The key element here is that you have some idea. It doesn’t mean you know everything there is to know either about recovery or about dealing with some of the issues, problems and challenges that will soon or will someday come your way.

First, however, you need to do one thing: Give yourself kudos for reaching this point. It has no doubt been a grueling journey, filled with uncertainty and fear, maybe anger and physical as well as psychological difficulties. Acknowledging your progress now is important, for there is much to learn and much to do ahead.

You’ve learned during rehab that there are some things you’ll need to avoid. This is necessary so that you maintain your sobriety and don’t backslide or fall into relapse. But what are some of the other things you need to know about, some very important things to leave behind in recovery? We’ll take a look at some of them here.

Let Go of the Past

Something you’ll hear about many times in the weeks and months and years ahead in the rooms of recovery is that you need to let go of the past. For now, while you’re still raw and vulnerable from treatment and not feeling on top of your situation, just know that this is something that you will be working on as you make progress in recovery. It certainly isn’t something that you need to worry about at the moment, but you should begin to think about how and when you will let go of the past.

Why is letting go of the past an important thing to leave behind in recovery? For one thing, your past is dead and gone. It isn’t the present and you certainly don’t live and act there. You can’t. The only time you can act is in the here and now.

Naturally, there are things that you’ve said and done in your addictive past that have harmed you and others. Even if you didn’t mean to, during the deepest throes of your addiction, you probably did and said many things that you’re either ashamed of, feel guilty about, or caused perhaps irreparable harm to others.

While you will need to take responsibility for your part in such harm and work on making amends where possible, for now just keep in mind that it does you absolutely no good at all, certainly not for your progress in recovery, to constantly dwell on what happened in the past.

Tell yourself that you will be gentle on yourself but that you will work on letting go of the past.

Let Go of Old "Friends"

When you were in treatment, you learned about the importance of steering clear of old "friends" and acquaintances you associated with your addiction. The reason "friends" is in quotation marks is that these really aren’t your friends at all. People you used with, did drugs or alcohol, gambled with, or engaged in other process addictions with, weren’t and aren’t your buddies. They’re just using acquaintances.

Now that you’re sober, it’s time to leave behind those individuals. In fact, you should be looking to make new acquaintances, people with whom you share common interests, such as recovery, people who are clean and sober and engaged in healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Where do you find such individuals? It’s not as difficult as you might think. Of course, during the first few weeks and months of recovery, you’ll likely find some individuals you may strike up a friendship with right in the 12-step rooms. This is where you’ll be spending a good amount of your time anyway, since you know you need to become more grounded in the recovery principles and begin working the Twelve Steps.

Another person who may become a friend is your 12-step sponsor. When you first enter recovery, you probably won’t have a sponsor right away, but you do need to work on getting one as soon as possible. Why? Your sponsor is the person who will serve as your guide and help you understand the philosophy of recovery, learn about the principles of recovery, and be your teacher and guide as you begin to tackle the Twelve Steps.

Some of the old friends you’ll need to let go of may very well be people you work with, or neighbors, even members of your own family. While it may be tough to try to distance yourself from using family members, it can be done. It actually has to be done, in order for you to have a reasonable chance of effective long-term recovery.

Who the individual is and whether or not you live with them or have a family responsibility toward them matters in how you deal with leaving that person behind. In the sense that you are married to someone that still uses or have a child that is addicted, you can’t very well abandon them. You do have family responsibilities that will continue even though that person may well remain addicted. But this doesn’t mean that you have to follow their path of addiction or that you need to worry about falling back into the same addictive patterns.

Yes, it will be difficult. Yes, you will need help. Look to the support and encouragement of your sponsor and fellow 12-step group members. If you have continuing care or aftercare as part of your treatment program, definitely take advantage of counseling that may help you learn how to cope in this situation.

Separate Yourself from Your Old Way of Thinking

This is a new venture that you’re on. The old way of life is behind you, or it should be. Now that you’re clean and sober – maybe for the first time in a very long time – it’s time for you to learn new ways of thinking. The old thoughts and behavior patterns were self-destructive and robbed your life of meaning and satisfaction.

Sure, drinking and doing drugs brought you some measure of relief from pain or numbed you to the extent that you didn’t have to feel emotions that you didn’t want to, but it was a progressively debilitating process that left you a shell of a human being. With all that you have learned about the dangers and consequences of addiction, you know that you’re better off now than you were before.

Still, that old way of thinking will persist for a while. When anything seems too difficult or painful, whenever you are tempted to give up or look for a shortcut, the idea of reaching for a drink or using again is an old pattern of behavior that you’ll have to actively work to change to a coping mechanism that’s more health and conducive to your continuing sobriety.

You may not have given yourself much of any credit for how you dealt with situations in the past. That’s likely because you took the easy way out, preferring to use alcohol or drugs rather than actually face situations that required some input or action on your behalf. Now, however, you know you are responsible for your actions. Now you know that your life will be the direct result of the effort you put into it.

Thus, you are faced with the very real prospect of learning how to make wise and well-informed choices. You will choose how to deal with stressors and triggers, what to do and say in situations that are threatening to your sobriety, how to make decisions that are based on logic and have proven successful for others in recovery.

Letting go of your old way of thinking takes time. You’re not going to feel accomplished in this overnight, but you will get more comfortable with both your decision-making and your ability to follow through over time.

Get Rid of Reminders of Your Using Past

While we’re on the subject of things to leave behind in recovery, there’s an obvious area where you can make a big difference for not a great deal of effort. Think this is too good to be true? It really isn’t. All you have to do in this case is to go through your home, your car, your office or other area where you frequently spend your time and get rid of all those reminders of your past.

Start by going through your closets. Every person has some item of clothing or pair of shoes or a hat or coat or some decorative piece of jewelry that they associate with the old "good times" of using. Those items simply have to go. They have too much of the past associated with them, too much to remind you of those times when you went far beyond simple casual drinking and wound up getting deeper and deeper into addiction.

You can separate these items into piles. Some can be donated, some can be discarded, and some can be recycled. None of them should remain in your possession.

If this seems too drastic, consider what these reminders do to your recovery. Every time you put one on or wear it, your thoughts automatically go back to the old days. You’re likely to continue to think of those days with some semblance of fondness, as if using and drinking were a good thing. They were not, especially in your case. So, leaving them is a completely practical and wise thing to do.

Maybe your wardrobe will be somewhat depleted, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t need to surround yourself with material things anyway. Simplify your life. Get back to the basics. Be good to yourself and work your recovery.

Work Through Painful Memories By Writing in a Journal

Back to those painful memories and reminders of the past, here’s a suggestion on what you can to do leave them behind in recovery: Write about them in your journal.

You don’t have to be an accomplished writer to do this, so any exclamations about not being a good writer doesn’t hold any merit here at all. This is an exercise just for you, after all, so it doesn’t matter if what you write is grammatically correct or is prose that sings like a well-crafted novel.

Let’s say that you have experienced one or more traumatic events in your past, perhaps even events that you subsequently tried to erase from your mind by using. While it may be tough to tackle writing about it, if you work through this with your therapist or counselor, perhaps through cognitive behavioral therapy or another type of therapy, you will find that it will be easier for you to leave those painful memories behind.

Write down all the things that are bad that happened in your life, pre-using and during your days of using. Write about how you felt when you were at the bottom. Write about your sorrows and disappointments, about people you felt abused or harmed you or caused you pain.

Whatever the most painful memories you have, write about them. Get out your feelings on paper. By venting this way, you will help purge those memories so that you will better be able to leave them behind in recovery.

Again, this may be extremely difficult for some individuals to do. The more painful the experience, or the more frequently such experiences occurred, the more difficult the task may be to dredge them up and write about them. If traumatic memories continue to plague you, consider seeking treatment such as eye movement desensitization reprocessing or EMDR. This treatment has been proven effective in getting rid of traumatic memories and allowing individuals to move forward with their lives. Learn more about EMDR through the EMDR International Association (http://www.emdria.org/), including finding a therapist near you.

Ditch Your Defeatist Attitude

Bottom line: You have a number of important things to leave behind in recovery, important in the sense that you’re far better off without them. Now that you’re in recovery, make every day, every second count. Be present. Be active. Learn to enjoy the simple things in life. Appreciate beauty. Recognize that you are human and may make mistakes, and be willing to learn from them. Give of yourself to others and be open to receiving love from them as well. Life is a journey and this is your life to live in recovery.

Now what? For starters, you definitely need a plan. It won’t do to simply cruise along day to day and hope for the best. Without a solid and carefully constructed strategy for your first days and weeks in recovery, you’ll likely find yourself facing not only an uphill battle but you may even fall into relapse.

Not to worry. This is all doable, but you do need to do the work.

Here we’ll cover some suggestions that you can either follow or ignore, depending on your mind-set and how diligent you intend to be about working your recovery. In any case, the following will be thought-starters to get you moving on crafting your own recovery plan.

Make Every Morning Count

One thing we know for certain is that we all get up in the morning, every morning, rain or shine. Well, some of us may be tempted to remain under the covers, dreading to face the day, but for the most part, we do motivate ourselves out of the bed and get ready for the day.

A good tip to help really get our motor running is to leave a little something that we’re really looking forward to doing the first thing we get up. It could very well be some activity that we’ve put down on our daily to-do list and we get excited just thinking about it. What a motivator to get up and make the morning count! Maybe this is having coffee or breakfast with a loved one or family member or your best friend. Maybe it’s going out for a brisk run in the early morning fog or swimming laps in the pool at the gym, school or your backyard (some folks have pools, right?).

The point is that having something to look forward to makes us more eager to rouse our bones and get a jump on the day. It sort of puts a spring in our step, to coin an old phrase. You get the idea. Anything that helps us to shrug off the sleep mode and get into gear – that doesn’t involve using a substance, that is – is a great way to make every morning count.

Now that you’re sober, you can use all the help you can get, and this is a suggestion that’s easy, free and always available.

Think About Sharing

Do thoughts of the past tear at you during the day and keep you from your tasks or planned activities? Do you start on your appointed list of things to do and get sidetracked, plagued by memories of days past? Are you wallowing here or are you really concerned about something you’ve said or done that needs tending to?

What you’ll likely find is that there are going to be days when it seems as if all you do is think about the past. You tell yourself that you’re not going to and then, when you least expect it, here come those pesky reminders of days gone by. It could be that you’re driving past where you used to hang out with your drinking pals or you hear the sound of ice cubes in a glass. Your mind instantly races right back to a time when such sights and sounds meant something totally different.

Now that you’re sober, you should maybe think about sharing these thoughts with someone who can help you get past them. Don’t just keep them bottled up inside. That’s never going to release them. They’ll just keep resurfacing to try to thwart your recovery plans.

Early recovery, especially, is a tough time to be dealing with reminders of the past. You’re not yet skilled in using the coping mechanisms you learned about during rehab and maybe you feel as if you don’t know exactly which ones will be the most effective.

Should you count to 100, rearrange the pantry, clean out the garage, exercise until you’re near exhaustion, engross yourself in a book or a crossword puzzle? While these are all useful coping techniques for dealing with cravings and urges associated with memories of the past, as well as physiological and emotional urges, it may be tough for you to sort through them at the time you really need something to get you past this point in time.

If you still have continuing care or aftercare and have the availability of a therapist or counselor, it’s probably a good idea to talk over these difficulties with that person. Certainly there will come a suggestion or two that you can work on. At the very least, you’ll be reassured that you’re not alone in this, that it’s normal for those in early recovery. You just need to give it time – and keep working on your recovery.

Get Yourself a Sponsor

Remember the 12-step groups you participated in during treatment? When you were making your recovery plan prior to leaving rehab, it was strongly recommended that you continue going to meetings once you returned to your normal life. For some individuals who leave treatment, going to 12-step meetings is the last thing they want to do. They simply want to go home and forget the weeks or months in treatment and get on with their activities.

That, however, is decidedly the worst thing you could do. For one thing, you’re still raw and vulnerable. You don’t have much sober time under your belt. Without the support and encouragement of your 12-step group, you might just find yourself rationalizing and taking chances. It’s just too risky to be out on your own without a lifeline.

Speaking of lifelines, one of the very first tasks on your agenda should be to get yourself a sponsor. You don’t need to run up to the next person you see at the meeting and ask him or her to sponsor you, but you do need to start thinking about how you will find a sponsor.

Start by making mental notes of the people you meet in the rooms. Do you like how they express themselves? Do they seem to embody the principles of recovery (to the extent that you know what these even are, yet)? Is this a person that you admire and want to emulate?

Other good qualities to look for in a potential sponsor include honesty, easy conversationalist, reliability, long-time sobriety, and someone who will actually call you on your evasiveness when you try to duck your responsibilities or fail to show up when you say you will.

Don’t worry if it takes you a few weeks to identify someone you’d like to ask to be your sponsor. Just make it part of your recovery plan that this is something you actively work at as soon as possible.

Why? You need to have a sponsor to help you understand the principles of recovery, to guide you through the Twelve Steps, and to serve as your sounding board when you need help or run into obstacles. No, your sponsor is not your counselor and will not serve as your therapist. For that, you need to look to the professionals. But your sponsor serves an all-important role as your guide into recovery. He or she has been right where you are right now, so nothing you’re encountering is all that alien. As a mentor, guide and even friend, your sponsor is your best ally in your recovery journey.

Dreams You Can Believe In

While we’re on the subject of early recovery, it’s also worth mentioning that this is about more than just getting by. Recovery is also about making plans, following your dreams, and putting together possibilities that you can investigate and pursue, if that’s what excites you.

What you need right now is to cultivate your ability to dream. Yes, dreams are somewhat fanciful, in part, but that’s what makes them so exciting. We all need something that’s beyond our current state to strive for. Sometimes, in fact, a great many times, this means stretching ourselves far beyond what we believe to be our current abilities or even capabilities. But we’ll never know if we don’t get involved and see what’s possible.

In short, we all need dreams we can believe in. You are no different than the next individual entering recovery, feeling a little shaky, uncertain, maybe more than a little disheartened.

There’s nothing like dreams you can believe in to make you a believer. And if those dreams get you off square one and into making action plans, so much the better.

Think you don’t have anything worthwhile you want to do? That’s okay, don’t stress yourself about it. Trying to force something never works, just like you can’t force someone to love you or even like you, you can’t force a desire to do something. You simply have to allow it to evolve.

Here’s a suggestion for how to get this exercise going. Think about what you’ve enjoyed doing in the past. What really got you excited as a kid or a teenager? Was it a particular hobby or recreational or sporting activity? Did you really like doing chemistry experiments or decorating cakes or working with wood? Did you like to paint or do ceramics? Was working in the garden something that you found enjoyable?

Start with what you like and see if there’s a way you can incorporate some element of that into your life today. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. In fact, it’s probably better if you just start off small. Dip your toe in the water, so to speak. If it no longer holds any appeal, there’s nothing lost. What you have done is to take action. Instead of just sitting around thinking there’s nothing that you want to do, get out there and start doing something.

The very actions of doing something will jumpstart your creativity. Pretty soon you’ll be thinking of ancillary or related projects or activities that you’d like to pursue. Once you begin to think of how you’d go about approaching this new hobby or endeavor, you’ll have an opportunity to investigate what’s needed, to put together plans, and get to work doing it.

So, for now, just keep it in the back of your mind that you need dreams you can believe in. Then, give yourself permission to dream, as often as you can. Dreams you can believe in is a little like rich crema in your Starbucks latte. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Starting Over May Be Best

Another point that many in early recovery dread like nothing else is the idea that they may need to start over. Starting over means different things to different people, of course, but it almost always implies that you’ll have to give up something or someone that you really like.

That’s not necessarily true. If you think about entering recovery, you’re already starting over. You’ve chosen to leave behind a life of addiction, self-destructive habits and behaviors. That’s a good thing. In fact, it’s the only way you’ve arrived at this point in your sobriety. So, from that standpoint, you’ve already overcome an incredible hurdle. That should make you feel a sense of accomplishment, because you did it.

But there may be more going on in your life, now that you’re sober, that needs attention and change. While it’s not recommended that you make major life changes, such as getting a divorce, getting married, even getting into a major romantic relationship, during your first year of sobriety, that doesn’t mean that you should avoid making some necessary changes that will benefit your continuing sobriety.

One obvious place you may need to start over is with your former group of acquaintances. Let’s not refer to them as friends, even though they were among your most frequent interactions. How good a friend were these individuals when they wanted to keep you coming back to use with them or encouraged you to keep on partying even when you and they knew it was killing you? These aren’t your friends at all, especially if they resurface in your life and try to entice you back into your old ways.

During rehab you learned about the triggers, the people, places and things you associate with your past abuse of drugs and alcohol, of gambling and compulsive sex and other process addictions. Starting over means that you put into place a plan where you will find new friends, take alternate routes home so that you don’t come into contact with those triggers. Starting over means you find other activities to fill up your time and put meaning into your life.

What if you can’t start over, because the triggers are right in your own home in the form of family members or loved ones who continue to use or who are not supportive of your recovery efforts? If this is the case, you can still start over, but your sources of support and encouragement will come from outside the home. You will undoubtedly spend more time with like-minded individuals in recovery such as your 12-step sponsor and fellow group members.

You should also branch out and meet new people who share the kind of lifestyle and activities that you enjoy. Making new friends will allow you to continue working your recovery and boost your self-esteem and self-confidence at the same time. You can’t change what others do or think at home. You can only change within yourself and make your own choices going forward.

It’s the Little Things that Matter

Take the time at the end of each day to add up what you’ve accomplished thus far. What did you do today that you set out to do and did it go as you planned or anticipated? To the extent that you met a goal and completed it, give yourself a gold star. By that we mean you need to acknowledge that you did what you set out to do. This is a good thing and it’s necessary to spur us on to do even more tomorrow.

Don’t think for a minute that just because something you did today was rather small in the scheme of things that it doesn’t count. It really is the little things that matter, for each and every thing that you do is important for your recovery. In fact, there’s nothing that’s too small to count. A smile you readily give to others is a small thing. Some might say that a smile is a throwaway, but in reality, a smile is a gift that is worth more than gold. With that smile that you display, you may bring a bit of joy to the heart of someone who really needs human interaction. Just as you once needed a smile and a hearty handshake and a welcome into the 12-step rooms, you can return the favor anytime, anywhere.

Like the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," doing little things matter. And they matter even more when you go out of your way to help someone else, to brighten their day, and to get outside yourself and your own concerns.

Now that you’re sober, you have the world ahead of you. What you do with your life is yours to plan and to achieve. All things are possible. But remember this: You need to work your recovery. It won’t just come to you. Be open to change and be ready and willing to do what it takes. Now that you’re sober, embrace life, the life that you want in recovery.

Almost four million people are living a secret life as an addict. A 2007 study by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) states that of alcoholics, 19.5 percent are considered "high-functioning" alcoholics. They have successful careers (usually high-paying jobs), happy marriages, good children, nice homes, and many friends. Social drinks with business associates or a one drink at home at night to relieve stress from the day can build slowly into multiple drinks each night that an individual falls into addiction without realizing it.

What Problem

An addict who can function like anyone else, or even excel in work and play denies that they even have a problem. Dr. Mark Willenbring, former director of the NIAAA’s division of treatment and recovery research, says that these individuals don’t see any interference from the alcohol that they use. Other than a hangover, their quiet addiction isn’t interfering with their business or their family. How could they have a problem if there are no problems in their life? Willenbring states that the addict usually can’t comprehend that there is a problem until it finally starts disrupting work and family.

Few Symptoms

High-functioning addicts hide their abuse problems well, but there are a few noticeable habits that these individuals may convey to those around them. A growing dependence on alcohol may cause the individual to start abusing work time and stepping out for a drink, missing engagements and meetings, losing their focus, taking sick days more frequently, and being less productive at work. Physical problems may include shakiness or insomnia.

Sarah Allen Benton, a mental health counselor at McLean Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts, and author of Understanding the High-Functioning Alcoholic, is concerned about dangerous behavior the addict may fall victim to. Benton cautions that the alcoholic who is unaware or is trying to hide their addiction may be more likely to drink and drive, black out, or engage in risky sexual encounters.

Facing the Facts

For a high-functioning person to acknowledge that they have a drinking or drug addiction it usually takes a traumatic event. Some see their problem after getting issued a DUI, losing their job, getting a divorce, or engaging in life-threatening behavior. Oftentimes, these events come too late for the person to easily throw down the bottle. Once they realize they have been abusing substances, they are in so deep that they can’t quit using the substance without professional help. Those who want to seek professional help then fear that they can’t take time off of work for detox and rehab or everyone will find out about their addiction.

It’s easy for life to become suddenly unmanageable for a high-functioning addict. Friends, family, doctors, and psychiatrists may notice subtle changes in an individual that may help that person avert an addiction. Looks can be deceiving. Awareness is the key. Alcohol and drugs can affect even the most successful and stable individuals but, with early intervention, individuals can manage their life more responsibly before the substances begin to manage it.

But if you are like most newcomers to recovery, this is an entirely new lifestyle you are now beginning. It’s also more likely than not that you’re filled with confusion, doubt, a little fear, anxiety and a range of other emotions as reflected in the following questions:

• Will you be able to handle the cravings and urges that keep you up at night?
• Will you forget what you learned during treatment and suddenly find yourself staring relapse in the face?
• Will you be up to withstanding the temptation to go back to old friends and former haunts associated with your past drug and alcohol abuse?
• What about facing your family again? Will you be up to that or do you feel you’ve burned all your bridges behind you?
• How can you ever look at yourself in the mirror again and not be ashamed at what you see?
• Does the prospect of putting your life back together again scare the living daylights out of you?
• Are you afraid of intimacy because you no longer have the crutch afforded by drugs or alcohol?
• Do you fear that you have lost the respect of your friends, family and co-workers due to your addiction?
• Are you afraid of losing your job or, if you already lost your job, are you worried about being able to find new employment?

These are just a smattering of some of the questions newcomers ask themselves in early recovery, and they’re all valid points worthy of consideration.

But here’s a little secret: They are all things that you will be able to deal with IF you do what you need to do in recovery. What is that? Quite simply, you need to work the recovery program, and for that, you need to get a sponsor.

Hold on, I’m Doing Just Fine

Before you exclaim in disagreement that you don’t need a sponsor, that you’re doing just fine, revisit the questions in the previous section. Be honest in your evaluation of whether or not any of them apply to you. After all, you’ve just completed treatment. You’re not exactly well-versed in the ways of recovery – yet.

Remember how your therapist encouraged you to examine the reasons why you drank or did drugs, what caused you to go down that road in the first place? Recall the soul-searching, the tumultuous emotions that were dredged up and how you needed to face squarely the reality that your life of addiction had become?

It is also quite common that those of us in early recovery went through quite a bit of self-denial, both during treatment and during the first few weeks and maybe months of sobriety. Many of us told ourselves that we could handle things just fine, thank you, and we really didn’t need any more help, certainly not a sponsor. No, no, and heck no.

Not so fast, my friend. The truth is that you’re still a bit raw from all you’ve gone through. You’re not really thinking totally clearly yet, even though you are definitely on the right path. Every day, every minute that you are sober you are getting stronger.

But this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are simply too many temptations, too much opportunity to fall back into your self-destructive ways if you try to go it alone.

And it isn’t that your family, well-meaning though they may be, can be your sole support during your recovery. If they haven’t gone through family therapy or received other forms of counseling or support through family 12-step groups, they’re not going to be much help, let alone effective help. Yes, you do need family support. That’s one of the two key support systems that help individuals maintain their sobriety in recovery.

What you do need to help guide you through the recovery process, learn how to navigate and work the Twelve Steps, is a 12-step sponsor. It’s that plain and simple.

What Qualities Should You Look For in a Sponsor?

If this is your first time seeking a sponsor, the question of what to look for is a natural one. What sorts of qualities are important in a sponsor? What qualities do you value most? Here are some points to consider.

Sponsors come with a variety of talents, capabilities, experiences, and skills. Some are excellent communicators and others are more reticent, but equally effective in providing one-on-one support and encouragement. Some are natural leaders while others are more practiced at working in the background, keeping the network working smoothly.

Do you have to like your 12-step sponsor? There’s no rule that says you do, although having an admiration for and liking the individual will certainly go a long way toward your acceptance of what he or she has to say relative to your recovery efforts. This includes when you are in the process of making decisions about goals that are important in your life.

Just think about it. If your 12-step sponsor is someone with whom you share things in common, such as education, religious or political affiliation, similar addiction, beliefs, fears, and so on, it may make your interaction and communication a whole lot easier. For example, you may find that you don’t need to explain things so in-depth to someone who more or less shares your world view. But it isn’t necessary to come from the same type of background to gain value from your relationship with your 12-step sponsor.

Here is something that you definitely should be on the lookout for: an individual who communicates and acts in a respectful, courteous, and helpful manner. You want for your sponsor someone with an optimistic outlook, a person who is able to separate your temporary setbacks and challenges from your long-term goals. In essence, what you’re looking for is someone with the courage and wisdom to help you as you continue to make the sometimes difficult and painful choices that occur in your recovery.

How to Approach a Potential Sponsor

If you’ve come to the recognition that you do, indeed, really need a sponsor in recovery and are now ready to look for one, the next question becomes how do you approach one? You don’t just sidle up and out of the blue ask, "Will you sponsor me?" While the individual may be flattered, coming at it this way isn’t the best way to do it. What may make more sense is to try to find the right moment to approach the individual you are considering asking to be your sponsor.

It’s probably best if you develop a relationship with the individual first. This is important so that the person you’re considering can have time to get to know you as more than just a casual acquaintance. One way to do this is to interact with the individual over the course of several meetings. Being seen and present in the rooms is always a good ice-breaker.

Perhaps you already have established a friendship with the individual. If so, he or she may already know that you are looking for a sponsor. If you know a little bit about the individual, you also need to take into account what the person already has going on. If he or she already has several sponsees, taking on another at this point may not be in his or her or your best interest.

When you do feel the time is right and perhaps the individual seems receptive, you might consider taking this casual but direct approach. You might say, "You may know that I’m relatively new to recovery. I’ve been looking for a sponsor for the past few months and, based on what I’ve seen and know about your own situation and how successful you’ve been in recovery, I’d like to ask you if you would consider becoming my sponsor?"

Don’t expect an immediate response. Allow time for your request to sink in. Also be prepared for a variety of responses, everything from an enthusiastic acceptance to a reluctant consideration of the request to an outright but politely stated refusal. Maybe the sponsor you hope to get isn’t able to take you on right now. If this turns out to be the case, don’t feel slighted or discouraged. Just thank him or her, regardless of the decision, and consider your next steps.

• If the individual does agree, now you begin at the beginning. Start with how you’re doing in your recovery efforts, any stresses or tensions you’ve experienced in the past week that have caused you discomfort or threatened relapse, how you’re progressing on your 12 steps, etc.
• Suppose you are not successful in getting this particular person as your sponsor, what then? You reconnoiter and go on to your next candidate.
• If you don’t have another choice yet, take some time to identify another individual you’d like to be your sponsor and proceed as before.

Been Sober for Years, Don’t Need a Sponsor Now

On the other hand, let’s say that you’re not in early recovery any longer. In fact, you’ve been clean and sober for years and have completed all the Twelve Steps, don’t have any recurring cravings or urges, are successful in your other endeavors, and so on. Do you really need a sponsor at this point in your recovery?

First of all, need is not necessarily the operative word here. When you have a 12-step sponsor it’s a little like the stages of life you go through. In recovery, you, just as millions have before you, may go through several stages.

After a long period of time, your current and former sponsors may seem more like friends than sponsors. And that’s as it should be. After all, you and your sponsors are involved in a lifelong journey of recovery. It’s always good to have friends and allies all along the way. So, will you always need a sponsor may be better stated as will you always have a relationship with your sponsor? The answer depends on you and your particular circumstances, but if it is yes, that’s certainly appropriate.

In any case, when you look back on a long life in recovery, among your most valued friendships and trusted relationships will most likely be the individuals who served as your 12-step sponsors. When you reach the point in your own recovery when you are strong and confident in your capabilities, you may wish to sponsor someone new to recovery who, just like you were at the beginning, are seeking support and encouragement from someone who’s been there and made it.

There’s also nothing wrong with having a sponsor and being a sponsor to others. Just as psychiatrists continue to meet with their own therapists, this is just good and healthy behavior that serves you, your sponsor and your sponsees well.

What if Your Sponsor Relapses?

Some individuals mistakenly believe, or have heard horror stories about sponsors that relapse and use that as an excuse not to get a sponsor in the first place. While there are no statistics on the number of sponsors who themselves relapse, nevertheless the question is valid about what you should do if your sponsor does slip. Obviously, they’ll be back on the road to recovery starting all over again – if they do come back. But just as it is impossible to predict if anyone in recovery will relapse and quit the program, it is also impossible to predict if a sponsor will do so. No one can foresee what someone else will do or be capable of doing and when.

If your sponsor slips, what you can do is find another 12-step sponsor. You may be understandably crushed or concerned by what has happened to your sponsor, your friend, but you cannot take it as anything that you have caused. We are only responsible for our own addictions and our own recovery. We do not own that responsibility for another. So, while it may be painful and discouraging, it isn’t your fault if your sponsor slips.

Look for a new sponsor and continue on your journey of recovery.

Summing Up

Here’s the bottom line on the question: Do you really need a sponsor in recovery?

One, you need all the help you can get, especially in early recovery. With a natural guide such as your 12-step sponsor at your side, you’re on the right path toward getting stronger in your sobriety.

Two, you should never feel as if you’re in this alone. That’s what your sponsor is there for, to help you navigate the often difficult and painful stages of early recovery. No, your sponsor isn’t your therapist, but he or she is committed to helping you achieve and maintain your recovery.

Three, recovery isn’t the end zone for a touchdown or the finish line in a race. Recovery is a lifelong journey. With a sponsor, you always have an ally available to offer support and encouragement when you need it and celebrate your victories along the way.

Four, recovery in the fellowship of the 12-step groups is a little like pay it forward. When you are strong and firmly established in your sobriety, consider offering to be a sponsor to another newcomer to the rooms. This helps you as well as your potential sponsee.

Five, remember that sponsors are human beings just like you. Everyone has their ups and downs and your sponsor isn’t infallible. Also keep in mind that if you find yourself at odds with your sponsor, it could very well be that there’s an issue you’re trying to avoid or don’t want to deal with. Talking it out can help resolve any differences, but if they become too much, rather than go without a sponsor, consider a change to a different sponsor.

The time is right and the moment is now. Start looking at the individuals you respect and feel represent the principles of recovery in the rooms. Give it some time and see if you and that individual may be a fit, or if you believe you can benefit from having this person be your guide in recovery. Finding a sponsor isn’t an exact science, but it’s not all that difficult, either. What is important is that you find one and begin working your recovery program.

Facing challenges can be difficult, if not totally discouraging, especially in early recovery. This is a time when we’re still raw and vulnerable, unsure of ourselves, fearful, distrusting, and uncertain of our abilities. In fact, many of us fear that we don’t have what it takes at all. We’re often too eager to give it all up, despite how far we’ve already come.

Instead of literally throwing it all away and possibly falling into relapse in the process, take the time to slow down and think things through. Is what we’re now going through anywhere near as tough as what we’ve already been through? Remember how tough detox was and the first few days of rehab? Surely we felt we’d never make it through those dark days, but somehow we did.

Sure, being with others in treatment may have seemed a little isolated and safe. It was meant to be, because we needed that time to begin the healing process. We couldn’t expect that we’d emerge after 30 days, or 60 days, or three or six months and be completely ready to take on the world. Recovery doesn’t quite work that way.

In fact, recovery is an ongoing process, something that we need to remind ourselves of from time to time. We often have a tendency to want to rush things, to get to the end of something even before we’ve hardly begun. Whether it’s Step One or Step Twelve, we just want to be done with it so we can move on.

Guess what? We’re always going to be in recovery. This isn’t a race, and there’s no point in trying to rush what it is we’re attempting to learn. Like the tortoise, slow and steady is the best course. Okay, so that was a race, but the point is that the tortoise had a goal and kept right on going, despite what looked like impossible odds. It’s the same principle for those of us in recovery who may be attempting what seems to us to be an incredibly difficult, long and arduous process. We just need to keep moving, one step at a time (literally and figuratively).

Will there be bumps in the road? Undoubtedly there will be, but that doesn’t mean that we need to give up or feel discouraged in any way. In fact, the old-timers in the 12-step rooms will tell us that it’s often through the little detours along our path that we find we’ve learned something incredibly profound, something we’d never discover if we hadn’t had to stop and navigate around a bump or minor obstacle. And even if it’s a major obstacle, we can turn that around and find the opportunity hidden within.

None of this comes automatically, however. We cannot expect that we’ll just magically be endowed with powers that make us able to find the gold in every pile of mud that we come across. It takes time and training and perseverance. It takes having a positive attitude and a willingness to put in the hard work that opportunities almost always entail.

Therein lays the best part. We get out of our recovery what we put into it. Recovery is, after all, a journey. It requires hard work. No one else can recover for us. It’s something that we have to do. But having said that, it’s also important that we remind ourselves that we are not on this journey alone. We are comforted and supported and encouraged by our 12-step sponsor and fellow group members, as well as our caring family members and loved ones.

Keep moving ahead, one step at a time. Don’t worry that others are moving faster than we are or compare our progress with that of another. We each have our own path. It matters not our speed, only our diligence. With determination and continued action, we will find that our recovery, while it may never be easy, will become more manageable and effective. For some of us, it may come to be second nature, but it will never be taken for granted.

University of Chicago Professor Wilhelm Hofmann found that one important strategy in conserving your willpower is to avoid crisis and temptation. For example, professional addiction specialists educate their patients enrolled in rehabilitation programs about "triggers." A trigger is any place, person, or thing that triggers the re-use of substance. Even a certain song can trigger a memory of a barroom scene, and thus initiate a craving for an alcoholic drink. Dr. Hofmann’s idea is to avoid triggers or any temptation by removing them as much as possible from your environment.

Another strategy to use your willpower in the most effective way is to accept the fact that you will have an occasional relapse into the behaviors you have been trying to avoid. When you have one too many drinks or desserts or when you light up that forbidden cigarette, you should not enter into "counter-regulatory" eating, smoking or drug abuse. Counter-regulatory means you allow yourself to sabotage your past efforts because you relapsed. You tell yourself that everything you have done in the past is in vain because you have fallen off the wagon, and so now you might as well keep drugging, drinking, eating, smoking or whatever without any brakes whatsoever.

Dr. Hofmann’s work as well as studies done at the University of Florida have concluded that using too much willpower will eventually leads to "ego depletion," a form of mental fatigue that makes it impossible to continue your efforts. This often occurs once the entire process has become joyless and grim. In order to avoid this, one science-tested strategy is to reward yourself with new sources of pleasure. For example, if you are giving up cigarettes, allow yourself to spend the money you would have spent on smoking on something else you enjoy. This way, you will not feel as bad about forgoing the pleasures of smoking because you have created a new source of enjoyment in your life.

The study is significant because ecstasy is being tested as a way to help patients with posttraumatic stress syndrome and anxiety associated with cancer.

Ecstasy is a substance usually sold in pill form at night clubs and parties. Its chemical designation is MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine). It produces feelings of peace, increased intimacy among people, euphoria, and mild intoxication, and it is used in social settings in a similar way to alcohol — as a “social lubricant.” The main dangers of using ecstasy so far have been identified as fatal drug interactions that combine ecstasy with other drugs, most often stimulants, or death from hypothermia, a condition resulting from elevated body temperature. It is also possible to develop a psychological dependency on ecstasy.

Ecstasy, along with certain psychedelic drugs, is being tested as a way to help cancer patients and people with posttraumatic stress deal with their fears and anxieties. In some cases, just one experience with these drugs “opened depressed people up” to a new way of thinking. As David Nichols of Purdue University put it, “the drugs diffuse in your brain and some people never see the world the same way again.”

For the new research, Dr. Ronald Cowan and his colleagues studied 24 women, average age 22 years old, who had taken ecstasy for three to four years. The number of pills the subjects took ranged from five to 375. All participants were asked to abstain from drugs for three months before the study, and one woman was disqualified after she failed a drug test for cocaine.

The research team used PET scans (positron emission tomography) to determine the levels of serotonin receptors in each subject’s brain. When serotonin levels go down, the receptor levels go up. Those women who had a history of taking ecstasy had higher levels of receptors than those did not take the drug. The more ecstasy a woman had taken in her lifetime , the higher her receptor levels and the less serotonin in her brain.

“We do not actually know what the implications are,” said Dr. Cowan. “There is some evidence in prior research that a drop in serotonin levels leads to sleep apnea, depression, anxiety, and memory loss, but in our work we did not find evidence of mental health issues, no increased anxiety, impulsivity or depression, and the IQs of the women who took the drug were identical of those who had never taken it.”

Dr. Cowan also acknowledged that he did not know if the drop in serotonin levels was permanent. He said his team had accounted for other factors, such as the use of birth control, estrogen levels, and age, which can affect serotonin receptors. The study does not apply to men or to anyone suffering from anxiety disorders or depression.

“Animal studies have indicated that could be as much of a seven-year duration in such dips but we do not know. So this work raises serious concerns and questions, but more research is needed,” Dr. Cowan said during his comments on the study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Ecstasy is almost universally illegal in every part of the world, including the United States.

A new study suggests you are more susceptible to depression if you struggle with substance abuse. Researchers found that the "reward region" of the brain does not receive the positive trigger as well if a person is exposed to a controlled substance. In fact, in most cases the trigger has a negative effect on the brain and often could be labeled as a direct cause for depression.

When researchers gave mice cocaine every day for a week they were more likely than the control group without the drug to show actions similar to depression after being exposed to a stressful situation and aggressive behavior from other mice. When certain particles in their brain were adjusted, mice could ward off the symptoms of depression based on whether they were the control or experimental group.

In addition, the study found that the mice that were injected with cocaine were less likely to interact with the other mice in a social atmosphere, thus showing symptoms of depression.

When applying these same tests to humans, it obviously is not as simple. Researchers found that when studying humans with depression that the part of the brain that would regulate their mood was often altered so it would be difficult for the individual to fight a drug addiction with the already altered state of their brain due to the stress disorder.

The study concludes that if you struggle with chemical dependency, then depression is heightened thus the two ailments spiral out of control feeding one another.

When it comes to spotting the warning signs of addiction, keep in mind that some addicts may exhibit many or all of the signs, while others may be very good at keeping their addiction hidden. Following are 10 common signs of addictive behavior – red flags that your loved one needs addiction treatment:

1. Noticeable fluctuations in mood. With addicts, moods shift rapidly from one extreme to the other – and usually without any reasonable explanation. Of course, mood swings can also be a sign of other disorders as well. An addiction treatment specialist can assess whether your loved one may have a mental health issue that needs to be addressed in addition to the addiction.
2. Fluctuations in sleep or energy levels. Addicts may be very lethargic or fatigued, taking frequent naps one day, only to appear practically manic the next needing little if any sleep. Some drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamines for example, are very stimulating. Others, like benzodiazepines and other types of depressants, will make the person very drowsy.
3. Secretiveness or evasiveness. Addicts are often very secretive in their behavior. They’ll go to great lengths to hide their addiction. They may require more privacy and be evasive when you ask them questions about where they’ve been or why they’re acting in an unusual manner.
4. Frequently lying. Along the same lines of being secretive, many addicts will flat out lie to keep you in the dark and prevent you from interfering.
5. Unexplainable weight gain or loss. Many substances interfere with appetite and metabolism, causing the addict to eat more than usual or burn calories at a fast rate. Additionally, an addiction to food (which is almost always hidden) often leads to significant weight gain over time. If the addict also has an eating disorder (which is not uncommon) a dual diagnosis addiction treatment facility can address both issues together.
6. Frequent absences from work or other obligations. Addicts often miss work or school. This may be due to feeling ill (e.g. from a hangover or drug binge), spending time indulging in their addiction, losing track of time, or no longer caring about their responsibilities
7. Loss of interest in activities that they used to enjoy. Most addicts devote an increasing amount of time to their addiction. They no longer have time for (or interest in) friends, family functions, hobbies, or other activities that were once important. If your loved one suddenly starts withdrawing socially or declining invitations, it’s another indicator that addiction treatment may be necessary.
8. Frequent unexplained trips. This is another area where lying can easily come into play. They don’t want you to know what they’re doing or where they’re going so they are secretive or evasive when you ask. They may also make up a cover story that doesn’t quite fit, leaving you uneasy and suspicious.
9. Unusual changes in appearance or attitude. An addiction significantly impacts a person’s life – including how they spend their time, who they spend it with (which may include wearing a certain type of clothing in order to fit in), and their attitude about life in general. If your once sweet and cooperative teenager has suddenly become cocky and disagreeable, an addiction may be the cause.
10. Valuables start to mysteriously disappear. Whether they are things that belong to the addict or to their loved ones, addicts will sometimes start to steal and sell (or trade) whatever they can in order to secure their next fix. Prior to this you may have noticed that they’re always short on cash. The majority of addictions cost money, and they’ll need more and more of it to support their habit.

Once you have determined that your loved one does in fact need addiction treatment, the next step might be an intervention. An intervention involves gathering a group of concerned friends, family, and others who have an important role in the person’s life with the goal of confronting the behavior directly and insisting on a change. It helps remove the addict’s "blinders" by giving them a better understanding of the impact of their behavior – on their own life as well as the lives of those closest to them.

An addiction treatment facility may provide an intervention for your loved one as one of their regular services, or provide you with guidelines on how to handle the situation to get the best results. An effective intervention is one of the best ways to get your loved one into treatment and on the road to recovery.

Without treatment, most alcoholics continue down a path in which they slowly spiral deeper and deeper into their addiction. Alcohol treatment programs are designed to stop the downward spiral once and for all. They can help individuals find the strength, motivation, and courage to make the necessary changes in their life that will put them on the path to recovery.

Of course, not everyone is successful when it comes to alcohol rehabilitation. Some never start, while others enter treatment only to quit prematurely or relapse soon after they’ve completed the program. There are many reasons for this, but following are some of the most common obstacles to successful rehab:

Believing you’re the "exception". Denial is one of the hallmarks of addictive behavior. However, if you cling to the belief that you’re the exception when it comes to your drinking habit, success will be unlikely. Common "exception" thought processes include:

• "I’m not like everyone else who drinks (i.e. other alcoholics)"
• "I choose to drink and can stop any time I want"
• "My life is difficult right now"
• "Everyone’s making far too much of a fuss about my drinking"
• "I’m quite capable of handling this on my own"
• "Only weak people need help"
• "Everyone’s ganging up on me"
• "My situation is special"

You have a negative attitude about alcohol rehabilitation. No matter what kind of treatment you’re undergoing – whether it’s for a medical condition, a mental health disorder, or an addiction – attitude plays a significant role in determine your success. Many alcoholics approach rehab with a negative attitude, especially if they’re forced into treatment (e.g. rehab is court mandated) or because a loved one gave them an ultimatum.

A lack of commitment and willingness to make any real effort almost always accompany a negative attitude. With the wrong attitude, you’re starting treatment on the wrong foot. You’re already on the defense, which makes the entire process an uphill battle. If you’re fortunate, while you’re there something will "click" and your attitude will turn around, but that’s usually the exception not the rule.

You’re not being honest. If you’re not willing to be honest with your treatment providers and others in the program with you (not to mention with yourself) your chances of success are slim to none. The willingness to be honest – no matter how much the truth hurts – is a key aspect of successful alcohol rehabilitation. Dishonesty at any point in your treatment is only going to sabotage your chances of success. Without full honesty, you’ll just be wasting your time. Once you commit to being honest, however, you’ll start making progress you never imagined possible.

Lack of participation. Alcohol rehabilitation isn’t something that happens to you; rather, it’s something you participate in – that is, if you truly want to recover. If you enroll in a treatment program but remain passive, skip sessions or activities that are part of the treatment process, or just don’t pay attention, you’re not going to be successful. The bottom line is this: what you put into it is what you’ll get out of it. The more you participate, the greater your chances of success.

Lack of proper aftercare. Your rehab doesn’t abruptly stop once you’ve completed your treatment program. It’s crucial that there is a good aftercare plan in place and that you stick with it. This may include ongoing counseling, attending a support group regularly, and developing and maintaining a strong support network. Without proper aftercare, you’ll be much more vulnerable to relapsing and falling back into your old lifestyle.

Alcohol rehabilitation isn’t easy. It can be a long, challenging road. However, the rewards are immense for those who get clean and sober and are able to maintain their sobriety (or quickly get back on track if they do relapse). If you’re considering treatment for an alcohol problem, make the decision before you start to make the most out of your rehab program.

Explicit cognitions are described as thoughts that can be consciously obtained and are considered intentional. The person is in absolute control of their actions. The opposite reaction, implicit cognitions, can be defined as an action based on memory association or a behavior process that is done in an unconscious manner.

A differenent test was used to determine which thought process, explicit or implicit, led the students to drink. While it is a conscious choice to go to the bar to drink, explicit, the number of times the student ordered a drink might be considered implicit.

The simulations put students in a very natural drinking environment that included a 45 minute time period with five to seven of their friends and two separate 30 minute sessions where the students were placed with other students of the same sex. After the simulations, the students were asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine which explicit cognitions and even word associations led them to patterns of implicit thoughts.

The results implied that the students’ thoughts encouraged a higher level of alcohol consumption. For example, the excitement of seeing good friends or meeting someone for the first time led to a higher level of consumption. The more positive the experience, the more alcohol was consumed. The study showed that in every environment of the simulations, students drank in a more explicit fashion.

In the past 20 years, she has worked in a variety of treatment settings, including nonprofits, residential and outpatient facilities, and private practice, in different capacities ranging from clinician to administrator. She also taught at UCLA in the Drug and Alcohol Studies program. She has been referring clients to Promises for over a decade from her private practice. One day, a student who worked at the facility submitted her resume to the leadership team. She interviewed and was offered a position as family therapist.

“From the time I can remember, I wanted to work at Promises,” Betsy says. “During the interview process, I discovered that I had already met most of the team through my private practice so it was a smooth, natural transition. It was like putting on a coat and having it fit perfectly.”

About nine months later, Betsy was appointed as Director of the Intensive Outpatient Program and less than six months later she was offered the position of Executive Director. Anxious for the challenge, Betsy accepted without a second thought.

“Promises as an organization has so much integrity. The staff feels a calling to be here and it shows in the way we treat our clients,” Betsy says. “People come to us angry and scared and within just one week their eyes are sparkling, they say ‘hi’ and smile, and we’re all laughing together. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of.”

Half a Lifetime in Recovery

Her career at Promises is one of Betsy’s proudest accomplishments, along with her own recovery from addiction that began 27 years ago.

“This year, I’m proud to say I’ve been sober for half of my life,” Betsy beams.

Growing up in Long Island, New York, Betsy was ready for a change when her family moved to California. She found her “people” – the drug-using crowd – the day she started high school, which was ironically right down the street from what is now Promises intensive outpatient facility.

“I knew five years before I got sober that I needed help,” she recalls. “I maintained a job and an apartment in Venice, but I couldn’t imagine not smoking weed every day – even though I knew what I was doing was not healthy or normal.”

Betsy got sober in a hospital program in the mid-80s, four years before Promises came into being. The program took her away from her daily routine, introduced her to the 12 Steps and gave her “a chance to breathe again.”

When one of her counselors told her she’d make a great drug counselor, like many addicts in the earliest stages of recovery, she didn’t listen. Instead, she spent a few more years in the restaurant business as a server and manager before embracing her talents, attending Antioch University, and getting her license as a marriage and family therapist.

Although she has worked with diverse populations, including patients with HIV/AIDS and chronic mental illness, Betsy keeps coming back to the addiction field.

“What I’ve learned working with so many different clients is that one theoretical model doesn’t work for everyone,” Betsy explains. “At Promises, we provide structure, compassion and a listening ear, but we believe in letting clients find their own individual path to recovery with guidance from us.”

New Challenges Ahead

The challenges Betsy has faced in her recovery and her career have laid the foundation for a new adventure in the second half of her life. At age 50, she adopted two daughters, then ages 8 and 9. Motherhood has called upon many of the same skills she learned in recovery, including patience, tolerance, and taking responsibility for her own emotions and reactions.

“Being a mother has presented some of the greatest challenges to my old ideals and ways,” Betsy says. “Parenting requires love and selflessness – and a lot of deep breaths – but it is deeply rewarding to watch my daughters learn the value of honesty and respect and really enjoy life.”

Now, Betsy shares her infectious laugh and boundless energy with her daughters as well as the clients and staff at Promises, eager to spread a message of hope.

“We’re all in search of our purpose,” she says. “Sometimes it takes a long time to get where you belong, but if you follow your heart, stay patient and just keep walking, you’ll get there.”

Also noteworthy is the fact that the average binge drinker makes more than $75,000 per year in household income. Co-author and leader of the CDC Alcohol Program, Dr. Robert Brewer notes that a possible reason for binge drinking in higher income households may be due to the fact that it is not looked at as a serious health issue or risk.

New York psychiatrist, Dr. Harold Selman says he treats some of the Big Apples’ wealthiest individuals and many work in law and finance. He believes it’s hard to know if people really are drinking more since he believes most tend to underreport the amount they actually drink. Selman says they may tell you they had only six drinks but he figures they truly had ten to 12.

The high rate of binge drinking among higher income households may also be linked to stressful job environments. Selman believes there is an overall increase in substance abuse and notes more people are taking opiates, prescription drugs and the other drugs pointing to more job stress and the troubling economy. This could be the case for binge drinking as well.

Apparently, there is a huge impact on the addict’s treatment because of their belief system relating to their substance abuse and the consequences that come with it, whether positive or negative. The average cocaine user was 37 years old and they were given the psychologist test upon enrolling in the six month program through Columbia University.

The outpatient program was conducted through the New York State Psychiatric Institute of Columbia University. Patients answered a number of questions related to their thoughts on cocaine cravings and then the consequences after cocaine usage. Participants also took two more tests that measured their reaction times called the Irap, or Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure and the Drug Stroop Protocol.

The study was published in January’s edition of The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse and showed the rehab results were worse if the user had strong viewpoints about the positive effects of the drug before their drug rehab began.

The psychological test was derived to identify the users’ beliefs, feelings and thoughts which they may want to hide or they may not be consciously aware of.

At the start, drinking may have been a social activity, and now it is impossible for them to imagine a pleasurable occasion devoid of alcohol. For others, alcohol cravings have become so strong that it feels impossible to face the day without a glass in hand. Whether you are a heavy/binge drinker or someone who drinks less but wants to be free of the perceived need for drink, the first step of recovery is detox.

Why is alcohol detox a necessity? When the body has been given a substance for a long period of time, you become physically and mentally dependent upon that substance. The more you have been drinking and the longer you have been drinking combine to make it more difficult for you to deny your body the substance, (alcohol in this case), that it feels it requires.

Just stopping cold turkey can result in physical and psychological symptoms which make it difficult to quit all by yourself. Entering a physician-supervised detox program can help to manage those symptoms and get you past a difficult first hurdle on the path to recovery.

Detox programs can last from two to six weeks. For the person who has not been drinking heavily or for an extended period of time, an outpatient detox program may be effective, but most people will find their greatest chance of success by entering a residential detox program.

Symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol can range from sweating, nausea and vomiting to anxiety, tremors, insomnia, hallucinations and even convulsions. Having a physician and a team of health professionals on hand can minimize the dangers posed by the body’s physical reaction to withdrawal of alcohol. Doctors are on hand to supervise and can give medications such as Chlordiazepoxide to help relieve some of the more unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

Poor nutrition is a common problem for those who abuse alcohol. A residential detox program will likely provide nutritious meals and vitamin supplements, but will also give nutritional counseling to patients teaching them how to create a new diet rich in protein, B12 vitamins and thiamin (common deficiencies among alcohol abusers). Having a knowledgeable staff on hand that is prepared to support you through the many stress points of ridding alcohol from your system can make the difference between recovery and relapse.

Why is detox necessary? It is a stage of recovery in which the body begins to realize that you will not give in to your alcohol cravings. As your body is denied alcohol, your emotional and physical reactions can be intense. A doctor-supervised detox program makes this transition as smooth and safe as possible.