in reality you believe you cannot enjoy life without alcohol or drugs. For the alcohol users, do you remember your first taste of liquor? Did you say, "Wow, that is the best tasting liquid I have ever had?" Most of those who currently struggle with an addiction wish they weren’t drinking or using drugs while they use. Where is the enjoyment in that? And the final one: 7. Addiction is a disease.False, addiction is a choice. You have been misled on the disease thing. I want to focus special attention on this one for it is important. The labels we give people can greatly influence the kind of life that person feels they can lead. If the label we give portrays the wrong message, than growth and change can be hindered. In the case of drug and alcohol treatment people are often labeled with having a disease, being powerless over alcohol or drugs, and forever an alcoholic or drug addict. In my opinion, I feel these labels to be detrimental to growth and negative for the "addict" trying to change. People are more than just their mistakes and poor choices. To completely define a person with a limiting definition of who they are will in return produce poor "recovery" results. To understand the meaning behind the label is important to achieving the change needed. More than this, sometimes the true meaning of a label gets lost. If we never challenge or look at what many are being labeled, we will forever perpetuate the limits this label defines. I’ll give you an example using the common term of "alcoholism". Webster defines alcoholism as “the habitual drinking of alcoholic liquor to excess, or a diseased condition caused by this.”
At face value this seems to be an accurate description of someone with alcoholism. Ask most people and they would agree with this definition. However, there are some discrepancies and misinformation in our current use of the term alcoholism that need to be acknowledged. Mainly that alcoholism is not a disease, but a belief. Nowhere has it been proven that the disease exists. Read any literature and the results will not confidently state it is a disease. They will only speculate. The following is a quick and realistic look at "alcoholism". Alcoholism is not a disease, find out how many have already realized that alcoholism and addiction is a choice. First of all, the DSM-IV-TR (used by professionals to diagnose mental disorders) does not diagnose someone with alcoholism, but rather with substance abuse or substance dependence. They define what Webster would call a diseased condition (alcoholism), a substance use disorder. As a substance use disorder, ones alcohol or drug use becomes a maladaptive pattern leading to clinically significant impairment or distress. This impairment or distress becomes dependence or abuse depending on the extent it interferes with ones life, and the degree of tolerance or withdrawal one experiences. In other words, a psychiatrist would not diagnose someone with alcoholism, but rather with substance abuse or substance dependence. Furthermore, a maladaptive pattern is not a disease. Secondly, looking at the Big Book of AA there is no mention of alcoholism being a physical or biological disease, but rather it is referred to as a spiritual disease or an illness. From the Big Book on disease: "Resentment is the 'number one' offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically." Ch5 p.64 From the Big Book on illness: "If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer." ch4 p.44 The only talk of disease is a spiritual one and in the introduction it explains how people have recovered from this spiritual disease, forever! From The Big Book on recovery: "We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the drink problem." Don’t believe me? Look it up. Here is the link: I think the Big Book is great if used right, but it does not indicate an insidious, inescapable disease that we often associate with alcoholism. Third and most importantly, no research has concluded alcoholism as a disease. Of all the studies, literature, and money spent, we are still left with the fact that no one has found the disease of alcoholism. This is troubling for the same industry that has found no proof of a disease, promotes the disease concept. So what is alcoholism? In reality it is simply a belief. Jack Trimpey says it best: “Alcoholism and alcoholic are folk expressions. Neither word is a medical term…….I will use the term alcoholic to refer to people who believe they are powerless over their addictions and act accordingly…..They are practicing the philosophy of alcohol-ism……As with any philosophy, alcoholism is comprised of many beliefs and assumptions.” Jack Trimpey, The Small Book, pp5-6, DTP, 1992 Alcoholism carries with it a stigma that says the person afflicted cannot control their use of alcohol, they are powerless over alcohol, they are spiritually lacking and need to surrender their will to a higher power, and that they have a disease for the rest of their life. It is unfortunate that we have transformed the term "alcoholism" into a limited definition of a disease. For though it is not a disease, the mere fact that people believe it is a disease, makes it harder for them to escape it's clutches. I believe it does a disservice to those who struggle with alcohol or drugs because it promotes powerlessness and dependency. To look at alcoholism as it truly is (a belief) is to understand and take control of our own individual role in overcoming it. Beliefs can be powerful, but so can the truth. Find out how the majority of those who once struggled with alcohol and drugs changed their lives, and refused to acknowledge alcoholism as a disease. AA Alternative
Alcoholic Recovery ~ Alcoholism Help
The above is from the addiction workbook. Read more on:
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Drug & Alcoholism Help ~ 888-691-3919This site is for those seeking drug help or alcohol help. It was developed as an AA, NA and treatment alternative to current addiction recovery programs. It views drug and alcohol addiction as a choice, not a disease.
My goal is to challenge your view of alcohol and drug use. My hope? To replace the fear of "a disease" with the empowerment of choice.
If you choose to continue using, it will not be because you are diseased or lack the ability or knowledge to succeed but rather because you have not been convinced you can successfully live life without the use of alcohol or drugs. Keep trying.
Change will occur not out of fear of some insidious and progressive disease, but because you are alive and realize you have every innate ability to succeed and be happy and free from alcohol or drugs. With the proper information I believe this is possible.
The "Forgotten Five Steps" Workbook presents motivational and practical tools for "recovery" that pull upon the alcoholic or addict's own strengths when they seek drug alcohol help.
AA, NA and treatment can be beneficial for some seeking drug or alcoholism help. However, I have met many alcohol or drug users who just couldn't make it work through NA or AA. They believed in a different philosophy or life course. They wanted more than what was offered through traditional treatment programs.
When you decide to seek out drug or alcoholism help you may experience vulnerability inside. You have for so long denied your true self. You have relied on drugs and alcohol to get you through life.
Now that you are thinking of eliminating drugs or alcohol from your life, you may feel defenseless or empty inside. You may not know who you are. You will be looking for any shred of meaning or cure to lesson the loneliness and despair inside.
Be careful what you grab. It has to be yours and relevant to your life. In the end, remember, the alcohol or drug user has to believe their life will be improved by stopping their addictive behavior or no change will occur.
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