23.1 Million People Need Treatment

That's right, 23.1 Million People Need Treatment for substance abuse disorder in just the United States. VOICES FOR RECOVERY sent me a Recovery Kit with the most amazing resource materials. I wanted to share one of the most astonishing papers on Commonly misused substances. Interesting enough the average age of abuse is 35-44 with under 30's being the highest rate of misuse.

According to US Department of Health Services, In 2008 there were an estimated 4.4 million emergency rooms visits due to substance abuse. The statistics below tell the number of people who used (actually telling the truth) in one month in 2008. The numbers tell a chilling story. Mind you it's just one month of reports and the result of misuse and abuse, not just occasional usage. 

• Cocaine - 15 million users - decreased from 07
• LSD - 1.1 million users - increased from 07
• Gases, Nitrates, aerosols - 600,000 users - decreased from 07
• Pain Relief (Opioids) - 4.7 million users - decreased from 07
• Psychotherapeutics - 6.2 million users - decreased from 07
• Marijuanna - 15 million users - increased from 07
• Alcohol - 126.8 Million users - same as 07
• Tobacco Products - 70.9 Million users - same as 07

Other misused substances on the increase include Ecstasy and tranquilizers. This is indeed a MAJOR health issue for which all of should be concerned enough to do something about it. So if you know someone, or are yourself struggling with either legal or illegal substances, reach out for help! It begins with information, and from the packet I received there is help across the board for every race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. 

You can be free from addiction, there is help and HOPE. Read the archived blog, reach out for help through the links you find here. This is also for those who love and live with an addict. We are in this together!

Additional resource to find services in your area: 1 800 662 HELP or 800 487 4889 (TDD) as well as http://www.samhsa.gov/treatment .

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September 2010 Recovery Month

For the last Twenty years  the "National Alcohol & Drug Addiction Recovery Month celebrates September 2010 with another year of voices for recovery. This organization has inspired millions of people by raising awareness about addiction with stories of recovery and helping those still struggling. At any age, with any substance, recovery happens, there is hope!

This site contains information, resources and support for anyone interested in recovery and turning our nation's drug challenges around. People perish for lack of knowledge. I strongly encourage anyone visiting this blog to visit the site, learn, participate, and share your stories!

Watch the Webcast:
RECOVERY at any Age: Young People Can and Do Recover.
Recovery Month

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Not my kid... not my family.

IMAGINE THIS:

after a sophomore at Colorado State University in Fort Collins drank herself to death, her family lamented that it was just "one mistake" that killed her. Not so, points out reporters at the Denver Post. They found the personal web site for Samantha Spady, 19, where she posted photos of herself drinking with captions such as "I was drunk" and "Drunkass me". Just before her death from a blood alcohol level of .43 percent, she posted "I'm also going to get extremely wasted this weekend." A family spokesman points out Spady was a great student and a former DARE volunteer, but still insists her death was a "terrible accident" caused by "one mistake." He admits the family had seen the web site, but hadn't seen the multiple photos of her getting drunk. (Denver Post) ...the real "one mistake", then, is not opening their eyes. reported by This is True.

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
Carl Jung

This morning while uploading Images to myRECOVERY.com I stumbled across SOBER COACHING YOUR TEEN. Reading through the pages, I thought of all the parents walking through the terrors of addiction with their child. How many nights they lay awake spinning, thinking and praying for answers. Parents agonizing over the behaviors of their once beloved son or daughter. Can you imagine the disappointments, dread and feelings that surface as they get the first call from the school or police? Do you suppose they flounder as to what to do?

Now it’s in your own home! It used to be something that happened to other people. So what is someone to do? Fortunately one can now go online and find thousands of sites about addiction. It’s a daunting task to sort out which are believable and which are not. It's often difficult to see whose bottom line is money from those whose heart is for sobriety/recovery and the addict's family.
Here is the gist of the Sober Coaching website:

Sober coaching is becoming educated about the disease of addiction, utilizing the resources available, such as support groups (for both us and them), avoiding enabling, and setting and enforcing boundaries.

There are excellent resources for parents on understanding addiction then coaching a teen through the stages. The SOBER COACHING angle is something to sink your teeth into. This website contains the steps to take as parent that work. Learning to coach rather than enable cuts through traditional parental knowledge. This concept prepares parents for “fight of their life” in regards to the teenager who is now abusing substances. What I like best is the support they give to anyone who visits the site. They share their knowledge for free, and in my sight it’s worth supporting with dollars and the purchase of their books.

Here are the stages of Addiction with a short definition:
Prevention Mode: All too often parents and even professionals overreact and take drastic measures when they aren’t warranted. If you are in prevention mode, there are some very good resources listed in this section for you to follow up on.
Crisis Mode: Once your teenager has been arrested, precipitated a drug crisis, or some other family crisis as a result of drug abuse or drug addiction, the rules have changed.
Sober Coaching: Exactly what do we mean by sober coaching? A sober coach helps those in recovery learn how to handle all the stressors and relapse hazards of newfound sobriety. Since addicts' lives have typically revolved for years around the maladaptive drug-using lifestyle, they need to learn how to cope with life while sober.

Here are free downloads of chapters from their books YOUNG, SOBER AND FREE and SOBER COACHING YOUR TOXIC TEEN. Other books include: ADDICTION: WHY CAN’T THEY JUST STOP? And KNOWN CURES FOR ALCHOLISM, GETTING YOUR CHILDREN SOBER.

Please order through the site so they get proceeds and support to continue their work. No blaming. Take action today. Buy the book that shows you what really works. Two tracks--one for prevention (your son or daughter is on a troubling path) and one for the young person who is clearly in crisis. A workbook that works!

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LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS on addiction or any aspect of life. Subscribe today! ADDICTSHUN | addictions

CELEBRITY: Sixx: A.M. - Life is Beautiful

no words needed!

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Be Sober, Be Healed.
Are you or someone you know struggling with addiction?
It affects everyone. Ready for a change?
Addiction Rehab is available.
Make a choice today. 

THOUGHT: The Climb Out

Knowing yourself is the first rung on the ladder towards wholeness.
to climb out of the pit of addiction, any addiction is layered with self-knowledge, determination and the knowledge of others who made it to the other side. think about yourself. What do you know about your limitations? your character? your purpose? what about your weakness? your life patterns? your family history? Do you know your hurts and painful memories? Do you struggle with depression? have you found the root?

Be Determined. That is the second rung.
When you know yourself and from where you came, finding determination to move forward is easier. No one else can free you. Only you can choose to get well. Then stick to it. Allow nothing or anyone (addict friends) to stop you from your choice to become whole. Though none go with you - you must keep on going.

Books are the words of life and this is the 3rd Rung.
You can learn anything in this life through reading books. Books give insight to the journeys, thoughts, knowledge and skills to guide you. Books give encouragement and map out your recover so you can overcome any addiction. Books are there in the middle of the night when everyone else is sleeping. Go to Amazon.com and search for these key words: addiction recovery,dysfunctional family,adult children of alcoholics
or whatever your particular addiction is. Through knowledge is freedom for the Adult Children of Alcoholic Syndrome as well as enablers also called co-dependents.

The Fourth Rung: Journal - Write your way to wholeness
Buy a notebook and write. write whatever comes into your head. write day and night. spill out all your poison into the notebook. write down all your dreams and aspirations. write your dark thoughts. draw, scribble, paste pictures into your notebook | journal | sketchbook. As you write make sure to note the date. Tell about the events going on. Then when you read back through your writings, not only do you discover yourself (SELF KNOWLEDGE) you also chronicle your recover from addict to wholeness. You also have written your own BOOK. Here's a Blog on Journaling

These rungs to climb are not always easy. Yet what you discover is that the air is clear up here and many others are on the same path!

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Be Sober, Be Healed.
Are you or someone you know struggling with addiction?
It affects everyone. Ready for a change?
Addiction Rehab is available.
Make a choice today. 

ADULT CHILDREN - all of us

all of us are affected by addiction 

Affected either by family, heritage or our own choice, we have all tasted dysfunction in some form. Again it's back to the garden, nothing has changed. Blame, shame and hiding. i recently pulled out a book ADULT CHILDREN OF DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES which was meant to help a friend who is discovering where their anxiety and downfalls come from. Upon reading page out loud, it hit me between the eyes. the book was about me too. i began to remember all the addicts i have collected along my life. Why? My father, his father and family...we've all been affected. I tried it for a very short year or two but escaped by the grace of GOD. My father (with no intent to dishonor him in anyway) was prisoner to the bottle. They were hidden in all corners of our house. He was a quiet withdrawn alcoholic. His past filled with abusive discipline, a few wars overseas and he drowned all those miseries into his glass of iced vodka and club soda. He didn't know any other way. To me he was and always be a hero. He is also the absent drunken father who wasn't revealed until my high school years. Even with family intervention, and a year of sobriety he was unable to kick alcohol or cigarettes.

From that family dysfunction I learned the codependent function of fixing and saving others. Reading the book caused me to realize in black & white that I too am so affected by this dysfunction, I saw myself and all the symptoms. SMACK in the face. 

This blog talks about personal experiences and observations. I know the books out there, AA and all the rest know this topic backwards and forwards - it's a wrap. it's just there is no where to write out the feelings, thoughts and pain with a hope at the end of it all to find a resemblance of wholeness.

more on this to come...

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Be Sober, Be Healed 

Are you or someone you know struggling with addiction? 

It affects everyone. Ready for a change?

Addiction Rehab is available. 

Make a choice today.

Thought: Understand yourself

"I think of addiction as the sacred disease...Very probably, God created alcoholism in order to create AA, and thereby spearhead the community movement which is going to be the salvation not only of alcoholics and addicts, but of us all."

-M. Scott Peck, M.D.

Primary addictions recovery 

requires rescuing our life and spirit from compulsive, habitual attachments to substances and behaviors. And as we discover the intricacies of recovery from a wide range of addictions, we recognize a common link among them.

What is Addiction?

Addiction is generally defined as a disease process characterized by:

continued use of a substance, behavior or process

despite physical, psychological, emotional or social harm,

progressive over time,

involving habit and compulsion

with signs of withdrawal when ceased or decreased.

Primary Addictions

• Alcoholism,
• Drug Addiction,
• Food Related Addiction,
• Gambling Addiction (including compulsive debt and spending),
• Sex Addiction,
• Codependency,
• ACOA Syndrome,
• Internet Addiction,
• Obsessive-Compulsive Thinking/Acting (cleaning, shopping, self-diminishing, worrying, etc.)

CHECK OUT THE LINKS ON THE BLOG HOME PAGE FOR MORE KNOWLEDGE.

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