Addiction Treatment Interview with CeDAR's Diane Sanders

Alice Tanner of Addiction Recovery Consulting Services interviews Diane Sanders of University of Colorado's CeDAR treatment program. This program offers in-patient treatment for chemical dependency, a first-rate family program and an extended care program. If you or a loved one suffer with chemical dependency help is a phone call away.

Addiction and Recovery: Trick or Treat?

Happy Halloween One and All~

In honor of this day, I began thinking about how addiction and recovery relate to this theme.

Addiction: Trick or Treat? Well, at first we might see the drinking and drugging as great fun . . . . a way to relax, unwind with friends, cut loose. As the addiction advances it turns from a treat to an awful trick. Hung over . . . oy . . . trick. Made a fool of ourselves . . . oyyyy . . . trick. Written up at work due to poor job performance undeniably caused by drinking/drugging . . . . oyyyyyyyyy . . . trick. Drunk driving arrest . . . Big Oy . . . bad, bad trick. Vehicular manslaughter . . . BIG BIG OY . . . Irrecoverable trick.

Recovery: Trick or Treat? Recovery is supposed to be a good thing, right? Make us and our families feel and act better, right? Well, sadly, recovery usually doesn't start off like that. I talked about the trauma of it in yesterday's post. It is a chore, a change, a challenge, psychologically and emotionally painful. Seems like the whole process is one bad trick after another. This is compounded by the delusion that recovery should make us feel better and make things around us easier right away, or at least quickly. How depressing when it doesn't. Add to this a relapse, perhaps. At this point, the poor addict and their family are thinking that this recovery business is really not all that it is cracked up to be. They want to give up, throw in the towel, walk away in anger, frustration and despair. However, if they just keep at it, give it time, put forth the effort and seek outside help recovery becomes a treat. Just as time turned our drinking and drugging from a treat to a bad trick, time turns recovery from a trick into a wonderful treat. Weird how it works . . . or is it?

Got any of your own stories to tell? Please . . . chime in and share them. Who knows whose spirit you might touch~

Recovery's First Year: Trauma or Paradise?

After years of suffering, of enduring horrible consequences and personal decline the family finally gets their wish and their loved one enters treatment. Thirty, sixty, ninety days later . . . presto . . . out they come back into the family, back to "real" life. Everything is supposed to be great, right? No . . . that is unrealistic. Well then, how about at least better? No . . . sorry. In fact, things will undoubtedly be worse. "How can that be?", everyone cries. Because the family is in the midst of a thing called trauma.

Recovery results in major trauma to the family system. The addictive family system as it came to "be" during the addiction is now undergoing change and that change is massive and traumatic. The natural result of this trauma causes things to get worse before they get better. This might seem counter-intuitive, but it is not. Thus, a normal . . . yes, normal . . . part of recovery is things getting worse.

Do newly sober addicts/alcoholics and their families need help during this time? Yes, more than ever. They are all in a very vulnerable, tenuous and precarious place. Most relapses occur during the first year of sobriety. Many families break apart during this time because they are unable to weather the changes the system is undergoing. It seems unfair, doesn't it?? To endure the pain of getting sober only to endure more pain, the possible tearing apart of the family system that was still together in the addiction, albeit hanging by threads in very dysfunctional ways . . . it's just not fair. Like it or not, it is the way it is.

What can be done? Families are encouraged to get help during this time. Notice, I said "families." Addiction is a family disease. Recovery is a family process. It is not just the newly sober addict/alcoholic that needs help here. It is the whole family . . . the children, siblings, parents, friends . . . anyone close to the addict who weathered this awful storm. Is help like this available? Yes. Contact Addiction Recovery Consulting Services to discuss the Family Recovery Program and how it might work for your family. The call is free; the potential benefits . . . priceless.

Prop 5: A Trojan Horse?

Some people believe California's Prop 5 to be something of a Trojan Horse . . . on the outside it looks great, but on the inside it is filled with dangerous things. Voters will have to decide that on election day for themselves. But, I have to again ask the question, why do we (and I include society here) let things get so bad? By the time the person (addict) comes to the attention of law enforcement, they have been in their disease a long time. Do you really think that the first, second, third arrest is the first time anyone knows this person has a drug or alcohol problem?? Get real. Lots of people know. Their families, their friends, their neighbors, their bosses, their co-workers, people who have cleaned up their consequences (i.e. lawyers, doctors, social workers, clergy). But those who have seen it have either missed the signs entirely or have chosen to turn a blind eye. Had one person, just one, stepped up and sought professional help the chances are the police and the courts would never become involved. Would it prevent every criminal case fueled by drugs from becoming a criminal case? No. But, if it prevented one in 5 or one in 10 from reaching the criminal justice system the savings would be unimaginable!!

The next time you see an over-the-top crime that hits the headlines, look for "the bottle in the picture." By that I mean the drugs or the alcohol. Chances are you will find them. We have another one that has just hit the scene . . . the tragic story of the family of star Jennifer Hudson. What an awful waste. All of the facts are not in, more investigation is being done. But, already crack cocaine is surfacing in this story. Am I surprised?? Sadly, I'm not. Sober, healthy people don't generally get so out of control committing crimes like this. Would intervention have prevented this? Perhaps not. Perhaps professional intervention was done long ago. Perhaps many times. I doubt it, but maybe so. What I do know is this . . . chemotherapy does not work in all cases. But, we use it as soon as we can. We don't wait. And, we don't not use it because it isn't successful every time.

The Economics of Family Intervention

No doubt about it, we are upon hard economic times and people all across the country are tightening their belts. But, is it money wisely saved to skimp on treating the disease of addiction? Should families save their pennies and wait for the economy to brighten before tackling this nasty family illness? Or, should they use their money to address the disease and heal?

Some Basic Facts:

Fact: The disease does not slow down because the economy does.
Fact: Ignoring, transcending or denying the disease costs families money.
Fact: Expensive and nasty consequences from the disease WILL happen.
Fact: Costly consequences will continue to happen until the disease is treated.
Fact: Money spent on consequences does nothing to address the disease itself.
Fact: Families can choose; spend money on consequences . . . or spend it on help.

Intervention and treatment of addictive disease is largely not covered by insurance like cancer, heart disease and other illnesses are. But, understanding that the disease is robbing the pocketbook through consequences that we can not control, doesn't it make sense to proactively stop the financial bleeding ourselves? The old saying, "You have to spend to save" could not ring more true than with this disease. The best news: you save more than money when you spend it on addiction help.

California Prop 5: Addiction Treatment or Get out of Jail Free Card?

Hear all the buzz around Prop 5? Addiction is a disease; treat it, don't punish it. Treatment saves money and lives. Addicts are sick, not bad people. Drug dealers are criminals killing our children and need to be behind bars. Letting dealers off the hook with lighter sentences is not the answer.
Political rhetoric aside there are certain inalienable truths about addiction, treatment and recovery. Addiction IS a disease. It is treatable. Most of those needing treatment don't get it (the why's are for another blog post). Intervention, treatment and recovery save lives and money. But, drug dealers are criminals. Their product kills. Many are not addicts themselves; they are just "business people." Drunk drivers are criminals. Their actions kill. Are they the same? Should they receive the same punishment? Should they be punished at all?
Better question . . . Why do families wait until this point? Why hasn't someone close to the addict gotten professional help for this DISEASE long before the criminal charges start piling up? Try this on for size . . . if someone had taken the time, effort and interest to intervene professionally, gotten the help they and their loved one needed the criminal charges could have been avoided altogether in most situations. Does intervention save lives? Absolutely. Does it save money??? ABSOLUTELY. Does it save things money can't buy? ABSOLUTELY to the n'th power!!!
There are good, well-reasoned arguments on both sides of the Prop 5 debate. But, isn't a better solution one where families seek professional help themselves and intervene rather than waiting for the police and courts to do so?
You will have the opportunity to voice your opinion in the ballot box soon. Until then, care to let us know what you think here??

Serenity on Mount Tamalpais

Just north of San Francisco's Golden Gate is Mount Tamalpais. It has redwood groves and oak woodlands with a spectacular view from the 2,571-foot peak.

Interventionist Interview, Author Tony Boyle and his new book Beyond Passion

My interview with Tony Boyle author of a new book on Alcoholism's toll on families. The Australian author talks about "Beyond Passion".