Addiction is a disease that is fatal when untreated. RIP, Amy Winehouse. Hopefully her untimely death will help save the life of another. For further information about drug addiction and treatment, or to make a donation to support women struggling with addiction, please visit Breakthru House's website or call us at 404-284-4658.
About Me
- Breakthru House
- Breakthru House, Inc., is a member of the Action Ministries family of ministries. Action Ministries, Inc. is an independent, faith-based, Georgia non-profit corporation with roots in the United Methodist Church. As the first long-term residential recovery program for women in Georgia, Breakthru House is designed to meet the unique needs of women struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Utilizing the 12 Steps and a Therapeutic Community, Breakthru House provides a safe, structured drug free environment to foster a life of recovery while therapeutically addressing addiction as a disease, unresolved grief, trauma, and poor self-esteem issues commonly associated with female addicts. Since its founding in 1969, Breakthru House's founding principle remains constant: physical, emotional, and spiritual healing through recovery is possible when each woman's treatment program is designed to meet their individual needs.
Monday, July 25, 2011
A fatal disease
by Melanie Storrusten, LCSW, Clinical Coordinator
Addiction is a disease that is fatal when untreated. RIP, Amy Winehouse. Hopefully her untimely death will help save the life of another. For further information about drug addiction and treatment, or to make a donation to support women struggling with addiction, please visit Breakthru House's website or call us at 404-284-4658.
Addiction is a disease that is fatal when untreated. RIP, Amy Winehouse. Hopefully her untimely death will help save the life of another. For further information about drug addiction and treatment, or to make a donation to support women struggling with addiction, please visit Breakthru House's website or call us at 404-284-4658.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Step by Step - Step One
by Melanie Storrusten, LCSW, Clinical Coordinator
Step One: We admitted we were powerless over __________ - that our lives had become unmanageable.
For some, alcohol fits best in the blank. For others, it's addiction, or cocaine, or narcotics, or just drugs of any kind. For most of us, (and I don't mean just the addicts and alcoholics), we can fill that blank with a lot of behaviors.
Getting an official psychiatric diagnosis of dependence on a substance requires that a certain number of specific criteria are met: Increased tolerance, withdrawal in the absence of the substance, significant time spent getting, using, and recovering from the substance, using more than you intended to or for longer than you intended, unsuccessful attempts at ceasing or limiting use, missing out on important job or relationship functions due to use, and continued use despite negative consequences.
Often the most baffling of those characteristics to those viewing addiction from the outside, and also to the sufferer themselves, is the continued use despite negative consequences. Common sense and behavioral laws alike tell us that when we experience negative consequences for a behavior, that we should STOP IT!
When I first got involved with addiction treatment, the first step sounded oh-so-simple to me. I thought, "Well, these people are in treatment and asking for help - so it's obvious that they are powerless and their lives are unmanageable." Thankfully, my clinical supervisors and mentors at the time encouraged me to do a first step assignment myself. I put this off for a long while, but eventually sat down to write 10 very specific examples of the consequences I'd suffered in my life from my nicotine addiction. I struggled very much with the idea of powerlessness - my thoughts went something like this, "I could stop if I really wanted to, I just don't really want to right now." And my life was certainly not unmanageable - no one was going to arrest me for smoking a cigarette after all. As I wrote the examples, they got progressively more shocking to me, and painted a picture that - "Oh yeah... my life is pretty unmanageable in certain ways. Why haven't I stopped doing this? ... oh yeah, because I can't. I am powerless." Even though the consequences of nicotine addiction do not begin to compare in any way to the consequences of drug and alcohol addiction - the exercise was powerful. It is hard to 1. see your powerlessness and unmanageability, and 2. to acknowledge it. And this is only the first step!
Maybe you can relate to some of the following...
I knew that I was powerless over cigarettes and that my life had become unmanageable when I smoked in the car with my nephew even thought I knew it was harmful to him, and a bad example.
I knew that I was powerless over drugs and alcohol and that my life had become unmanageable when I allowed my electricity to get cut off because I spent all of my money getting high.
I knew that I was powerless over other people's actions and that my life had become unmanageable when my attempts to control others left me alone and resentful.
I knew that I was powerless over other people's thoughts and feelings and that my life had become unmanageable when I realized that I was unable to make a decision on my own and didn't know who I was anymore.
I knew that I was powerless over my depression and that my life had become unmanageable when I missed out on my child's growing up because I was in my bed avoiding the world.
I knew that I was powerless over my anxiety and that my life had become unmanageable when I could not attend my best friend's wedding.
If these statements, or others like them sound familiar to you, there are 12-step programs that can help you deal with many problems, not just drugs and alcohol.
Alcoholics Anonymous - http://www.aa.org/
Narcotics Anonymous - http://www.grscna.com/
Codependents Anonymous - http://www.coda.org/
Emotions Anonymous - http://www.emotionsanonymous.org/
Overeaters Anonymous - http://www.oa.org/
Al-Anon - http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/
Adult Children of Alcoholics - http://www.adultchildren.org/
Step One: We admitted we were powerless over __________ - that our lives had become unmanageable.
For some, alcohol fits best in the blank. For others, it's addiction, or cocaine, or narcotics, or just drugs of any kind. For most of us, (and I don't mean just the addicts and alcoholics), we can fill that blank with a lot of behaviors.
Getting an official psychiatric diagnosis of dependence on a substance requires that a certain number of specific criteria are met: Increased tolerance, withdrawal in the absence of the substance, significant time spent getting, using, and recovering from the substance, using more than you intended to or for longer than you intended, unsuccessful attempts at ceasing or limiting use, missing out on important job or relationship functions due to use, and continued use despite negative consequences.
Often the most baffling of those characteristics to those viewing addiction from the outside, and also to the sufferer themselves, is the continued use despite negative consequences. Common sense and behavioral laws alike tell us that when we experience negative consequences for a behavior, that we should STOP IT!
When I first got involved with addiction treatment, the first step sounded oh-so-simple to me. I thought, "Well, these people are in treatment and asking for help - so it's obvious that they are powerless and their lives are unmanageable." Thankfully, my clinical supervisors and mentors at the time encouraged me to do a first step assignment myself. I put this off for a long while, but eventually sat down to write 10 very specific examples of the consequences I'd suffered in my life from my nicotine addiction. I struggled very much with the idea of powerlessness - my thoughts went something like this, "I could stop if I really wanted to, I just don't really want to right now." And my life was certainly not unmanageable - no one was going to arrest me for smoking a cigarette after all. As I wrote the examples, they got progressively more shocking to me, and painted a picture that - "Oh yeah... my life is pretty unmanageable in certain ways. Why haven't I stopped doing this? ... oh yeah, because I can't. I am powerless." Even though the consequences of nicotine addiction do not begin to compare in any way to the consequences of drug and alcohol addiction - the exercise was powerful. It is hard to 1. see your powerlessness and unmanageability, and 2. to acknowledge it. And this is only the first step!
Maybe you can relate to some of the following...
I knew that I was powerless over cigarettes and that my life had become unmanageable when I smoked in the car with my nephew even thought I knew it was harmful to him, and a bad example.
I knew that I was powerless over drugs and alcohol and that my life had become unmanageable when I allowed my electricity to get cut off because I spent all of my money getting high.
I knew that I was powerless over other people's actions and that my life had become unmanageable when my attempts to control others left me alone and resentful.
I knew that I was powerless over other people's thoughts and feelings and that my life had become unmanageable when I realized that I was unable to make a decision on my own and didn't know who I was anymore.
I knew that I was powerless over my depression and that my life had become unmanageable when I missed out on my child's growing up because I was in my bed avoiding the world.
I knew that I was powerless over my anxiety and that my life had become unmanageable when I could not attend my best friend's wedding.
If these statements, or others like them sound familiar to you, there are 12-step programs that can help you deal with many problems, not just drugs and alcohol.
Alcoholics Anonymous - http://www.aa.org/
Narcotics Anonymous - http://www.grscna.com/
Codependents Anonymous - http://www.coda.org/
Emotions Anonymous - http://www.emotionsanonymous.org/
Overeaters Anonymous - http://www.oa.org/
Al-Anon - http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/
Adult Children of Alcoholics - http://www.adultchildren.org/
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