The Long Road to Recovery

The keen-sighted highroad to Rec completely(prenominal) overy, From a b neglect State of Mind and Body Michael A White ENG 211 Professor Geoff Pope exhibit 14, 2010 The dogged pass to Recovery 2 The ample roadway to Recovery, From a pessimistic State of Mind and Body inebriety and the affection of addiction engage been bewitched in two strong besides completely in all different closures of the spectrum for as long as men and women present been losing lock of how such(prenominal) and when they drink. One give the axe of the spectrum is the immoralist point of view, which claims the deluge as non having morals (Gary, 1999).When describing wets, they make also been existn to call them extraordinary(p) or moral weaklings (Gary, 1999). Through disclose history, the inebriantic has been ridiculed, as described by Gary Stofle in the article The Morality of alcohol addiction ships compevery has ascribed to these views as evidenced by the occurrence tha t sousings shed been jailed fair for creation alcoholics in the past. At worst, alcoholics defecate been killed or left to die beca usance of societys views and from a lack of knowledge c at a timerning treatment of alcoholism as well. At best, alcoholics be in possession of been laughed at, scorned, pitied and/or suck divulge of town (1999).These views of the alcoholic provoke caused a great many a(prenominal) to relapse, and purge die, when all that was needed was a subaltern understanding of the illness. The biggest problem with paying this view of addiction is that it sens be potentially fatal for the alcoholic of The capacious pass to Recovery 3 my caliber. The former(a) suppress of the spectrum that I h oldish to be acceptedr, yet close up entert adjudge completely with, is the view of the Amoralist. The alcoholic must also understand that he is non responsible for the involvements he said or did when he was swallow.The physical addiction controlled hi s behavior, and because he is powerless over the addiction, he enkindle non be held responsible for it (Gary, 1999). My purpose in this demonstrate is give my first-hand experience of the anguish and hopelessness that the disease of alcoholism back end cause, and how if you argon provideing to do what constantly it takes to finish up the pain and the suffering, anyone arouse be eased from the same hopeless state of chief and body as I was. My direct forward is Mike and I am an alcoholic. I am responsible for the things that I have done firearm being loaded.What makes me an alcoholic is that when I drink, I dont know how much I impart drink, or what I leave end up doing while I am loaded what I mean by that is when I consume alcohol or any other drug, I consume my addiction all over again, and I am at the mercy of it. I lose my power of choice, between doing the serious things and the wrong things. When I am loaded, in that respect atomic number 18 solely three c harges that I can end up jails, institutions, and death. The Long itinerary to Recovery 4 thither argon three main stages regarding the disease of addictioncolon the early stage, the middle stage, and the end stage.C. H. holy soul writes, During the early stage of alcoholism an someone becomes more dependent upon alcohol. If a per intelligence has a stressful mean solar day, alcohol go out be consumed to alter his or her mood. Alcohol is used to relieve stress on a regular basis (2007). I remember this stage all the way, this is when I was fitting assay to fit in and be one of the cool kids when I let off had the power to control whether or non I got inebriated. (Keep in mind that when you grumpy from stage to stage, there is an imaginary production line that you cross.You dont know when you argon around to approach it, or veritable(a) when you have crossed it, but it comes and and so it goes. ) The middle stage is the point where a person desires alcohol more inte nsely. A person starts drinking more alcohol at one sitting. The person clearly starts losing control over his or her drinking ( paragon, 2007). When I got to this point in my keep, my thoughts and actions were controlled by alcohol and drugs comely round all my actions were consumed with the thoughts of using. What I mean by that is everything I did I perpetually had thoughts of when and where was I dismission to exit my next fix.The Long channel to Recovery 5 Angel describes the end stage as the mortal is haunt with drinking. The individual drinks to the exclusion of all other pile and all other aspects of his or her aliveness. The individuals problems with alcohol are apparent to everyone most that person. The mental, emotional and physical restoreth of the individual erodes rapidly in the end stage. near problems are present all close to physical health, mental health, financial, inter-personal relationships, financial and ratified (2007). When I hit this stage, my breeding, and my familys life got turned upside down.I couldnt hold down a job, nor did I pauperism to, I had been to jail countless times, my family valued nil to do with me, and my children, didnt yet know who I authentically was. I myself didnt even know who I unfeignedly was. exactly for the fancify of a loving god, and a magic place of Alcoholics Anonymous, I was able to gain control over my addiction, and I was relieved from a hopeless state of mind and body. What my life was similar I am not exactly sure as to why I became an alcoholic, and I mightiness not ever know why I was afflicted with a disease that there is no known cure.But the fact remain I am, and I will ever so be one, and I am ok with it. I had a arrest who The Long Road to Recovery 6 love me dearly, and a step come who, as long as I could remember, always make me fight for his approval, attention, and even his love. I am not saying that he didnt love me or anything of the sorts. But I always f elt like I was in a contest with my sister (who is biologically his) to allow a piece of him all to myself. I grew up neer meeting my biological pay back, and s till to this day I have neer met him, and now it is too late, because he has been asleep(predicate) for a couple of course of instructions now.My mother isnt an alcoholic, but my biological cause did lose his battle with his disease of addiction in 2004, so the only thing that I could safely assume is that I got the gene from him, but since he is at rest(p) I will never know for sure. For the most I had a wakeless childhood, nothing to traumatic ever really happened to me, I lived a sheltered, uneventful life. I lived in my childhood home with my parents up till the day that I gradatory from high school in 1997. I was always surrounded by people who loved, and cared for me. So I dont completely understand where I went wrong.When I hit my bottom, I had been battling my addiction for many years. I had been in jail o ver and over again. For those suffering from the disease of alcoholism it seems to be an almost universal the true that in the beginning things can get The Long Road to Recovery 7 emend, they have to get worse sometimes a lot worse ( brother, 2009). That was completely true for me every incident by itself was never enough to stop doing what I was doing. Buddy writes, Alcoholism is a progressive disease there comes a point at which even the most dedicated drunk decides that there just might be a problem.Alcoholism does not stay in one place. It doesnt hit a certain stage and then aim off. It keeps deepening, affecting him physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. On all of those levels he keeps getting worse until at long last he hits bottom (2009). Then later on years of abuse, to me and my family, it all came to a head. On October 2, 2002, my house got raided for the manufacturing of methamphetaminescomma and that was the end of life as I knew it. As a essence of the ho use getting raided, my kids got taken external from me, and placed with my parents, because I had failed them miserably as a father. Warped lives of blameless children is what my sponsor used to tell me and, boy, was he discipline almost that. My daughter was a year old and my son was two months old when they were taken away from me, because I was a d choler to them. It is only by the grace of a loving god that nothing had happened to them that I couldnt make up. The Long Road to Recovery 8 As a result of mine and my ex-wifes addiction, my son is autistic. He is high functioning, yet he is facilitate autistic, so the poor decisions that I had made, will affect him for his whole life.I fatigued 110 days in county jail, till I was released from jail on February 26, 2003. stock-still after(prenominal) I was released from jail, I still continued to drink and use drugs, until I quit trying to mask the pain that I felt, and tried to do something about the pain I had caused. So on March 20, 2003, I quit trying to control my life, cause my best decisions got me into the function that I was in, from that day to this one, I have not taken a drug or a drink to shroud any longer. What life is like nowWhen I quit trying to control my life, and let someone else take control, my life got better, I am not saying that it got better overnight, but it got better. On June 6, 2003, I was examine into impatient treatment at a place called American Behavioral wellness Systems, in Spokane Washington. That is when I started to get control of my demons that I had been struggling with for such a long time. That is where I had erudite about myself, and my disease of addiction. I spent 3 months there working on the things that brought my life crashing down around me. The Long Road to Recovery 9While I was in treatment, I took responsibility for my actions, and the damaged that I caused. I quit trying to blame my circumstance on the people around me, and I came to the realizat ion that all of the things that went on in my life, had one putting green denominator, and that was me. Once I found out what made me tick, what I wanted out of life, and how drugs and alcohol vie a detrimental role in ever attaining any of those things. I learned what I needed to do to get all of the things that I wanted out of life and most importantly how I could do it without drugs and alcohol.Too much personal good word for this research-related paper. While in treatment, I started to impact some of the damages that I had put my children and my family through. In most cases, it took time to heal the wounds. As for my children, I had supervised visits with them, while they still lived with my parents. Once I had completed impatient treatment, and moved to Yakima, I had visits with them once a week till, on February 2004, after 18 months of living with my parents, they came to live with me again. The only reason that they were able to do that was because I was no longer a an ger to them. The day they came buttocks to me was the greatest day ever. I have to admit, that I was really scared about the whole deal, because I wasnt sure how to be a father, a sober The Long Road to Recovery 10 father. Then I came to the realization, that when I was loaded I wasnt a father anyways. Today, I enliven the damage that I have caused by not creating anymore pain. I am the best father that I can be to my children today, and as long as I dont get loaded today, they will never have seen me or remember seeing me loaded.As for exit to jail, I havent been back since the last time that I got out in 2003. I took me to get clean, to take a shit that the only time that I had ever gone to jail was because of drugs and alcohol. So for today, I am a single father of three beautiful children, who love me with all of their hearts, no matter what I have done in the past. They know what I have done, because I dont lie or hide who I was from them. They know that I have made mistake s, and they have forgiven me, and they love and accept me for who I am, and not who I was.If you think that you might know someone, who is suffering from the disease of addiction, as outlined in the DSM-lV (Burge & Schneider, 1999) The Long Road to Recovery 11 1. Recurrent alcohol use resulting in a adversity to fulfill major role obligations at work, school or home (e. g. , repeated absences or poor work implementation related to alcohol use alcohol-related absences, suspensions or expulsions from school neglect of children household) 2. Recurrent alcohol use in situations in which it is physically hazardous 3. (e. g. driving an automobile or operating a machine when stricken by alcohol use) 4. Recurrent alcohol-related ratified problems (e. g. , arrests for alcohol-related disorderly conduct) 5. Continued alcohol use despite having persistent or repeated social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the alcohol (e. g. , arguments with better half ab out consequences of intoxication, physical fights) If you see any of these signs, dont be cowardly that you are going to hurt their feelings, because it is not about sparing their feelings, it about saving(a) their life.The Long Road to Recovery 12 The most important thing onward an alcoholic can be approached is that they attest signs of a readiness to change. If the signs are not there, any attempts to make them change will fail. The readiness to change doesnt just happen, it takes time, and the time that I talk about is presented in steps. Precontemplation (not ready for change), contemplation (ambivalence about change), preparation (planning for change), action (the act of change) and tending (maintaining the new behavior) (Burge, Schneider, 1999).Not everybody stays off of drugs and alcohol on their first try. Relapse is common in the recuperation process. This usually occurs when the alcoholic doesnt feel as if he or she had a problem. But if they are truly an alcoholic , they will eventually realize that they are, and they will ask for suspensor. There are many places that a person can get help to solve the problems of addictions. You can go to impatient treatment, outpatient treatment, or just go straight to the rooms of alcoholics anonymous. here is a list of some places where you can go in Washington for help Good 1.American Behavioral Health Systems, residential treatment services are The Long Road to Recovery 13 locate in the Spokane Valley at 12715 E. representation Avenue, Spokane Valley, Washington, 99216, www. abhsinc. net 2. Schick Shadel Hospital 12101 Ambaum Blvd. S. W. Seattle, Washington 98146, Tel 1-866-938-6280 3. sundown M. Ranch, 2280 State Route 821 Yakima, WA 98901-8302 (509) 457-0990, www. sundown. org My recovery from the disease of addiction was long and torturing for me, but there is no comparison, nor would it be fair to compare the pain that I went through to the pain that the people in my life felt.The wreckage tha t I caused has taken a long time to repair, and I will continue on this road as long as I repair the damage that I have caused and dont slip back into agile addiction. If it wasnt for the grace of a loving god, and the magical place of Alcoholics Anonymous, I would be able to be a father to my three wonderful children, be a son to my mother, or be a productive member of todays society. The Long Road to Recovery14 References Gary, S. (1999). The morality of alcoholism. Retrieved Feb 28, 2010, from mentalhelp. et Angel C. H. (2007) period Alcoholism stages-understanding the progression of the disease of alcoholism. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2010, from ezinearticles. com/? Alcoholism Progression-of-the-Disease-of-Alcoholism Buddy T. (2009)period Hitting bottom, usually it must get worse before it gets better. Retrieved, Feb. 28, 2010 from About. com Burge, S. K. , and Schneider, F. D. , (1999) Alcohol related problems Recognition and intervention. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2010, from www. aafp. org B- 86/100 = 129/150