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Tag: addiction









Might As Well Face It You're Addicted to . . . Everything!
No less an authority than George Bush recently declared that the entire nation was "addicted" to oil. From a Republican viewpoint, you might excuse the President from engaging in a bit of po...











Addictions Anonymous, 40: Problems in Learning Serenity
  During one evening therapy group, the topic of serenity came up for discussion. The comments of some of the group members started me thinking. Perhaps this serenity could be teased i...











Addictions Anonymous, 39: Problems with Relationships and Sponsors
Relationship Problems Unhappy relationships come up for discussion in many group therapy sessions. For some of us, all of life is controlled by relationships while, for others, relationship...











Addictions Anonymous, 37: Problems with Anger and Depression
A person can be angry and never realize it, especially if he or she grew up surrounded by angry people and learned to feel resentment toward the adults in life. Anger can become an enduring ...











Addictions Anonymous, 36: Problems with Anticipation
  While going through old notes from my therapy groups, I was reminded of many of our long and often difficult discussions of critical problems in abstinence and recovery. The next few...











Addictions Anonymous 35: Harm Reduction
Harm reduction is an ancient and natural plan for minimizing the unpleasant and harmful effects of dangerous behavior. Addictions certainly are dangerous behaviors, and some experts have cha...











Addictions Anonymous 34: Therapists Of All Sorts
In general, there are two kinds of therapist qualifications: (1) earned degrees and, (2) licenses and certifications. Some clinicians, of course, may have both.











Addictions Anonymous, 33: Pitfalls In Finding Treatment
Problems confront addicts when they decide to seek mental health services. They can be serious problems, but they are not impossible. Here are a few of the big ones:











Addictions Anonymous, 32: When a Friend Needs Help
In the days when I was working as a clinical psychologist in hospital programs where we treated addictive behavior, it was common to have members of Twelve Step groups bringing people in for help.











Addictions Anonymous, 31: Does Prohibition Work?
Vulnerable Groups Experience and research show that gamblers and other addicts entering treatment are not exactly like the general population on a number of important psychological dimensio...











Addictions Anonymous 30: The Way to Be, Part Two
I remind the reader who may be studying these choices that I have not announced my own preference in terms of which of the choices, A or B, I think is most appropriate to a mature and normal way of thinking.











Addictions Anonymous 29: The Way to Be, Part One
No one really teaches us the whole story on how to live in the world. We learn some of what works and some of what causes pain. We learn what people like and dislike about our behavior. Unfortunately, we don’t have teachers who teach us how to live comfortably in the world, how to develop and keep the everyday euphoria that is our right. If we knew what to do to reduce self-inflicted misery, we would probably want to learn it because we need something better than the School of Hard Knocks.











Chapter 28: Normal As The Gold Standard—Part Two
In this chapter I finish a brief discussion of each of my proposed dimensions of noble character that I claim are important qualities of thought and behavior. They are both learnable and teachable.











Addictions Anonymous, 27: Normal As The Gold Standard—Part One
If normal is to be the standard towards which we strive, exactly what qualities of personality will be important? What will we try to measure, learn, and teach to others? In this chapter and the next, I present a list of seventeen proposed character dimensions and offer a brief discussion of each.











Addictions Anonymous, 26: Searching For Normal
Beyond finding problems and flaws in the thinking of others, a philosopher might go the next step and offer some better path to what we hold as a valuable goal.











Addictions Anonymous, 25: Normophobia
Normophobia: I made that word up myself. At least I’ve never seen it used anywhere, but I could be wrong. Being wrong once in a while is normal and the best reason to look for and listen to critical feedback.











Addictions Anonymous, 24: More On Religion In Recovery
The Steps, Traditions, and Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous have become important to millions of people throughout the world. In early chapters of this book, I looked at the philosophy that underlies the steps and traditions, a philosophy that is widely accepted and used in self-help groups. From the beginning, the steps stirred debate and controversy along with a remarkable number of good recovery stories.











Addictions Anonymous, 23: Group Traditions And Management
Not long after A.A. was founded in Ohio in the 1930s, meetings began to experience problems with personalities and procedures. Recovering alcoholics proved to be a tough group to lead wit...











Addictions Anonymous, 22: Continuing The Growth
The last three steps in the recovery program deal with personal growth, a renewed growth that is possible after some amount of clean and sober time. By now, if the reader has been following previous articles, the ideas behind steps ten, eleven and twelve should be rather obvious. Together, these three steps offer a plan for essential, continuing personality development. I will comment on each briefly in this chapter.











Addictions Anonymous, 21: Setting Things Right
8. Made a list of all persons we harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.











Addictions Anonymous, 20: Asking For Help
7. Humbly asked the help of others in the removal of our short comings and be resolved to work to remove these faults ourselves.











Addictions Anonymous, 19: Growth Through Practice
6. Were entirely ready to practice the program in order to remove all these defects of character.











Addictions Anonymous, 18: Confession, Honesty And The Open Life
Step 5. Admit to our Group, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. If loneliness is your problem, confession may be a solution. There’s nothing like hold...











Addictions Anonymous, 17: Self Knowledge
Step Four: Made a searching and fearless inventory of our character for ourselves. The word inventory is a bit misleading, but this step comes down to the adage, “Know thyself.”...











Addictions Anonymous, 16: The Surrender Of Ego
Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this Program and to the loving care of this group. Hopefully, as you come to the third step, you have acc...











Addictions Anonymous, 14: The Art Of Being Powerless
Step One: We admitted we were powerless over addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable. The mind of the active addict works in a hazardous environment surrounded by a swirling ...











Addictions Anonymous, 15: Living With Higher Authorities
Step 2. Came to believe that The Program, as a power greater than ourselves, could help us toward normal living. The term higher authority, in the original context, referred the God o...











Addictions Anonymous, 13: A Universal Secular Twelve Steps
There are two important thoughts to keep in mind when we consider what have been called the Twelve Steps of Recovery. First, each step is really an important idea that can be incorporated into every aspect of life.











Addictions Anonymous, 12: The Stages of Addiction and Recovery
While interviewing hundreds of addicted clients over the years it became obvious to me that addictions are what mental health experts call developmental disorders. That is, they deve...











Addictions Anonymous, 10: Dark Feelings
Euphoria is a good word that today has a negative meaning; it is often used to describe the artificial high or altered state of mind produced by an addictive trigger. It’s earlier meaning ...