When AA Alone Isn’t Working — The Fix

Some addicts believe that the 12 steps can solve all their problems. But they’re designed to treat addiction—not depression, anxiety, and the like. So how do you know when you need a therapist, and what kind do you need?

Read more…

Posted in 12-Step Programs, addiction, addiction education, addiction treatment, alcoholism, codependency, Depression, family, Mental Health, Psychology, recovery, relapse, Relationships, Treatment | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Resentment

Resentments are the poison that we drink, and then wait for the other person to die.
- Anonymous

Some of the truest words you’ll ever read.

Think about it.  Think about that terrible thing that (insert name here) did to you back in the long-ago.  Think about how bad it made you feel.  Think about how you’d like to get back at (**),  how you’d like to tell them off in words that would make them shrivel and leave them with nothing at all to say.

How often do those thoughts come into your head?  Once a week?  Once a day?  Whenever you think of that person?  Whenever you do something that reminds you of them?  Whenever their name comes up in conversation?  Whenever you’re just feeling sorry for yourself and want to feel better by reminding yourself how terrible someone else is? 

I thought so.

Now, while you’re making yourself miserable thinking about how you’ve been wronged, what do you think (insert name here) is doing?  Do you think she’s spending her time thinking about the subject?  Do you figure they think about it at all?  If you confronted him, would he even remember the incident? Would he remember it the same way you do?

See, the thing is, renting out space in your head to that person, that incident, that resentment, hurts nobody but you (and the people you inflict it on from time to time).  You’re the one whose stomach is boiling, who gets all tense, who drinks the poison that is meant for that other person.  They will never taste it, but you will taste it as long as you keep holding that poisoned cup.

So deal with it.  It’s your problem and your misery.  It’s only hurting you.  That s.o.b. is oblivious, and would probably think you were hallucinating if you brought it up.

It’s up to you whether or not you pick up that cup again.  Do you want to be righteous, or do you want to be happy?

Posted in Depression, Growth, Mental Health, Relationships | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Start Preparing Now to Avoid the Effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder

For many people (especially those of us in the northern hemisphere) September is the beginning of fall, and with the fall months come the winter blues, or worse, Seasonal Affective Disorder. The time to start prepping for those dark and gloomy cold-weather days is now, before the sun and warmth are gone completely.

Get thee to a meeting!

http://lifehacker.com/5837879/start-preparing-now-to-avoid-the-effects-of-seasonal-affective-disorder

Posted in Depression, health, living, Mental Health, recovery, relapse | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Do social networking sites turn teens into substance abusers?

I don’t buy it.

Read why: Do social networking sites turn teens into substance abusers?

Posted in addiction, addiction education, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, Drug Abuse, Drug News, living, Marijuana/Cannabis, politics, Psychology, Teens | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Why Do Addicts Keep Using Despite The Consequences?

Early in human history, there were probably few alcoholics or addicts because the alcohol content available in fermented fruit was low, and plants that produced other intoxicating substances were relatively scarce.  The development of agriculture made it possible to insure supplies of grain for beer production, and enabled organized farming of other plant producers of mood-altering substances. …

Read more at the Sunrise Detox Blog

Posted in addiction, addiction education, alcohol abuse, alcoholism | Leave a comment

Why Do Addicts Keep Using Despite The Consequences? — Part 2

Previously we mentioned that the pleasure center is a portion of the brain over which we have no conscious control, and that it can be stimulated by a variety of chemicals — some of them produced inside our bodies and some that we introduce from outside.  We said that the pleasure center rewards us for activities that it interprets as contributing in some way to our survival, whether they be social interactions, exercising, or more prosaic things such as eating.  We also stated that these pleasurable feelings, when pursued too far or for too long can create problems.  Now we need to examine how that happens….

http://sunrisedetox.com/blog/2011/08/24/addiction-alcoholism-compulsion-2/

Posted in 12-Step Programs, addiction, addiction education, addiction treatment, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, Change, Drug Abuse, Eating Disorders, family, Gambling, Marijuana/Cannabis, Opiates, PAWS, Psychology, relapse, sex addiction, smoking, Treatment | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Do Addicts Keep Using Despite The Consequences?

Early in human history there were probably few alcoholics or addicts, because the alcohol content available in fermented fruit was low, and plants that produced other intoxicating substances were relatively scarce.  The development of agriculture created food surpluses, especially of grain, the major ingredient in beer, and a class of workers that was not tied to food production.  These specialized occupations — brewing and raising non-food crops among them — allowed a gradual increase in the organized  production of mood-altering substances.

Read more at the Sunrise Detox Blog

Posted in addiction, addiction education, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, Change, Drug Abuse, family, Opiates, sex addiction | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Drugs, Alcohol and Infectious Diseases

Thought I’d link to this article on the Sunrise Detox Blog:

How Do Drugs Lead To Diseases Like AIDS And Hepatitis?

Posted in addiction, addiction education, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, Drug News, Education, health, Opiates | Leave a comment

Quote:

The difference between an active addict and a recovering addict is that the former keeps it secret, while the latter won’t shut up about it.

Posted in Humor, Quote | 5 Comments

Alcohol Disrupts Women’s Sleep More Than Men’s: Study

It’s long been known that alcohol can deepen sleep during the early part of the night but disrupt sleep later in the night, something called the “rebound effect.” But there’s been little research into how alcohol’s effects on sleep may differ in women and men.

This study included 59 women and 34 men in their 20s who consumed either alcohol until they were drunk or a non-alcoholic beverage before they went to bed. Researchers then monitored the participants’ sleep.

 

via Alcohol Disrupts Women’s Sleep More Than Men’s: Study.

Posted in alcohol abuse, alcoholism, health, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 3 fully loaded ships.

 

In 2010, there were 68 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 431 posts. There were 10 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 692kb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was January 7th with 139 views. The most popular post that day was Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS).

 

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were digital-dharma.net, gettingpastyourpast.wordpress.com, guineveregetssober.com, sunrisedetox.com, and deanesmay.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for post acute withdrawal syndrome, committing an alcoholic, post acute withdrawal symptoms, post acute withdrawal, and can you commit an alcoholic.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) May 2008
6 comments

2

Q&A December 2008

3

Can you commit an alcoholic or other drug addict? July 2009

4

Articles May 2008
1 comment

5

If you get drunk once a week, are you an alcoholic? August 2009
1 comment

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Free Sobriety Counter For Your Sidebar

Ryan, at rehab-programs.org, asked me to review and perhaps recommend their line of free sobriety counters.  They’re pretty cool.  If you’ve been looking for a counter for your blog sidebar (and if your blog platform allows javascript), you might want to take a look at what they offer.

I’d post one, but my platform doesn’t allow javascript. Here’s a link:

http://www.rehab-programs.org/widget/

Posted in Change, Internet, living, recovery | 1 Comment

Why I Haven’t Been Posting Much Lately

Both of my faithful readers will by now have noticed that I’m not posting very regularly on this site. It’s not though lack of interest, and I didn’t relapse (in fact, I just celebrated my 21st sober anniversary on 9/14/10).

Thing is, I’ve taken a part-time job writing for a recovery site, and I don’t have time to maintain both blogs. Since the other (paid) job covers the same territory, and since I have the potential to reach more people, it was a no-brainer. I’ll continue to post here from time to time, but it will be irregular at best.

I invite you all to subscribe to my posts at the Sunrise Detox Blog.   (Click the thingy at the bottom left of the page.) Thanks for visiting WhatMeSober.Com, and thanks for your interest.

Keep on keepin’ on,

Bill

Posted in 12-Step Programs, 12-step stuff, addiction, addiction education, addiction treatment, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, codependency, Detox, Drug Abuse, Drug Crime, Education, Enabling, family, grief, Internet, Marijuana/Cannabis, meditation, meetings, Psychology, Questions, recovery, relapse, Relationships, Treatment | Leave a comment

Thank You!

I’d like to thank all my friends for their help over the years.  You know who you are.  Seven thousand, six hundred and seventy days!  (But who’s counting?)

Posted in 12-Step Programs, recovery | Leave a comment

My dad’s an alcoholic and he won’t stop drinking

My father is a 60-year-old “functioning” alcoholic — whatever that means. My parents own a business together and he goes to work every day, comes home and makes a lot of money. None of us in my immediate family realized he was an alcoholic until about eight years ago when he had to go to the emergency room for acute pancreatitis. It was horrible; he was in a sort of coma, going through DT’s, and he nearly died. The doctor told us that he was an alcoholic and that he had to quit drinking. Looking back, I can’t believe we were all so blind to what was actually happening. I always thought he drank too much, but it never really occurred to me that he wouldn’t be able to stop. …

http://goo.gl/gBy7

Posted in addiction, alcoholism, co-deps, Enabling, family, health | Leave a comment