Addiction Recovery

WHY THE CRAVINGS?
Craving certain substances is not a matter of corrupt morals or weak wills. It is often a series of learned behaviors and body chemistry.[i] Something as simple as a genetic background can predict potential alcohol problems. For instance, people from Middle East background have been using alcohol for over 2,000 years. As a sharp contrast, some groups of people, such as the Inuit or Eskimo have been exposed to alcohol and refined starches for less than 100 years. Their bodies have not had the thousands of years to adapt to a substance that is largely foreign to them. (Before you dismiss me as a racist, read on.)

Some people may lack a certain enzyme (such as acetaldehyde dehydrogenase) to break down the harmful effects of alcohol. Others can process large amounts of alcohol without (immediate) ill effects. As the saying goes, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Alcoholics physically process alcohol differently than non-alcoholics.

HOW THE BODY BREAKS DOWN ALCOHOL[ii]

The alcoholic’s system converts alcohol to acetaldehyde twice as fast as a Non-Alcoholic and then is twice as slow to process the acetaldehyde into acetic acid (vinegar). The alcoholic gets a faster happy “high” feeling than the non- alcoholic, but retains the poisonous by-product (acetaldehyde) longer.

Hence, alcoholism tends to be higher than average among some ethnic groups such as the Irish and American Indian. These groups of people tend to have high amounts of acetaldehyde producing enzymes and low amounts of acetaldehyde-destroying enzymes.

Certain medical conditions can also influence the tendency towards alcohol (and cigarette or sugar cravings). Researcher Joan Mathews Larson explains that most alcoholic patients also suffer from the following medical conditions:[iii]

• Vitamin/mineral deficiency< Read the rest of this entry »

When I first decided to write an article about relapse prevention, I felt anxious about what to include or exclude. I initially thought about all the material I have on relapse prevention, and how I could integrate it into one article. The truth is, I consider everything I do in treatment as relapse prevention, with the exception of helping someone get into treatment when they are actively using.

Over the course of my career I have written my own outlines for educational groups and the handouts, which I recently turned into a workbook being edited for publishing. The first educational group in my curriculum is on the disease concept. I believe all relapse prevention starts here. Accepting that one has a disease, however it was contracted, through genetics, social influence including but not limited to simple habit, or as a result of trauma, is the building block for recovery.

I next focus on how this disease affects the perception of reality of an addict. Simply, addicts are subject to cognitive distortions which alter the perception of reality. The most prolific example of this is when an addict or alcoholic is in denial. Reality demonstrates they have an addiction. Others who have an objective perspective are able to see this clearly. Yet the addict believes that their problems are the result of many things, none of which are their drinking or using excessively. Of course this is not the only distortion. Others that are common include rationalizing, justifying, minimizing and projecting. I would refer anyone interested in further explanation of distortions common to addicts to Abraham Twerski’s book “Addictive thinking: Understanding Self Deception.”

The next step in my curriculum focuses on teaching client’s to challenge thinking. Since an addict has these distortions, challenging them becomes imperative to recovery. Besides typi Read the rest of this entry »

Drunkorexia. It’s not a real word, but describes an emerging, confounding, and self-destructive behavior engaged in primarily by young women of college-age to twenty-somethings. They avoid food as much as possible, saving the calories for alcohol. Without food, of course, these young women may unwittingly get drunk quite quickly.

The Pop Culture influence on thin and sexy

In our celebrity-crazed society, maybe we can blame this practice in part on omnipresent images of super skinny celebs. These images are difficult to avoid, from the tabloid at the supermarket checkout, to television and movies. A number of stars and other high profile luminaries also seem to be going to rehab almost as if it was summer camp - a retreat from partying, a little therapy and back to hanging out with the same pals.

A frightening aspect of the recent rise of “drunkorexia” is that the young women who suffer from it don’t view this as a disorder, for the most part. They thought they’d live a fun lifestyle, but for many it has spun out of control. When it does, the dual occurrence of eating disorders and drinking is threatening their health and their lives.

How does this happen? Some influence are rooted in pop culture: look at a video of Sex and the City and you’ll see how sexy and smart it seems for young women friends to meet each other in hip settings for cocktails after work. And these are cool cocktails that taste sweet, like appletinis or every kind of Margarita imaginable. Drinking regularly and to excess while remaining thin has become fashionable.

Elevating the risk for “Drunkorexia”

Actually, the fact is, no one really knows all the causes for this phenomena in America today. Academic studies pose different theories but these dual disorders may have some common causes in a range of contributing factors. Does an ea Read the rest of this entry »