What should you do if you have a family member who drinks too much or is unwell through alcoholism? Many people are reluctant to talk about and deal with these issues. And it can be difficult to get help.

The first point to note is that the person drinking too much is ill and at a stage in their addiction in which they cannot just stop drinking on their own. They need help. But they need help that family members cannot often give, and this is where addiction clinics become very useful.

An alcohol rehab clinic will often provide a period of residential care for the person with a drinking problem. Some clinics require the person to arrive ‘dry’ or ’sober’ and off alcohol, having completed an alcohol detox. Others are able to give a medically supervised detox.

The main treatment within an alcohol rehab centre is counselling and help in enabling the person to live without alcohol. It is one thing to get off the alcohol, but another to stay off the alcohol and stay sober. This is very difficult and needs coping strategies to deal with difficult situations in the future.

At this stage in the rehab treatment support from family members can be very helpful, support in helping the person remain sober. Many rehab centres also offer support for families, both counselling individually for other family members and group sessions with all family members together. In this respect family would include any close friends or partners.

This support from family is important after the residential rehab is completed. Once an alcohol has stopped drinking they usually say they are in Recovery, recognising that it is all too easy to slip back into drinking again. But many former alcoholics successfully stop drinking and remain sober for life.

WeDoRecover.com provide help for friends and families of alcoholics to find a suitable alcohol rehab centre and alcohol treatment that matches their needs.

During the process of what I call “Admission” comes the task of making the decision to change. On a basic level, before a person can decide to change, an evaluation of their circumstances is necessary. Benjamin Franklin used a technique whenever a major decision was at hand.

What old Ben would do is he would draw a large “t” on a piece of paper. On one side he would place all of the positives. On the other side he would place all of the negatives. If the positives outweighed the negatives, the decision was made for him. It seems like a simple step. However, when it comes to addiction it can be overwhelming. The choice to put down the drink or drug is a radical concept to the abuser.

Some times it takes family, friends or an employer to intervene and demand that the individual cease the use and abuse of mind-altering substances. For the abuser this is good news. At the time they do not think so. It feels like the end of the world is occurring. They believe they are losing what keeps them going in life, their best friend.

I remember I was 16 years old when I was arrested for stealing record albums from an A&S Department store. OK, if you are under 35 an album was what music was recorded on prior to CD’s. Of course this was also before 1-800-Child-Abuse was around as well. So promptly after my father beat me to what I thought was near death. My mom came in to my room to talk to me. I remember her say to me, “Danny, you need to stop smoking this POT crap and drinking beer and start to behave like the good kid you were!”

I looked at my mother with this puzzled expression, tears still streaming down my face. Muscles and bones still aching from the beating of a lifetime and saying, “Mom, if I did not smoke pot or drink beer what would life be?” My mom was speechless and walked out.

Now multiply the addicts thinking of an experience like that experience by 10 for every year thereafter of abuse. In other words it doesn’t get easier to overcome that kind of mindset as the years of abuse pile together.

But, here is the good news of an intervention by family, friends or your employer. It means that they care! If they didn’t they would write you off. In the case of the employer she would fire you!

Typically when an addict is still active deciding what is a positive and what is a negative is difficult. To determine what is positive and what is negative these rules apply. Decision-making is a three-leg stool. In order for a stool to be useful all three legs must be strong, balanced and in place. If one leg is compromised the stool is derelict.

The first leg on the stool is family, friends, supports, and employers/business partners. The second leg is the community and the world at large. The third leg is self. Look at each leg and ask yourself, “If I make this decision what is the outcome for my stools three legs?”

If the decision is the cessation of your dug of choice you probably need assistance with the pros and cons. Often the abuser can’t see the forest from the trees or vice-versa. Lets evaluate the legal drug, alcohol.

1)Alcohol is a co-carcinogen.

2)Over use of alcohol can affect your vital organs and overall health.

3)Alcohol can be addictive.

4)Alcohol impairs your judgment.

5)There is a significant increase in your chance of having challenges with alcohol if you have:

a.Family history of alcoholism or drug abuse.

b.Trauma history.

c.Recent incident such as arrest, family issue, spousal infidelity, medical challenge, employment challenge, no employment, anger issues, mental health challenge, friend, family, coworker, employer suggestion to get help, etc…

d.Mental health issues.

6)Some belief by the individual, possibly encouraged by a loved one, colleague, employer, and/or significant other that alcohol or drug use is hindering their productivity, life, happiness, success, etc…

7)Desire to be, do and have more in their life free of mind-altering substances.

It is important to note that making a decision to live substance free does not require that you label yourself an alcoholic/addict! You simply must have a desire to succeed in life, free of alcohol or any mind-altering substances. A guest that chooses to attend the “Real Life Rehab” program or our coaching programs does so to enhance their desire to live a sober, productive, prosperous life in all respects.

We believe that the use of alcohol or any mind-altering substance should be alleviated if:

A)An individual desires to be substance free.

B)An individual has issues such as;

a.Anger

b.Resentment

c.Family history

d.Medical condition

e.Legal history where alcohol or drug use has played a part

f.Employment challenges due to the use of alcohol or any mind-altering substance

g.Educational challenges due to the use of alcohol or any mind-altering substance

h.Lack of motivation or is subject to depression therefore “I drink or use”

i.Lack of Esteem therefore “I drink or use”

j.Any issue that establishes a reason in the individuals mind to “Drink or use” other than the use of legal substances for social, religious, spiritual, medical or relaxation purposes.

If you think you may have a problem, we believe you may want to research all options available to you, why take the chance of wasting another day of your life contemplating this? Labeling oneself an Alcoholic/addict is completely a personal decision. Defining alcoholic, disease concept, addict, addiction, or anything else you can think of is not a precursor to living a sober, productive, prosperous life in all respects.

http://www.rehabilitation-center.org

Dan Callahan, MSW has an extensive human service background dating back to 1980. Dan has been involved in recovery based human service, alcoholism and substance abuse services, forensic services, case management with individuals recovering from mental health issues and recovery based program development. Dan is the co-author of a NYS training manual and program for mental health and correctional service professionals working with parolees with “serious and persistent mental illness”.

Dan’s experience encompasses Residence Manager of Bishop Ryan House, an adolescent home for homeless youth, the Program Director of Hands Across Long Island, Inc, Executive Director of the Bishop Gerald J. Ryan Resource Center and presently The Founder and Director of The Last Resort Recovery.

Through the years Dan has been fortunate enough to be mentored professionally by some extremely gifted folks. He was offered flexibility and latitude to attempt methods of engagement and recovery services that were considered outside the box of traditional treatment. It has been through that flexibility and experiences that the Last Resort Recovery has been created.

Dan has a unique method of assisting those in need to overcome their challenges with addictions. He has been successful with some of the most difficult of cases.

1-(718) 775-3639 or 1-(866) 501-3366. http://www.rehabilitation-center.org

The Problem

Your mind can only handle so much negative emotion. At some point your mind snaps unless you do something about it. Some people pass the breaking point and have a nervous breakdown. Some abuse food sex, money, gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc. as a way to relieve their problems. Some become “workaholics”. To keep the reading smooth, I am using the words “alcoholic” or “addict”, but these principles apply to any problem that the 12-steps address such as Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, SLAA, etc.

Though sometimes addictive activities may appear to relieve the suffering, they are always incomplete and temporary. The problems are still there. In fact, the abuse of their “crutch” usually adds to the problems instead of relieving them.

Inside the mind of every person are varying degrees of negative emotions. Fear, guilt, shame, remorse, anger, resentment, low self-esteem, and so on. In an alcoholic and drug addict’s mind these are usually aggravated more than in most people’s because alcohol reduces inhibitions and the drinking alcoholic will do things they would never do sober. Also, in order to fund their habit the addict/ alcoholic will do things they would not ordinarily do. Also lost jobs and productivity usually lead to financial despair if the addiction is left untreated.

Why can’t they “just” quit?

One problem with trying to “quit” without the aid of a 12-step program is that whether you are aware of it or not, the negative emotions are still there in the back of your mind — if not in the forefront — every waking moment (And sometimes in your sleep, too - especially in late stages). Life’s problems are like a water faucet that drips new problems and aggravations into the sufferer’s mind. There is already very little room in your brain for more bad things because of years of accumulation (remember your “crutch” has never relieved the problem, it just took your attention away from it temporarily — if you were lucky.) These new problems add to the already accumulated feelings of fear, guilt, self-pity, remorse, etc. until finally the breaking point is reached… and the addict reaches for the only solution they know of. Their “fix” - whatever it may be.

The Solution

The 12 steps help a person deal with the day-to-day stresses of life without your mind ever getting to the snapping point. (”Living life on life’s terms”) The addict/ alcoholic through the 12 steps, with the help of some activity (”working the steps”) the help of other people, and their higher power (usually God), the guilt fear, shame, anger, and remorse gradually begin to be replaced by serenity and positive emotions and thoughts such as love and real happiness — things the alcoholic has not found important for much too long.

As an added bonus, any new stresses that the faucet of life drips in do not immediately add to the remaining problems, they now “filter” through the renewed mind - and often are dissipated before ever being added to the current problems. The same event that use to be very stressful and emotional no longer seems like such a big deal.

The guilt, fear, shame and remorse never go away completely. But as the good things keep coming in, there is no longer room for the bad things. They go away. Unlike when actively abusing the crutch, which only seemed to temporarily distract.

In Steps 1-3 The sufferer realizes that they have a problem and that there is a solution, and choose to pursue the solution.

Steps 4-9 begin to remove the “bad” emotions by listing, discussing and analyzing their “defects of character” with the help of another person. By step 9, the alcoholic begins to make amends (restitution) to anyone whom they have harmed. These steps are very effective. Many people get the feeling that the drink problem has disappeared by step five. (Alcoholics Anonymous page 75)

By step 9, if they work thoroughly, the alcoholic has usually already started to get a whole new outlook on life. The guilt, shame, remorse, resentments, etc. are starting to vanish and be replaced with positive thinking — emotions and actions that most of us have never had to any significant degree. After step 9, some really amazing things begin to happen. Anyone who has not had an amazing experience of mind renewal (”Spiritual experience”) after step 5 will usually have it at step 9.

Steps 10-12 are the growing steps. They keep us on the right path day to day - these are essential to maintain sobriety. These last three must be worked continuously because left untreated, our minds will eventually slip back to the state they were in… and we may drink. And for many of us, to drink is to die. (Alcoholics Anonymous page 66)

A.L. Howard is the founder of Modern Christian Issues: A Christian Apologetics Blog which attempts to provide answers to tough questions — Bible Apologetics for the layman. He is an amateur Bible scholar. He has been studying creation science and Bible prophecy since the early 1980s. Modernchristianissues.org is designed to be a resource of Biblical Apologetics that you do not have to be a scholar to understand. Visit the site to explore Creation Science (creationism), cults, the occult, the 12 steps for Christians and much more.

In today’s busy life, most of the time we miss out on the important things. Sometimes, we fail to notice the change of behavior in those who are close to us. But paranoia, sleepiness, irritation and this type of behavior can indicate towards dangerous possibilities like addiction. Anxiousness, depression, short temperament, loss of sexual drive and appetite, self destructive behavior and panic all these signs actually says that the person is addicted to cocaine.

These are the clear symptoms that can help you to identify whether one is addicted to cocaine or not. In case of heroin the addict usually goes to a state of trance and sleepiness after taking it. This state can stay for one hour to a couple of hours.

In case of marijuana you can definitely notice bloodshot reddish eyes. Once you notice this you need to check a few other things like lethargy, losing control or hallucination in that person. If that person is having all these symptoms then this is surely the effect of marijuana. People often get addicted to antidepressant and cough syrups too. The recent trend is saying that the teenagers are getting addicted towards some painkillers. If you notice any of these symptoms in anybody known then you must bring that person to some reputed drug rehabilitation center as soon as you can. Do not delay by researching your own. The specialists are there to do the detoxification. Once things get over you just need to help that person to make a come back to the life.

The Narconon Riverbend Retreat drug rehab program offers drug abuse rehab services which help make your stay at our facility comfortable and provides a conducive environment to help the recovery process. Greater than 75% of our graduates stay sober. Call us today: 1-877-340-3602

The famous Drug Prevention program of different rehab centers is not devised in a single over night. It offers dynamic and long lasting solutions based on teaching and evidence based system. A good positive response system is also equally needed to help with social networking facts to overcome. Drug treatment should contain nutritional supplements to ensure the treatment works with ease and does not cause any further sufferings to the patient. Because of the intake of excess alcohol and other dangerous drugs like Cocaine; drug treatment is essential to get cured and come out the deadly drug virus.

Daily addiction and attachment to these drugs causes symptoms of physical wear and tear. Reputed Rehab centers are essential. They treat this whole disease cure in terms of an education system to show case studies, bring evidence, teach the social aspects and conduct moral boosting sessions to completely cure this disease. Effective and continuous modular based learning is matched with graduation system for students to achieve the goal and become healthy for life time. Use of updated evidences, tools and systems helps the students to get positive and fight against drugs usage. Patience building plays an important role in eliminating this disease from the root.

These centers know that many patients take drugs and get addicted to it. Hence, it uses best tools to self-train the patients and remove this evil causing social and family issues in various parts of the world. We can say that the reputed centers have a brilliant past record to boost and hence working continuously through its break through programs to remove this evil and bring an effective drug treatment method of loving and not punishing the victims.

The Narconon Riverbend Retreat drug rehab program offers drug abuse rehab services which help make your stay at our facility comfortable and provides a conducive environment to help the recovery process. Greater than 75% of our graduates stay sober. Call us today: 1-877-340-3602

Drug usage has increased very rapidly. If a survey was to be conducted, it would be seen that drug users are found to be of all ages. Children are also becoming exposed to all sorts of drugs like alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and many more. There are many drug rehabilitation centers that help drug users to abort these deadly habits and lead a normal life again. There is usually a program, which needs to be undertaken and may last for few months.

Preventing children from taking drugs has been a key focus area now days. They need to be provided with information on various types of drugs and their harmful effects. The education plays an important role and many educational institutions have taken this moral step to implement drug education. By doing this the children and youth could be made aware of steps to drug prevention.

The rehabilitation programs have their own features and benefits. Many include a diversion to a nutritional diet and counseling procedures. But there is also the social education model of rehabilitation which is very effective. These programs are learning programs and the persons enrolling for them are basically considered to be students and not patients. Medical examinations are also there at periodic intervals. These centers not only help people to leave drug habits but also help to learn and educate themselves about various drugs and ways to avoid them. Many drug rehabs have opened that the drug users need not worry and they can find the best rehab suitable and join them quickly.

The Narconon Riverbend Retreat drug rehab program offers drug abuse rehab services which help make your stay at our facility comfortable and provides a conducive environment to help the recovery process. Greater than 75% of our graduates stay sober. Call us today: 1-877-340-3602

Do you love an alcoholic? Is the drinker in your life taking you down with them? Are you sad about your situation and that of your loved one? Is there an answer for both of you? Take time to understand what is going on, and take care of yourself.

Whether the alcoholic you love is your spouse, child or friend the pain can be the same. It’s agonizing to watch the turmoil they put in their lives, and in yours. Court, fines, jail and tears. They move from job to job trying the best they can to keep afloat. The addiction is overwhelming to all of you.

There are people addicted to alcohol, and people who are called alcoholics. There seems to be a line and you cross it when you get arrested for an alcohol related incident. At any given time someone without a court record is drinking to excess, as he does every day. If he is out in public he simply calls a cab to take him home. We never confront him at parties as his voice gets louder and he debates any available topic. No DUI, no stigma. But make no mistake about it, you are what you are.

We’ve all heard it before “he’s such a great guy, until he starts drinking.” But those comments don’t keep them sober. The addiction is in place and until they are ready, and commonly have lost everything and then some, they will drink. But what about those who love them? Often times if the subject gets brought up there’s always that one person who tries to defend their loved one. They repeat the same old thing they’ve said a dozen times before, and no one understands why they can’t just disown the addict, as the rest of them have managed to do.

Drinking isn’t always an everyday occurrence for the alcoholic. Yet having just one drink isn’t an option for them. Often times others who are `working the 12 step program’ can’t help as it is all they can do to keep sober themselves. That’s why they don’t step in to help, right? Maybe not. The person who is staying sober knows what we all know in our heads, but can’t get into our hearts, in the end we are all responsible for ourselves. So what would happen if we all walked away and let the alcoholic figure out, they need to be responsible individuals?

So you love an alcoholic. We all do, but it doesn’t change what we need to do, which is to understand that we are not helping them by defending them. You also aren’t helping by talking about them. Help yourself and create some physical distance from the problem. Meditate for relaxation, keep busy to help create good thoughts, pray not only for them but also for yourself. There are groups if you want to discuss your situation with them, you won’t catch them off guard, they’ve heard it all before.

Give yourself a break and give each of you some room. Allow your mind to become clear again. Stop being a hermit for fear someone will ask how things are going, but rather learn how to say “everything is just fine.” Let the alcoholic be, and go out and find you.

I work with healing energy and teach different kinds of healing modalities such as Reiki, Quantum Touch�, essential oils, sound healing and the metaphysical properties of stones. My blog is filled with alternative healing methods and ideas to help us all live an emotional, spiritual and physically healthier life at http://www.zenergygal.com Watch for my forthcoming book on alternative ways to Tweak Your Health.

Rational recovery program is a popular alternative to the twelve-step rehabilitation program commonly used by Alcoholic Anonymous (AA). Widely known as RR, this type of recovery program offers guidance, counseling, and supervised therapies to attain self-recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. RR believes that total self-recovery can only be achieved with permanent abstinence.

The RR organization was founded by a man named Jack Trimpey in 1986. He is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in California. In addition to that, he is also very much interested in the field of treating alcoholism and drug addiction. This is mainly because he was once a struggling alcoholic who found his way back to the right path. In fact, this experience led him to develop the RR system for addiction recovery.

Basically, RR is a for-profit organization that offers treatment programs through books, instructional videos, comprehensive lectures, and the internet. This treatment program works on the premise that an addict is capable of sustaining a planned, permanent abstinence. However, RR also recognizes that addicts ironically wish to continue using. This contradicting perception of addiction recovery is technically the strongest points of the RR program. This is because the extreme desire of addicts to carry on with their addiction will also be the reason for them to develop the power to overcome their lingering cravings.

RR programs are generally divided into four primary components which include:

� a strong commitment to abstinence

� indubitable self-acceptance

� Rational-Emotive therapy or RET (a practical method used to control extreme emotions)

� Addictive Voice Recognition Therapy (AVRT)

All of these elements are integral parts of total self-recovery but the AVRT method serves a very crucial role in completely putting a stop to powerful cravings among the addicts. Moreover, RET and AVRT work hand in hand in order to greatly reduce the possibility of relapse.

Therefore, if you believe that you can fully commit to a lifetime of abstinence from alcohol or drugs, then you should consider enrolling in the rational recovery program.

Learn more about rational recovery and also about what to do when you have a drinking problem.

Regular smokers are generally aware of the harm that smoking can do to their health and while this has led to many people deciding to quit the habit for good, others go through a great deal of difficulty. Despite all of the quit smoking products such as gums, patches and pills available on the market today, many people are still unsuccessful in their attempts to quit.

For these people, the thing that makes quitting smoking difficult is not the physical addiction they have to smoking, it is the psychological addiction. These psychological addictions are rooted deep in our sub-conscious minds so in order to break the psychological cycle, the sub-conscious mind needs to be addressed.

Many people are now using hypnosis and subliminal messaging to help them to overcome addictions and are finding success. You may be wondering how such methods work. It’s actually quite simple. These methods work on your subconscious, which is profoundly more influential than our conscious mind. When we use these methods, we are planting suggestions into our minds, which our minds will subsequently act on. You may still get the occasional craving but the suggestion that these are things that may no longer be necessary for you to live a healthy and happy life should, over time, outweigh these cravings.

It has been said that such methods have a 80% success rate and the ease with which the treatment can be carried out is another advantage. You can either visit a trained practitioner or download a quit smoking hypnosis or subliminal messaging MP3 and listen to it while you commute to work. Subliminal MP3’s can also be listened to on silent. Planting positive suggestions into your mind will go to the root source of your habit and have you well on the road to quitting your addiction.

If you find the MP3’s work for you, you will probably feel motivated to tackle some of your other problems as well. And with the vast range of MP3’s on the market, you’re sure to find one that fills your needs.

To find out more about how self-hypnosis and subliminal messaging works, visit http://www.subliminalmindprogram.com

Am I an alcoholic? This is a question every alcoholic has to answer for themselves before they get sober. And they will have to answer honestly and without reservation yes! Otherwise sobriety will be hard come by if ever attained at all. Why get sober if you’re not a drunk? Years ago drunkards who were of lower socioeconomic backgrounds were considered to be people with serious immoral if not criminal behaviors.

The idea that someone could have a genuine uncontrollable or near uncontrollable desire to do something so obviously harmful is fairly recent. For many centuries the aristocracy or at least higher socioeconomic backgrounds, usually well-educated and from upper-class families were not considered drunkards. They were shielded by their wealth, family and position. This is a situation not at all uncommon today as long as one avoids the public eye. It wasn’t until the 1800s that any form of the disease concept of alcoholism became popular.

A German doctor translated a book by a Russian doctor and translated the term Trunksucht as dipsomania. The medical profession divided dipsomania up into elaborate schemes of continuous, periodic, intermittent, recurrent, and probably some others that I don’t even know about. This sounds a lot like Alcoholism to me. In later years it became popular to call some drunks alcoholic’s while others were simply problem drinkers. I have calculated the difference between a problem drinker and an alcoholic to be approximately $75,000 a year. They both drink alike, one simply has the money to buy their way out of trouble and the other does not. One can afford the highest quality and other must budget for quantity.

However nicely you put it alcoholics drink and drink to excess, they may or may not drink frequently but almost always get drunk at the most inconvenient and inappropriate times. I am not as dedicated to the disease concept of alcoholism as our some of my friends. On the other hand I am convinced it is some form of mental illness or malady. Certainly if unchecked it will lead to serious long-term psychological physical and mental and spiritual deterioration. I do not believe it is my fault I am an alcoholic I certainly believe it is my fault and my responsibility if I add alcohol to my alcoholic mind.

Lately there has been much in the news magazines, television, the Internet and other media about binge drinking, especially teenage binge drinking. Some consider binge drinking alcoholism some think it just a pattern that will lead to alcoholism. There is no doubt it leads to many teenage pregnancies, increases High School dropout rates and most tragic of all, causes thousands of drunk driving related deaths and injuries. The national Institute on alcoholism and alcohol abuse has determined that binge drinking consists of five drinks in one day for men four in a day for women. I’m not a scientist and I don’t know if that in fact qualifies one as a binge drinker or not.

I do know that I frequently had five drinks in one hour. Towards the end five drinks in one day would have been cutting back. Others I know drank far less and are just as alcoholic as me. How is that? Alcoholism is more a state of mind than a state of body. Its root is an obsessive thought that supersedes all others, followed by a compulsion as a strong as the compulsion to eat food or drink water when starving. Craving is as a friend once described it, “like climbing the walls with your teeth.”

I thank God there is relief and release in prayer. That God can and will stand in the gap for me. The alcoholic mind will be, without proper supervision flooded with thoughts of alcohol and a craving difficult to explain to those who have never been addicted. Left unchecked these thoughts and cravings will produce actions. In the end I have found that I must allow God to supervise my thoughts and meditations lest my desire for alcohol turn on me and again destroy my life.

I’m Myke M. and I am a Drunk and a Drug Addict. I don’t say that to brag, it’s nothing to brag about. It is however a statement of qualification. That is important.

I write from a Drunk, Drug Addicts point of view to Drunks and Drug Addicts. I maintain a blog aimed at Drunks who have trouble with Christianity and Christians who have trouble with sobriety. http://www.alcoholicchristians.com