Addiction Recovery – What Helps, What Doesn’t
Addiction recovery – what can or should you do to help a loved one get help? Do they have to hit bottom? Should you show “tough love,” or is there another way? How do you know you’re even an alcoholic or drug addict?
Or what about the following statements:
“Alcoholism a disease? No way! Cancer is a disease. All they have to do is put down the bottle!”
“If he cared enough about what he was doing to his parents, he’d get help. It’s that simple.”
“She’s been through rehab before – I don’t see how this time will be any different.”
So much of what we hear and believe about addiction and addiction recovery is bound up in stigma, misinformation and shame. This fuels age-old beliefs that addiction is a choice and failure to stop is a lack of willpower, a moral weakness. Equally inaccurate is the assumption that relapse means treatment failed or the person didn’t want recovery badly enough.
But times are changing. There is an active addiction recovery movement now gaining momentum. The word is spreading that more than 23 million Americans are living their lives in recovery from addiction, meaning they no longer use drugs and/or alcohol and have changed their lives through their recovery process. President Obama’s 2014 Presidential Proclamation of September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month included the following statement: “Research shows addiction is a chronic disease of the brain which can be prevented and treated. However, the stigma associated with this disease – and the false belief that addiction represents a personal failing – creates fear and shame that discourage people from seeking treatment and prevents them from fully rejoining and contributing to their communities.”
So what’s happened? How is it possible to define addiction as a brain disease and explain that addiction recovery is all about “healing” the brain? And what is it that helps a person succeed in addiction recovery? What doesn’t? This and more is the subject of my latest Quick Guide. It’s titled Quick Guide to Addiction Recovery: What Helps, What Doesn’t.
Where to Purchase the Quick Guide to Addiction Recovery: What Helps, What Doesn’t
Distributors of Lisa Frederiksen’s Quick Guide to Addiction Recovery: What Helps, What Doesn’t. Retails for $2.99.
You can purchase it from most eBook retailers. The image to the right shares a few. Here’s the link to the Kindle, iTunes and Nook. If you don’t have any of these devices, Kindle has a free reading app that allows you to read the Kindle version on most major smartphones, tablets and computers.
With 23 million Americans still struggling with addiction (of which only 10% are getting the help they need) and over a 100 million more affected by their addictions (family members, friends, co-workers…), you’ll want to check it out. Even if you don’t think addiction or addiction recovery affects you personally as the spouse, child, parent or sibling of a person who drinks too much, you may find it helpful to pass along to an employee, student, attorney or friend in your capacity as an HR manager, teacher, law enforcement officer, therapist or the neighbor next door.
About Lisa Frederiksen’s Quick Guide Series
21st Century brain research and science is the link running through Lisa Frederiksen’s Quick Guide eBooks. This research and science has unleashed an explosion in discoveries about the human brain, its development, its functioning, what changes it, what can heal it, its ability to regenerate cells and why addiction is a brain disease and why treating this disease is all about healing (re-wiring) the brain.
But it doesn’t help if we don’t understand this science, which is the point of Frederiksen’s Quick Guide series – sharing this science in a way people can use to self-elect change. They are short, to the point and include links to key resources for further reading, so they’re easy to use.
Note: If you are (or someone you know is) on the receiving end of a loved one’s drinking behaviors, you may also be interested in Frederiksen’s Quick Guide to Secondhand Drinking – A Phenomenon That Affects Millions.
Lisa Frederiksen
Latest posts by Lisa Frederiksen (see all)
- Does a Loved One Have to Hit Bottom? - November 20, 2022
- Resources for Parents of Children with Substance Use and Mental Disorders - October 18, 2022
- 4 Things to Support Brain Health and Function for Recovery - August 30, 2022
This is great information, Lisa. So many of the “what to do’s” re addiction recovery are grounded in the distant past. So, imagine, millions are making decisions based upon bad info – and no one’s bothering to spread the word. Why such important information doesn’t get due press is beyond me (though me thinks stigma strikes again). I mean, look at unmanageable eating/obesity. It’s now well on its way to being accepted as a legit medical condition – and rightfully so. And isn’t it a compulsive behavior issue, just like substance misuse? So cutting edge – Quick Guide – information such as yours is so important. Thanks for your dedicated and hard work…
Bill
I am with you, Bill – why it doesn’t get due press is beyond me, as well – especially given this science makes it so much easier to explain. It seems we’re on the cusp of things radically changing though. CA passed its Prop 47, for example, and similar legislation is happening elsewhere. I so appreciate your enthusiasm and support for my work.
Thanks for sharing this information Lisa. Working in a treatment center and seeing this, sure hit close to home:
“Alcoholism a disease? No way! Cancer is a disease. All they have to do is put down the bottle!”
“If he cared enough about what he was doing to his parents, he’d get help. It’s that simple.”
“She’s been through rehab before – I don’t see how this time will be any different.”
Its amazing so many people hear these things, go through it and live it each day. It’s even more amazing to be part of an organization that helps people learn how to cope with the disease of addiction.
Keep up the awesome writing.
Robert
Thanks so much, Robert – very much appreciate your compliment and your sharing of your work experiences.
Thank you for sharing such an excellent resource, Lisa!
You’re most welcome!!!
Thank you Lisa for being so thorough with this subject. I live with a recovered alcoholic and have attended Alanon for 33 years. It has saved my life and brought me sanity…which as a result has also helped my family. I have a daughter married to an alcoholic, she has a drinking problem herself and another one who drinks as well, so I definitely qualify. God has taken the desire to drink from my husband and he has been sober for over 30 years. God bless you Lisa
Thank you so much, Jeanne, and thank you for sharing your own experiences.
[…] Quick Guide to Addiction Recovery – What Helps, What Doesn't […]
Such great work that you are doing with your Quick Guides. It is so essential that the correct information is provided, so that people are informed. With all the research going on, there are still too many misbeliefs about addiction. People are often funneled into one system and if that doesn’t work, then they are considered a failure. The treatment providers look at what a client really needs that will make a difference is key. Thanks for all that you do!
You said it, “People are often funneled into one system and if that doesn’t work, then they are considered a failure.” It’s such a shame, and it perpetuates the shame and stigma and misinformation about this disease, which is often what gets in the way of the person struggling with substance use and/or their family members getting the help they need. I appreciate you sharing the info on this Quick Guide with your readers, and thank you for all your support, Cathy!!