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Sunday, April 18, 2010

12 Stupid Things


I have just gotten a small book titled: "12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery" by Allen Berger, Ph.D.

I thought this might be good to review with people I work with. And I though it might be interesting to review the 12 things (not necessarily the 12 steps) and see how it goes. I will go through them one by one and try to see if his insights match one's own experience.

1) Believing Addiction to 1 Substance is the Problem: Our best chance of recovery lies in abstinence from mind-altering substances.

In this short chapter Dr. Berger takes us through cross-addiction and substitution of one high for another. This is one of the more common judgement error with people I have worked with. A belief that the addiction is for only one substance and that other highs won't be as troublesome. Typically, the opposite comes to be true.

Also he describes the concept of self-medicaton and pain. He offers that most of us use extensively to make ourselves feel better or to avoid any sort of pain at all. His take (much like Buddhism) offers that pain is a friend when listened to and responded to with love.

And the idea ofself-erasure and self-hate is brought into view. According to Dr. Berger- Self-hate is deeply rooted in and continuously influenced by our behavior, even though we may not be aware of it. I am convinced that self-hate is one of the primary causes of relapse. A person simply does not feel worthy of recovery, worthy of getting better, worthy of receiving help, worthy of joy, happiness, success, freedom, and love. This leads to many direct and indirect expressions of self-hate. Undermining our recovery is one of the ways that self-hate can manifest itself in our life.

you can learn more about this book here



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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to let know know that I find the majority of your posts very nourishing. I might not always be ready for the info, but it stays with me until I am.~Mary

Sandra Moreano said...

Self love is truly the challenge our life times. I find that if I take care of myself, the feelings often follow. And I know that I can't just one day say "from now on I will love myself and always be my best friend." And that will be it. It is much more of a practice.

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