Drug Alcohol Help

Drug & Alcoholism Help ~ 888-691-3919

This 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.
 
 
 
Drug Help, Alcohol Help 

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Great alcoholism information, news feeds & posts.
 
See all the alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous or AA.
 
 
 

Quit Drinking - Alcohol Abuse Help

This is an AA alternative to quit drinking. It is for those who struggle to quit drinking alcohol and just can't find the meaning and answers they seek in AA or current alcohol abuse treatment programs. It is to empower the friends and families of those who want to quit drinking and help them understand what they can do to help someone they know to quit drinking alcohol. It views alcohol abuse as a choice, not a disease.

Quit Drinking
Understanding "Familiarity"
Alcohol Abuse Help 

At one point in your life, to satisfy a need, you tried alcohol. You discovered something about this drinking experience that you decided to make familiar. You discovered drinking changed the way you felt. Things seemed better (at least for a short time). You felt bigger, faster, smarter, more alive. You liked this short and temporary escape and started to drink more often. It became comfortable and familiar. Some would say that drinking and is like a habit. They don’t even think about drinking but when needed just go right to it. This is not true. What drinking does is give the person something familiar. Something they remember gave them a desirable feeling at one time. So they try to achieve this feeling through what is familiar - drinking alcohol. However, they can never fully achieve that original feeling or purpose they thought drinking alcohol served. So you know the rest of the story. They start on a quest, the search for the ultimate buzz.

You could say that we are all creatures of habit. We go through life hacking it out the best we can. Exploring and experimenting with new things. Through experience we learn to avoid some things and hold on to others. We do this by accumulating and consolidating information. Past events help us determine which choice or action will most benefit us for the new and changing situations that come our way. Our ability to adapt and change, integrating new information along the way is one of the great features of survival. We try a few things and once we find something that works or meets our needs we tend to remember and repeat it. Even if we only perceive this "something" to satisfy one of our needs, we remember it, it brings us some temporary comfort and we will tend to return to it when the need arises again.

Life changes quickly and stress can accumulate and come at us from many angles. We often have to balance many things at once and this can become overwhelming. We often have to decide quickly which coping skills to pull from our repertoire of experience. Which coping tool we use will most likely be the one we feel will propel us through the experience the quickest and with the least effort so we can focus on the next issue that comes our way. If what we choose works, we will remember it. We will come to value it as a useful resource. We will make it familiar as a way to satisfy a need.

Satisfying one’s needs in times of stress is individual. This is why one person may turn to drinking alcohol to get some comfort from their fear and others will sit down with a good book or go running. Satisfying our needs also coincides with where we place our values. How we value something will determine how we incorporate it or use it to cope with our changing lives. In some cultures and ethnicities it is a taboo to publicly display drunken behavior. They do not value this behavior and therefore do not incorporate it into satisfying needs. Others view the use of alcohol as a way to relax and let off steam. For them, drunkenness is acceptable and perceived as something that can satisfy a need (it doesn’t matter if it is right or wrong, just what it is perceived to do – it’s purpose).

So what we seek to make familiar is the desire to be connected with a time in our life that we associate with being happier. What? …… Hear me out now. Anyone who is struggling with drinking alcohol can tell you (if they are honest) that they do not enjoy the way they feel any longer. The drinking alcohol has become no fun. So why continue doing it? Because they still associate the time drinking alcohol felt good with their actions now (even though they do not get the same results). If we did not associate the "good times" with our present behavior we would not do it any longer. We block out the bad times and hurt drinking alcohol has caused and replace it with the original association of "feeling good". Maybe you were at a party and were able to talk with all the cute girls. Maybe you were able to open up and be the center of attention. Whatever it may be, you perceived some sort of gain.

So here we are. Doing something familiar (drinking alcohol) to ourselves because we are trying to "relive" a time in our life that was good or better than what we have now. But drinking alcohol does not work anymore. We don’t get the same results. We end up feeling miserable and wanting to change but unable to. So what can you do?

___________

REFLECTION - Quit drinking alcohol abuse help: 

I want you to remember a time in your life before all this drinking madness started when you were happyand did not experience alcohol abuse. You felt fulfilled and the world still seemed neat. Maybe you were young, maybe it was during a holiday, or with friends, or at a certain job, etc. Don’t tell me you never felt good or more fulfilled. You did, otherwise you would not realize the spot your drinking or alcohol abuse has put you in is no good. Go back to that time and remember.

What were you doing ............  ? 

What did you value and believe in..........?

How did you act and make choices...........?

Put down anything you remember that described who you were before drinking or alcohol abuse.
____________
 
If you were honest with the above exercise, you will see that you have let go of a lot of the qualities, thinking and behavior that you had when "times were better". To resolve this is easy.

Re-do what you were doing before you started drinking or experiencing alcohol abuse! "Yes, right, I can go back to when I was 10 and play video games again." Well, you can if you want, but I’ll bet what you may need is to find more things you enjoy in life. How about a hobby or something to take the routine out of your day? Don’t complicate this.

So, look at how you felt about life and remember things you did that made you happy and excited about life. These things were familiar. Start doing them again and they become familiar once more.
 
Quit Drinking, Alcohol Abuse Help
Read What Others Have To Say
 
 
Download The "Forgotten Five Steps" Workbook (pdf file)

alcohol help, drug help, addiction workbook
For Instant Download

$35.00
Quit Drinking, Alcohol Abuse Help, Quit Drinking Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse
 
"What complicates my drinking is the fear of losing the memory of who I am and who I am suppose to be..."
 
You are not a failure because you did not succeed in previous attempts to quit drinking alcohol. Look deeper. Find your passion. Raise your standards and begin to believe again...... HOPE!   If you have experienced alcohol abuse or have tried to quit drinking alcohol, and just can't find that peace and happiness through traditional alcohol abuse programs, keep believing. Open your mind and heart to what is possible and know that you are not alone. There are others who struggled to quit drinking alcohol also, but found their own way to live again free of alcohol abuse.
 
  
Quit Drinking, Alcohol Abuse Help, Quit Drinking Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse
 
Read What Others Have To Say
 alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse help, quit drinking
Download The "Forgotten Five Steps" Workbook (pdf file)

alcohol help, drug help, addiction workbook
For Instant Download

$35.00
Quit Drinking, Alcohol Abuse Help, Quit Drinking Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse

One Approach May Not Fit All
Quit drinking alcohol abuse help

I know the potential each human has and can choose to use when they decide to quit drinking, if the desire is there and the right information and motivation is available when you quit drinking alcohol. I must emphasize that I believe in the value of each person and their own way of finding their way to quit drinking alcohol. AA and treatment can be beneficial in changing ones life when you quit drinking alcohol and for some - the only way.

However, I have met many that experience alcohol abuse who wanted to quit drinking alcohol but just couldn't make it work with AA or treatment. They believed in a different philosophy or life course when it came to quit drinking  or alcohol abuse. They wanted more than what was offered from traditional alcohol abuse programs when they decided to quit drinking. For them, their beliefs and passion had them dancing to a different tune.

There are vast amounts of alcohol abuse information out there on how to quit drinking alcohol. With this vast information, I believe, we often lose sight of what matters most when we quit drinking alcohol.

Alcohol abuse is a painful business. Because of the pain and struggle involved when we quit drinking or stop alcohol abuse we may search endlessly for the one cause or cure to end the madness. We become afraid, and through this fear cling to any shred of evidence we can find to lift us from our state. Is there one way to succeed in ending alcohol abuse or when we decide to quit drinking alcohol? Who is right? Who is wrong?

When it is all said and done, it does not matter which path you take to quit drinking or end alcohol abuse. It's your choice, your life. Find a way. There is hope!

You are not a failure because you did not succeed in previous attempts to quit drinking alcohol. Look deeper. Find your passion. Raise your standards and begin to believe again...... HOPE!

If you have experienced alcohol abuse or have tried to quit drinking alcohol, and just can't find that peace and happiness through traditional alcohol abuse programs, keep believing. Open your mind and heart to what is possible and know that you are not alone. There are others who struggled to quit drinking alcohol also, but found their own way to live again free of alcohol abuse. Each person must come to terms with who they are, what they desire, and their own way of finding their way to quit drinking alcohol..
 
Quit drinking, alcohol abuse help
Read What Others Have To Say
 
Download The "Forgotten Five Steps" Workbook (pdf file)

alcohol help, drug help, addiction workbook
For Instant Download

$35.00
Quit drinking, alcohol abuse, quit drinking alcohol, alcohol abuse help
 
Quit Drinking, Alcohol Abuse Help
 
Alcoholic Recovery ~ Alcoholism Help ~ Substance Abuse Workbook ~ Addiction Workbook~ Addict Help ~ Addiction Help
Quit Drinking ~ Alcohol Abuse Help