"The message of this book is that recovery from addiction is possible."(Shumway.pg 2). Recovery is an ongoing journey that requires a lot of attention and constant dedication and being sober is only the beginning. In this book experts Sterling Shumway and Thomas Kimball have laid out six principles that help along the journey, which are: Hope, Healthy Coping skills, Achievement and Accomplishment, Maintaining Meaningful Relationships, Unique Identity development, and Reclamation of agency. Using the two 's gathered research, personal stories and various exercises they unlock these principles and explain there complexity at a level of understanding for all the parties in an addicts life. Those who complete these principles become more …show more content…
Hope tells you that healing and good lie ahead, it is possible to rise from the pain. But it is hard to hold to hope while pain is present so it is important to address possible sources like if you also have a mental illness, which is "estimated one out of every two people who struggle with addiction also have a mental illness disorder."(Shumway.pg 24) or if you are still recovering from trauma. Whatever source or combination sources of pain must be dealt with now or it will end up badly in the end. Hope is the key for early recovery and is the starting point to a long lasting recovery. At this stage you will also begin to create a relationship with a higher power, giving yourself to something greater so that it may help you along the …show more content…
These choices are made by your new connection to yourself that you learned through the previous stages or principles. Also, through these stages you establish and intensify a relationship with your higher power that helps guide you through recovery and gets you to believe in something greater than yourself. Yet another aid that helps you along, be it god or whoever, they are intended to guide and be words of wisdom. This stage is much more than reaching a day to day goal like in the achievement and accomplishment principle, its exceeding that opening up the future creating bigger goals. You can achieve much more which really motivates you in your recovery and offers better reasons for you to continue living without drugs. Be careful, like in every stage pain left untreated can rob you from achieving reclamation of agency. Like in all of the stages pain must be dealt with face on, in order to fully grasp recovery and prevent relapse later
...nd stages of addiction a little better. The first step is start accepting thing were cannot change. This is something I say to myself on a daily biases because it reminds me that I cannot be on control of everything all the time. I have to allow my higher power to guide me through life. The Serenity Prayer reminds us to have courage to change things we can. I am in control of my life and my happiness and I need to make changes in order to keep it that way. Having the wisdom to know what I can change and what I cannot is helpful because it allows me let things go. The Serenity Prayer has been adopted by AA groups but should be adopted by everyone because it is so helpful in my life. Reading this book “Being Sober” by Dr. Harry Haroutunian was an eye opener when it comes to helping families understanding addiction and how everyone needs to surrender to the same words
Sheff (2008) found that "Addict's family walks an unhappy path that is strewn with many pitfalls and false starts. Mistakes are inevitable. Pain is inevitable. But so are growth and wisdom and serenity if families approach addiction with an open mind, a willingness to learn, and the acceptance that recovery, like addiction itself, is a long and complex process. Families should never give up hope for recovery-for recovery can and does happen every day. Nor should they stop living their own lives while they wait for that miracle of recovery to occur" (Sheff, 2008, pg. 230).
Gorski, T. T., & Miller, M. (1986). Staying Sober: A Guide for Relapse Prevention. New
Dealing with everyday stresses can be overwhelming for most people, all the more for recovering addicts. If you don’t have access to a support group who can help you manage these feelings in a positive way, you may be pushed to find social connections and coping mechanisms in other avenues. You may seek old relationships or habits that reawaken tempting behaviors.
In relation to drug abuse, relapse is resuming the use of a chemical substance or drug after a period of abstinence. The term can be said to be a landmark feature of a combination of substance abuse and substance independence. The propensity for dependency, repeated use, and tendencies that take the form of the substance being used, are some of the issues that drug users’ experience. Substances that enhance most severe tendencies in users and pose high pharmacological efficacy, are those that are cleared quickly from the body, in addition to those that bring out the highest tolerance. There can be increased substance tolerance with the increasing dependency in relation to drug in question, and withdrawals and cravings when the user stops.
It has become one of the major social problems of our day, leaving a great number of families and communities within our country devastated and without hope of recuperation for any of their afflicted members and loved ones. Growing to become a big social challenge affecting all aspects of the American society, addiction rates have escalated to enormous proportions within the country as reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Addiction has been described as a chronic brain disorder,” resulting from adaptations in the brain that leads to changes in behavior”, according to Dr. Nora Volkow, who also assert that it can be treated (NIDA 2006).
The point of a rehabilitation center for addicts is it is a place for people who are struggling with substance abuse can go to for help. Substance abuse addiction is a growing problem in the United States and causes many problems socially and economically. The words “alcoholic” or “drug addict” carry a negative connotation. An alcoholic is not considered a role model for kids. But, what can be said about the programs and processes in place that are supposed to help addicts? Through my research, I have examined the current addiction rehabilitation centers, and I believe there needs to be a restructuring of the existing strategies used to help addicts.
Overcoming an addiction to alcohol can be a long and bumpy road. Many people feel that it is impossible to overcome an alcohol addiction. Many people feel that is it easier to be an addict than to be a recovering addict. However, recovering from alcoholism is possible if one is ready to seek the help and support they need on their road to recovery. Recovery is taking the time to regain one’s normal mind, health and strength. Recovery is process. It takes time to stop the alcohol cravings and pressure to drink. For most, rehab and professional help is needed, while others can stop drinking on their own. Recovery never ends. After rehab, professional help or quitting on your own, many people still need help staying sober. A lot of time, recovering
Thank you for covering the addiction treatment options. The 12-Step Programs often goes hand-in-hand with addiction recovery treatment. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA ), and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are organizations for recovering addicts, run by recovering addicts. The 12-Step Programs have a strong spiritual component display that spirituality can be effective for addiction. The regular attendance to meeting, connection with a recovery mentor, and prayer/meditation are strongly associated with recovery and abstinence from drugs and maladaptive behaviors. Meetings offer participants with a support system. By working through each of the twelve steps of AA, many addicts have found restoration
Continuum of care for a client refers to the appropriate level of treatment in which they enter and continue to receive to meet their recovery needs. This may include stepping up the treatment system to a more intense approach or down to a less intense treatment approach as needed (NCBI, 2006). An integrative part of the client’s treatment includes relapse prevention planning. Individuals who relapse in recovery do not do so suddenly, it is a process. A relapse prevention plan is designed to assist clients with tools to be successive and maintain continuous sobriety (Gorski, 2003). Relapse prevention consists of nine steps which are involved in recognizing and stopping the signs of impending relapse, incorporation of social contexts that
Alcoholics Anonymous is a nonprofit support group and the model it is based on has been transferred over to many other types of recovery programs. This model is known as the twelve-step program and was first published in 1939 (cite). The twelve-step program has gained mainstream acceptance as a viable option for substance abuse treatment. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings can be attended at no cost and the program states that its membership is open to anyone who has a desire to change (cite). The twelve-step program views addiction as a disease that an afflicted person is powerless against (cite). According to the twelve-step model once a person becomes an addict they must remain in recovery their entire lives (cite). The twelve-step program takes a faith-based approach that requires a belief in a higher power to recover from addiction (cite). This program has helped thousands of people recover from addiction by following its steps. Critics of the twelve-step program would argue that there...
Before reading this book I was skeptical about what Mr. Sandor had to say about the topic of Addiction. I am a recovering addict and have joined many rooms of Narcotics Anonymous. I have read and utilized the twelve steps of NA workbook to help me recover from my addiction. It was hard a few times to overcome my addiction, because I was weak willed and powerless. With the help of my sponsor and support group I eventually became strong enough to stay clean. But as I read through his book I was surprised at the information I had learned. The themes I would like to discuss are: The value of Understanding, Powerlessness, and Defining Recovery.
I am a recovering addict. I’ve dealt with addiction since I was twelve, and I’ve had mixed reactions when I tell people about it. I tend to present myself as a competent and put-together person, and I want to write a solid essay about how addiction is not part of my identity any more. That’s not true though. I am writing this because recovery is an inseparable part of my life and identity, and a large part of my motivation to get the college degrees I will be studying for. I want to be honest about why I care.
For those struggling with an addiction, the first step towards recovery is the most challenging step.
In conclusion drug addiction is a very terrible and challenging problem. It affects individuals, families, and the people around them. It is important that drug addicts realize that they must want to stop and seek help for the problem. The drug addict needs the support of friends and family, so they can make it through this process. The process to recover from drug addiction can take a lifetime. There is hope for a drug addict who wants to change their life for the better.