Who Falls to Addiction & Who is Unscathed?

     Have you ever wondered why you have an addiction and your best friend seemed to be using or drinking as much as you at one point but they could stop and you couldn't? The New York Times had a great article on who falls to addiction and who gets by unscathed.  Read more about this topic on the following link.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/health/05brod.html?ref=alcoholabuse

Bill and Bob, the Damage of Alcohol, and What Works in Treatment

David Kaptain, Program Manager, Powell Chemical Dependency Center

In October of 2010 in Minneapolis I saw the stage production of Bill W. and Dr. Bob.  I was immediately impressed by the play’s careful and accurate depiction of the complex dynamics of alcoholism, especially of the great individual and family damage caused by this most destructive form of addiction.  I knew I had to get this play to Des Moines!

Just how destructive is alcoholism? 

Alcoholism represents the most damaging and costly addiction facing our country today. 

The prevalence of alcoholism in the US is well documented:  Nearly 17 million Americans have alcohol problems, including 8 million with the disease of alcoholism, yet only 2-3 million receive treatment each year. Alcohol problems lead to death, disability, and billions in avoidable business and health care costs every year. It is estimated that alcohol-related problems cost every man, woman, and child in the U.S. $683 each year - that’s about 210.4 billion a year!  Despite the myriad of problems stemming from alcohol use, Americans face enormous hurdles getting treated for alcohol problems. For those who can get it, the type of care often depends on where they live and work, not on what they need.  http://www.ensuringsolutions.org/media/

Even though Alcoholics Anonymous is completely non-self promoting, the 12 Steps approach to recovery and long-term sobriety of AA is well known.  Studies since the 1950’s have identified the group affiliation process of AA as one of the main reasons it works for people seeking recovery.  Contemporary studies support these notions, finding that AA participation predicts remission of alcoholism, improves abstinence, and improves response to treatment (Gossop, et, al, 2003; Moos & Moos, 2007; Laudet, Stanick, & Sands, 2007).  With over 117,000 groups containing more than 2,000,000 members in 180 countries, AA represents the most easily accessible and widely available grassroots effort at supporting sobriety that can be found anywhere. 

Bill W. and Dr. Bob's story details how this amazing movement got started, and why it still works over 70 years later.  It is well worth your time if you ever get a chance to see it.  Powell CDC and Iowa Health Des Moines sponsored the play's run at StageWest of the Des Moines Civic Center over a year ago, and I'm still having fond memories of the filled performances, the moving story and the powerful talk-back sessions we had after several of the performances. 

Because Alcoholics Anonymous is a proven support to short and long term recovery, Powell Chemical Dependency Center is a strong supporter of AA.  Our program integrates 12 Step concepts and participation with the newest solution-focused and motivational methods of addiction treatment to create a supportive and effective environment for beginning recovery.  We actively encourage our patients to experience and connect with AA and other 12 Step based groups to strengthen and support their hard earned recovery.  We find that our patients who do connect with AA and other supportive recovery groups experience more effective initial and longer-term success.  For these reasons we will continue to encourage AA to all of our patients.  If it works, keep doing it!!

All the best, 

Dave

TRY

As the sunlight starts to rise over the horizon, you dream about opening your life to new and exciting adventures.  Just like the clouds that are breaking apart, you pray the anxieties and insecurities will also start breaking apart. 

You realize today is a new day and you are in charge of every aspect of the day.  You are the one who determines if the day will be a blessing or a day of regrets.  You have lived so long with the regrets that you just want them to be gone and the only way to do that is to remember..remember everything that has ever happened..everything that has shaped you to be who you are today. 

You are who you are, because of your past and present.  You are the only one who can change the future.  Once you take the future into your hands you feel a sense of contentment that has not been felt for a long time.  Once you realize that you are the one who holds the answers, yes, you..you realize that they have been there the whole time just waiting for the right questions to be asked.

The rays of the sun streaking through the opening of the clouds are not by accident.  The sun is showing you the potential of the day.  Grasp it with both hands and do not let go for a minute.  Each hour that passes that you let go of regret, guilt, or anxiety gets you closer to the freedom you deserve.  The freedom to forgive yourself for the things you have done in the past you wished could be changed but can’t.  The freedom to move forward with your loved ones to love them without worrying about if their love will be returned.  The freedom to wrap your arms around your husband, child, or grandchild in a manner that ensures them you will always be there for them – no matter what.

The mountains emulate the strength that you have inside of yourself.  The strength you thought was long gone never to return.  The magic of believing you were secure was just like a smoke screen that when blown away left you feeling exposed and vulnerable.   Each day you find this strength coming back.  Your confidence opening back up to what it was all those years ago when it was drained away.  You recognize that you did not cause this but due to circumstances beyond your control it happened.  Once your confidence was shaken, you reached out to others only to find that they could not be there for you as you had hoped..was this a failure on their part or yours?  If you truly want to accept who you are today you must realize that no one failed, like the saying goes “life happens” even when you are not looking.

 You can change by grasping life with both of your hands and moving forward, letting go of the bad and allowing in the rays of sunshine as they stream through the clouds.  Once you get to this point, you recognize the years you have lost, but know you have the strength to regain the future.  You have the strength with the mountains behind you and the rays of life opening for you to begin again.  Today is your day, use it to the best of your ability and reflect on the blessings you have been given, take nothing for granted but accept what is given to you, whether that is 5 minutes of your child’s time or 2 hours of being silent with your husband.  Accept life as it is and it will move into greater depths than you ever dreamed possible.  Life happens to us every day and we can either ignore the rays of sunshine and the strength of the mountain or we can embrace them..I choose to EMBRACE!

This was written by a patient before they came to Powell.
Life is good! .... Just sayin'

Can You Be Addicted to Foods?

This article is reposted from The New York Times-Tuesday September 27, 2011.  This was written by  RONI CARYN RABIN

Many people tend to think that all obese people have to do to solve their problems is eat less and move more. Alcoholics, on the other hand, need treatment.

But are the two disorders really all that different? Is it possible that eating in today’s sweet and salty fast-food world is actually somewhat, well, addictive? Could people with a predilection to abusing alcohol and drugs just as easily abuse food?

A study published in The Archives of General Psychiatry this week is not the first to examine the neurobiological similarities between behaviors that drive obesity and those that drive substance abuse. The researchers, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, examined two large surveys of nationally representative samples of American adults questioned about alcoholism in their families. Each included about 40,000 adults; one survey was carried out in 1991 and 1992; the other was done a decade later, in 2001 and 2002.

The people surveyed were asked whether a relative had “been an alcoholic or problem drinker at any time in his/her life,” a question repeated for several types of relative — mother, father, brother, sister, half-sibling and children. Participants also reported their own weight and height, so body mass index could be calculated (B.M.I. is a calculation of weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, and a result of 30 or more is considered obese).

The first survey, from the early 1990s, found no link between a family history of alcoholism and obesity. “There was an almost perfect overlap between the B.M.I. distribution of people without a family history of alcoholism and people with a family history of alcoholism,” said Richard A. Grucza, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University and lead author of the new paper.

Ten years later the survey told a different story. In 2001 and 2002, adults with a family history of alcoholism were 30 to 40 percent more likely to be obese than those with no alcoholism in the family. Women were at particularly high risk: they were almost 50 percent more likely to be obese if there was family alcoholism than if there wasn’t. (Men were 26 percent more likely to be obese.)

Why the change over time? Dr. Grucza says our so-called obesigenic, or obesity-inducing, food environment has changed in the decade between the two surveys. The most likely culprit, he said, “is the nature of the food we eat, and its tendency to appeal to the sorts of reward systems, which are the parts of the brain implicated in addiction.”

Certain foods — loaded with sugar, salt and fat and specially formulated to appeal to consumers — might be cues that trigger overeating in people with the predisposition for addiction, appealing to the primitive reward centers of the brain, and reinforcing the addictive behavior. These types of foods, which the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. David Kessler has called “hyperpalatable,” may be more reinforcing of overeating than, say, green vegetables, Dr. Grucza said, and they’re more commonly and easily available than they were in the past.

In his book “The End of Overeating,” Dr. Kessler describes how these highly palatable foods — the kind served at fast-food and chain restaurants — change brain chemistry, triggering a neurological response that stimulates people to crave more food, even if they’re not hungry. The sense some people have that they cannot control their intake may in fact be true, he argues, because these rich, sweet and fatty foods stimulate the brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center. In the process, they rewire the brain, so that the dopamine pathways light up even at the thought of eating these foods.

Other explanations for the increased obesity among relatives of alcoholics are possible, however. For example, it may be that people from families with alcoholism are more susceptible to stress generally, or to suffer from underlying depression that leads them to drink or overeat.

No single gene is responsible for making someone obese or alcoholic, Dr. Grucza said. But people who eat or drink excessively may share critical characteristics like lack of impulse control and the inability to stop once they get started, a sort of “missing stop signal,” he said. Stress is also implicated in both behaviors.

“The notion of alcoholism being a disease can be oversimplified,” Dr. Grucza said. “At some point, it’s a behavior and a choice. It’s just that some people are more vulnerable to the effect of that choice than others. I think the same is probably true of overeating — some people just don’t have the predisposition to find certain kinds of food that pleasurable, or to eat that much.”

Power of One

The Power of One!
Is your life getting better?  Is your conversation changing?  Are people noticing a difference in you?  These are all questions to ask yourself as you are making your way along the recovery path.  Often when we quit an addiction, there are immediate changes that are quite noticeable, but after several weeks/months or years, we get into a routine and change becomes less overt.  For this week, think about where you are and where you want to be and see if there are things you can continue to change that will help you get there.  No matter where you start, if you make one small change, it will have an effect.  Pick out a new vocabulary word and use it all week long, or walk for 5 (or more) minutes everyday and think about all the people you love as you walk.  Try a new recipe or eat a new food.  Compliment everyone you see.  Just make one change and see how it affects your week!

Just sayin'

Meetings.... Why Go to Them?

     Why go to meetings?  Because they work!  End of discussion! But for those of you who like to argue...read ahead.
     If you have been to a substance abuse treatment facility you know that it is stressed from day one to attend meetings and that it plays a big role in your recovery. Then why is it so hard to accept how important AA or NA meetings are to your sobriety?  The main reason has to do with our ego.  Most likely while you are in treatment your basic needs are being taken care of, for the most part. You are feeling apart of a small, close knit group who accepts you just the way you are. Your thought processes are becoming more clear and you are finally starting to feel good about yourself.  For many addicts this translates into, "I'm fine now.  I'm feeling great.  I can do this on my own." But hold on there!  Most likely, while you are in treatment, you are simply learning how to deal with life without any chemical substances that alter your thinking.  Any problems that arise are settled in your small groups with this close knit group of friends that you are relying on now.  It's those unpredictable "life" experiences that come after treament, that are just apart of life, that can and will throw you off.  Your treatment group is no longer a support system for you.  Your family may or may not be a support system but unless they are actually in the program their support is different than what you will get from going to 12 step meetings. This is where your meetings will help you.  Old timers in the program have a lot of life experience.  Their lives, just like yours, have been full of ups and downs.  The difference is that they know how to handle these problems without using.  They have learned how to do life on life's terms.  It's a way of life for them now that creates peace for them.  They would love nothing better than to share it with others.  That is what keeps them sober.  They reach out and help others, just like you will do if you stay the course. Think about it... when you find out something that is really cool that once baffled you, don't you love sharing it with others?
   What are you doing at meetings?  Are you sitting in the back not wanting to participate?  Are you scared to talk at the meetings?  Are you scared you won't be apart of the group?  Everyone has felt this way at some point.  This is what helps: Go to the meetings and help set up.  I compare this to going to a potluck.  If you go to a potluck and bring a dish to share with others, you always feel a little more comfortable and like you are really a part of the party because you contributed in some small way.  The same is true with helping out at meetings.  A small thing like setting up the chairs, putting out the literature or greeting people gives you a sense of belonging.  Stay after the meetings and simply just talk to people.  Volunteer to chair the meeting, if they allow newcombers to do so. Tell people you need a sponsor, several people will most likely stay afterwards to help you out.  Ask another friend to go with you.  If you find an open meeting of AA or NA, anyone can go with you to that meeting.  It always helps to try something new with a friend.  Ask someone in tretment to go with you or meet them there.
    I remember back in the day making up excuses as to why I couldn't attend AA meetings.  My excuses ranged from me not having anything in common with those people to not having time.  Neither was true.
    Sobriety is full of challenges.  Some we bring on ourselves, others are just thrown at us without warning.  Wouldn't it be nice to face those challenges with someone who has gone before you and knows how to solve it?  So, here's my challenge to you.  Try something outside of your comfort zone for two weeks that will challenge you to try new healthy behaviors. If it is hard for you to get to meeting, make yourself accountable to someone else who will hold you to your word.  If you are scared to attend, ask a friend to go with you.  If you do not have friends yet, sit next to the first person at a meeting that smiles at you.  The point is, try something different so that you are actually trying out various meetings in your area.  If you keep doing what you are doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting. You can do it!
Just saying....

90% of Our Problems are Caused by Our Own Thoughts

    90% of our daily problems are caused by our own thoughts. How could this be? Certainly, others actions have contributed much to the emotional imbalance that we often  feel when relating to others. It must be their fault that we feel this way. Right? Wrong. Here's how this works. Let's say that a teenage boy answers his cell phone at the dinner table.  There is actually no emotion attached to the fact that the teenager simply brought his cell phone to the table and answered it.  Now, let's assume that this teenager's parent had asked him not to bring the phone to the dinner table again nor talk on it during dinner and he did it anyway.  Again, the act of bringing the phone to the table and answering it has no emotional content.  What story we bring to it is different depending on our own background and circumstances leading up to it.  Are you getting the picture? Our emotions are based on the stories that we make up in our heads about a particular action that has taken place.  More often than not, this story is not  based on just the facts of the interchange or action that just took place but rather on the story we made up about the action.  This teenager's parent could tell themselves a variety of stories, depending on their frame of mind at the time. One reaction might be, "You are deliberately disobeying me by bringing your phone to the table when I've asked you not to do so.  You are grounded!"  Another possible reaction could be, "I see that you have brought your phone to the table after I have asked you not to but I trust that you must have a good reason."  Do you see the difference in the stories they are each telling themselves? 
   It is important that we are aware and become conscious of the stories that we tell ourselves.  This has a direct impact on how we emotionally react to stimuli.
   This all seems so simple.  All I have to do is pay attention to the real facts and objectively look at them.  Restating the general facts without the emotion is key to healthy interchanges.  Separating fact from emotion can be difficult. We all have filters that help us take in information.  Choosing the correct filter to look at a situation is the answer to responding without emotional termoil.  It's all about stepping back, looking at the true facts, and trying out various filters so as to see the situation from various points of view.