By William C. Moyers

When it comes to stories of the struggles with addiction, it’s important not to kill the message — or the messenger, either.

Dear Mr. Moyers: It’s hard to know if you or my daughter is more responsible for my anger. We heard you speak in Pittsburgh last month. She’s 22 years old, a good girl with a college education who seemed committed to the road of recovery back from the hell of her alcoholism.

She’d just been discharged from rehab (her first), but what you said about relapse in your speech set her off again. On New Year’s Day,…

Last Wednesday, January 9, 2008, I attended a 12 step meeting and picked up a medallion. I have been in 12 step programs for over 15 years. I did not pick up a 15 year medallion. I did not pick up a 10 year medallion. I did not pick up a 5 year medallion. I picked up a 1 year medallion. One year ago I had a fling with a bottle of pills. Why? I had been clean for quite a long time before that infamous evening. What could have possibly happened that allowed me to throw away all my…

Blogger In Repair presents us a wonderful entry…

Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Stepping over Our Wounds

Sometimes we have to “step over” our anger, our jealousy, or our feelings of rejection and move on. The temptation is to get stuck in our negative emotions, poking around in them as if we belong there. Then we become the “offended one,” “the forgotten one,” or the “discarded one.” Yes, we can get attached to these negative identities and even take morbid pleasure in them.

It might be good to have a look at these dark feelings and explore where they come from, but there comes a moment…

January 2, 2008
By Associated Press

HOUSTON - Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston are working on a cocaine vaccine they hope will become the first-ever medication to treat people hooked on the drug. “For people who have a desire to stop using, the vaccine should be very useful,” said Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor who is being assisted in the research by his wife, Therese, a psychologist and neuroscientist. “At some point, most users will give in to temptation and relapse, but those for whom the vaccine is effective won’t get high and will lose interest.”

The vaccine, currently…

The Positive Project is “an non-profit endeavor with a mission to use the stories of people infected/affected by HIV/AIDS to: Raise Awareness, reduce stigma, promote prevention, encourage testing, enhance care and improve quality of life.”

The Positive Project has an enormous amount of video material that is worth taking a look at. Here is a little more about them…

This work has grown from the conversations of two mental health professionals who have worked collectively for more than 30 years with people infected and affected by HIV disease. We were often struck by the power of the accounts and comments we heard in privacy…

I’ve been passionately, emotionally involved with the yearly doings of the Washington Redskins (American football for those of you who ignore sports) since the 1950’s. Pop, you see, had only sisters and only daughters; and, as the younger of the latter, it became my thing to watch–and play–sports with him.

Eddie LeBaron, the Little General, led the team back then–mostly to nowhere. In truth, except for two bright epochs under George Allen in the ’70’s and Joe Gibbs first tenure (’81 through ‘92), the Redskins have not done very well. Some years, in fact, they’ve been terrible.

But my passionate hope, belief,…

An article from Technology Review published by MIT.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Gene Therapy for Alcoholics
An interesting approach to curbing alcoholism is tested on rats.
By Anna Davison

Researchers in Chile have succeeded in keeping the drinking habits of alcoholic rats in check using gene therapy. The treatment mimics a natural mutation common in East Asian people, which lowers their tolerance to alcohol, making them less likely to become alcoholics.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 17.6 million people abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent in the United States alone. If the gene-therapy technique could be applied to humans, scientists say that it may be…

by Mark Harris

Recently in headlines in our local paper, two people claimed that being forced by the courts into 12-Step based treatment, was tantamount to being forced in the Christian religion. These particular relapsing patients, claimed this was violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion. There are a number of effective recovery frameworks for addictions of all kinds. Their basic common bottom line is stopping addictive behavior, and replacing the addictive behavior with a non-addictive lifeway, often involving some sort of cultural or spiritual framework.

While bearing a superficial resemblance to Quaker’s meetings, or Unitarian support meetings, with its…

I just got back from my niece’s wedding in California. As I live in Virginia, that means my brain is still somewhere over Kansas. But who cares, for yy heart, –wherever it is–is very happy.

Here’s the deal: When I got sober I got my family back. It took time, patience and plentiful amends. It took letting past grudges go and giving up worrying about who was to blame for anything. It took recognition on some profound level that while none of us are perfect, we all have done the best we can.

This was the moment for me at that wedding.…

Check out this controversial video from CNN out…

Chris and Pax Prentiss, co-founders of Passages Addiction Cure Center, explain through a series of CNN and other TV news interviews how drug addiction and alcoholism can be cured by acknowledging it is not a disease and utilizing one on one counseling with the right people, in the right environment. More information can be found on the website at http://www.passagesmalibu.com

An interesting public service video on addictions…

A fast paced, image rich video that examines the biological and environmental causes of addiction as well as the conflict between old brain cravings and new brain reasoning. Legal substances like alcohol, tobacco, and prescription medications are addressed along with illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. The video also explores compulsive eating disorders, obsessive sexual activity, and habitual gambling. Using illustrations from medical science along with real-world dialogue from individual users, Roots of Addiction demonstrates that any addiction is an inherited, learned, and practiced set of behaviors, which can be treated and…

Recovery, there’s always a first time, as tells blogger What Winners Do…

January 7 2008
Go After Addiction Recovery Like A Newcomer

Do you remember what it was like when you were a newcomer to addiction recovery? If you were anything like me, you pursued recovery. You went after it, you studied it and you spent a lot of time building up your addiction recovery fundamental skills.

As time goes on, you feel a little more comfortable in your addiction recovery. You feel that you can take on some new things that aren’t directly related to addiction recovery. You have begun to develop some…

Check out the rest of this great blog entry at The Last Chance Texaco…

There’s a Light in the Darkness
January 3, 2008
We should learn just to stick our hand out and whoever it touches that is alone, engage them, in whatever way is helpful. There is joy to be had, in that.
- Anonymous
It’s not surprising that with the new year there are an unusual number of ‘newcomers’ in the rooms of AA and other programs that offer a spiritual solution to the problems of living. I got sober this time of year. I was in a meeting tonight that was packed…

By William C. Moyers

Each week in this space I field questions from readers who want to know more about addiction and what to do about it.

But in the spirit of the end of the year, I’m using this column to look back at the hurts and hopes of 2007 and make a prediction for what’s ahead in 2008.

Hurt: to Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and all those Hollywood celebs who kept doing the same thing over and over again, expecting something different but getting the same result. That’s insanity, and their repeated dashes to and from high-end treatment centers only exacerbated…

The other night I had a dream, or maybe it was a message from beyond, but in any case, I do know that it was a vivid reminder about the cunning nature of my disease. It’s the time of year for my anniversary and maybe that’s why my subconscious was peering in dark corners, trying to find some piece of dirt that I had stashed away long ago, and left to fester and rot since my last use. The peripherals of the dream are fading away but the bottle of pills tightly grasped in my right hand is an image…

Sober Steve sets the year straight!

Friday, January 4, 2008
A NEW YEAR!
With this new year, it should bring new and exciting feelings to me, but it doesn’t. I have been sober for over a year, big deal. I need to start living again. I need to become one of the people that I envoy at meetings, one who laughs, not cries. One who gets called instead of one waiting for the courage to call another. One who loves, not one who misses what he loved. I haven’t been to a meeting in weeks, Haven’t blogged, haven’t been myself. I’m not sure what…

An excellent entry from Gospodi Pomiluj…

Thursday, January 3, 2008
Constant Vigilance

You know, I hear all the time at meetings the stories of people who let their guard down, who thought they could handle it, maybe questioned whether or not they were an alcoholic at all. Or maybe they didn’t even think about it. Didn’t question anything. Like Jim the car salesman who on a whim decided a whiskey in his milk would be a good idea. I feel good right now. I got through the holidays with nary a desire to drink. A passing thought maybe, but that was more due…

Everyone has their bad days, no? Certainly for blogger In Repair…

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Impatience

Burning Patience
Karin Kuhlmann

~~~

As I was driving to my meeting yesterday, I was behind a car that was going just under the speed limit. I apparently was not because I had a clear view of their license plates, as well as a clear understanding of their political beliefs, and if I had gotten any closer, I would have been able to discern eye color in their rear view mirror.

I listen to Christian radio or classical music. There are songs I hear on classic rock stations that remind me…

New Year, New Day, New Resolution… from blogger, The Junky’s Wife

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Everybody’s Doing It.


Well, if MPJ, Question, Mantra, and Recovery Discovery are all doing it, then I’m going to have to do it, too. I can’t let my imaginary friends play a game without me.It started with Question suggesting that she wanted to find a word to dive into for the New Year, and then Mantra said that we should really also have words for the old year. My imaginary friends really like words, you see.So I’ve chosen mine. For this year, my magical word is the top secret recovery…

x DoGotoGod x gives us a great entry…

Thursday, January 3, 2008
On Discomfort

Each of our recovery paths is like this.

I was in a meeting last night and three words jumped out at me, “Acceptance of Discomfort.”

We tend to have ideas, how our recovery should go. How it should progress. What the timing should be for milestones. And we have this fantasy that each day it should get more comfortable. After all, we suffered through a painful bottom, came to understand we had to give up executive control of our lives, so shouldn’t it get better, now?

Problem is, we have our own ideas…

A little excerpt from blogger Sobriety Girl on the New Year…

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Phew….

So, as always at the beginning of the year, I set my goals for the next twelve months. This started when I decided that I had a better shot at attaining goals that I set than sticking to any resolution I may have made. This year, I have set my goals for sobriety, my health and well being and where I think I should be emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Each time I set a goal I write two actionable statements below the goal. For instance, my first goal is…

Aha! A New Year, A New Resolution… Recovery Road blogger sets things straight!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A Happy New Year! to you all. I hope you had a good one and, where appropriate, a safe and sober one.

I spent most of New Year Eve with Private Equity Girl. I managed a whistle stop tour of Brixton, Hoxton and Soho. She cooked and I ate. It was cool - I guzzled ninety three liters of Perrier and she had wine. I’m still amazed at how non-alkies can cork a bottle, put it in the fridge and forget about it. Incredible.

I’ve been thinking of…

Well here it is - the 3rd day of the new year and it feels like an ordinary Thursday in my world. I spent New Year’s Eve going to see a movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War” - in which, by the way, there is a glass of brown liquid in virtually every scene, then went to a cheap Mexican Restaurant in town and ended up in bed by 10:30. There was an all night 12 step marathon, but I took a pass and curled up in my jammies, good book in hand (something totally unrelated to recovery - after all, I…

“No More Letting Go”
by Debra Jay
Reviewed by Ginger Bauler

In “No More Letting Go – The Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction”, counselor Debra Jay has masterfully yet tenderly approached the subjects of addiction and intervention in a manner that befriends and benefits all parties involved - the addict as well as the loved ones who suffer from this progressively fatal disease. She confronts the existing tenet of allowing an addict to “hit bottom” and then offering a response of “tough love” with a more compassionate, spiritual approach in which the addict and her/his loved ones join together…

My Journey Through Recovery blogger comes to us from Malaysia…

Thursday December 27th, 2007
Family’s Day
The Gathering in Pictures!
Depression

“We are no longer fighting fear, anger, guilt, self-pity, or depression.”
Basic Text, p. 26

As addicts, many of us experience depression from time to time. When we feel depressed, we may be tempted to isolate ourselves. However, if we do this, our depression may turn to despair. We can’t afford to let depression leads us back to using.

Instead, we try to go about the routine of our lives. We make meeting attendance and contact with our sponsor top priorities. Sharing with others about our feelings may…

A little something to nibble on from blogger Stop, Drop, Recover…

Sunday, December 30, 2007
My Former Ways

Yes it was for me due to several factors.
There was my shyness, sense of morality and my
Catholic upbringing.
When I discovered an elixir that would reduce my
inhibitions and increase my libido, it was magical.

Drinking became a prelude to any romance in my life.
It gave me false courage to say and do things I
wouldn’t normally do.

Eventually the effect was diminished due to the
excessive amounts I was consuming. We all know
that alcohol can increase the desire but lessen the
performance.

Ultimately the alcoholic loses interest in everything
but drinking, so there…

I’ve spent this morning in a frenzy of multi-tasking as it was both my first day back at work after winter holidays and my last day at work before I fly to California for a family wedding. So, I found myself doing such things as simultaneously reserving a seat on the Super Shuttle and posting an essay to my station’s automation system.

I was off for ten whole days and it was wonderful. I wrote, yakked with my family, played with my cats, worked out at a leisurely pace, watched a lot of football (go Redskins!), read books for pleasure, and–most…