The Importance Of A Successful Recovery

The recovery model is the process of healing from the effects of an illness meaning an individual regains what they lost from the illness and its treatment and moves beyond the illness and its limitations (Spaniol, Gagne & Koehler, 2002). It is also a personal experience for individuals as they move out of illness into health and wholeness (Ridgeway, 2001), meaning it allows an individual to learn how to cope with the effects of their mental illness and reach a higher functioning level (Anthony, 1993). Recovery occurs in several areas at different paces: emotional, relational, personal, spiritual, intellectual and physical. It is a shift from despair to hope, alienation to purpose, isolation to relationship, withdrawal to involvement

I started my journey into sobriety not for the right reason but for all the wrong reasons. I was doing it for my family, for my health, for my future and for everyone else in my life. I forgot the most important reason – for MYSELF.

Addiction to drugs and alcohol has changed the lives of millions of Americans. According to Alcoholics Anonymous: Addiction will play tricks on the mind, forcing it to get stuck in an emotional and intellectual limbo. This limbo paralyzes rational associations by replacing a traditional outlook on life to one of an addict. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. In order to grow emotionally its important to analyze our own actions and behaviors according to the Alcoholics Anonymous book. The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous; the stories of experience, strength and hope come together to form a compilation of success stories(Alcoholics Anonymous, 2001, p. 562-566). This books treatment for the disease of addiction is a series of reconditioning interpretations and a understanding of behaviors. The treatment for psychological issues that have been coped with by means of addiction is enough for a free life time membership to A.A. The A.A. way of life is relatively simple but many still relapse again and again. Those that work the program recondition their mind and eventually find serenity. Often, more times than

Consequently, two days ago, my client overdosed and survived, he is currently at the “University of Pennsylvania,” in intensive care. His father called me asking me, “Where did we go wrong?” I explained to him; that the treatment was, “good but not good enough.” Never the less, I expressed my regrets and empathy to him, reiterating the fact that he did not have a “structured program with step work.” His father agreed with me; but then asked (what I consider) the deadliest question of all… “Maybe AA is not for him, isn’t there something else he can do in it’s place?” My heart dropped and my voice became very direct; “I do not know anything else that works as comprehensively and successfully as AA does.” I told his father that, “AA does work, if the person works it!”

The first factor, instillation of hope, is based on the members need to feel there is hope for their eventual healing and recovery to be found in group therapy. Being able to see and getting encouragement from other members that have overcome issues with which they are struggling with also provides much needed hope. This is often seen early in group therapy and because the drop-out rate is highest at this time instillation of hope needs to be facilitated quickly by the group therapist. An example of this factor is Alcoholics Anonymous. Established members provide hope to new members beginning the journey to defeating alcoholism. Being at various stages in the recovery process can be an inspiration to others to keep trying so that they may reach that point eventually.

I attended Celebrate Recovery at Fellowship Bible Church in Rogers, Arkansas on October 7th. This meeting is not for any specific addiction or problem, but spans many issues and therefore was very different than any other support group I have attended. The fact that it is a faith-based meeting was another interesting difference from the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting I visited last semester.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the most well-known and widely available self-help group for alcoholics in treatment and recovery. AA uses fellowship and a set of guided principles—the 12 steps—to help members achieve and maintain sobriety. The goal is total abstinence from drinking. In the beginning stages, “clients can be emotionally fragile, ambivalent about relinquishing chemicals, and resistant to treatment. Thus, treatment strategies focus on immediate concerns: achieving abstinence, preventing relapse, and managing cravings. Also, to establish a stable working group, a relatively active leader emphasizes therapeutic factors like hope, group cohesion, and universality. In the middle, or action, stage of treatment, clients need the group’s assistance in recognizing that their substance abuse causes many of their problems and blocks them from getting things they want. As clients reluctantly sever their ties with substances, they need help managing their loss and finding healthy substitutes. Often, they need guidance in understanding and managing their emotional lives. Late‐stage treatment spends less time on substance abuse per se and turns toward identifying the treatment gains to be maintained and risks that remain. During this stage, members may focus on the issues of living, resolving guilt, reducing shame, and adopting a more introspective, relational view of

Celebrate Recovery is a self-help recovery program that contains a heavy emphasis on Christ and seeking healing through Him. There is a strong religious focus so individuals feel like they have help that is unconditional and they are surrounded by a body of individuals who are struggling with similar situations as well. Although these individuals cannot provide the answers or healing for one another, they are the support, a body, a family, and create a safe environment for fellow participants. Moreover, with this focus on Christs healing powers in their lives, the program emphasizes the eight recovery principles in the Beatitudes as well as the twelve-steps (similar to those used in Alcoholics Anonymous). I, therefore, attended a Celebrate Recovery meeting at the fellowship church in Rogers, AR on October seventh, two thousand sixteen.

However, there were some words of wisdom that was shared with me by a former addict. They informed me that alcoholism is not an illness itself, but a symptom of a bigger and deeper problem. I was amazed when I thought of it that way, that alcohol is simply the drug that addicts utilize to help them cope with a difficult issue. This opens up an entirely different way to treat an alcoholic. One must see that the drug is not the true problem, but something greater is,

There are different models that describe disorders and diseases. I decided to look at both cases from a recovery and a medical model. The medical model, also known as the disease model, focuses on the underlying disorder in the individual. There is no mention of the environment forces that could affect the individuals distress or any other environment forces that need to change in order for the individual to feel better (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). If you only focus on the disorder and not the outside factors that are affecting an individual’s life, then you will never help them cope with their disorder. In regard to recovery/resiliency framework, there are many different systems that could help an individual live with their disorder.

The fictional character that I have chosen is Maddie from the show “Road to Recovery”. This character makes risky decisions, like going partying, drinking, and getting high. Maddie is this 17 year old girl where her locker gets searched right after her mother has suspicions that there’s alcohol in there. After that Maddie gets sent to rehab, so that she can get the alcohol out of her system and then to a sobriety to start the process to getting herself sober. In this house, she meets other people who are either going through the same thing or have gone through the same thing, so if she ever needs any advice she can go to these people as well as her counselor Craig. Although Maddie still wants to hang out with her friends, party, and do what

The “Journey of Recovery” video was about a 46 year old man named Ted Thomas. Ted had been experiencing disorders of bipolar throughout his teenage years to adulthood, but he did not know he had a mental illness. Studies suggested that bipolar disorder occurs during adolescence, but does not get a diagnosis or treatment until later in life (McMurrich, Sylvia, Dupuy, Peckham, Peters, Deckersbach, Perlis, 2012). During his early twenties, he participated in a destructive lifestyle, drinking, drugs, and depression. These behaviors covered his main illness, which was bipolar disorder. After several years of marriage, and one son, he went into a stage of depression where he wanted to kill himself. He had two episodes a year apart, where he

Everyday, more and more people are being claimed by alcoholism. The most important message AA makes is that there is help available, and there are people who want to help you, just as other helped them. Louis, a 79 year old AA member reciprocates his AA experience by “try[ing] to help the younger people find sobriety and happiness the way I have. I tell them, “If I can do it, so can you” (AA pamphlet). This is just one of many stories AA members have to offer an observer.

Many people have been misguided about whether or not alcoholism is “disease” that attacks a person’s good health. A key suggestion of those that believe alcoholism is a disease is that a disease is uncontrolled. This is not so. When people develop an addiction to alcohol they tend to push everything of importance out of their lives: family, friends, and sometimes even jobs. People with addiction to alcohol throw

Having a life away from substance is not always easy and quit challenging. In order to progress in sobriety, a person is likely to pass through periods during which they're displaced and outside of their comfort zone. Even change and spiritual transcendence can be painful, but rewarding. A spiritual crisis can be particularly difficult for people in recovery. Having spiritual crisis occurs when those things that previously gave life meaning and purpose no longer make sense or seem to exist while in recovery. This type of crisis can be a symptom of a medical condition, nevertheless in many instances it may be a sign that the individual is possibly entering a new phase in their recovery from addiction when finally willing to surrender. Often