EARLY RECOVERY IN ALCOHOLISM & AA

EARLY RECOVERY IN ALCOHOLISM AND A A

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and the most abused chemical in US. It affects every cell in the body from brain to liver and heart. You may not feel completely normal for a year or more after abstinence. Withdrawal symptoms vary from shakes, nausea, hallucinations, dreams of animals and insects, seizers, DT’s and/or paranoid delusions. Mood swings often with severe depression may continue for 2 years or so.

At some point after abstinence you may begin to feel really good. This can be dangerous, if you then conclude, Great, I have licked my addiction. Truth is that for at least one year the business of recovery will have to be the focus of your existence.

Joining a support group is the first step in the first phase of recovery for people seeking sobriety and every one involved does better. We should not forget that there is no cure for alcoholism as yet and recovery is life long.

• AA has the longest and most successful track record to date. The only requirement for membership in AA is a desire to stop drinking alcohol.
• AA meetings provide a caring, supportive and non judgmental atmosphere for recovery.
• The most successful recoveries participate in working the 12 steps and confiding in a SPONSOR from the very start.
• AA is not a religious organization.
• Alcoholics in recovery have more in common then any other group.
• Although many people reduce the number of meetings as they progress in recovery but it tends to increase the risk of relapse down the road.

What is AA?

PREAMBLE: A place where wide range of people with similar backgrounds meet to share their problems and help each other, to form no string friendships in a patient non judgmental atmosphere. For some it is a second family and for others only real family and hence the slogan “YOU ARE NOT ALONE”.

A place to develop and practice skills like responsibility, communication, empathy and assertiveness.
A place to socialize and interact with others with out the crutch of alcohol.
A place to try-try-try again in your quest of recovery with out fear of rejection or recrimination if you do not succeed.
A place to begin to be honest with your self and others in an atmosphere of trust.
A place to learn from other people’s mistakes and to let others learn from yours.
A place for information about recovery around the clock.
A Security blanket for recovering people.
A place where sobriety is contagious.
A place where you can be as anonymous as you wish.
A place where every thing is confidential and left in the room of the meeting.

Early in recovery many beginners find it difficult to grasp as to what is going on in AA meetings .12 steps seems too many. It may be helpful to think of some basic principles:

You admit you are in trouble and can not get out of it of your own.
You recognize that there is some POWER greater than you are and turn to that power.
Start telling yourself the TRUTH.
You talk and share your problems with others.
You think you have harmed and try to make amends.
Once you are better, start helping others for your good and theirs.
Do not let the ignorance of others to stand in the way of your recovery.
We humans have a wonderful ability to block bad memories. But to remember them is valuable to stay sober, hence the promise, DO NOT CLOSE THE DOOR ON THE PAST.

Never talk down to an alcoholic (BB page 95) from any moral or spiritual hilltop, simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Offer him fellowship and friendship. Tell him if he wants to get well you will do any thing to help. If he is sincerely interested and wants to see you again, ask him to read the BB in the interval. After doing that, he must decide himself whether he wants to go on. He should not be pushed or prodded by you, his wife, or his friends. If he has to find GOD, the desire must come from with in. We have no monopoly on GOD; we merely have an approach that worked with us.

CHOOSING A SPONSOR

• Should of the same gender.
• Should have long and quality of sobriety.
• Should have broad AA interests.
• Should have a record of success.
• Should be congenial and trustworthy.
• Should be objective and available.
• Should be tough and compatible.
• Should be compassionate.