Is there such a thing as moderation with a former addict?

Some people think that they can have a drink at a social event and it will be okay, after all it is just one drink and not like they intend on getting drunk in their mind. It may be just a single drink, but is it worth the risk of relapsing back to what you fought so hard to come out of?

It is not uncommon for a former addict to want to and even think they can use in moderation after recovery. Rumors tell us there are other former addicts that have been able to use in moderation and not wind back in to a full blown out addiction mode. Truth of the rumor is however, more have failed than not falling right back into their previous deadly lifestyle.

A.A and other 12-step programs stress more on the side of “Don’t risk your sobriety, it is not worth it” and define an alcoholic as a person who can never drink in moderation. Other programs are more lax on that. The important question that should be asked is – is it worth it? Is it worth the risk of throwing away all that you have gained? Is it worth risking what you are trying to rebuild? Is it worth the risk of your health?

You will hear arguments on both sides of this debate, some with some pretty impressive research, both having their own merits, but regardless of all the research in the world, nothing is more important than your path to a full and healthy life.

Only you know what exactly you put at risk if you pick up a drink. It could be your children, your family relationship, a marriage, your career, your heath, etc. If you can spit on those things and never look back, then go ahead and risk it. But is it really worth the chance?

When you are tempted to give it a try, think about how far you have come and what all you had lost due to your addiction. Nothing can be found at the bottom of the bottle.


If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/

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Recovery for Men ~ “A Man’s Way Through the Twelve Steps”

The piece I want to share with everyone today is something I was sent on Facebook that I thought was rather intriguing. It is a book review of “A Man’s Way Through the Twelve Steps” written by Dan Griffin done by William L. White, MA from the Chestnut Health Systems out of Bloomington Illinois.

Here is a just a small script of the book itself “Rob, a twenty-seven- year-old financial advisor with five years of sobriety, commented: Being a man in the Twelve Step program means that I have to be able to identify and reveal my feelings and secrets to other men. In our culture, men are often expected to keep their emotions and difficulties to themselves. Not only is the program itself challenging, but developing deeply emotional relationships adds to it.” p.12


“A Man's Way” Reviewed by Bill White in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly

The collective experience—the ‘‘we’’—from which the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) were formulated was distinctly masculine. In the intervening years, concerns about gender and AA have focused on the history of women pioneers in AA, feminist critiques of AA, research on recovery outcomes for women in AA, the growth of women’s meetings in AA, and explorations of the phenomenology of women’s recovery in AA. All of this scrutiny unfolded within the larger cultural context of an evolving ‘‘women’s movement’’ which in turn spawned a multi-branched ‘‘men’s movement.’’

This newly published book is written within the tradition of this latter movement. This book is about ‘‘how men live as men’’ and how men live as men in addiction recovery. Griffin offers a personal guide through 12-Step recovery with a particular focus on men’s roles, men’s health, and the capacity of the 12 Steps to spark processes of personal transformation that involve far more than the removal of alcohol and other drugs from men’s lives.

“A Man’s Way through the Twelve Steps” will find appreciative audiences among men in recovery and the women and men living with men in recovery. I suspect the book will find its place in treatment centers and the newly spreading renewal centers and recovery community centers as a source for seminars or a recovery book club selection. Addiction professionals may find this book helpful as a recommended resource for some of their male clients. The book’s strength is in the breadth of issues addressed, the stories, and voices of men in recovery, and the gentle guidance that is offered. It is at heart a book in which men in recovery share their ‘‘experience, strength, and hope’’ with other men. I greatly enjoyed this book and closed the last page with only two wishes: that the book would have used the lives of historical figures in recovery to illustrate some of its themes and that the book would have included references to recent scientific literature that support its suggestions.

There is a growing professional and scientific interest in the long-term, lived experience of addiction recovery. Dan Griffin has added a valuable piece of literature on the phenomenology of addiction recovery among men.
William L. White, MA
Chestnut Health Systems
Bloomington, IL USA


If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/

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Twelve Step Program—Alcoholics Anonymous

A twelve step program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action to aid in the recovery from addiction. While twelve step programs have been adapted for use with a variety of compulsion and behavioral problems, this article will outline its use for Alcoholics Anonymous.

The first twelve step program was devised by Alcoholics Anonymous AA as a recovery tool from alcoholism. The first publication of the Twelve Steps was in 1939 in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous: the Story of How More than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism. The original Twelve Steps published by AA are:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/smf-121_en.pdf

We all, at one time or another, seen AA meetings enacted on television. This method of staying dry has worked for countless individuals. Don’t be too quick to discount its power. If you, or someone you love, have a problem with alcohol dependence, contact A Better Tomorrow, today. Give them a call and let them help you to the road of recovery. You can do it!


If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/

Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ABTomorrow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ABTomorrow