Alcohol Abuse or Drug Abuse – Where can you get help.

Our treatment field offers very little for people that are struggling, people that may abuse alcohol, people that may abuse pain medications or anxiety medications or sleep medications or medications for ADHD.  There have been some very good protocols developed to help people assess whether their use of alcohol is normal or hazardous drinking.  Here are a few quick things to help. Collect data – monitor your alcohol intake or use of medications for a couple of weeks.  Are you taking medications as prescribed?  Are you drinking daily?  Are you drinking heavy every time you drink?  Next, set some goals for use.  If you are having problems keeping your goals, take note of what may have contributed to the excess use.  If your alcohol use is causing problems, go get a second opinion (more than just yours).  And take a look at this link, it can help you think through your use (NIAAA).  If you live in the Dallas Ft. Worth metroplex, give i360 a call or come visit.   We specialize in outpatient therapy with alcohol problems or drug problems before they become an illness.

Alternative Treatment?

Talking with a colleague the other day, we discussed how the addiction treatment field is a little unique.  People often ask if we are a 12 step program (meaning, do you work clients through the steps, the big book of alcoholics anonymous, work with a sponsor and other elements of AA meetings).  When we say that i360 is not a 12 step program, we get placed by some in another category.  Our experience is that it takes a number of critical things for people to be successful, for some its 12 step programs, for some its individual/couple/family therapy, for some its medications to address serious psychiatric symptoms, for some its addiction medications to help with cravings, for some its spirituality, for some its general health interventions, for some it’s significant occupational or academic focus.  So, is Innovation 360 an alternative to traditional rehab treatment, typical alcohol programs that you find in Dallas or Ft. Worth?  Yes, we are.  Addiction research has taught our field a lot over the last 10 years.  Sadly, few addiction therapists use that information with patients.

Sober Living: Life After Rehab

It’s Recovery Month, and there are some great opportunities for the public to learn more about addiction treatment and recovery. One of those meetings in Dallas is being hosted by Caron Residential Treatment:  Caron Cares Breakfast Lecture Series.

The focus of this week’s panel is about living a sober life after rehab. There are some great residential programs, places like Caron Texas, where people can go to start their recovery. The next challenge is when they come back to Ft. Worth, Dallas, or Frisco, and have to learn to build those same healthy relationships, find good meetings, start a lifestyle of healthy living with a lot less structure and support. That’s one of the main reasons we started Innovation360. If you forget everything else in this blog, please remember:  drug or alcohol rehab is the beginning of changing a life, not the end. When people come home, they need additional support and structure, especially the first 90 days.

i360′s goal is to help people translate the insights of therapy into actual behaviors. To go from talking about 12-Step meetings, talking about exercising and eating better, talking about finding a job or going to school- to go from talking to doing. Whether you’re trying to lose weight, trying to start exercising regularly, trying to eat better because of high cholesterol- it’s very difficult to change behaviors, and sometimes we need people to help us along for a season.  As an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment clinic that’s what i360 does with its clients.

Question and Answer: AA or not to AA?

Another in the series of “You Asked and We’re answering.”

The question we get quite a bit from clients and family members is this - Do I have to go to Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings to get sober?

Here’s your answer – No, you don’t have to go.  Every year people stop using alcohol or drugs on their own without going to AA meetings.  I’m not talking about problem drinkers or people that abuse alcohol.  I’m talking about alcohol dependent people, alcoholics.  People also stop smoking every year without formal treatment like a patch or gum.  And by the way, obese people every year lose weight without having FedEx drop off food every week.

WAIT, quick follow-up question – “Should I go to AA meetings?”

That answer is absolutely.  Every year people are able to finally stop using drugs and alcohol with the help of meetings like AA.  And every year people try to lose weight and aren’t able to do it without getting someone to help.  They go to great programs that help them finally lose weight (Places like the Cooper Clinic Wellness Program in Dallas).  And by the way, quite a bit of very good research on addictions and recovery the past decade tells us that people that include a 12-step meeting like AA in their recovery have better outcomes.

Be wild and reckless in your recovery, try the things that have helped others even when you don’t want to.  Odds are being wild and reckless is something you do well if you are addicted to drugs and alcohol.   Apply that same planning and obsessiveness to getting your life back.  Hang out with people that have done what you are trying to do.

Renew

When your loved one is in residential alcohol or drug treatment, they’re spending time learning about addiciton as a disease, preparing for life after treatment. Meanwhile you are going to therapy, filling out the paperwork, and finishing the homework in preparation for them to arrive, but then they do. What happens next?

Renew Everyday magazine’s article, Recovery Comes Home, offers advice on how to receive your loved one after residential: encouraging open communication, believing recovery as a reality, and the importance of community. i360 also believes in the emphasis of community and the continual process of recovery in everyday life.

Whether utilizing our services with medication, individual therapy, group support, or daily support from Life Development or turning to resources such as Renew magazine, there is help available for you and your loved ones on a daily basis.

Professionals and Addiction

Pilots and physicians have excellent recovery programs that take advantage of what  research has proven makes effective treatment. This is not the case for many other professions:  lawyers, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists.

While addicted physicians and pilots do have some unique occupational traits, their programs have demonstrated that the application of research and treatment standards can lead to long-term positive outcomes. When looking for a drug and alcohol treatment program (even if you’re not an addicted lawyer or nurse), you should consider what has been successful in these programs:

1. provide consequences for termination of treatment or positive drug tests, which improves the outcome in addiction treatment.
2. frequent random drug testing (few outpatient programs include it at all, much less at the frequency it needs to be)
3. connection to abstinence-based 12-Step programs and fellowships
4. actively manage relapse by intensifying treatment and monitoring
5. sustained therapeutic contact over a long period of time improves outcomes (think months and years, not days and weeks)

If you’re interested in reading more, read “Setting the Standard for Recovery:  Physician’s Health Programs” DuPont and McLellan in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2009.

It doesn’t matter where you’re looking for rehab services:  Dallas/Ft. Worth, Frisco, Plano, anywhere in the U.S., make sure your questions for treatment include the above points because sober living is possible.