Good OldTimers

Yoga in Marbella

2012-01-22T05:50:00.001-08:00

Marbella may not seem an obvious destination to go in search of enlightenment and the ancient healing therapies of the Far East, but a new health resort is bringing a flavour of Bali to Spain – without the jetlag. Just a 40-minute drive from the Costa del Sol, Shanti-Som takes its inspiration from Asian destination spas with Buddha statues, tropical gardens, Asian-Med fusion cuisine, eastern therapies and a programme of detox, meditation and yoga. Destination Yoga ( 0845 458 0723 , destinationyoga.co.uk) will be running a retreat here in March. A seven-night yoga retreat from £945, excluding flights, departs 18 March.

'Neurology time bomb' on the cards for NHS

2012-01-17T04:46:00.001-08:00

The NHS could find itself facing a "neurology time bomb" as more people develop conditions such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson's disease. According to the Neurological Alliance, which represents 70 groups and charities, the rising number of cases is being compounded by the poor quality of services. The alliance's criticisms follow a report by the National Audit Office, which questioned the level of care on offer, bringing particular attention to delays in diagnosis and muddled follow-up care. In response, the government has acknowledged that more needs to be done. Steve Ford, chair of the alliance and chief executive of Parkinson's UK, said: "The situation can only get worse. A crisis is looming but the government has its head in the sand. "When it comes to helping vulnerable people with a neurological condition, the government is floundering around in a fog of its own making." It is estimated that more than 200,000 people in the UK have long-term progressive neurological conditions, according to the BBC.

Captain ordered back onto boat by port officials

2012-01-17T04:35:00.001-08:00

Mr Schettino 'attempted to take a taxi away from the scene' • Crew 'began evacuation before captain's orders' • Number of missing passengers and crew rises to 29 • Navy blasting holes in hull to improve access to divers • Captain due to appear in court this morning • Minister warns of ecological disaster According to reports in Italian media, Captain Francesco Schettino was attempting to catch a taxi away from the scene. “What do you want to do, go home?” one official asked him, according to transcripts of the increasingly frantic exchanges between port authorities and the captain, who allegedly refused a direct order to return to the ship and take charge. The transcripts reveal the mounting anger and frustration of port and Coast Guard officials as they began to realise the full extent of the disaster, despite the commander’s repeated insistence that the situation on board was “all OK”. When officials told the captain that there were reports of bodies in the water, the commander allegedly asked: “How many?”.

An unflinching look at drugs

2012-01-17T00:52:00.001-08:00

From the farm fields and jungle labs where drugs such as crack cocaine, ecstasy and hashish get their start to the front-door steps where recreational users and addicts alike have their drugs delivered, National Geographic Channel (channel 260) explores the world of Drugs Inc. The series premieres on the channel at 9pm today and includes eight unflinching new episodes that examine the business of illegal narcotics production. Drugs Inc goes inside the world of producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors and cops with first-person perspectives on what keeps this business in motion. It also investigates relative newcomers such as ketamine and oxycontin – designer drugs for the 21st century – and the covert industry of grand theft auto, which provides cartels with stolen vehicles customised for smuggling. Worth an estimated R1.28 trillion, the business of Drugs Inc fuels crime and violence like no other substance on the planet, turning cartel leaders into billionaires. The illegal drug industry also provides vital income to hundreds of thousands of poor workers across the globe. While some users sacrifice their lives to an addiction they can’t escape, others find drugs to be their only saving grace from physical or emotional pain almost impossible to overcome. Where should the lines be drawn in this hugely lucrative industry? The series looks at hallucinogens, once hailed as a panacea. Psychedelic drugs are at the centre of an underground movement experimenting with mind-altering substances as they explore a possible new medical frontier. Deep in the Amazon, Rob, a Wall Street broker-turned-healer, has created a free clinic of sorts, administering a highly potent narcotic known as ayahuasca to patients desperate to escape powerful trauma. Taking on others’ stress releases Rob’s own demons and a shaman must step in as Rob’s trip spirals dangerously out of control. Dimitri, a former heroin addict, helps drug users to overcome addiction by using a controversial hallucinogen called ibogaine, and encounters dangerous side effects in the process. Turning to the power of mushrooms, one family man suffering from cluster headaches contemplated suicide before finding relief in this psychedelic trip, and a Swiss physician uses LSD to help ease terminal patients’ fear of death. The deadly and addictive drug crack cocaine is the subject of another episode in which users will do anything to get their hands on it. Addicts Jeff and Alexis are desperate for its intense high – turning to burglary, drug dealing and even prostitution. Smuggling hashish from the remote Moroccan Riff Mountains to the streets of Europe is a dirty, dangerous and deadly business. A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains. The smugglers use everything from hidden car compartments to donkeys, skis and drug mules. Their aim is to be as inconspicuous as possible – and to make it out alive. Facing off at the front line of Europe’s war on drugs, customs agents near Gibraltar seize 100kg of hashish, but the huge haul barely scratches the surface. From Spain, smugglers like “Billy” strap blocks of hash to their bodies and board flights to London and European cities. While smugglers take great risks, for some users, getting the drugs is as easy as walking into a coffee shop. But despite this easy access, users still pay a heavy price – as seen at a local youth psychiatric clinic in Holland. Ecstasy marks another trail. Dubbed as Christmas morning in a pill and penicillin for the soul, ecstasy’s euphoric high is said to come with major lows. Ravers have died from it and organised crime gangs will kill for it. One of the biggest ecstasy traffickers shares how he dominated the ecstasy smuggling world, and a high-level ecstasy distributor in California outlines smuggling strategies for the 21st century. Drugs Inc joins all the dots in this fascinating and disturbing network.

Huaxi: The socialist village where everyone is wealthy

2012-01-16T23:27:00.001-08:00

The sort of oxen you expect to see in Chinese villages tend to be pulling carts or tilling fields, not a beasts made of a ton of gold. This precious cow is located on the 60th floor of a 328m-tall skyscraper in Huaxi, China's richest village, and building that juts out of the eastern landscape like a giant tripod topped by a golden ball. Huaxi is a "model socialist village", according to local officials, and was founded by local Communist Party secretary Wu Renbao in 1961. His foresight was to transform a poor farming community into a super wealthy community, built on its clever adaptations of modern agribusiness methods, then its diversification into steel mills, its logistics firms, and its textile businesses. The commune listed on the stock exchange in 1998 and is now a major corporation in its own right. Its subsidiary companies, built into something that resembles a modern-day conglomerate, exports to more than 40 countries around the world. Huaxi is where Chinese people come to learn how to get rich. At a time when the rest of the world, and indeed much of China, is trying to absorb an economic slowdown, Huaxi is like a parallel universe. "This cow cost 300 million yuan (£31m), but now it's worth 500 million yuan," says our guide, Tina Yao, as she steers us from floor to floor in the Zengdi Kongzhong New Village Tower, which is taller than anything in London. "Zengdi" translates as "increase the land" and the skyscraper cost three billion yuan (£310m). Other floors have giant animals of solid silver. Fearsomely bejewelled chandeliers hang over your head in banquet halls that hold thousands of people. You approach these glittering sites walking on gold-leaf marble, passing aquariums with sharks and stingrays. Far below, you see the villas and theluxury cars. Every villager gets a share of the corporation's profits and is entitled to a car, a house, free healthcare and free cooking oil. The village feels a little like Dubai. It is not big on charm – the replicas of the Arc de Triomphe and the Sydney Opera House – are of questionable taste, but where it is widely different is in how well it is able to meet its people's needs. Mr Wu is keen that Huaxi should showcase China's achievements and now some two million visitors come to Huaxi every year to gaze upon its splendour. The original founding families, who are known as "stakeholders", number around 1,600 and the average household income is around £100,000 a year, once all the bonuses, pensions and wages are factored in. White BMWs are ubiquitous and the murals, instead of depicting socialist realist muscled workers in overalls, have pictures of happy families living in wealthy villas. This is where Huaxi stands apart from so many other villages in China. While the rest of the country suffers from a yawning wealth gap between the rich cities of the eastern seaboard and southern coasts and the rural hamlets, Huaxi took the initiative, driven by Mr Wu's pragmatism, and headed its own way. It behaved like a city, even importing migrant labour. "We only ever wanted what was good for our people," is a dictum of Mr Wu, who is now 86 years old and retired. His son has taken over as party secretary, but the father still gives lectures on socialism every day. He avoids allying himself too closely with either capitalism or communism, though his pragmatism has strong elements of the Chinese Communist Party about it. No one doubts the wisdom of Mr Wu, and looking at the village's wealth, why would they? He broke up the collective system of farming and encouraged people to grow their own crops. Below the stakeholders in the hierarchy come the residents from neighbouring villages that have been absorbed into Huaxi, and then tens of thousands of migrant workers who perform most of the rest of the work. Work and wealth are the crowning ideologies. No one takes weekend breaks, and the streets tend to be deserted of residents because they are all off working. The hard work has clearly paid off and the money raised has helped the villagers diversify into other industry. One of those areas is tourism – wealth tourism – and some of the locals help to meet and greet the two million tourists that come every year to see the village. A new reason to come is to see the skyscraper, which is impressive, although as there is nothing even remotely as tall in the surrounding countryside, it looks strangely incongruous. The reason it is so tall is a useful insight into the mindset of the people here. It is, as Mr Wu said in a recent interview, because the people Huaxi can compete with anyone in the country. "Beijing's tallest building is the 328m-tall World Trade Centre. Huaxi wants to maintain the same height with the Central Committee of the Communist Party," he said. The village's total square area is a little less than one square kilometre, and there are barrack-style dormitories, factories, and pagoda style-buildings for local residents. The skyscraper houses the Longxi International Hotel, which has 2,000 beds and will employ 3,000 people eager to learn how to become wealthy, Huaxi-style. Intriguingly, in the central village park, there are the statutes of five of the true icons of Communism in China, some more controversial than others. The panoply includes the former mayor of Beijing, Liu Shaoqi, who was purged in the period of ideological frenzy that was the Cultural Revolution and whom many believed Mao had murdered. He has never really been rehabilitated and remains outside the pantheon of true revolutionary heroes. But then Mr Wu himself suffered during the Cultural Revolution. He set up factories but the Red Guards paraded him in the village as a "capitalist roader" and locked him up, much in the same way as Liu Shaoqi. Like Deng Xiaoping, who also suffered during the Cultural Revolution, Mr Wu bided his time and soon was back on his capitalist track after Mao died in 1976, except that these ideas became formulated as socialism with Chinese characteristics. All over the village are megaphones blasting out the village anthem, which tells of how communist skies shine down Huaxi, a village of everyday miracles. "I have heard about Huaxi for many years. I have wanted to see it for many years," said one octogenarian visitor from Chengzhou. Two men, both of them employed in security and not stakeholders in the village, say they love what is going on in Huaxi, but they admit they are a bit jealous of the shareholders who get a stake in the village's profits every year. Certainly, there is a lot of bluster in the way Huaxi markets itself. The divisions between the stakeholders and the migrants on the streets are large. But no one in China doubts its importance as a model for the success of the nation. And deny at your peril the wisdom of Mr Wu and of the wider Chinese psyche: The song from the public address system says it proud: "Socialism is best."

Huaxi: The socialist village where everyone is wealthy

2012-01-16T23:26:00.001-08:00

Facebook, Twitter addict? Too much Internet may alter your brain

2012-01-16T23:11:00.001-08:00

This is your brain. This is your brain on Facebook, Twitter, or Match.com. A recent Chinese study found that the brains of people addicted to the Internet may see similar changes to the brains of those addicted to alcohol or drugs. Yahoo News reported that brain scans were conducted of 35 men and women aged between 14 and 21, and 17 of them were identified with Internet addiction disorder. Brain scans of those classified as addicted showed disruptions in the part of the brain that contains nerve fibers, and changes in the brain areas that are used in emotions, decision-making, and self-control. Some of the questions people needed to ask themselves to determine whether they were addicted were, according to the BBC: Do you feel the need to use the Internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction? Do you use the Internet as an escape from feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety and depression? Have you put a relationship, job, or career opportunity at risk because of the Internet? Have you lied to people to hide the amount of time you spend on the Internet? According to safetyweb.com, an Internet monitoring service for parents, teenagers and young adults are the age groups that are more likely to be addicted to the Internet, and they are more likely to neglect work or school than older addicted adults. The Executive director of an Internet addiction recovery center known as restart says overexposure to the Internet can cause these symptoms in anyone’s brain. Hilarie Cash said to technewsworld.com, "We do a combination of psychotherapy and helping these people figure out the skills they need to function in the world. The road to recovery could include plenty of hiking and backpacking to get them both physically fit and reconnected to the world."

Accused bikie killer arrives back in Sydney

2012-01-16T14:21:00.001-08:00

The man accused of shooting a bikie dead in Sydney's south earlier this month was flown back to the city last night from Western Australia. Tarek Abdallah was escorted on a flight from Perth after his arrest in the city's north last week. The 25-year-old spent last night in a police cell and is due to face Central Local Court today charged with murder and shooting with intent to murder. Lone Wolf bikie Neal Todorovski was fatally shot in the head outside his Sans Souci apartment on January 4. Police say the 37-year-old and two of his friends had confronted and bashed Abdallah. Abdallah allegedly broke free and fired at his attackers before escaping in a black four-wheel drive. Mr Todorovski's friends, 32-year-old John Leger and 23-year-old Matthew Lewis have each been charged with affray and concealing an indictable offence over their refusal to cooperate with police. Leger is also charged with possessing a prohibited weapon.

To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book

2012-01-16T09:11:00.001-08:00

Alcoholics Anonymous - Our primary purpose.

"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." page 60

We must be ever vigilant to maintain the purity of our message, "if AA is ever destroyed, it will be from within." Bill Wilson

Do you to want to want to stop?

"If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer." page 44

We are sober because of the steps we take, not the meetings we make!.

"We, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book"Forward
what happened To the program of recovery That worked so well (a minimum 75% rate of recovery) when AA first started?

12 step organizations working the steps directly from the Big Book :

2012-01-16T09:08:00.001-08:00


	All Addictions Anonymous: http://www.alladdictionsanonymous.com/
	Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous: http://www.slaafws.org/
	The Big Book Muckers
	AA Primary Purpose: http://www.theprimarypurposegroup.com/
	AA Back To Basics: http://www.aabacktobasics.org/

The Search for Spirituality

2012-01-15T15:25:00.001-08:00

If you wish to be really wholesome . . . . If you desire to be totally integrated in body and spirit . . . If you want to be the kind of person who can cope with whatever challenges come your way . . . .

Paul Simon's music takes meandering spiritual journey

2012-01-14T02:32:00.001-08:00

Paul Simon says there's always been a spiritual dimension to his music. But the overt religious references in his most recent album, So Beautiful or So What, surprised even him. There are songs about God, angels, creation, pilgrimage, prayer and the afterlife. . Simon says he has many questions about God and explores them through his music. Enlarge By Todd Plitt, for USA TODAY Paul Simon performs at Ground Zero during a 10th anniversary ceremony of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Simon says he has many questions about God and explores them through his music. Ads by Google 1st Dual Core Mini-ITX VIA EPIA-M900 wi Nano X2 CPU, DDR3 up to 8GB, 2 SATA, 8 USB2.0, 4 www.viaembedded.com Simon says the religious themes were not intentional — he does not describe himself as religious. But in an interview with the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, he said the spiritual realm fascinates him. "I think it's a part of my thoughts on a fairly regular basis," he said. "I think of it more as spiritual feeling. It's something that I recognize in myself and that I enjoy, and I don't quite understand it." BLOG: Is heaven Simon's stunning infinity? REVIEW: 'So Beautiful' sums up Simon's latest STORY: 'So Beautiful' is beautifully familiar Simon may not understand it, but he's been writing and singing a lot about it, and that has generated attention. One Irish blogger suggested So Beautiful or So What could be the best Christian album of 2011. Sojourners' Cathleen Falsani, an evangelical who writes frequently about religion and pop culture, called it "one of the most memorable collections of spiritual musical musings" in recent memory. "It's a stunningly beautiful … album, and he's a great surprise to me and frankly a huge blessing," Falsani said. During a career that has spanned half a century, Simon has received numerous awards, including 12 Grammys. His first Grammy came in 1968 for best contemporary vocal duo, along with his musical partner Art Garfunkel. Their 1970 Grammy-winning song Bridge Over Troubled Water was influenced by gospel music. Simon comes from a Jewish background. "I was raised to a degree enough to be bar mitzvahed and have that much Jewish education, although I had no interest. None," he said. Now at 70, he said he has many questions about God. In his song, The Afterlife, he speculates about what happens after death. He imagines waiting in line, like at the Department of Motor Vehicles. As the chorus goes: "You got to fill out a form first and then you wait in the line." But there's a serious aspect as well, as the song continues: "Face-to-face in the vastness of space/ Your words disappear/And you feel like you're swimming in an ocean of love/ And the current is strong." "By the time you get up to speak to God, and you actually get there, there's no question that you could possibly have that could have any relevance," Simon explained. One of the most unusual songs on the album, Getting Ready for Christmas Day, includes excerpts of a sermon preached in 1941 by prominent African-American pastor J.M. Gates. Simon heard the sermon on a set of old recordings and said he was drawn to the rhythms of Gates' "call and response" style of preaching. The song Love and Hard Times begins with the line: "God and His only son paid a courtesy call on Earth one Sunday morning." According to Simon, "To begin with a sentence that is the foundation of Christianity, I said: This is going to be interesting. Now what am I going to say about a subject that I certainly didn't study?" The song ends with a love story, which he says is really about his wife, and a repetition of the line, "Thank God I found you." "When you're looking to be thankful at the highest level, you need a specific and that specific is God. And that's what that song is about," he said. Simon said the beauty of life and of the earth often leads him to thoughts about God. "How was all of this created? If the answer to that question is God created everything, there was a creator, than I say, Great! What a great job," he said. But he said he won't be troubled if it turns out there is no God. "Oh fine, so there's another answer. I don't know the answer," he said. Either way, he added, "I'm just a speck of dust here for a nanosecond, and I'm very grateful." Simon has sought input on his questions from some religious leaders, including the Dalai Lama. He once spent hours talking with British evangelical theologian John Stott, who died last year. Simon said Stott made a big impression on him. "I left there feeling that I had a greater understanding of where belief comes from when it doesn't have an agenda," he said. Many of Simon's songs raise universal questions about things like destiny and the meaning of life. "Quite often, people read or hear things in my songs that I think are more true than what I wrote," he said. Falsani calls Simon a "God-chronicler by accident." "He looks at the world and kind of wonders what the heck is going on, like many of us do. He asks good questions and seems to have his finger on the heartbeat spiritually of a culture," she said. Simon said he's gratified — and somewhat mystified — that some people have told him they believe God has spoken to them through his music. "Is it a profound truth? I don't know," he said. "I feel I'm like a vessel, and it passed through me, and I was the editor, and I'm glad."

Free booze for alcoholics makes perfect logic, but no sense

2012-01-12T19:30:00.001-08:00

As the old adage has it, if you live long enough, you see everything. In the world of substance abuse and addiction, “everything” was in the news today. A group from Vancouver’s notorious hub of drug addiction and policy experimentation, the Downtown East Side, is proposing that a publicly funded, peer-run drinker’s lounge dispensing free legal alcohol to alcoholics be instituted as a means of harm reduction. The Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education, whose spokesman, Rob Morgan, an alcoholic from a First Nations reserve near Terrace, B.C, sees the idea as the natural next step in Vancouver’s famous harm reduction movement. The lounge would be modeled on Insite, the safe injection site whose mandate is not to rehabilitate addicts, but to reduce the rates of disease and death caused by unhygienic consumption and unsupervised overdoes. Mr. Morgan’s logic is impeccable. Desperate alcoholics will drink anything with alcohol in it; they will drink hand sanitizer acquired from “dealers” who steal them from hospitals, as Mr Morgan has; they will share disease-ridden bottles; they sometimes freeze to death in an alcoholic stupor; and for only $3, and some water dilution, will consume 30 standard drinks from a 250 ml bottle of 95% rubbing alcohol. The ravages produced on the body by such a regime certainly rival any depredations short of AIDS suffered by drug addicts.

Two-thirds of smokers try to quit in new year

2012-01-11T08:33:00.001-08:00

Two-thirds of smokers in the UK, approximately six million people, will try and quit the habit in January, but half of them will fail within a week, new research suggests. According to the study, commissioned by Pfizer Limited in support of its Don't Go Cold Turkey disease awareness campaign, one in ten of these attempts will not last beyond 24 hours. Typically, smokers admit to having unsuccessfully attempted to quit three times before, with 51 per cent confident they can kick the habit in the next six months. Some 45 per cent say they attempt to quit by 'going cold turkey' or giving up the immediately and relying on willpower, however only three per cent of these people are found to be smoke free after a year. Nearly a quarter of former smokers recommend that people trying to quit consult a healthcare professional. Dr Sarah Jarvis, BBC medical correspondent and practising GP, said: "Even a brief conversation with their healthcare professional or local stop smoking service can increase [a smoker's] chances of success by up to four times, compared to going 'cold turkey'. "People should consider how they can positively influence their chances of quitting." According to Cancer Research UK, 86 per cent of lung cancer deaths are caused by tobacco smoking.

there is an area in your brain where you may hold a reservation and that could, in all likelihood, cause you to return to your drinking. I wish that I might reach this place in your consciousness, but alas, I do not have the skill."

2012-01-10T23:50:00.001-08:00

Twelve Step people who study A.A.'s Big Book are, of course, familiar with Bill Wilson's medical mentor, Dr. William Duncan Silkworth. Bill called him the benign "little doctor who loved drunks." Silkworth, a psychiatrist, had treated thousands of alcoholics and was director of Towns Hospital in New York where Bill had several times sought help. Though Silkworth had explained the disease of alcoholism to Bill, Bill continued to drink until he met his "sponsor" Ebby Thacher, who had recovered through the spiritual program of the Oxford Group. Ebby had also gone to Calvary Rescue Mission, run by Dr. Sam Shoemaker's Calvary Episcopal Church in New York; and Ebby had there made a decision for Christ. Wilson went there for the same purpose and, according to a conversation the author had with Dr. Shoemaker's widow (Helen Smith Shoemaker), Bill Wilson made a decision for Christ at the Rescue Mission. Bill stayed drunk for a few days and then checked into Towns Hospital and again sought help from Dr. Silkworth. And it was during this stay, that Bill took the life-changing steps of the Oxford Group, had his "hot flash experience," reported it to Dr. Silkworth, and was told by Silkworth that he (Bill) had better hang on to what had happened to him. Silkworth later was asked to write the "Doctor's Opinion" that opens the basic text of the Big Book. Silkworth's picture appears in A.A.'s Pass It On, the biography of Bill's life.

Shortly before his death, the author spent an hour with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, friend of A.A., the Rev. Sam Shoemaker, and Bill Wilson. Dr. Peale told me of the conversations he had with Bill Wilson about Bill's conversion. However, until 1997, I had never heard the following account by Peale about Dr. William Duncan Silkworth. It can be found in Norman Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus Christ (New York: Foundation for Christian Living, 1980), pp. 60-61. It appears under the title "The Wonderful Story of Charles K.":

Charles, a businessman in Virginia, had become a full-fledged alcoholic; so much so that he had to have help, and fast, for his life was cracking up. He made an appointment with the late Dr. William Duncan Silkworth, one of the nation's greatest experts on alcoholism, who worked in a New York City hospital [the Charles Towns Hospital]. Receiving Charles into his clinic as a patient, the doctor gave him treatment for some days, then called him into his office. "Charles," he said, "I have done everything I can for you. At this moment you are free of your trouble. But there is an area in your brain where you may hold a reservation and that could, in all likelihood, cause you to return to your drinking. I wish that I might reach this place in your consciousness, but alas, I do not have the skill."

"But, doctor," exclaimed Charles, "you are the most skilled physician in this field. When I came to you it was to the greatest. If you cannot heal me, then who can possibly do so?" The doctor hesitated, then said thoughtfully, "There is another Doctor who can complete this healing, but He is very expensive."

"That's all right," cried Charles, "I can get the money. I can pay his fees. I cannot go home until I am healed. Who is this doctor and where is he?"

"Oh, but this Physician is not at all moderate as to expense," persisted Dr. Silkworth. "He wants everything you've got. He wants you, all of you. Then He gives the healing. His price is your entire self." Then he added slowly and impressively, "His name is Jesus Christ and He keeps office in the New Testament and is available whenever you need Him."

Dr. Peale then describes the healing of Charles through the power of Jesus Christ.

Recovering alcoholic Matt Maden: I began drinking at 10 and now I'm facing death at 26

2012-01-10T23:20:00.001-08:00

Matt Maden, now 26, has been living on borrowed time since he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis five years ago. Despite his desperate need he has only a 20 per cent chance of getting an organ because of the growing demand. ‘It’s really scary living with the knowledge that the odds are so heavily against you,’ he said. His condition was detected when he spent two weeks in hospital in an alcohol-induced coma – but even then he refused to believe he had a problem. ‘My immediate thought was, “It’s not the drink”,’ he said. The first time Mr Maden got drunk was at 15. ‘I remember waking up the next morning and my first thought was, “When can I do that again”,’ he said. Within a year he went from drinking eight cans of lager in a session to 16 in order to get a buzz. ‘After a couple of years I’d have to have maybe a bottle of spirits to go along with that,’ he added. ‘For a lot of years alcohol gave me confidence. Little did I know it would actually turn on me and it would start to control me.’ After his health scare Mr Maden left his home in Oxford to check into a rehab clinic in Bournemouth and has not touched a drop since 2007. His physician, Dr Varuna Aluvihare, from King’s College London, believes the binge-drinking culture is behind the increasing number of young people needing liver transplants. ‘Tragically, every year we fail to keep someone like Matt alive,’ he said.

Money spent on nicotine patches 'goes up in smoke', says survey

2012-01-10T23:15:00.001-08:00

Those who go cold turkey have just as much chance of quitting the habit long-term, the study published on Monday added. A total of 787 adult smokers trying to quit were followed over five years by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health. One in three relapsed with the numbers spread equally between those going ‘cold turkey’, those using nicotine patches, gums or sprays, and those combining nicotine replacement with counselling. Heavy smokers who used nicotine replacement products without any professional therapy were twice as likely to relapse. Lead author Hillel Alpert said: ‘Some heavily-dependent smokers perceive nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as a sort of “magic” pill. ‘Upon realising it is not, they find themselves without support in their quitting efforts, doomed to failure.’ But the findings sparked a backlash from the NRT industry, which is worth £150million in Britain and £520million in the US. GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Nicorette gum, said studies show NRT products, combined with support, ‘can double’ smokers’ chances of quitting

the Internet has many of us on a very short leash – an addictive one.

2011-11-06T00:59:00.001-07:00

Whether you’re mid-bite, mid-sentence or perhaps mid-sleep, do you react to that ‘bing’ from your smartphone? Or, is it the flashing red light that gets you?

You’ve programmed your phone to alert you to messages, or has it programmed you to respond?

From the constant smartphone companion to the laptop replacing the lapdog, the Internet has many of us on a very short leash – an addictive one.

The consumer research firm Intersperience surveyed more than 1,000 people in Britain and found quitting the Internet is as hard for some as quitting drinking or smoking.

Without the Internet, 40% said they felt lonely. Ironically, it’s fathomable that 40% of those living with Internet addicts probably feel lonely too.

Laurie Tamblyn, an addictions counsellor in special programs at Toronto’s Bellwood Health Services, says there are many types of Internet addiction, including gambling, gaming, pornography and social networking.

“We’re just beginning to treat this. It is a big problem and it is going to become bigger before people start recognizing that they need to do something about it,” Tamblyn says.

“Some of us believe there is a tsunami coming because we haven’t fully recognized the problem yet.”

Part of that problem is the generation gap. Children today are children of technology – dependent on the social web and its tools.

Addiction is a progressive illness that ends up in isolation, Tamblyn says, so Internet use can be a slippery slope, and can have devastating effects on relationships.

“The amount of time people spend lost in their behaviours is comparable to a drinker spending time at the bar instead of with his family or friends,” Tamblyn says.

“The addiction becomes the focus of the addict’s life. The focus is to interact with the addiction before anything else. If this doesn’t happen, it results in mood swings and irritability.”

Internet addiction can be difficult to diagnose, says Dr. Greg Dubord, who teaches in the psychiatry department at the University of Toronto.

“Drawing the line between normal Internet use and Internet addiction is often difficult, because no set criteria for diagnosing the disorder have been established by the American Psychiatric Association.”

What is easy to recognize, however, is the impact of web overuse on our relationships.

Though social networking allows us to communicate with people all over the world, at times it seems to segregate us more than ever. Real-life interaction is often interrupted by bings and beeps. Thoughts become tweets and e-mails. Our fingers do the walking and the talking now.

From neglecting friends and family members to creating severe relationship problems, the Internet and our attachment to it can consume our lives.

One study documents 396 negative effects of the web on social involvement, including significant family problems, Dubord says.

“Reports have shown that excessive use of the Internet resulted in personal and family problems, with 53% of test-takers reporting severe relationship problems,” he says.

“Personal and family concerns extended to marriages, dating relationships, parent-child relationships, and close friendships.”

Dubord notes one case where a New York woman divorced her husband due to Internet overuse, and an extreme case involving a Korean couple so addicted to virtual games they let their three-month-old daughter starve to death.

If you think you may have a problem, Tamblyn says the best thing to do is ask for help.

“You can get an assessment at any treatment centre, or do it online and it’s anonymous. There are a lot of people struggling, and there’s a lot of help.”

Too e-dependent? Greg Dubord points out some general warning signs:

1. Lose track of time online.

2. Failed attempts at moderating Internet behaviour.

3. Neglecting work, sleep, friends and/or family to spend time online.

4. Turning to the Internet in times of stress or sadness to feel better.

How to cut down, according to Laurie Tamblyn:

1. Give yourself short breaks throughout the day when you can’t check your messages. Try going for a walk without your smartphone.

2. Put your iPad to bed. Set a bedtime for your Internet devices.

3. Wi-Fi-free meals. Wash your hands of wireless devices before eating.

4. Put your computer in a high-traffic area to stay accountable to those around you.

Chicago area had the most heroin-related hospital visits in the nation.

2011-10-31T02:06:00.001-07:00

2010 study by Roosevelt University researchers found the Chicago area had the most heroin-related hospital visits in the nation. The drug is cheap, and it's attracting users everywhere including some who are very young. Today's heroin can be snorted or smoked -- not just injected -- and that's led to a change in the typical user. Increasingly, today's addict is young, female and from the suburbs. And the roots of their addiction can be found in their family's medicine cabinet. For many, the road to dependence begins at independence --one of a handful of West Side exits off the Eisenhower serve as the gateway to the nation's busiest heroin corridor. "The ride there you're just anxiety, just, 'Oh I can't wait to get there. I can't wait to get it. I can't wait to feel better,'" said a 19-year-old female heroin addict whose scar are more than skin deep. She grew up far from the west side's rough and tumble streets, amidst the manicured lawns of the far west suburbs which seems an unlikely breeding ground for a new crop of heroin users. "I always thought of them as homeless and not caring about what they look like and real skinny and everything," the 19-year-old addict said. Heroin has never been cheaper and more pure. Just $100 can buy a two day supply. "I knew. The first time I did it I was like, 'This is bad. I like this way too much. And this is going to be bad," said the 19-year-old addict, whose identity ABC7 has hidden. DEA Agent Jack Riley says powerful Mexican drug cartels have partnered with Chicago street gangs to make heroin easily available. "If I had to liken anything to a weapon of mass destruction, it would be heroin," Riley said. After smuggling the drugs here, Riley says the cartels often operate in Spanish-speaking areas near Midway Airport. "They can assimilate into these hard working neighborhoods. They can appear to be great citizens, take care of their lawn, put Christmas lights up," Riley said. The cartels need the gangs to distribute the drugs but officials say fights between the two groups are increasingly to blame for the near-daily violence plaguing some neighborhoods. "What we consider to be senseless violent acts, many of them may be actually connected to the cartel's operations in Chicago," Riley said. It seems the danger is of little deterrent to users. "Within two weeks I was getting sick physically without it, and I needed it," the 19-year-old addict said. It wasn't until an overdose nearly killed her that she began treatment a few weeks ago at New Hope Recovery Center in Geneva. In four years, the facility has seen a seven-fold increase in heroin cases and many involve teens first hooked on prescription painkillers. "They'll run out, and someone will say 'Well, snort some heroin. It'll help you, so you won't go through withdrawals,'" said Jake Epperly, New Hope Recovery Center. That may have been how Billy Roberts began using. The Homer Glen 19-year-old died of an overdose two years ago and his father now warns of heroin's dangers. "I do it for him," said the victim's father John Roberts. "And I'll continue doing it as long as I'm alive. To give my son's life meaning. A former Chicago cop, Roberts says it's time for new solutions. "We need help. The police cannot do this alone. We need a comprehensive, strategic approach to this problem if we're ever going to see these numbers turn downward," Roberts said. To put in perspective how big the problem is here, the Chicago DEA has secured funding for a 90-person strike force to combat the operation run by the cartels and gangs in the city. Officials say it's the only such strike force outside of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 19-year-old woman interviewed by ABC7, who is currently in treatment, says she knows at least 20 other kids her age, from her community, who are current or former users.

Roxies sell on the street for as much as $30 per pill and offer a high that tops crack, heroin or meth

2011-10-30T23:49:00.001-07:00

Michael Patrick/news sentinel The two most wanted prescription pills on the streets of East Tennessee. The small pills are Roxie 30 and the large green pill is an Oxycontin 80. The second-generation Oxys, made by Purdue Pharma, are now wrapped in a sticky gelcap coating that will burn nostrils and resists needles.

PHOTO BY SOURCE: U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE

Effects of oxycodone: The high caused by oxycodone and other opiates affects nearly every major organ in the human body. So does withdrawal. This chart illustrates some of those effects.

Oxy's out. Roxies rule.A tiny blue pill, no bigger than a baby aspirin, overshadows nearly every other illegal drug on the market in East Tennessee. Men and women beg, haggle, threaten, lie, steal and kill — all for a handful of pills.

"It's the new crack," Knox County Sheriff's Office Lt. John Hopkins said. "Most of the addicts we see don't even shop for Oxys now. They've all switched to Roxies, and it's worse than crack ever was."

Doctors, police and emergency workers see the fallout every day. Sometimes it's a pill-sick addict who steals today to buy tonight's fix. Sometimes it's a baby born shaking with seizures from withdrawal.

Commonly abused prescription drugs

Oxycontin: A time-release form of oxycodone, an opioid painkiller, produced by Purdue Pharma and used to treat chronic pain. Strengths range up to 80 mg per pill. Nicknames include Oxys, O's and hillbilly heroin.

Roxicodone: Instant-release form of oxycodone produced by Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals and used to treat breakthrough pain. Strengths range up to 30 mg per pill. Nicknames include Roxies, blues and stars.

Opana: Time-release form of oxymorphone, a synthetic opioid, produced by Endo Pharmaceuticals. Nicknames include stop signs, biscuits, octagons and Mrs. O.

Methadone: Synthetic opioid, typically prescribed in pill or wafer form, used to treat pain and to ease withdrawal symptoms for opiate addicts.

Percocet, Endocet, Roxicet: Mixtures of oxycodone and acetaminophen.Percodan, Endodan, RoxiprinMixtures of oxycodone and aspirin.

Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet: Mixtures of hydrocodone and acetaminophen. Nicknames include Vikes and hydros.

Fentanyl: Synthetic opioid, stronger than morphine, typically prescribed in patch or lollipop form. Nicknames include china white and perc-a-pop.

Xanax: Brand name of alprazolam, a benzodiazepine produced by Pfizer and used to treat panic, anxiety and insomnia. Strengths range up to 2 mg. Nicknames include footballs and totem poles.

Valium: Brand name of diazepam, a benzodiazepine produced by Roche and used to treat panic, anxiety and insomnia. Strengths range up to 10 mg.

Klonopin: Brand name of clonazepam, a benzodiazepine produced by Roche and used to treat panic, anxiety and insomnia. Strengths range up to 2 mg.

Ambien: Brand name of zolpidem tartrate, a sedative produced by Sanofi-Aventis. Strengths range up to 10 mg.

Suboxone: Combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, used to treat opiate withdrawal.

Pill Sick: The series

Sunday

Tennessee drug task force waging lonely war on Rx diversion

Law enforcement battling to cut off pain drug pipeline

Drug war's new front makes for unlikely targets

Living for the needle: Addict's life a daily, desperate struggle

Prescription pills are East Tennessee's 'new crack'

A year of pills: Drugs leave trail of damage, crime

Summary findings from the News Sentinel investigation into the pill trade

Sometimes it's a corpse — a dealer killed for pills or an addict who chased the last high off the edge of oblivion.

Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets sell at the pharmacy counter under the brand name Roxicodone and offer quick relief from chronic pain for the old, the aching, the crippled and the dying.

Roxies sell on the street for as much as $30 per pill and offer a high that tops crack, heroin or meth — all without the pesky time-release formula that coats Oxycontin, the drug's sister medication.

"It's the epidemic of the day," Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch said. "Everything is attached to it now. Our investigators will tell you that 90 percent of the folks we see who've committed a crime say it's to get their medicine. That's what they call it — medicine.

"The days of the crack dealer on the corner are slowly waning. It's become the medicine dealer on the street."

Drugs of choice

Three people died last year in South Knox County when two men broke into a former police officer's house to steal legally prescribed painkillers. Police say a North Knoxville man's stepson beat him and his wife to death in August to steal pain pills, then burned down the house to cover up the crime.

A rash of drugstore robberies last fall and winter set a local record. Semiannual drug roundups keep rural jails packed and court dockets clogged.

Officers on the beat report dealing with addicts desperate to avoid jail and the agonies of withdrawal. Sometimes they run. Sometimes they fight.

"We're out here beating the bushes today, and in a few months we'll be out here again doing the same thing," said Capt. David Honeycutt, chief investigator for the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office, as he headed out with a stack of indictments in another drug roundup. "Pills have changed the face of law enforcement. It used to be pot, maybe Valium. Now it's pain pills, and they're crazy as hell on them. You'd be hard-pressed to find a family that's not been hurt by these drugs."

Tennessee topped the nation last year in busts of methamphetamine labs, where addicts churn out toxic waste breaking down cold and sinus pills to produce a homemade stimulant. Meth hasn't gone away, but police say they spend more time and money now fighting to keep the cap on the prescription bottle.

"People are afraid of meth, because everybody doesn't do meth," Newport Police Chief Maurice Shults said. "Everybody doesn't do crack. But everybody's on pills of some kind. Pills come from a doctor. People see that as safe. A doctor gives them out, so they've got to be good."

From Oxy to Roxies

Purdue Pharma's Oxycontin tablets once stood as the gold standard for opiate abusers, with concentrated doses of up to 80 mg of oxycodone locked inside a time-release formula easy to crack. Addicts crushed the pills to powder, then snorted or injected them to turn 12 hours of pain relief into an instant high.

That golden egg gained an extra shell when Purdue introduced a new formula last year meant to cut down on abuse. The second-generation Oxys come wrapped in a sticky gelcap coating that burns nostrils and resists the needle.

Some addicts claim to have found ways to beat the coating. Most don't bother.

Roxicodone and its generic equivalents deliver smaller doses of the same drug to treat the short, sharp bursts of breakthrough pain that plague cancer patients and others between round-the-clock doses of painkillers like Oxy. The pills come in 15 mg and 30 mg strength with no gelcap and no time-release coating, ready to deliver instant relief — or an instant high.

"There's no preparation," said Officer Phil Jinks of the Knoxville Police Department's Repeat Offender Squad. "It's straight out of the bottle."

The easy access and potential for profit have caught on among young and old.

"We're dealing with kids in high school, and we've got people retirement age selling," KCSO Sgt. Chris Bryant said. "Pills are easy to get for kids. We've given several drug education classes to teachers, and the first question is always, 'What are those little blue pills we keep seeing?' Those are Roxies."

Some officials expect the problem will only get worse. Opana, a time-release form of oxymorphone introduced five years ago, and fentanyl, a painkiller 100 times more powerful than morphine, offer a stronger high than the old Oxycontin with an even greater potential for overdosing.

Meanwhile, addicts keep working on ways to crack the new Oxys.

"Any time there's a chemical change, there's somebody out there who can alter the effects of that change," Hamblen County Sheriff Esco Jarnagin said. "I don't think you can stop these people from doing what they're doing. The only thing you can do is try to slow them down."

Addiction's Brain Abnormalities Can Be Reversed

2011-10-30T23:37:00.001-07:00

Researchers from the University of Minho in Portugal have discovered that rats exposed before birth to glucocorticoids (GC) not only show several brain abnormalities similar to those found in addicts, but become themselves susceptible to addiction (the glucorticoids, which are stress hormones, were used to mimic pre-natal stress). But even more remarkable, Ana João Rodrigues, Nuno Sousa and colleagues were able to reverse all the abnormalities (including the addictive behavior) by giving the animals dopamine (a neurotransmitter/ brain chemical). The study has several implications – for a start it alerts for the dangers of high levels of stress during pregnancy, but - since GC are often prescribed as an anti-inflammatory or to help organ maturation during pregnancy - it also calls for an urgent investigation on the effects of this drug in pregnant women. But it is what we learn about addiction that is most interesting - the work not only unveils stress as a new susceptibility factor for the disease, but also a very simple treatment that, if translated into humans, could one day mean an effective treatment, and maybe even the prevention of human addiction. Drug addiction was for a long time a character flaw, a moral problem. Now, instead, is accepted as the complex brain disease that is with the addict a patient in need of treatment. After all many people try drugs, but only a few become addicts And it is in these few that lays the key to the disease and its treatment. So what do we know about these patients and the disease? First although the psychological and social contexts in which the drug is taken are important, as much as 50% of the compulsion is in the individual’s genetic makeup. We know that addiction is linked to the mesolimbic system - the brain area that evolved to provide feelings of pleasure to actions that increase our survival chances, such as eat, sex and social stimulation. In fact, drugs activate the mesolimbic circuit too, only far stronger than any physiologic stimulus. This leads to the production of very high quantities of dopamine – the brain chemical linked to pleasure – creating the euphoria that brings users back. After while, though, the brain no longer can cope with the constant ” high” and adapts by becoming desensitised to dopamine (produced by any type of stimulus) what leads users to consume more in order to “feel” again and trapping those more susceptible in addiction. And with the brain changes induced by drugs being apparently long-lasting - since both cravings and relapses don’t disappear with time – it is not easy to escape once trapped. Adding another piece to the puzzle, recently the disease was also linked to stress during crucial developmental periods, such as feotal life. In fact, high levels of prenatal stress increase propensity to mental problems and now have been suggested also to substance abuse, with the effects being mediated by glucocorticoids (GC). Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Rodrigues and Sousa’s group have a long history of interest in stress and have seen before that rats from mothers injected with GC while pregnant (mimicking pre-natal stress) show changes in their mesolimbic area and in the dopamine response. So in the study now published, following these results and the addiction-stress link, the researchers investigated the responses to drugs in rats exposed to GC while in the uterus. These rats were found to have a susceptibility to addiction not present in control (non-exposed) rats. When their mesolimbic system was examined they also showed several structural and molecular abnormalities, including less dopamine. The levels of their dopamine receptor Drd2, despite initially being very high, once they experimented drugs, went to abnormally low levels . So why is this important? Because reduced dopamine and Drd2 levels are typical of addicts suggesting that stress and long-term exposure to drugs affect the brain in very similar ways what could explain why the first could lead to the second. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The good news is that low levels of dopamine can be treated so Rodrigues and colleagues restored the rats’ dopamine levels to normal just to find,much to their surprise, that all the structural and molecular abnormalities induced by prenatal GC were reversed. Even more surprising, the addictive behavior also disappeared. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 As Ana João Rodrigues explains, “This is a remarkable result because it suggests that with a relatively simple pharmacological approach- restoration of dopamine levels- we can eventually treat, and even more importantly, potentially prevent drug abuse in vulnerable individuals. Of course that we still have a long way to go but our results are quite promising. In fact, if we know where susceptibility to substance abuse lies – and low dopamine and altered Drd2 response seems to be it - then maybe we can find better ways to prevent/treat this disorder. “ Restoring dopamine levels has been used to treat cocaine cravings but the few trials looking at its effect on addiction were never very clear. One possible reason might be the length or the dosages used – in Rodrigues’ study, rats treated for 3 days reverted back to an addictive behavior 3 weeks after the end of the treatment, but this no longer occurs if the treatment continues for 3 weeks Now it will be necessary to test this new theory in humans what could be problematic with addicts as they are notoriously not the most cooperative or reliable research subjects. Large human studies on the effect of prenatal stress are also difficult to mount but there are a couple of them being run at the moment that could be tagged into such as “Project Ice Storm” in Canada.This study is following women pregnant n January 98 in southern Québec during an extreme ice storm that led to electrical power failures affecting more than 3 million people for as much as 6 weeks during the coldest month of the year(when temperatures can go to -18 C). It is still early for any studies on addiction(the children are only 13 years old after all) but it will be an interesting place to look, especially since abnormal levels of behavioral and cognitive problems have already been detected by scientists. Drug abuse and addiction carry enormous social and financial costs to society, families and individuals.Only in the US, the National Institute for Drug Abuse calculates that more than600 billion dollars are being spent, annually, to combat the disease. Despite this,a steady increase of drug use among teenagers and in prescription drugs continues with treatments remaining as inefficient as ever. Rodrigues and Sousa’s work might be the first step towards a solution if their remarkable results can be translated into humans.

UC Berkeley researchers pinpoint areas of brain linked with addiction

2011-10-30T23:29:00.001-07:00

Researchers at UC Berkeley have determined the specific areas of the brain that value and interpret decisions, which they hope may lead to new treatments for individuals who struggle with addiction. By measuring the neural activity of macaque monkeys, researchers were able to pinpoint the two specific ways the brain makes decisions, which they explained in a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. They now understand that neural activity in the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex determines the value of decisions, while neural activity in the anterior cingulate cortex evaluates the difference between expectations and results, which is responsible for future behavior. “The brain is basically a computer, and the neuron is taking information and then giving information that they’ve calculated,” said Jonathan Wallis, associate professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the principal investigator of the study. “This is the first time we’ve been able to show the specific computation to decision-making in specific areas of the brain. That was really the novelty.” While previous research has determined that these sections of the brain are dysfunctional in addicts, the new research explains how the damage leads to addiction. If these parts of the frontal cortex are impaired, addicts lack the signals that provide them with accurate information about how valuable a choice is, making it less likely that they will learn the consequences of their actions, according to Wallis. “If you’re an addict and this area is impaired, you may not realize your goals, and you potentially are not going to learn from unhealthy decisions,” Wallis said. Wallis and his team conducted the research by testing the neural activity of macaque monkeys as they played games that gauged their ability to make decisions. Researchers could measure the calculations that the monkeys were making in the different areas of the brain, which mimicked the way that humans make decisions. The researchers completed the experiment in 2006 and have spent the last five years analyzing the data. Although still a few steps in the future, the ultimate goal of the study is to use the results to treat for individuals with addictions. “Besides therapy, there is nothing we can do for someone that is severely addicted,” Wallis said. “So far no surgical or pharmaceutical treatments exist. By figuring out what is going on when healthy people are making decisions, we can figure out what is going wrong when addicts make bad decisions and find some ways to target these specific areas of the brain.” While the study has led to a greater understanding of how the brain values decisions, researchers will still need to further investigate how addictive drugs are valued in order to develop more effective treatments, according to Howard Fields, professor of neurology and director of the Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction at UC San Francisco. “This is a new and important scientific advance,” Fields said. “It is likely that addiction involves dysfunction of the relation between valuation of outcomes and subsequent decision making. In other words, drugs become overvalued compared to other action outcomes. Only by understanding the relation of valuation to action selection will we fully understand how drugs become addictive. After we do that, we’ll be able to develop more effective treatments.”

Addiction Recovery:

2011-10-11T03:55:00.001-07:00

Addiction Recovery: Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work. You can easily see why.

We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work. You can easily see why.

Addiction Recovery: age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!

2011-10-11T03:53:00.001-07:00

age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!

Addiction Recovery

2011-10-11T03:47:00.001-07:00

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble your- self much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do want society.

Teenager found dead on a roadside in Marbella

2011-10-10T08:03:00.001-07:00

The National Police have identified a body which was found on the hard shoulder of the road between the Nueva Andalucía area of Marbella and Ronda on Monday as that of a 15 year old boy who has been named by his initials, T.A. His exact nationality has not yet been released, although it is known that he is not Spanish. The body was removed from the scene for autopsy as the investigation continues to determine the exact cause of his death.

12 steps to destruction

2011-10-10T00:20:00.001-07:00

Some say that A.A.'s Steps are based on the Bible. And they are: www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml Some say that most came from the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Jr., Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York. And they did: www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml. Some say they are "12 steps to destruction," and the contention is about as valueless as the erroneous documention behind the contention. Some say A.A. is not a Christian Fellowship. It isn't - today. Some say A.A. could not have had its origins in Christianity. But those who argue for that just haven't come close to looking at the history of the Christian Recovery Movement, the Christian upbringing of A.A.'s co-founders, the requirement in early A.A. that all profess belief in God and come to Him through Jesus Christ. www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml, www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml, www.dickb.com/conversion.shtml, www.dickb.com/realhistory.com. Are all these "Christian issues?" Only among those who are blinded by their own lack of understanding, their own lack of research, and their own desire to cast down any and all who walk in the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. There is a strong and growing Christian Recovery Movement moving forward today. Part of it is grounded in International Christian Recovery Coalition www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition.com. Part of it is grounded in the fact that early AAs were, called themslves, and were called a Christian Fellowship. www.dickb.com/IFCR-Class.shtml. Part of it is grounded in the frequent statements that early AAs considered the Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13 to be "absolutely essential" to their program. www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml. Correctly viewed, the only "modern Christian issues" are flawed by not beginning with the facts and then laying out a picture of error that certainly concerns the thousands of Christians who have been and presently are devoted members of Alcoholics Anonymous. We've provided 42 titles and over 675 articles that enable a viewer to see and decide for himself. That's how to deal with the "modern Christian issues," and find they are just drifting puffs of smoke. www.dickb.com. www.dickb.com/titles.shtml. We Christians in the recovery arena are not alone!

The Real "Power" Behind Alcoholics Anonymous

2011-10-10T00:17:00.001-07:00

AA is Faith-Based, Not Evidence-Based Is it? Did someone apply an evidence-based test to Old Testament miracles? Did someone apply an evidence-based test to the countless healings by Jesus? Did someone apply an evidence-based test to the signs, miracles, and wonders of First Century Christians? Did someone look into the evidence-based test when writing about the Evangelists like Dwight Moody, the Rescue Mission leaders like Jerry Mc Auley and S.H. Hadley, the origins of the Salvation Army founded by General Booth, the 4.5 million membership of the Young People's Christian Endeavor Society, in which Dr. Bob was active, the successes of the YMCA brethren during the Great Awakening of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont? Did someone apply the evidence based test to the complete cure by the power of God of Bill Wilson's grandfather William? Did someone apply the evidenced base test to the miraculous cure of the first three AAs when there were no Steps, no Traditions, no drunkalogs, no textbook, and no meetings like those today? Did someone really look at the documented 75% and 93% success rates in Akron and Cleveland? Let the "evidence-based" writers begin looking at documented history instead of counting the number of alcoholics and addicts wandering the slums without ever turning to God for help? It's time for those who believe in God, rely on Him, and have been healed by Him to just close the book on the "evidence-based" nonsense when it comes to the power of God. And just keep fellowshipping and witnessing with time-honored and century-old victories in the hands of God!

Medical outfit gives a boost to de-addiction treatment

2011-06-18T05:44:00.001-07:00

Oman's potential for medical tourism has got a new impetus with MediCare Tourist, a local outfit, stepping in to cover the constraints of inadequate manpower and facilities.
MediCare Tourism, a division of Travel Point LLC, has focused on providing the best partner hospitals and doctors for satisfying the needs of their patients. The partner hospitals and medical centres are among the largest, most trusted and internationally accredited available in Oman.
Dr Vishakha Deshmukh, medical adviser of MediCare Tourism, who has more than 15 years of experience in the medical profession in India and Oman, gives useful advice in understanding and analysing the patient’s disease as well as guiding them for quality treatment. Moreover, while discussing the patient’s ailments with the overseas treating doctors, it is much easier to convey the exact picture to them and get a realistic idea about the treatment programme outcome. MediCareTourism strives to take care of every detail, right from the time the patient goes to them with his complaint to the time he returns home after treatment. Patients are treated for orthopaedic, cardiac, cosmetic, ophthalmic, neurological and cancer treatment, as well as for weight reduction and rehabilitative programmes.
"We have added a treatment programme for alcohol and drug addiction to our numerous services. Oman has a large number of young population in need of this facility. Drug addiction is common among the youngsters of today, who will be the future of tomorrow. They resort to petty crimes to satisfy this need. Becoming a victim of drug is easy, what is difficult is to get rid of that habit. With the help of our trained and skilled partners we try to cure the addicts," said Dr Vishakha.
"Medical tourism or ‘global healthcare’ as it’s increasingly called, involves travelling to a foreign country for a medical procedure. This industry has been growing rapidly over the years as more and more people seek faster or cheaper alternatives to the healthcare offered in their own countries. Occasionally the medical procedure needed is urgent, but more often it is an elective treatment such as cosmetic surgery or dental care," said group general manager Travel Point LLC, Oman Sunil Prabhakar.

Britain's Got Talent? More like a very bizarre addiction

2011-06-05T11:05:00.001-07:00

Roll up! Roll up! Take your seats for the hotly-denied Britain's Got Talent conspiracy theory, in which an anonymous blogger claims Simon Cowell has fixed tonight's final so it's won by some tween singer – a tween Cowell has in fact had on his books for the past two years. Not since the alleged Islamist plot to target The X Factor has it been possible to give quite such a toss, and I'm thrilled to learn that lawyers for Cowell have attended a west London police station. Unfortunately, they reported the alleged crime of malicious communications, as opposed to the theft of an entire generation's neurons.

If you can judge a society by its imagined enemies as well as its real ones, then I can't help feeling Britain's Got Problems. The point about being plugged into the Matrix was that it allowed humans to believe they were at the peak of their civilisation. On that model, Britain is plugged into a conspiracy in which the apogee of human cultural achievement consists of a merely adequate pre-pubescent singer, a keyboard-bashing granny, and a couple of performing dogs. Take the red pill, Keanu! Whatever the truth is, it couldn't possibly be crapper than this.

Once again, we are obliged to confront the smallness of this septic isle. Not for us the suggestion that Pearl Harbour was secretly allowed to happen, or that alien remains are stored in a government facility. For us, it is the suggestion that a couple of talentless chihuahuas are going to be done out of their rightful victory by a kid with six months of disappointing record sales in him before his voice breaks.

Many of you will prefer to wait until Oliver Stone immortalises the tale on film, but for those in need of a recap, the facts are these: this week, someone claiming to be "a Sony music executive" posted detailed claims that Cowell had fixed Britain's Got Talent – claims that spread round the internet like wildfire. That the story was arrant cobblers was obvious from the first paragraph, in which the notional executive claimed the business "has left me increasingly uncomfortable about the integrity of Britain's Got Talent". The what, love? The "integrity of Britain's Got Talent"? I can't imagine a more ludicrous concept, short of "the corporate social responsibility of Spectre".

The claim that such programmes are secretly manipulated is not exactly new. Indeed, it was first made in the form of a cave painting. But we are talking low-level, amusingly ghastly manipulation, exemplified by shameless editing, or the former X Factor contestant whose father had died, who claims he was ordered by producers to sing Luther Vandross's Dance With My Father.

In fact, the real conspiracy in all these shows is not secret. It is right up there on the screen, and that is Cowell's greatest trick – all the greater for its preposterous blatancy. Put simply, the formula of a Simon Cowell talent contest is this: ordinary people queue in their tens of thousands for the chance to work for scale or nothing on a primetime, top-rating TV show, in which Cowell persuades the public to pay him (via phonelines) to tell him which acts he may sell back to them.

Lex Luthor it ain't. But then it doesn't need to be. Instead of the Great and Powerful Oz, I frequently imagine Simon Cowell as the man behind the curtain, working the levers of public taste while torn between opportunistic enthusiasm and gnawing inner despair at how easy it is.

So what are we to make of people's need to believe in conspiracy theories such as the one floated above? In his famous essay on conspiracy theories in America, the historian Richard Hofstadter noted that a significant part of these tales is psychological projection – people ascribe their own worst traits to the imagined enemy, thus relieving themselves of various kinds of responsibility. And so with an increasingly savvy reality TV audience, who understand that Cowell always wins, yet watch in ever greater numbers and have to find a way of elevating their involvement into something more than a mug's game.

Both fans and haters need to develop outlandish conspiracy theories because they can't actually believe millions upon millions are genuinely in thrall to this stuff. The weeks after the finale of a Cowell show are a bit like that scene in A Midsummer Night's Dream where the drug wears off and Titania can't actually believe she was carrying on with a donkey. What visions have I seen! Methought I was enamoured of Steve Brookstein! Even now, there will be countless folk who can't believe they invested time and possibly money rooting for Matt Cardle – last year's X Factor winner and a chap of absolutely zero star quality – or indeed for almost all the previous victors, who are essentially competing for the chance to be dropped by Cowell's record company inside of a year.

The only bearable explanation is that we are being duped by some master villain. And as the steward of a deadly serious theory in which Cowell is designated the Karaoke Sauron, I am quite convinced I should know.

The Addicts Under The Bridge

2011-06-05T11:03:00.001-07:00

Heroin addicts in Afghanistan's capital usually meet in hidden places. In an abandoned building. In a disused cargo container. In places where the dealers who bring them heroin paste can find them and they can spread the paste on tinfoil, light it, and inhale the smoke through a thin plastic tube.

But with so many addicts in Kabul, the hidden places are spilling into public view. One of those places is a bridge over the Kabul river in the neighborhood of Pol-e-Sukhta, near Kabul University. There, hundreds of addicts gather daily for their fix.

Recently, I went to the bridge to learn more. On the first visit, drug dealers chased me away with stones. On the second, accompanied by police, I was able to mingle with the addicts undisturbed and learn their stories.

The world I enter in the darkened recesses beneath the bridge stinks of urine and feces and is filled with trash. But the men there do not notice. Their attention is fixed only on the bright fire of their matches heating the heroin paste until it smokes and, then, for several blissful moments they enter the state they crave most of all, where nothing touches them.

Inadequate Medical Help

I speak with one user who had already been hours under the bridge and is between fixes. He says his story was typical of those around him, just as those around him were typical of the some 8 percent of Afghans the UN says is addicted to drugs, often opium or heroin. That is 8 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 64, twice the world average.
I said, 'I'm sick, I can't walk.' But the doctor said, 'we have no bed for you'

The man, who does not give his name, says he is 38 and used to be a professional football player. He says he picked up his habit while he was a refugee in Iran. There, he says, drug dealers offered people their first tastes of opium and heroin for free, knowing they would become addicted.

I ask if he ever tried to kick his habit since returning to Afghanistan. Yes, he says.

"I decided to leave [this habit behind]. I went there [to the hospital] for one month, coming and going, coming and going, and they told me 'don't smoke.' I said, 'OK.' The doctor told me, the day you decide, then don't smoke. So, I stopped. But then I began to vomit and have diarrhea. I said, 'I'm sick, I can't walk.' But the doctor said, 'we have no bed for you,'" he said.

The doctor had only one treatment for him: "The doctor told me to take cold showers. But I didn't feel better, I felt worse. Later, the doctor asked, 'are you feeling better now?' I said, 'yes.' And then he said, 'take this broom and sweep the hospital'. I said, 'am I a patient or a cleaner?' And the doctor said, 'if you don't do it, I will kick you in the stomach.'"

The man, who soon relapsed, tells his story so matter-of-factly that he seems to have lost hope he will ever end his addiction. And, unfortunately, the statistics for drug use in Afghanistan support that view.

Only one in 10 addicts receives any drug treatment, because programs are rare and underfunded. According to a study last year by the UN Office of Drug Control (UNODC) there are roughly 700,000 people in Afghanistan who want treatment for their addictions but cannot gain access to a facility. And even when they gain access, long-term treatments like methadone substitution are rarely available, making the likelihood of relapse high.

Unhappy Locals

The presence of so many addicts under the bridge is deeply disturbing for residents of the area. One man, Hamidullah, who lives nearby recently left this recorded message for Radio Free Afghanistan's popular talk show "Liberty Listeners."

Bible Prophecy? Arkansas' dead birds and dead fish prompt massive Internet search for confirmation of apocalypse and the end times | God Discussion

2011-01-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

Bible Prophecy? Arkansas' dead birds and dead fish prompt massive Internet search for confirmation of apocalypse and the end times | God Discussion: "There were many comments about 'biblical prophecy' coming true with dead birds falling from the sky, the dead birds being related to the seventh seal of Revelation (one suggested the sixth seal), and upon looking, neither the sixth or seventh seals mention anything about dead birds or dead fish. In fact, upon consulting Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, research using 'birds' 'fish,' 'dead birds,' and 'dead fish' turned up zero Biblical references. Hosea 4:3 was the closest the research turned up, and was brought up by one commenter. However, this verse talks about the whoring of Israel and the unfaithfulness of the priests of Israel and the people of Israel. It is not talking about end times, or anything having to do with the apocalypse.

Today's massive reaction to the dead birds and dead fish article reminds us of the Pew Research Forum study where 41% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return by the year 2050:"

heavy drinkers often don't become "normal" drinkers on their own

2010-11-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Given that heavy drinkers often don't become "normal" drinkers on their own, the takeaway message for clinicians and family members is to help connect a problem drinker to a community social service agency or Alcoholics Anonymous.

Using a telephone-screening program, researchers identified 672 problem and dependent drinkers who had not been in an alcohol treatment program for at least 12 months.

Eleven years later, men in the study had reduced their average number of drinks per month by 51 percent, and women had reduced their average number of drinks by 57 percent.

However, even after this reduction, male and female problem drinkers still consumed 160 percent and 223 percent more alcohol, respectively, than the average adult without a drinking problem.

The researchers pointed out that the greatest reductions in alcohol consumption occurred within one to two years after the initial screening and then slowed, suggesting that problem drinkers and heavy drinkers may never lower their consumption to the level of the general population.

"Most heavy drinkers maintain a steady level of heavy alcohol consumption over time," said lead researcher Kevin L. Delucchi of the University of California.

"It's pretty toxic, but somehow they manage to keep drinking at a fairly sustained level. Our people were functional, for the most part. They had addresses, a lot of them had insurance at baseline, and they're not at the 'bottom of the barrel,' which is interesting," he said.

The researchers also examined the factors that appeared to be linked with continued heavy drinking.

Participants who received help from Alcoholics Anonymous or community social service agencies were likely to drink less.

However, those who had heavy-drinking friends in their social network, received general suggestions that they do something about their drinking, and went to a formal treatment program were actually likely to drink more.

The study appeared in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. (ANI)

charged with murder in connection to a stabbing death outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting

2010-11-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

city man has been charged with murder in connection to a stabbing death outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting Wednesday night.

Jonathan Keith Niemic, 22, of 127 Hawthorn St., was arrested around 3:10 this morning, according to the Bristol District Attorney’s office. The victim, Michael Correia, 34, of Fairhaven, was found gravely injured and transported to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he died from his wounds, the DA said. The investigation led state and local police to an apartment complex at 159 Rockaway St., where Niemic was arrested without incident.

Eyewitnesses said Correia was at the meeting and, during a break, was stabbed multiple times by a man who pulled up near the entrance of a building that witnesses identified as the "Trinity Church soup kitchen" near the corner of Purchase and School streets around 7:15.

A crowd of dozens gathered near the crime scene in the aftermath of the attack. Some sipped coffee, others smoked cigarettes, others tried to get their cars moved before police cordoned off the block with yellow tape. Everyone was talking about the stabbing.

Accounts and narratives differed. Some said two people drove up in a silver SUV and a man exited the vehicle and stabbed the victim. Some said yelling and "commotion" could be heard from inside the building during the scuffle. Others said there did not appear to be any extensive argument before the violence erupted.

Kaiserstrasse pub, which opened last week, is the city's second "drinking room".

2010-11-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

corner pub in Kiel's down-at-heel Gaarden district hollow-cheeked men with tattoos sat at the bar, chain-smoking roll-up cigarettes as they cracked open the beers they had just bought at the discount supermarket down the road.

"They let you do what you want in this town, there's no pressure to go to anything like Alcoholics Anonymous," insisted one of them.

Behind the bar a corpulent bartender with shoulder-length hair and a worried look on his face puffed at a fag as he served up tea, coffee, coke and mineral water to the motley crowd around him.

Oddly for a corner pub, the row of beer taps behind the bar were capped. Permanently sealed and covered with a dishcloth, they visibly crushed even the remotest hope of a pint.

As probably the only drinking establishment in Germany in which you can smoke your head off but will always be refused an alcoholic drink, the bar in Kaiserstrasse is no ordinary pub. It is the latest of the city's so-called "drinking rooms" – a taxpayer-funded pub for alcoholics which social workers and the public have hailed as a runaway success.

"We are giving space to people who have serious problems who we have been unable to help," is how Torsten Albig, Kiel's mayor, justifies the project. "These people are part of our society and they won't just go away because they are a nuisance."

The Kaiserstrasse pub, which opened last week, is the city's second "drinking room". It costs taxpayers €33,000 a year to run. The pub is staffed by reformed alcoholics and members of the Hempel's social welfare organisation, which deals with the city's so-called "street scene" – the homeless, alcoholics and drug addicts.

Reinhard Böttner is one of the social workers there. He takes exception to those who argue that the project is proof of the welfare state's failure because it simply panders the problematic without trying to reform them. "The drinking rooms are one of the few ways of reaching these people. Do you think that you can just walk in and persuade them to kick the habit?" he asked.

The city's first drinking room opened seven years ago as part of an attempt to discourage street drinkers. The project was inspired by the so-called "fixing rooms" in Zurich in the 1980s to keep heroin addicts off the streets. Kiel says that its drinking rooms are so successful that other German cities, such as Dortmund and Hamburg, are planning to copy the idea.

"There are no complaints about the drinking rooms. Everyone has come to regard them as something positive," insisted Christoph Schneider, of Kiel's housing department, who is credited with inventing the idea. "The public are pleased that drinkers are off the streets and the street scene is happy to have somewhere to go. They don't much like drinking on the street. They want a social life as well."

The project caters for a clientele of 70 alcoholics and drug addicts on the heroin substitute methadone who also use alcohol heavily. They open at 10am and close at 4pm, and customers are allowed to buy only tea, coffee and soft drinks. If they want to drink alcohol, they must bring their own, and it is limited to beer or wine with a low alcoholic content. Violent or abusive customers are banned for periods ranging from 24 hours to a month.

However, the drinking room's most controversial rule is that customers should not be required to seek assistance to help them quit. "We never force people to get help," said Jo Tein of the Hempel's welfare group. "We only provide assistance if people ask for it."

The help offered includes advice on how to solve problems with landlords or manage finances. Staff also help to find customers low-paying jobs behind the bar or selling the city's "street scene" newspaper.

Mr Schneider said the project's softly-softly approach had helped some 20 alcoholics to kick the habit. He claimed an 87 per cent success rate for the drinkers who really wanted to stop. "We've almost completely done away with complaints from the public about alcoholics in parks and squares and causing a nuisance," he said.

Dirk, one of the drinkers, said that together with a group of other drinkers, he used to go to a nearby Aldi discount store and buy palettes of cheap beer to consume outside.

"We soon got complaints from the manager. Then the police used to show up and turn us over. It became such a hassle that we had to move on, but within a matter of days we had the police on our backs again," he said.

Like several of the drinkers, Dirk has a criminal record. He took to alcohol after he lost his job in Kiel's docks and his wife divorced him. A series of petty offences landed him in prison for a year. He subsists on the minimum German social security payment of €359 a month and lives in a council flat. He said all the doors except his on his floor had been kicked in.

"I don't like hanging around there. It's much nicer here in the drinking room. At least you can meet your mates," he said.

Dirk said he had not had a job since leaving prison. "They all know me round here. The job office has written me off as unemployable," he insisted. Kiel has an unemployment rate of 7 per cent.

Kai, the drinking room's barman and one of the few alcoholics who have managed to kick the habit with help from drinking-room support staff, said the project meant everything to him: "I stopped 18 months ago. I couldn't have done it without the drinking room. For me it was the first place I was accepted as I am. There was nobody trying to push me around and I no longer had to feel afraid," he said.

It’s strange that Wilson lived worse sober than he did as a hopeless lush.

2009-11-10T02:06:00.000-08:00

It’s strange that Wilson lived worse sober than he did as a hopeless lush. AA folklore casts his situation in a romantic light, using it to demonstrate that Wilson gave up everything for the cause, but this doesn’t fly. As a drunk, Wilson lived like his patron, Nelson Rockefeller, but when sober he and Lois used fruit boxes as furniture, and he continually bemoaned his tough financial situation. Wilson was no martyr, so his inability to earn a livable wage while sober is decidedly strange, especially from a man with such a finely-tuned financial mind. Wilson’s poverty was a boon to him, however, when the Cleveland chapter of AA accused him of embezzling funds from the Foundation and from royalties earned from the publication of the Big Book. The accusations were neither proved nor disproved, and most AA members seemed willing to cut Wilson some slack. In any event, Cleveland eventually got over their problem, and AA continued to flourish, even in the face of further controversy. From the time he was a young man, Wilson and the ladies were never far separated. He was an attractive fellow and women were drawn to his smarts and passion. His womanizing continued after his marriage to Lois and for the majority of his life. Though he had “cured” his addiction to alcohol, Wilson never lost his addiction to women. Late in her life, Lois claimed that, despite abundant evidence, she was never aware of any impropriety on the part of her husband. But she must’ve known.

initial meeting between Bill W. and cofounder Dr. Bob S. in 1935 in Akron was the single most important event in the 20th century

2009-10-31T23:10:00.000-07:00

It is not entirely clear to me, one who has never had a drug or alcohol problem, why I entered the professional field of drug and alcohol counseling and have remained there for the past ten years. There are vivid memories of my grandfather, a rural, smalltown, Dakota car dealer, periodically and predictably having to deal with his bother-in-law, who was 20 years his junior and worked as a mechanic in his shop, and his alcoholism. I know that my grandfather, an intense loyalist with family members, struggled a great deal inside himself as to how to manage my great-uncle's binges and absences from work. As a strong Enneatype 6 (E6) my grandfather must have certainly fought a raging internal war in his mind between his loyalist side and the side that wanted to punish my great-uncle's impulsive excesses by firing him.

It was while I was pastoring in "bush" Alaska that I was exposed to alcoholism of its worst varieties. It was also there that I strongly felt the "call" to leave the pastorate and enter the counseling field. In the midst of this life-changing decision I was also exposed first hand to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and its founder, Bill W. With exposure to AA's 12 Steps I found myself experiencing something of a kind of spiritual conversion experience in spite of never having had a drug or alcohol problem. I had had several significant spiritual experiences previously, but this one initiated me into the world of addiction and the human-ness of addiction as psychiatrist Gerald May would put it.

It shouldn't be too surprising to have a spirtual experience with the 12 Steps since it is, in fact, a "spiritual" program. M. Scott Peck has gone so far as to say that that initial meeting between Bill W. and cofounder Dr. Bob S. in 1935 in Akron was the single most important event in the 20th century. Peck also suggests that AA's 12 Steps is the only unique contribution to spirituality from the West. We could argue with Peck on these points, but the impact that AA has had on the entire world cannot be lightly dismissed.

Ten years go by and I am a seasoned veteran in the trenches of treating an extremely varied and diverse group of human beings with equally varied and diverse patterns and severities of alcohol and/or drug problems. For the past year, I have also been conducting an intensive evening program of nine hours per week that combines integration of the Enneagram, a depth system of spiritual and psychological insight featuring nine characterological energy styles or personality types, and my mental health and domestic violence experience with drug and alcohol treatment. During the course of developing and conducting this unique, integrated program I became reacquainted with the wonderful film depicting Bill W.'s life and experiences, "My Name is Bill W.", A Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, broadcast for the first time on television about ten years ago.

The film stars James Woods as Bill W. and James Garner as Dr. Bob along with JoBeth Williams as Bill's wife, Lois. Gary Sinise also turns in a fine performance as Bill's longtime friend Ebby Thatcher. Having integrated the Enneagram into my therapy practice for the past five years it was inevitable that the Enneatype of Bill W. - and what that would mean to the addictions field - would capture my imagination and energy. Tom Condon is correct when he states that most films unconsciously reveal clear Enneatype dynamics, so authoritative is the Enneagram in describing core, underlying human, characterological dynamics despite frequent, gross distortions by Hollywood's writers and producers. My Name is Bill W. is no exception to this.

The timing couldn't have been better for Dr. Paul Boroff, a pharmacist, to write a series of articles in The Enneagram Educator describing his personal experiences dispensing medications to identified Enneatyped individuals. (Dr. Boroff's series ended prematurely at type 6 with the termination of that publication. I also questioned at times Dr. Boroff's typing of certain individuals.) Of significant noteworthiness to our present concerns is Dr. Boroff's suspicion that most members of AA would seem to fall into the E6 category. It has been my personal experience in therapy as a professional drug and alcohol counselor that such is, in fact, the case, while at the same time realizing that the region of the country I practice in is significantly type 6 in cultural makeup. I believe Dr. Boroff's comment to be important from the standpoint of being a professional but uninvolved, objective observer outside the field.

With experienced, focused attention and intuitive knowledge and understanding of Enneatype 6, and especially the counterphobic (cp) dynamic of E6, it becomes abundantly clear that the film depicting Bill W.'s life from the end of WWI to well after the founding and proliferation of AA in the US describes the counterphobic dynamic of Bill W.'s E6.

In looking at a movie of this variety--one whose intent is to depict a real-life character and the events surrounding that character--the question inevitably is raised as to the historical authenticity of the movie's portrayal of events. Since this can be a problem--Hollywood has felt free to stretch some history beyond recognition--I've decided to include in parentheses the page number from the Third Edition (1976) of Alcoholics Anonymous next to the movie section with descriptions from Bill Wilson himself of the particular event under discussion. This section alone (pp. 1-16) provides consistent first hand data verifying the events of the movie to a significant degree.

The overarching theme which connects the movie's description of the counterphobic variety of E6 to Bill W.'s life is the "conquering hero" motif that is introduced almost immediately in the movie and forms a thread throughout. It would be wise at this point to separate and distinguish this "conquering hero" motif from Campbell's "hero" archetype. Certainly Campbell's "hero" archetype is more universal and would apply to a number of the Enneatypes, if not actually all nine of them in one form or another. The "conquering hero" motif in this movie is connected to the characterological trait linked specifically to E6 as hyperalert protectionism that is commonly engaged in an underdog situation or when the E6 feels "up against it." This dynamic, at the deepest level, is motivated by the energy of fear where the counterphobic corrals energy in an extremely focused way for a specific goal to be accomplished. The problem encountered frequently with counterphobic individuals is that the fear is extremely well hidden in most cases. And the movie portrays this quite well. For much of the movie we really don't know for sure how intense fear is involved as the core motivator in Bill's life. But one brief scene, which will be looked at in detail, provides all the evidence we need to see the deep well of fear that can only come out for Bill in his most defeated and vulnerable moments.

The "conquering hero" theme begins almost immediately in the movie which begins in a scene at Dr. Bob's house where Dr. Bob (cofounder of AA with Bill) is near death in the 1950's. As Bill and Lois pull away from Dr. Bob's house a brief dialogue occurs between them that not only reveals the bipolar dynamic (typically referred to as "all-or-nothing thinking") of Bill W. but leads us into a flashback of immediate post WWI when Lois specifically refers to Bill as her "conquering hero." The conversation reveals the bipolar dynamic in that Bill W. can heroically address thousands at an AA convention with courage and confidence, but doesn't know how he will go on in life with Dr. Bob passing on.

The flashback scene depicts Bill and Lois in 1919 walking the streets of New York, Bill still in uniform carrying his Army bag, heading to the tavern where Bill's Army buddies laud him for his courage and bravery. Bill has just referred to his love of being in authority, combined with being a caring parental figure who "understood how (his men) felt: alone, afraid" and how he "loved being a leader, giving orders" (p.1). There is a strong military theme that runs throughout the E6 character that is connected by the issue of authority. Bill's description of himself combines both this authority dynamic and the sensitivity of feeling that often prompts healthy caring of others, but also frequent overresponsibility for others' pains and desperate situations without good boundaries.

This conquering hero dynamic is well stated by Patricia Tobey, the counterphobic E6 exemplar in Helen Palmer's video Nine Points of View: Nine Women in Relationship -

I can move mountains for someone else. But for myself, if it's just my own situation, I can become very paralyzed. But put a cause in front of me and nothing can stop me. To this day I don't understand the dynamics of it; it is amazing. There's a tremendous amount of energy in that way in dealing with people that has got me into some pretty wacky relationships, actually. Because I tended to pick people in pain, people who were struggling with addictions. In some ways it allowed me to not deal with my own issues, but it also gets a tremendous amount of energy going in me . . . and I can do a lot with the situation. but it's not a healthy relationship.
We see this dynamic repeated consistently in Bill's life throughout the movie culminating in Bill and Lois essentially opening up their home as a combined treatment center/halfway house for any alcoholic off the street they can pick up (p. 15).
The conquering hero continues in the depiction of Bill's career as a stock broker. He quickly becomes bored, frustrated and angry over his job writing the latest stock numbers on a chalk board and announces to Ebby that he's going to be "top banana of my own outfit . . . now that I've made the world safe for democracy" (p. 2). A key scene occurs when Bill meets with the head of a large brokerage firm trying to sell him on the idea of being a corporate spy who infiltrates businesses on "the front" gathering secret information useful in stock trading. Again we see the military and hero themes pronounced along with the E6 need for certainty forming a clear characterological pattern. However, the head of the brokerage firm, Ebby's boss, is "too conservative" for this idea and turns Bill down. What ensues is the first indication the movie gives of the E6 bipolar dynamic interfacing with alcohol use. Bill immediately moves from an exaggerated, idealistic imagination to a frustrated, angry, who-gives-a-rip (depressed?) attitude and spends the night in song and drink despite having told his wife by phone a number of hours earlier that he would be home shortly.

This scene is important in that it depicts several key counterphobic features. It is a good example of what Tom Condon calls the E6 type of "romanticism"--a romanticizing, not of a relationship or feelings (as in E2 or E4), but of an imagined ideal.1 But when the imagined ideal fails, even just temporarily, the E6 can only conceive of one other option--the bipolar opposite extreme, a kind of depressive failure with feelings of being victimized in some way that is accompanied by anger and revenge that often leads to thoughtless, impulsive decisions that are universally regretted later, forming a cycle of abuse and remose that is repeated.

The aspect of CP E6 attention should also be mentioned here. The intense extreme ("bipolar") to which the energy to conquer a goal is focused blinds the E6 from being able to focus attention toward other important things in the environment. It becomes like a laser beam--extremely powerful in its energy and force, but very narrowly focused. I've also likened this dynamic to a Japanese fan which, when spread out, covers a broad path, but when retracted becomes very narow. The result of Bill's intense focus on conquering the financial world is that he quickly loses focus on the importance of his wife who just happens to be hemoraging from a failed pregnancy and nearly dies had it not been for the coincidental intervention of Lois' father, a physician.

The scene also illustrates how the defense mechanism of projection can work in very subtle, but powerful ways with individuals that are not quickly or normally identified as "authority figures." Bill has subtly and unconsciously projected a great deal of his own personal, relationship power onto his wife Lois who becomes one of his personal litmus indicators as to whether or not he is okay. The repeated cycle of promise, failure of promise, remorse is rooted in this dynamic. Bill, as an E6, makes the promises to his wife Lois (to quite drinking, to make it all up to her, etc., etc.), not because he really means it. He only makes the promises to her because he inwardly, greatly fears her wrath and anger as a projected authority figure and the promises are only given to avoid immediate "punishment" from the "authority figure." These promises are made frequently because of the powerful counterphobic belief that anything can be conquered if one just tries hard enough. But it only leads to repeated failure, remorse and an exaggerated sense of guilt which is manifested through self-punishment rather than positive, realistic and constructive improvement (p. 7). Lois eventually gets fed up with this cycle later in the movie and angrily chastises Bill.

Following Lois' recovery, Bill's counterphobic, goal-oriented determination leads him to appoint himself as a business spy. He and Lois head upstate on a camping trip to include infiltration of up-and-coming businesses (p. 2). Posing as a Thomas Edison employee and with the help of alcohol he provokes a challenge to General Electric research scientists in the tavern and gains access to GE's top secrets. In a state of ecstasy Bill rushes back to camp late at night to find Lois inside their tent quaking in fear, holding a hunting knife. This is the first of a number of scenes which depict Lois as the opposite, phobic manifestation of E6. She has imagined all kinds of horrors happening outside the tent and practically drives herself crazy with fear. The ensuing scene would be comical if not for its realism. Bill is off in his romantic ideal of success while Lois is crying tears of anxiety and fear. They remain at their opposite poles without any sense of connecting with each other. Lois, in effect, unconsciously, demands that Bill meet her emotional need while Bill demands that she meet him in ecstasy and neither gives in to meet each other.

The result of the expedition is that Bill gets hired (p. 3) and becomes an overnight success at the brokerage firm that originally rejected him. In the meantime all the alcohol that has been used to loosen things up escalates into increasing loss of control and humiliating circumstances. There is the dinner party at his home with his wife's family where he becomes intoxicated with wine ("it's not booze") at the table and spills his glass in front of all the guests due to impaired motor function. Then there's the party at his boss' best friend's house where he winds up getting drunk with another woman in the wine cellar only to be discovered by his boss, who promptly fires him, and his wife.

Finally, Bill is coerced by his wife to see the alcohol specialist Dr. William Silkworth who would later write "The Doctor's Opinion" in the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. At this checkup it is revealed that Bill has some liver damage. Bill explains that alcohol is a necessary part of his business and engages in what would best be called counterphobic minimizing (commonly referred to in the alcohol counseling field by the often-distorted and cliched term "denial"). Just as the phobic E6 tends to maximize situations by blowing them up out of proportion in order to anticipate and avoid danger, so Cp E6 tends to minimize situations in order to conquer or challenge the fear or danger. Both are at unrealistic extremes (varying greatly from individual to individual) and tend to cling to their respective poles. In order to conquer a situation the counterphobic can't be hanging around feeling a lot of fear which would have the natural tendency toward phobic response. Therefore, the fear is shoved away, out of conscious feeling in order to conquer a situation or goal. As a habituated pattern, then, the counterphobic minimizes situations of potential danger including alcohol dependence. Also, as mentioned earlier, it is the belief that if a problem should arise it can always be conquered by limitless energy wrought from extreme romantic idealism or mythologizing. The counterphobic is habituated to conquering and not only sees no use for moderating limits but feels inwardly worthless, defeated and extraordinarily guilty by not conquering a situation--thus the difficulty, for example, in the counterphobic admitting defeat to an alcohol problem. The energy always naturally flows to proving others and the self wrong that there is an alcohol problem.

We see both the bipolar dynamic with respect to alcohol and the counterphobic energy of determined conquering in the movie's next scene depicting the great stock market crash of the late 20's (p. 4). In a flurry of frenzied phone calling Bill is determined to "not go down with everyone else" all the while he's putting down a fifth of whiskey. Later on that night he arrives at his expensive highrise condo to announce to Lois that they are being evicted from the building. He staggers drunk down the street only to be rounded up the next morning with the skid row bums, still dressed in his suit and tie. The thought of not being able to conquer the goal and realize the romanticized dream forces the alternate, bipolar belief that everything is shot to hell without hope of recovering. This is an extremely common self-defeating pattern among many counterphobics where alcohol and/or drugs serves as the primary vehicle for E6's being one's own worst enemy.

The great bulk of what I will call the "traditional" alcohol and drug treatment community erroneously believes that it is the alcohol which is to blame for the characterological difficulties among abusing clients. This was recently typified by a discussion I had with an upper management executive, a recovering alcoholic himself, of a very large alcohol treatment provider with well over 20 facilities in southeastern Wisconsin. There is little reason to doubt that as a very high-level spokesperson for this large provider his opinion represents a large proportion of the community. Yet even the events of Bill W.'s own life contradict this cherished belief. Before there ever was an alcohol problem, and even after Bill had completely given up alcohol, the characterological counterphobic dynamic dominated Bill's life.

When examined closely it is not too difficult to understand why this misbelief has taken place. I know this top executive well enough to say that he is also an E6 personality. In fact, most of the alcohol recovering and treatment community is E6, following the lead of Bill W. Since projection is a dominating defense for E6 what has naturally happened is that projection has been used extensively on the material of alcohol itself. The power/authority/will of the E6 gets projected onto and magnified in a significant way onto alcohol making it look like a powerful giant with a kind of personal, mythologic or demonized quality. This is highly evident in most treatment centers where counselors go through exercises with clients helping them to grieve the loss of their personal relationship with alcohol as though they had just lost a spouse. Alcohol is thus blamed for a whole host of problems including actually being able to change the characterological structure of a person!!! This blaming, while given lip service by counselors as a contraindicated condition, is nonetheless practiced by these same counselors! All this projection of power onto alcohol has the distinct tendency to keep authority/power/will out of the hands of the client where it is most needed.

It is now 1931, three years later, and Lois has convinced her father to let them stay with him (p. 4), so severe has been their fall. We get another good example of Lois' E6 character in her codependent enabling of Bill's alcohol problem through her mythologizing of Bill while at the same time being resentful and angry over his alcohol problem. She states to her father in the hallway while Bill waits out in the car that she "sees things in him that he can't see in himself." Yes, what she "sees" is an unrealistic, mythologized image of Bill that isn't true. Neither is he as bad as she thinks at the other end of the bipolar spectrum. Of course, it doesn't take long before Bill comes stumbling home drunk and has to be sedated by Lois' physican father. This scene also would be comical if not for its realism. First of all, Bill reveals the depth of his guilt by telling Lois to get rid of him and how no good he is. But the second that Lois' father agrees with that advice Bill shrivels to a 10 year old boy who begs Lois not to leave him. Tom Condon refers to this as "age regression" among E6s in his video "Tom Condon Discusses 5's--6's--7's."

Meanwhile, in the midst of attempting to cope with his alcoholism, Bill continues to make his counter-phobic spy-behind-the-lines tactic impress his now former boss (p. 5). The former boss slaps some cash in Bill's hand as a show of patronizing pity for Bill's condition. Delighted over some sign of self-worth Bill shows up still quite intoxicated at the department store where Lois now works in order for them to live. Store security is quickly called and a struggle ensues with Bill falling down a flight of stairs landing him in Dr. Silkworth's hospital where he begins to go into the DTs. With Bill screaming in the background Dr. Silkworth and Lois are shown engaging in an extremely interesting conversation. Dr. Silkworth tells Lois that he thinks Bill's alcoholism is a "disease . . . an allergic addiction . . . (an idea that's) not too popular with my fellow doctors" (p. 7). This scene would lead us to believe that what is popularly known today as the "disease concept" was originated with Dr. Silkworth in 1931. However, the truth of the matter is that this idea was proposed and held by other doctors centuries earlier.

Even more interesting, however, is Lois' reply to Dr. Silkworth: "What good is knowing that if he can't stop?" This question raises the extremely important issue of responsibility within AA and the alcohol treatment community in which there is a great deal of confusion going on. Because of projection in E6 this "disease concept" lends itself perfectly to creating all the confusion surrounding this matter. With alcohol and the "disease" appearing to be a greatly magnified giant over which the alcoholic is "powerless" how can the E6 make any kind of decision or choice facing this overwhelming imagined scenario? The truth of the matter is that the individual is NOT powerless over alcohol or a disease! When the E6 is able to recognize projection, take back their own power/will/choice-making ability they can and do make choices for themselves that are helpful to their own cause. The whole notion of being powerless over alcohol (from step 1 of the 12 Steps) easily leads many E6 drinkers to think fatalistically which, to one degree or another, is already a characterological feature of E6. "If I'm powerless over alcohol then what's the use?" The real issue involved in this whole matter is the acceptance of a realistic view of self and life. If the reality is that I have a persistent loss of control problem with alcohol I must accept the limitations I have with respect to alcohol and I may very well never be able to drink again. What the Cp E6 must come to grips with is that the natural "up against it" energy for a cause, fix-it dynamic, characterological pattern doesn't always work in life, and, in fact, it actually works against the self in areas of life like alcohol and close relationships. But when one has relied on this feature all one's life to get where they're at and depends upon it for their sense of value and worth it becomes excruciatingly difficult to decide against it. Thus, in the 12 Steps of AA, in Step 1 the phrase "powerless over alcohol" actually means "I can't always use my counterphobic, conquer, fix-all mentality to deal with everything in life; I have to accept limits and realize this, especially with alcohol." Since Bill W., as the cofounder of AA and compiler of the 12 Steps, is a Cp E6, naturally the primary application and the bulk of the effectiveness with the 12 Steps and particularly Step 1, is going to be with open, willing Cp E6s. Toward the end of the movie there is a flashforward to Dr. Bob's death bed where we hear a conversation voiceover between Dr. Bob and Bill. We hear Dr. Bob say, "We just don't drink." This "just don't drink" is an example of E6 taking one's power back and making a decision for the self. It means taking responsibility for myself and for any condition that I might have. This semantic confusion has never been explained and cleared up by contemporary AA groups.

Following his detox in the hospital the next scene finds Bill standing alone in his father-in-law's house gazing contemplatively out the window as Lois enters the room. In phobic E6 fashion Lois assumes excessive amounts of responsibility for Bill's alcohol problem in her imagination and asks him about it. After Bill denies that it is any of her fault he launches into a Hamlet-like semi-soliloquy. This is the part referred to earlier in this paper that clearly reveals Bill's core of fear and low self-esteem as the result of E6 projection. What was present inside Bill nearly all of his adult life and hid so well is forced to appear under the excruciating, firey purgation of his alcoholism. To get the full effect of this revelation I am reproducing this semi-soliloquy in full. To Lois' question "Why? Why do you do it to yourself?" Bill responds:

I've been standing here all afternoon asking myself the same question: "Why?" I look out the window and look at all the normal people walking by. (pause) It's funny; (pause) I don't think I've ever felt normal all my life. I mean (pause) like other people. I feel different somehow, like I don't quite measure up. Ever since I can remember I've had this feeling (pause) deep down in my gut--scared. I see people laughing, at ease with each other. I'm on the outside looking in, afraid maybe that I won't be accepted. And then, overseas [in the military during WWI] I found that a drink, a few drinks, makes me feel comfortable--like I always want to feel. It gives me courage to be with people (pause) do things (pause) to dream. The money, the success, the respect--it was all good for awhile, but it never seemed enough. I always want doubles of everything to make me feel alive, worthwhile inside. And then it all began to slip away. (pause) I feel cheated, angry, always so full of fear. So I drink--more, and it makes it okay, for awhile. I convince myself that things will turn around tomorrow, soon; (pause) that I'll make it all up to you. But it only gets worse. I keep promising you, others, myself: "That's it! No more!! Going on the wagon! That's it!!! And I think I mean it; (pause) but the guilt, the depression; (pause) I can't look in a mirror or at you, especially at you. I've stopped believing in everything, people, God, myself. I know it sounds insane, Lois, but inspite of all this, what I want right now more than anything else is another drink.
An entire book could be written on this scene alone. Suffice it to briefly hit the high points. Key is the identification, three times, to the core energy and motivator of fear. Also is the negative comparison of the self to others as the result of projection. The competent, successful outside is compensatory behavior for an inner core of the doubting self. The character issue of courage for E6 comes to the fore in this section. There is a definite implied cowardice (Naranjo calls the neurotic E6 "the coward"), especially in reference to the use of alcohol as the power to create inner courage. I will often use the phrase "liquid courage" with E6 clients when referring to this affective type of alcohol use. A great deal of alcohol counseling has traditionally denied that the feeling life or psychology has anything to do with the person's drinking, stating that "it's the 'disease'" or the addiction, thus extremely minimizing the psychological involvement in the dynamics. The counterphobic aspect of "wanting doubles of everything" typifies the mental attitude of the more and bigger, the better, which leads to disasterous results in some situatons. I have even gone so far as to clasify this type of drinking as the counterphobic pattern of chemical use. The movie Bill W. also accurately refers to the bipolar dynamic of counterphobic, extreme causes winding up short of the expectation leaving the E6 feeling at the opposite extreme--"cheated (an implied victim), angry, full of fear." Finally, we could not leave comment on this section without referring to the implied religious or spiritual aspects exemplified in the loss of faith--the quality which has been marginalized 2 in E6. Because God is projected upon as the ultimate authority figure, when "God" doesn't do the will of the E6, then the E6 "punishes" God by reacting against the only thing God truly wants from the individual--faith.

Taking seriously the warning of Dr. Silkworth that Bill would have to be institutionalized for his own protection if he didn't stop drinking, Lois, along with Bill's friend Ebby, checks out a local, residential mental institution where the head doctor reassures them that "alcoholics imagine things, see things . . . they aren't feeling any real pain" as they walk by the rooms of residents who are loudly moaning and in obvious pain. Ebby, who by this time had come to realize his own alcoholism and found recovery in an evangelical movement called the Oxford Group, agrees to Lois' request to talk with Bill rather than trying to have Bill institutionalized. The subsequent meeting between Ebby and Bill in the kitchen takes up, by far, more space than any other single topic in Bill's chapter 1 of Alcoholics Anonymous (pp. 8-12). The movie scene gives us the impression that this meeting was far shorter than Bill's reallife account of the event. The result is that Bill, quite intoxicated during the meeting and attempting to get Ebby to drink gin with him, becomes angry, bitter and hypercritical, followed by a bipolar swing to remorse and emotional charm, but remains quite unconvinced in the end.

Section Two: Hitting Bottom - Bill's Spiritual Conversion Experience skip to
section three

In the following scene we find Bill frantically searching the house for another hidden bottle only to discover the mental institution's brochure given to Lois at her visit. There could not have been a more severe blow to Bill's counterphobic mentality and he waits in the darkened living room drunk until Lois comes home in the evening to angrily read her the Riot Act. But the straw breaks the camel's back for Lois and she does an about face bipolar flip of her own to the counterphobic side launching an all out verbal and physical attack on Bill for which we feel like jumping up and down in joyous support. Bill angrily and defiantly stumbles out of the house, runs into people and automobiles and finally into a utility pole that leaves him lying in the gutter, literally. We then see Bill lying in the hospital, again going through the DTs (p. 13).

We reach the apex of the movie with Bill in his hospital bed thrashing in tortuous internal conflict reminiscent of Jacob's wrestling with the angel when, out of sheer exhaustion, Bill let's go and he experiences a supernatural, mystical experience of the divine in which a "peace that passeth all understanding" grips his inward being to the core resulting in a full blown conversion (p. 13). Dr. Silkworth, the next morning, sees the remarkable change in Bill and encourages him to stick with it even though the doctor is "a man of science" (p. 14). In addition, Bill describes the "fear, dread" and feeling like he was going crazy just prior to his converion experience, another indicator of his E6 core.

We could not let this part of the movie go by without some significant comments. First of all, it must be realized that it was this spiritual conversion experience that dramatically shifted the personal energy with the result that Bill never drank again in his life. I have literally heard from dozens of my clients how people in AA meetings try to convince them that they cannot stop drinking without the help of AA. Yet Bill W. himself stopped drinking without the help of AA--AA yet to have been formed historically. Also, as a former pastor, I have heard dozens of stories and have known people who completely quit without the help of AA. Certainly we cannot fault AA for the misguided notions of some who attend. Yet, at the same time, I believe there is a degree of ignorance in many AA groups surrounding this idea. Those who militantly propose that only membership in AA can lead to sobriety have not read in The Big Book (the common name used in AA circles for Alcoholics Anonymous) itself in the Foreward on page xxi: "Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly."

It is also imperative that the clear, spiritual underpinnings of AA be discussed. Common misconceptions abound in both AA and AA-promoted treatment centers regarding this topic. One of the most tragic and confusing distortions of the original AA spirituality has been the use of many AA members to make their "higher power" anything they so choose as long as it helps them to avoid the real, genuine Higher Power. One AA member, a biker, once told me his higher power was his leather jacket. I have yet to ever hear of the kind of conversion experience that Bill W. had using some inanimate object as a "higher power." It is still beyond my comprehension how someone could consider something inanimate, like a leather jacket, to be a "higher power" than his own, personal human being, extremely complex and awesome. Of course, this confusion stems from the phrase in the 12 Steps referring to God "as we understood Him." This has been taken by members of AA to completely deny the existence of God as a Higher Power. Looking at this situation through E6 we can more readily understand what is happening. In E6 God becomes the ultimate projected authority, ascribed demonized qualities in a grossly exaggerated way, usually because of a characterological dependence where God was viewed as victimizing the individual in some way because of some painful events that took place in the individual's life (usually childhood). God must, therefore, be rejected and some other thing must be the substitute, with the result of far less power, if any power, available to the individual. It is disappointing to hear such notable individuals in the field, like Father Martin, a Catholic priest, suggest that the AA group be the higher power. This kind of substitution was clearly not envisioned by the founders of AA. The essence of that discussion that took place in Bill's kitchen with Ebby is that if a person has an unrealistic, critical (projected) view of image of God, the individual can feel free to be open to a healthier, more positive view of God, but it is still God, not some inanimate object or even the AA group. Because of contemporary AA's difficulty with control issues, something that is characterologically common in E6, many AA members have been unwilling to accept some prospective members' disbelief in God and, thus, have felt free to water down, or allow to be watered down, the image of God in order to make the prospective, unbelieving member more comfortable. I understand that the only requirement for AA is a sincere desire to stop drinking and doesn't necessarily involve belief or disbelief in God. But this is beside the point being made about the image of God. Both can be accomplished at the same time--accepting nonbelievers in a nonjudgmental fashion and promoting a healthy image of God.

In addition, the spiritual nature of AA, by necessity, includes the total, genuine, complete free will of the individual to participate in AA. In the large alcohol treatment center where I conducted an intensive evening treatment program the treatment plan required the client to participate in AA and to obtain a sponsor in AA. I never followed through with this requirement because of my own strong conviction that any spiritual program involve the total free will of the individual without any direct or subtle and implied coercion, even though I am a very strong supporter of the original AA spiritual experience. Apparently so many alcohol counselors who attempt to coerce clients into AA have never taken seriously the statement in the Foreward of The Big Book on p. xix: "Our public relations were to be based upon attraction rather than promotion."

Section Three: The Postconversion Continuation of Counterphobic Character skip to
section four

The movie now moves on to a critical scene. It is 1933, several years after Bill's conversion experience and he, with Lois' help, has set up in their home what amounts to be a cross between a treatment center and a halfway house for any alcoholics he can pick up. The scene unfolds as Bill comes home late at night with Lois already in bed. They begin to have intimate conversation when the new drunk they have just brought in goes "berserk" and requires Bill's assistance. Lois angrily expresses her feelings of abandonment as Bill goes to help Ebby with the newest "client."

Perhaps the key element of this scene is the continued counterphobic character of Bill W., the "conquering hero," without good boundaries, attempting to rescue others like he did in WWI out of counterphobic energy for an underdog cause. His attraction to drunks can't help but remind us of the testimony of Patricia Tobey quoted earlier, and the fact that these "relationships" weren't healthy ones, continuing to distract his attention and energy away from the importance of his marriage. It must be stated again that it is this same counterphobic character structure that was clearly exhibited both before there was any serious drinking problem and during the heavy drinking years that we see in the postdrinking years. Bill W.'s own life debunks the common belief today that these character flaws are the result of alcohol. Bill also experiences the very common result that many counterphobics testify to of feelings of being taken advantage of (victimized), angry and irritated because of not having a good sense of limits and boundaries in how they expend their underdog energy for others.

In the meantime, Lois approaches Bill's former boss at the brokerage firm to get his job back. The boss is iimpressed with the report of Bill's newly found sobriety and hires him to spy on a proxy battle in Akron setting the stage for the now famous first AA meeting between him and Dr. Bob Smith. Two interesting things happen in the scene where Bill is frantically packing his bags for Akron and engaging in a "pity party." Bill's failure to reform any of his drunk clients leads him to say that he's a "drunk who doesn't drink," a statement that would soon be cliched into the form of "dry drunk." So heavy is the E6/AA projection of power onto alcohol that alcohol is even blamed (credited?) for behavior when alcohol isn't even involved!! In fact, a "dry drunk" is nothing more than the low end behavior of the characterological structure that was always a part of the person even though it may have been successfully hidden most of the time. 3 The second interesting thing in this scene is Bill's projecting of his own, doubting ruminations of his alcohol behavior onto his wife, accusing her of having bad faith in him. As a phobic E6 it is entirely possible that Lois could have been thinking this--phobics having the frequent tendency to engage in worst-case scenario thinking. However, Lois does not state this and the reference Bill makes to her facial features is likely his own projection.

Section Four: The Original AA Experience as Antidote for Counterphobic Character skip to
section five

We move to the hotel in Akron where Bill is anxiously awaiting the proxy battle outcome, all the while chain smoking. He notices the lounge in the far corner of the hotel and the scene leads us to believe he is battling his thoughts of alcohol use. After failed attempts to alleviate his boredom, he walks into the lounge leaving us with the anticipated, sickening feeling of an impending drunk. However, when asked by the bartender what he would like, Bill responds by asking for nickels--nickels to be used making phone calls to local clergy requesting to speak to another drunk. Finally, Bill is referred to Dr. Bob Smith, a local physician who has ruined his medical career with alcohol. The stage is set. Bill arrives at Dr. Bob's house where he is introduced to the wary physician, hands trembling and defensive in his speech. Almost as though he were anticipating the recent counterphobic Bill, Dr. Bob wards off an imagined conversion attempt by Bill referring to other well meaning individuals who have tried their best to reform him ("prayed over and carved up more than a Thanksgiving turkey"). What takes place next, when Bill is finally able to get a word in edgewise, shakes up and obliviates our expectations ushering in a spiritual power that explodes with the likeness of Pentecost. I have watched this movie perhaps 30 times now and this scene has never failed to bring a deep wellspring of energy and feeling in my gut that quickly rises and pours out as tears in my eyes. The reply by Bill, "I'm not here for you, Dr. Smith, I'm here for me" represents the radical shift away from counterphobic energy that Bill spent his entire life relying on for his sense of worthwhileness. Even after his conversion experience and subsequent period of sobriety his attention remained firmly fixed on the needs and problems of others. There is now a conspicuous shift of attention to himself, the lack of such attention being largely responsible for his inability to address his own alcohol problem. Such a dramatic shift of attention, I believe, can only be accomplished with the help of spiritual energy that often is only accessed after repeated failures and headbanging. This is the significance: AA was born out of the energy of withdrawing from the attempt to control others, to reform them, to convince them or coerce them into something. This dynamic flies in the face of a great deal of professional alcohol counseling these days where the bulk of the energy by the counselor goes to trying to convince the client how "bad" their alcohol problem is and to try to coerce them into something that the client is not yet willing to cooperate with yet. (This problem is magnified exponentially when E6 clients are mandated into treatment because of legal problems.) If alcohol counselors, especially recovering alcoholic counselors, truly wanted to follow the original example of AA they would greet their client at the first session by letting the client know in no uncertain terms how much they, the counselor, needed the client to facilitate their own sobriety and then go on to empower the client rather than to rob the client of their power by assuming the worst of the client ("they lie their heads off") and treating the client like a child who couldn't possibly think for themselves or make their own decisions. This is also clearly communicated in the movie in a following scene where Dr. Bob and Bill are walking down the street discussing their wonderful discovery. Of paramount importance, says Dr. Bob, is staying away from lecturing and preaching, control devices that are commonly used in alcohol programs. The secret, Dr. Bob goes on, is "to do what you did to me." What did Bill do? He discussed his own alcohol problem with Dr. Bob and stayed away from attempting to reform Dr. Bob in any way. Coercing clients and requiring them to attend AA violates the tradition of AA itself!!

Thus with evangelical zeal Bill and Dr. Bob set out to try their technique on other drunks and AA is officially launched. But what was supposed to be a week's stay in Akron turned into four months much to the dismay of both Lois and good friend Ebby who meets Bill at the train station in New York intoxicated after going on his own bipolar swing of jealousy. Ebby runs off never to be seen again in the movie. In fact, the movie implies that Ebby, who occupies so much of Bill's discussion in chapter 1 of The Big Book, especially with regard to spiritual principles, is not involved in the startup and growth of AA. His disappearance is a mystery. We are also left wondering what happened to Bill's job again. Would his boss put up with him staying in Akron for four months? We're never told.

It also prompts a crisis in Bill's marriage. Lois, still clinging to her own control tendencies with respect to trying to change Bill, confronts Bill late at night about her disenchantment with their marriage. She suffers under the same illusion that so many others have had--the illusion that once the drinking stopped everything would be okay. This is another case of severe projection of power onto alcohol and effectively argues against the mistaken notion that alcohol has caused the characterological difficulties. If this is true, why do these characterological difficulties persist well beyond the cessation of drinking? It is because the problem is rooted in the person, not in the alcohol. Many of our modern alcohol treatment centers still don't seem to understand this. In Bill and Lois' marriage, like so many others, alcohol served the purpose of shifting attention away from the real people involved in the relationship. The reason so many marriages break up after the drinking stops is that it is much easier to place the focus of attention on alcohol than it is on ourselves! Dealing with alcohol is relatively easy compared to a relationship!

Section Five: Counterphobic Character in the AA Years skip to
section six

Flashforward to Dr. Bob's deathbed and Bill and Lois' final visit where a contrived plethora of AA cliches comes pouring out. It's 1950 and Bill and Lois travel to California where they happen upon a church advertising an AA meeting. They attend it and it is clear that Bill is having some difficulty adjusting to being an anonymous hero instead of a conquering hero. No one at the meeting recognizes who he is--a blow to the old ego--in spite of significant clues given as to his identity. And old habits die hard. Following the meeting Bill again abandons Lois to play hero to yet another drunk as they talk, supposedly, for hours alone after the meeting and the movie fades to an end. In this final scene the movie leaves us with the impression that Lois, whether in actuality or not, has finally come to a resolution within herself to give up attempting to control Bill, change him and somehow acquire a "normal" marriage "like everyone else." There is a great sense of individuality revealed that allows her to move on with her own life and not define it so much by her romanticized view of how the marriage should be.

At this point it should be mentioned that counterphobic character is not being portrayed as all bad. If fact, the concept of character suggests that counterphobic character, quite the contrary, is a gifted condition, and that whatever negative consequences occur due to counterphobic behavior are the result of leaning excessively on a good thing in an unbalanced way. I believe it is safe to say that without counterphobic character there would not be such a thing as AA today. But our gifts come at a price and we must all decide what price we are willing to pay.

Section Six: Differential Diagnosis skip to
conclusion

Practitioners of the Enneagram might well wonder why Bill W. couldn't be an Enneatype 3 (E3). Certainly, Bill W. appears to have a number of E3 qualities, largely associated with his success orientation and projection of image. One could argue well for E3, however, there are key elements that beg for E6. His deeply felt, sensitive feelings for others, e.g. being the parental, understanding, caring figure for his men on the battle field, is experienced as much more available and genuine than we would see in E3, where emotional connection is largely severed and "feelings" are more contrived in the untransformed. The bipolar dynamic, so characteristic of Bill W. throughout the movie, is distinct to E6 and is not found in E3. The actual drinking or chemical use pattern is characteristic for Cp E6 where E3 tends to be quite selective in terms of where they use addictive chemicals, largely out of public view. Some might also suggest Bill W. to be an Enneatype 8, frequently confused with Cp E6. Again the feeling life and bipolar dynamic rule out E8. In addition, Bill clearly presents himself as a victim in several scenes, something that E8 does not conceptualize for itself.

Conclusion skip to
footnotes

My experience as an Enneagram practitioner in my private practice for the past five years and as a professional drug and alcohol counselor for the past 10 years with significant personal exposure to AA and to many individuals, both client and nonclient, in AA strongly suggests an E6 subcultural milieu for the recovering community including AA. It has also been my experience that this E6 milieu extends to the supportive groups of AA such as Al-Anon and Adult Children of Alcoholics and into support groups of traumatized victims, sexual abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is clear that the film "My Name is Bill W." is intended to portray a realistic picture of both Bill Wilson and AA. I believe that it succeeds even though certain details are Hollywoodized for the sake of the artistic expression.

It should be mentioned that both Bill and Dr. Bob, in real life, died quite painful and miserable deaths that were directly linked to their cigarette smoking. There has been a recent uproar of letter writing from some alcohol counselors in Wisconsin through the certification board's publication seriously questioning other alcohol counselor's addiction to nicotene and practice in the field of addictions. It reminds me of an alcohol counselor I worked with at a previous agency, a Cp E6, who stated that it was either cigarettes or marijuana. He could not possibly conceive of life without some kind of externally manifested, material addiction. The point of the letter-writing campaign, I believe, relates extremely well to the topic of this paper. The E6 focus of attention has been so heavily placed on alchol that other issues in life, just as serious, if not more serious in many cases, become neglected and fail to have energy addresed to the problem.

One final comment and observation will be made about E6 and the contemporary alcohol counseling field. It is indeed ironic that most of the damage that I have observed done to clients is done by recovering alcoholic E6 counselors toward clients who are also E6. 4 These counselors, though not drinking, have never gotten in touch with their own habit of projecting their own worst-case, imagined thinking onto their clients leaving the trust relationship, the absolute essential crux of therapy, in total shambles. Tom Condon has referred to E6 individuals being their own worst enemy. It is also true that the alcohol counseling field and their clients tend to be their own worst enemies within the E6 characterological style and energy pattern.

I love Bill W.'s life, his experience and the original spiritual expression of his movement. However, as with all spiritual movements, succeeding generations who either do not experience the original vision or only partially do so, begin to greatly dilute the original intent and experience of the movement. This is what we have seen with AA. It is to AA's credit that so many of its members continue to be extraordinarily helped. More than anything this paper is a call for all of AA to rediscover its roots and to take a new look at itself with the eyes of depth of insight through the Enneagram and through its founders.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes
1. I also like Claudio Naranjo's term "mythologize" (Character and Neurosis). However, the term "mythologizing" seems more appropriate when referring to a person rather than an ideal or situation. back to text

2. The CC-M Productions video, "The Path to Effective Leadership: The Enneagram as a Management Tool, Part 1," uses the phrase "quality lost in childhood." I don't believe the quality, e.g., faith, is "lost" in childhood; this is too strong. The quality is experienced from birth as being reduced, varying significantly from one person to the next, in strength. back to text

3. We must ask ourselves, "What is the difference between the exact same, unhealthy behavior of a nondrinking person and that of a drinking or formerly drinking person?" The answer is "Nothing!" back to text

4. It has been my observation and experience that counselors who are not alcoholic E6, for the most part, have been able to form better therapeutic, trusing relationships with E6 alcohol/drug clients. Something, perhaps, happened on the way from being an alcholic, and being able to relate empathically to other alcoholics, to an alcohol counselor--a position carrying with it a certain authority. It is likely this authority issue becomes paramount for E6 counselors who now have forgotten their early expeience of being powerless and the need to give up control, even over their clients.

Nothing changes,Thank God.early AA, at least on the West Coast, was full of raucous men and women bursting with the physical energy

2009-10-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: I grew up with a stepmom, Wynn, who had been fully prepared to marry Bill. He disengaged himself but put her "story" in the second edition of "Alcoholics Anonymous," in which the accounts of recovering alcoholics were included for the first time. She married my dad, her fifth husband, as a sort of consolation prize. Wynn was a wonderful woman, but I saw AA then from the point of view of a prissy, still-sober teenager, watching members bicker about whether taking an aspirin for a headache constituted a "slip," listening to stories of their friendships with a Personal God — "I told God to have you call me today," my stepmother would say after I moved out of the house. (And what could I possibly say? Maybe she had, and maybe He did.) But they didn't worry much about sex. ...
So I want to say for the record (and you won't find it on "Grapevine," or any other AA publication) that early AA, at least on the West Coast, was full of raucous men and women bursting with the physical energy that drying out brings. I speak now for Wynn (the Wynn I knew), who wrote "Freedom From Bondage" in the Book, and who, though she had five husbands, considered the high point of her life her amorous connection to Bill.
Wynn stood on our front steps one bright Christmas morning enthusiastically kissing a different handsome AA swain as others crowded past them, pushing inside to a party, where they would drink tomato juice and laugh like banshees, delirious with joy. They had found God (as they understood Him), and as long as they stayed away from booze and aspirin, they were okay; they were in the clear. They weren't ashamed of sex; they gloried in it.
"MY NAME IS BILL", Carolyn See, The Washington Post, February 27, 2004, page C02.

Bill Wilson just didn't want to be bothered with the hard work of resisting temptation.

2009-10-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Bill Wilson just didn't want to be bothered with the hard work of resisting temptation. Like so many other phony gurus, he lived a life of hypocritical irresolute self-indulgence, preaching "spirituality", "absolute purity", "rigorous honesty", and self-sacrifice to others while indulging in all of the pleasures of the flesh himself — with the sole exception that he does appear to have finally quit drinking alcohol after it nearly killed him.

"Founder's Watch" committee.

2009-10-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

The impression that he was a ladies' man seems to have come from the way he sometimes behaved at AA gatherings. When Bill wasn't accompanied by Lois (or later, Helen), he could often be observed engaged in animated conversation with an attractive young newcomer. His interest in younger women seemed to grow more intense with age. Barry Leach, who knew Bill nearly thirty years, told me that in the 1960s he and other friends of Bill's formed what they came to refer to as the "Founder's Watch" committee. People were delegated to keep track of Bill during the socializing that usually accompanies AA functions. When they observed a certain gleam in his eye, they would tactfully steer Bill off in one direction and the dewy-eyed newcomer in another.

Bill Wilson cheated on his wife Lois with many different women, both before and after sobriety.

2009-10-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Bill Wilson cheated on his wife Lois with many different women, both before and after sobriety. He even cheated on her while she worked in Loesser's department store to support him. "I'm going to a meeting" was often a double-entendre when Bill Wilson said it. Bill actually invented the old A.A. tradition of Thirteenth Stepping the pretty women who come to A.A. meetings seeking help for alcoholism. (First you teach them the Twelve Steps, and then you take them to the bedroom and teach them the Thirteenth Step....)

“hot flash” experience—the event resulting from his call for help to the “Great Physician” and his vision

2009-10-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

How many times have you heard that the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is God-given, was divinely-inspired, or was accurately characterized in the article by a Chicago judge: “Why We Were Chosen?” Or that Bill Wilson was guided by God when he penned the famous “Twelve Steps?” On the other hand, how many times have you heard the expression: “A.A. is spiritual, but not religious?” Or heard that A.A. requires a belief in a “higher power?” Or heard that A.A. is about “not- god-ness?” This book doesn’t address those questions. It is not about the nature of A.A. Nor about the place of the Creator in today’s program. Nor about whether AAs are a chosen bunch. It’s an account of the many ways the Creator seems to have touched the life of Bill W. and, through him, the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Did He impact Bill W.’s life and hence A.A. itself? You will meet a Bill W. you haven’t met in the dozen or so biographies of his life. You’ll look at events in Bill’s life you’ve probably never heard of— whether inside or outside of A.A. You will see how many times Bill seemingly had a conversion or religious experience, whether he called it that or not. You will see how many times religion and church and clergy impacted on Bill’s activities, whether or not he impacted on theirs. You’ll note the details about Bill’s decision for Christ at the Calvary Rescue Mission and his belief he had been born again. You will see the many examples of conversion experiences that Bill might have run across, just following his own “hot flash” experience—the event resulting from his call for help to the “Great Physician” and his vision that he had been in the presence of “the God of the preachers.” Was Bill Wilson converted? Did Bill Wilson become a born-again Christian? Did Bill Wilson truly believe in the one, true, living God? Were all of Bill’s frequent references to Almighty God a manifestation of what he really believed? God knows the answers. They’re His special province. Not mine. But you will have the opportunity to focus on a new question about the part our Creator may really have played in the life of Bill Wilson and in the worldwide Fellowship which began in Akron in 1935 and of which Bill was co-founder.

"The B. W. Movement."

2009-10-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

In one dark moment I even considered calling the book "The B. W. Movement." I whispered these ideas to a few friends and promptly got slapped down. Then I saw the temptation for what it was, a shameless piece of egotism.
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age, William G. Wilson, (1957), pages 165-166.

Bill Wilson would like to crowd God out

2009-10-28T11:08:00.001-07:00

Last night, Bill Van Horn & Mickey came over and got me & we picked up Bill Dotson[3], who now lives near King School, & we went out to Stow where I led the little group in a meeting — It was just like old times at T. Henry's — Every one felt they could get up and talk & you could feel that we were really gathered together in His Name & we had the real fellowship of the "Holy Spirit" that was left in the world, so we would never "be comfortless" — Bill Dotson said he had been to Albany, Georgia to speak. I told him that I had your letter & they were so glad to get news of you & spoke of you in the meeting.

I feel very sure that God has His Guiding Hand on our works, It looked for a while as if Bill Wilson would like to crowd God out but we know that it is up to us to seek more & more of God's power to help other people to know this way of Life & our fellowship. You certainly are doing your part & thank God, all those who have glimpsed the real vision are doing theirs. The joy of it is, to me, that those who have only been offered "the stone," are so eager & grab at the "bread," that we know we have to offer — as you say, it is appalling how little they have been offered by the would be "elder statesman" — but the 12 steps & the fact that, as Stanley Jones say, wherever man opens his mind to God, He reveals himself — they have helped the groping AA's — who have been denied so much of the real "bread" — & given the "stone" of Bill Wilson's designs.

But, Clarence, I have made one big whale of a surrender of Bill & his schemes — & all thought of him & the possibilities of what harm he could do just left me in the most amazing way. I don't have to try to "not think of him" again, I just don't — He is completely consigned to God by me & I know He can handle him — We will be closely knit — even with his taking the money & trying to take the book. I am sure he will need our pity & compassion because he has put himself apart from the real fellowship — more and more I see that the 16th Chapter of Luke that I read in answer to my asking to understand Bill & what he was doing, illuminated the situation — He has put himself with the "children of darkness" — he has his henchmen & ingratiates himself with those in the dark — Let us keep ourselves "children of the Light" & keep serving God, instead of "Mammon." Bill has made his choice — Read the chapter over.

I heard talk in Missouri 2 years ago about his connection with Sheen[1] but I don't imagine it is so. He imagines himself all kinds of things. His hand "writes" dictation from a Catholic priest, whose name I forget, from the 1600 period who was in Barcelona Spain — again, he told Horace Crystal[2], he was completing the work that Christ didn't finish, & according to Horace he said he was a reincarnation of Christ. Perhaps he got mixed in whose reincarnation he was. It looks more like the works of the devil but I could be wrong. I don't know what is going on in the poor deluded fellow's mind. He must be wistful. He asked Bill Dotson[3] if he knew where I was & Bill said "on Park Ave" & he said "Have you seen her"?

I learned from a Texas friend that a Chaplain in the prisons said the only way they really reached prisoners was thru Alcoholics Anonymous, even for the non alcoholic — so besides such things as that, Bill & his schemes pale into insignificance for us — I am sure. We can stand by & see him claim the "glory" if we can keep the "power" to help transform lives — Thank God, you & so many others are still doing that.

Henrietta Seiberling was the woman who introduced Bill Wilson to Dr. Robert Smith

2009-10-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Henrietta Seiberling was the woman who introduced Bill Wilson to Dr. Robert Smith, and was directly responsible for starting the whole Alcoholics Anonymous organization. It was Henrietta who answered the phone on that fateful evening in Akron, Ohio, in the spring of 1935, when Bill Wilson was at the Mayflower Hotel and afraid that he would relapse, so he was calling around to find another alcoholic member of the Oxford Group to talk to. Bill telephoned Rev. Walter F. Tunks, who was one of the staunchest Oxford Group members in Arkon, and Tunks referred Bill to a fellow who referred Bill to Henrietta Seiberling and Dr. Robert H. Smith, two other Oxford Group members.

Henrietta arranged an appointment for Bill to see her friend Dr. Bob the next day (because Dr. Bob was already passing-out drunk that day). Then, the next evening, Dr. Bob didn't drink while talking with Bill. Henrietta was so impressed that she arranged for Bill to stay in Akron longer and longer, just to help keep Dr. Bob sober. Bill ended up staying for all of the summer of 1935, living rent free and happily unemployed, getting free food and cigarettes and spare change from somewhere. Bill and Bob started their "Alcoholic Squad" of The Oxford Group during that time, the "anonymous bunch of alcoholics" that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous.

Henrietta Seiberling really loved Bill Wilson in the summer of 1935, and considered him a "God-send" for his help in sobering up Doctor Bob. So what made her hate him so much later on? Well, Henrietta says it was Bill Wilson stealing the money, and trying to steal the book. That is, stealing the Big Book publishing fund, and the copyright of the Big Book. Henrietta Seiberling isn't alone in that opinion: Doctor Bob's daughter, Sue Smith Windows, also says that Bill Wilson took the money and set up his own company, outside of the fellowship, and fraudulently copyrighted the Big Book in his own name, as the sole author, without the knowledge or permission of Doctor Bob or any of the other Akron members, and without the permission of the book's co-authors.

Bill Wilson appears to have been trapped in outer darkness from December 14, 1934, when he had his vision of God, to the very end of his life.

2009-10-28T11:04:00.001-07:00

Now, I don't think "thrown into outer darkness" is too strong of a description of Bill's predicament. Bill Wilson appears to have been trapped in outer darkness from December 14, 1934, when he had his vision of God, to the very end of his life. Everything he wrote was insane, and he grew darker and more depressed, and more depressing to others, as he aged. Five years after he wrote the Twelve Steps, he went into a deep clinical depression that lasted for 11 years. He was so sick that all he could do was sit in his office and hold his head in his hands all day long. Lots of days, he just didn't even bother to get out of bed — he just laid in bed and stared at the ceiling all day. His ravings in his book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which he wrote in the middle of that period of depression, 13 years after the Big Book

Cigarette smoking. Bill smoked himself to death, and died of emphysema and pneumonia

2009-10-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

After the initial rush of health that comes from quitting drinking, many people become more aware of the harm that smoking is doing to their bodies. They start to feel very depressed when they realize that they are still sick and addicted, and might die from it. But Bill wouldn't talk about that, because he was a totally addicted cigarette smoker who never quit. (Remember, we started this web page with the "spiritual" story of how Bill or one of his buddies wouldn't quit smoking.) Bill smoked himself to death, and died of emphysema and pneumonia, while telling people that smoking was okay. Bill didn't tell people to quit smoking if they felt depressed and discouraged, and wanted to feel better. He just told them to practice the Twelve Steps more. Bill was insane.

Continuing with that quote, Bill said that something bad will eventually happen in your life. I agree. It's Murphy's Law. Something bad will always happen, eventually, sooner or later. Bill said that you won't be able to handle it unless you do Bill's Twelve Steps. I disagree. There is absolutely no evidence that the Twelve Steps make you better able to handle those nasty blows and hard knocks that life can deliver, and Bill offered us no evidence of that, either.

Then, in another verbal shell game, more slick double-talk, Bill arbitrarily declared that we surely have a chance if we switch to doing all twelve of his steps, and if we also receive the grace of God. Yes, and I surely have a chance of winning the lottery, if I buy a ticket. But how much of a chance? There is not necessarily any connection between doing Bill's Twelve Steps, and receiving grace from God, but Bill deceptively linked them together in one sentence, as if he had a special exclusive wholesale distribution arrangement with God — as if God would give you His grace only if you were willing to do all twelve of Bill Wilson's Steps. What incredible arrogance. That's Bill's insane delusions of grandeur, again. That's "The patient thinks he has a special relationship with a deity", again.

And if you read those lines carefully, you will see that Bill was actually saying that the strength comes from receiving the grace of God — "that grace of God which can sustain and strengthen us in any catastrophe" — not from doing Bill's Twelve Steps, but Bill still wanted us to do all twelve of his Steps anyway.

Bill would not let even Lois, who was dying to do so, write the chapter titled "To Wives."

2009-10-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

Bill would not let even Lois, who was dying to do so, write the chapter titled "To Wives." After all, she was the wife who had endured Bill's drunken years and the houseful of alcoholics he was trying to wrestle into sobriety. "I have never known why he didn't want me to write about the wives, and it hurt me at first," she said.
Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, Nan Robertson, pages 70-71.

Alexander Lowen describes the development of a narcissistic personality disorder in a way that is reminiscent of Bill Wilson's childhood:

2009-10-28T10:43:00.001-07:00

Alexander Lowen describes the development of a narcissistic personality disorder in a way that is reminiscent of Bill Wilson's childhood:

All of us are vulnerable to being hurt, rejected, or humiliated. Yet not all of us deny our feelings, try to project an image of invulnerability and superiority or to strive for power. The difference lies in our childhood experiences. As children, narcissists suffer what analysts describe as a severe narcissistic injury, a blow to self-esteem that scars and shapes their personalities. This injury entials humiliation, specifically the experience of being powerlessness while another person enjoys the exercise of power and control over one. I don't believe that a single experience shapes character, but when a child is constantly exposed to humiliation in one form or another, the fear of humiliation becomes structured in the body and the mind. Such a person could easily vow: "When I grow up, I'll get power, and neither you nor anyone else will be able to do this to me again." Unfortunately, as we will see, such narcissistic injuries happen to many children in our society because parents often use power to control their children for their own personal ends.
Narcissism, Denial of the True Self, Alexander Lowen, M.D., pages 76-77.
And Bill's completely unrealistic picture of the alcoholic's family life is explained by denial:

The narcissist faces the risk of being overwhelmed by feelings and going wild, crazy, or mad, should his defense of denial break down. This is especially true of anger. Every narcissist is afraid of going crazy, because the potential for insanity is in his personality. This fear reinforces the denial of feeling, creating a vicious circle.
Narcissism, Denial of the True Self, Alexander Lowen, M.D., page 155.
That also explains Bill's strange attitude about anger. Bill insisted that you couldn't be angry at all — no matter what the reason — that it was very "unspiritual" to be angry about anything:

It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What about "justifiable" anger? If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad? Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk? For us in A.A. these are dangerous exceptions. We have found that justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to handle it.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William Wilson, page 90.
And Dr. Lowen explained the suppressed anger this way:

The need to project and maintain an image forces the person to prevent any feeling from reaching consciousness that would conflict with the image.
Narcissism, Denial of the True Self, Alexander Lowen, M.D., page 48.
That also gives us one cause for Bill Wilson's chronic, crippling, and long-lasting fits of depression:

Suppressed anger is a leading cause of depression.
Anger, Controlling the Fireworks, www.baptisteast.com/ANG001.htm
And another cause for the depression is that narcissists tend become depressed whenever someone contradicts their grandiose delusions. Bill certainly had enough to be depressed over. He could see with his own eyes that his so-called "spiritual program for recovery" had almost a 100% failure rate.

Narcissistic need is tremendous. Just as sharks must continually swim to keep from drowning, Narcissists must constantly demonstrate that they are special, or they will sink like stones to the depths of depression.
Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry, Albert J. Bernstein, Ph.D., page 130.

Unless the subject of the conversation is how great they are, Narcissistic vampires will become visibly bored. One of the main reasons Narcissists wear expensive watches is so they can look at them when someone else is talking.
Besides boredom, Narcissistic vampires have only two other emotional states. They're either on top of the world or on the bottom of the garbage heap. The slightest frustration can burst their balloon and send them crashing to the depths.
Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry, Albert J. Bernstein, Ph.D., page 136.

Bill having a nasty problem with delusions of grandeur. Bill Wilson's life in the period of 1930 to 1934 was like this:

2009-10-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

His hangovers and hallucinations were becoming more frequent. He panhandled and stole from his wife's purse. He would ride the subways for hours after buying a bottle of bootleg gin, talking gibberish to frightened strangers. He threw a sewing machine at Lois and stormed around their house in Brooklyn kicking out door panels. She called him a "drunken sot." He would be sober for days and weeks and then settle into bottomless bingeing. He barely ate. He was forty pounds underweight. His dark, withdrawn periods alternated with delusions of grandeur. Once he told Lois that "men of genius" conceived their best projects when drunk.
Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous, Nan Robertson, pages 42-43.
Nan Robertson implied that Bill Wilson's delusions of grandeur disappeared after he quit drinking, but Bill's writings do not show that. Neither does the rest of the literature about Alcoholics Anonymous.

The Big Book clearly shows that Bill Wilson was insane

2009-10-28T10:39:00.001-07:00

The Big Book clearly shows that Bill Wilson was insane. Not just a little bit crazy, not funny crazy, but really crazy, genuinely insane, clinically diagnosable. Mr. Wilson was suffering from paranoid delusions of grandeur and a messianic complex, or a narcissistic personality disorder — or perhaps some crazy combination of all of them.

Wilson was insane while he was drinking: he was suicidally drinking immense, almost superhuman, quantities of cheap rotgut whiskey or gin, one or two or even more fifths of it per day — "Drinking to Die" is what A.A. calls it. In the Big Book, (chapter 1, page 5, 3rd edition) either Bill Wilson or Joe Worth wrote in Bill's Story:
"'Bathtub' gin, two bottles a day, and often three, got to be routine."

The Prohibition-era "Bathtub gin" was infamous for being poisonous. It was occasionally contaminated with methyl alcohol ("wood alcohol"), which is terribly poisonous, and causes immense neural damage, if not blindness and death.

Even ordinary uncontaminated ethyl alcohol kills brain cells. Every big drunk where you wake up with a hang-over kills roughly 100,000 brain cells. Then malnutrition and thiamine deficiency can lead to a horrifying condition called Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome where you suffer such massive brain damage that you lose your short-term memory and ability to learn or remember anything new.

The A.A. saying is, "John Barleycorn promises us insanity or death." And it's true.

Even Bill Wilson himself reported that problem. Bill recorded a set of autobiographical tapes before his death, which the Hazelden Foundation then used as source material to write an "autobiography" of Bill Wilson. Bill quoted Dr. William D. Silkworth as saying, in midsummer 1934, that he had originally had some hope for Bill, but...

"But his habit of drinking has now turned into an obsession, one much too deep to be overcome, and the physical effect of it on him has also been very severe, for he's showing some signs of brain damage. This is true even though he hasn't been hospitalized very much. Actually I'm fearful for his sanity if he goes on drinking."
Bill W., My First 40 Years, Bill W., page 116.

Bill Wilson felt entitled to quite a number of mistresses over the years, and even gave ten percent of Lois Wilson's inheritance to his favorite one,

2009-10-28T10:37:00.001-07:00

(Well, unless that part about us good old boys being able to indulge in anything we want includes the right to bed the entire Swedish bikini ski team... Maybe it is divine wisdom.)
{And that joke isn't so far off: Bill Wilson felt entitled to quite a number of mistresses over the years, and even gave ten percent of Lois Wilson's inheritance to his favorite one, Helen Wynn, after Lois spent so many years working to support Bill while all that he did was steal more money out of her purse to go buy more booze.}

Bill Wilson died January 24, 1971, of emphysema and pneumonia.

2009-10-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

And Bill W. did eventually die from that "okay" vice — from emphysema and pneumonia — desperately, futilely gasping for another breath from an oxygen mask. He didn't quit smoking until it was far too late for him, and tobacco had destroyed his lungs.
Score another victory for the Addiction Monster.

Francis Hartigan, Lois Wilson's private secretary, wrote:

By the time Ebby Thacher died in 1966, a victim of emphysema, Bill had been trying to quit smoking for more than twenty years. He'd also known since the early sixties that he had emphysema himself. Smoking had begun to impair his health in the 1940s, in the form of frequent colds and chronic bronchitis, and his breathing was noticeably labored from the mid-1960s onward. Yet even when his breathing became so problematic that he needed frequent doses of oxygen to get through the day, he smoked.
A number of visitors to Stepping Stones during Bill's last years report witnessing scenes in which Bill would be trying to decide whether to have more oxygen or another cigarette. Inevitably, the cigarette won out. Bill was thought to have finally quit smoking early in 1969, by which time his bouts with bronchitis had become struggles with pneumonia, but several people confirm that he was still smoking even after most everyone thought he had quit. He hid cigarettes in his car, and for as long as he was still well enough to drive, he smoked.
It seems beyond comprehension, but the evidence is inescapable. ... [Bill Wilson] literally smoked himself to death.
Bill W., A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Co-Founder Bill Wilson, Francis Hartigan, page 208.
Bill Wilson didn't bother to print a retraction, to warn his fellow A.A. members about tobacco, when he found out that he was dying. Bill was far too egotistical to admit that he had been wrong.

Bill Wilson died January 24, 1971, of emphysema and pneumonia.

In addition, there is now a lot of evidence that smoking makes all cancers worse, even if tobacco didn't cause the cancer in the first place. Tobacco smoke contains something like 50 different carcinogenic chemicals, and just the restriction of blood flow in the capillaries that tobacco causes makes it harder for the body to get blood with white blood cells and antibodies to the cancer, to attack and kill the cancer. Tobacco also cripples the immune system, which would also like to kill the cancer.

Doctor Bob died of prostate cancer, while puffing on those cigarettes to the bitter end.

Score another victory for the Addiction Monster.

"anonymous" author Bill Wilson labels her "intolerant" because she "really feels there is something rather sinful about these commodities."

2009-10-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

The man is addicted to tobacco, and is smoking himself to death. His concerned wife is trying to save him from emphysema and lung cancer, but the "anonymous" author Bill Wilson labels her "intolerant" because she "really feels there is something rather sinful about these commodities."

Notice how the author Bill Wilson grouped coffee and tobacco in the same category, as mere "commodities", so that the wife would appear more intolerant. Bill also refused to look at the numerous health aspects of smoking, or the stink, or the second-hand smoke, or the expense; he only said that she feels that "these commodities" are "rather sinful." Bill implied that the housewife was just an intolerant uptight killjoy Puritanical nag.

Notice the powerful hidden assumption in this sentence: "He admitted he was overdoing these things, but frankly said that he was not ready to stop."

Oh? Somebody can continue doing whatever he is doing just because he frankly says that he isn't ready to stop?

When was the last time that you heard an A.A. recruiter accept that as a valid excuse for someone to continue drinking alcohol?

Francis Hartigan, the former secretary and confidant to Wilson's wife, Lois, has exhaustively researched his subject,

2009-10-28T10:31:00.001-07:00

When Bill Wilson, with his friend Dr. Bob Smith, founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, his hope was that AA would become a safe haven for those who suffered from this disease. Thirty years after his death, AA continues to help millions of alcoholics recover from what had been commonly regarded as a hopeless addiction. Still, while Wilson was a visionary for millions, he was no saint. After cofounding Alcoholics Anonymous, he stayed sober for over thirty-five years, helping countless thousands rebuild their lives. But at the same time, Wilson suffered form debilitating bouts of clinical depression, was a womanizer, and experimented with LSD.

Francis Hartigan, the former secretary and confidant to Wilson's wife, Lois, has exhaustively researched his subject, writing with a complete insider's knowledge. Drawing on extensive interviews with Lois Wilson and scores of early members of AA, he fully explores Wilson's organizational genius, his devotion to the cause, and almost martyr-like selflessness. That Wilson, like all of us, had to struggle with his own personal demons makes this biography all the more moving and inspirational. Hartigan reveals the story of Wilson's life to be as humorous, horrific, and powerful as any of the AA vignettes told daily around the world.

wives were called in Japan? The Chrysanthemums. Wives were invited to open meetings - well, not invited, but tolerated, and they definitely did parti

2009-10-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

wives were called in Japan? The Chrysanthemums. Wives were invited to open meetings - well, not invited, but tolerated, and they definitely did participate!

Dr. Bob, as a doctor, believed in being cautious and advising people how to evaluate ideas and solutions

2009-10-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Dr. Bob, as a doctor, believed in being cautious and advising people how to evaluate ideas and solutions, to weigh them carefully - have everyone in agreement before taking action. Bill believed in putting the goal forward and aiming for it. No matter who liked it or who didn't like it: aim for that goal. Bill always thought way ahead. Dr. Bob was the monitor, evaluator, the ground level, the supporter of Bill's ideas, even perhaps not always agreeing with the timing of an idea. Another miracle! A perfect match! A wonderful partnership, indeed. Yes, Dr. Bob was the right person to balance Bill. His view was, Keep it simple. Bill had vision; that was one of his gifts - he could see the road ahead.

James's "The Varieties of Religious Experience" was very meaningful to him, as it was to many AAs both in those early years and since.

2009-10-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

I always think how Bill was so much like the philosopher and writer William James. Both Bill and James were spiritual, though not necessarily deeply religious; they were also both pragmatic New Englanders. Bill had a way of talking about a deep faith inside himself the way James did. Bill liked to read about different interpretations of what God was like. He was very philosophical, and James's "The Varieties of Religious Experience" was very meaningful to him, as it was to many AAs both in those early years and since.

Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine

2009-09-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday. "The internet is a perfect drug delivery system because you are anonymous, aroused and have role models for these behaviors," Layden said. "To have drug pumped into your house 24/7, free, and children know how to use it better than grown-ups know how to use it -- it's a perfect delivery system if we want to have a whole generation of young addicts who will never have the drug out of their mind." Pornography addicts have a more difficult time recovering from their addiction than cocaine addicts, since coke users can get the drug out of their system, but pornographic images stay in the brain forever, Layden said. Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist and advisor to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality echoed Layden's concern about the internet and the somatic effects of pornography. "Pornography really does, unlike other addictions, biologically cause direct release of the most perfect addictive substance," Satinover said. "That is, it causes masturbation, which causes release of the naturally occurring opioids. It does what heroin can't do, in effect." The internet is dangerous because it removes the inefficiency in the delivery of pornography, making porn much more ubiquitous than in the days when guys in trench coats would sell nudie postcards, Satinover said. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the subcommittee's chairman, called the hearing the most disturbing one he'd ever seen in the Senate. Brownback said porn was ubiquitous now, compared to when he was growing up and "some guy would sneak a magazine in somewhere and show some of us, but you had to find him at the right time."

Reaching out with a helping hand is the way young people in Fairfield County have helped each other fight alcohol and drug addictions.

2008-11-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

Whether at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting or with a personal phone call or visit, peer-to-peer support has a proven track record of success, said Donna Aligata, executive director of Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families.She will be one of seven panelist speaking at the free program "Celebrating Recovery: The Power of Positive Peer Support Overcoming Alcohol and Drug Problems" Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Ridgefield Playhouse.Aligata, a nurse who worked in drug and alcohol clinics for 34 years, said, "We believe that on a grass-roots level we can build a system of support. This program is to make young adults feel safe to come out and ask for help."Two films produced and directed by Greg Williams, 25, of Newtown, who overcame drug and alcohol problems, will be shown. Both are about peer support as a model for recovery."After getting sober at 17, I got to witness hundreds of other young people succeed in recovery from drugs and alcohol, and then got to watch them take their personal experience and turn it around to offer recovery support to their peers," Williams said."I was inspired, and I knew that if I could tell their stories on video, others could see, hear and feel the power of peer support," he said.Williams' film "Central Pride" is about the peer-to-peer recovery program at Central High School in Bridgeport. Started four years ago with just three students, it now has more than 300 participants who help each other live drug and alcohol free.
Ridgefield addiction counselor Liz Jorgensen will be another panelist. "In my 23 years of experience, I have found that positive peer support is the difference between people staying sober and drug free and those who chronically relapse or die from the disease," she said.Jorgensen said the greater Danbury area has "the largest" community of young adults in the state who support each other this way.
"They take care of each other, drive each other to meetings, will take in another person who has been kicked out of their home, and work to get them back on their feet. It's a whole underground community. They do it because it keeps them sober, too."Ridgefield therapist Karen Walant, who wrote the book "Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addiction and the Alienated Self," will also be on the panel. Walant cited research that suggests the brain releases chemicals when a person is in a highly attached relationship. These chemicals make people feel good, she said. Addiction, on the other hand, is a "detachment disorder.""When people are isolated, the brain stops releasing these bio-chemicals," she said. "It's like an opioid withdrawal, with real feelings of pain from not being connected to others."
Peer support can provide the attachment that releases the bio-chemicals and helps end the withdrawal symptoms. At an AA meeting, when people share "their darkest emotions from the depth of their addiction, they get this release, this feeling, by getting peer support in reaction," Walant said.And that, she said, allows people to overcome their addictions and stay sober and drug free.

OLGA - On-Line Gamers Anonymous.

2008-11-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

It says it’s is a, “fellowship of people sharing their experience, strengths and hope to help each other recover and heal from the problems caused by excessive game playing”.Need Help NOW? - it asks, going on, “For immediate assistance, the following options are always available »»»If someone is in our chat room, you can join in and get live help and support by clicking the “Chat Room” link at the top.
Are you considering suicide?If so, please contact your local Crisis Center. Call 911, to get connected, OR call the Suicide Hotline at 800-784-2433. You can also go to any emergency room. They have to help you, even if you have no money. Tell them that you are considering harming yourself.Suicide is a mental illness.(period) No sane mind thinks that “killing myself” is a way to resolve something. It is highly common in bipolar disorder. It is very treatable. Don’t think you can “work it out”, if you were healthy you would have never even thought like that.“YOU are WORTH saving, and YOU are the only person that can do anything about it!” - it adds.And as with most 12-step programmes, it also offers help to the relatives and other people who find themselves powerless over the addictions of their loved ones.

California man has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for shooting to death his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor at a meeting.

2008-11-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

Jurors in Long Beach convicted Scott Gordon Reynolds of first-degree murder in the slaying of 33-year-old Uriel Noriega.The 29-year-old Reynolds was sentenced Thursday. He testified he snapped after Noriega told other members at an AA meeting two years ago that Reynolds is gay. It's a secret confided by Reynolds to only his mother and AA sponsor.Reynolds claimed he brought the weapon to the meeting at a church because he planned to commit suicide in front of fellow AA members. But prosecutor Patrick O'Crowley says that motive was never substantiated during the trial for Reynolds.

Canterbury mother-of-five Terri would drink all night, then, after a short doze, pile her five children in the family car and drive them to school.

2008-09-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

Canterbury mother-of-five Terri would drink all night, then, after a short doze, pile her five children in the family car and drive them to school.Eventually, she allowed her 13-year-old daughter to take the wheel for the school run.Terri spoke of her own experiences yesterday after reading about a Christchurch mother who was stopped by police and charged with drink-driving on two consecutive mornings last week as she took her children to school.Terri is urging the woman to get help, as she did after her battle with alcoholism put her children in danger.
The 66-year-old, who did not want to give her full name because she belongs to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), has been sober for five years and five months.Terri said she was married at 22 and had five children by the time she was 29.When the children were younger, the family would often spend afternoons at barbecues and backyard cricket matches with friends."Then we'd bring the party back home. It never occurred to me that one of us should stay sober for the children," Terri said."I was putting my children in danger all the time and not realising the sort of people we were allowing into our house around four vulnerable daughters and our son."Terri said she was not a morning drinker but would drink through the night, believing two hours of sleep would drain her system of alcohol.Today, four of Terri's grown-up children are in AA and she said she "walks on eggshells" around her fifth child, who she believes also has addictions."I looked at that story (about the Christchurch mother) and thought, `what's the poor woman hiding?' and I prayed for her."If you get into the room (of an AA meeting) for long enough and hear the message, then, beyond your wildest dreams, you'll find happiness," Terri said."A different world opens up and there is peace in my house today."

Shasta County atheist sued top state corrections officials Monday, claiming a violation of his constitutional rights when he was returned to prison

2008-09-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Shasta County atheist sued top state corrections officials Monday, claiming a violation of his constitutional rights when he was returned to prison after objecting to participation in a program with religious overtones as a condition of parole.
Barry A. Hazle Jr., 40, was released from prison in February 2007, after doing a year for drug possession. He was required to complete a 90-day drug treatment program, and was assigned to one in Shasta County.The Redding computer technician says he objected several times to being compelled to participate in a program based on the 12-step recovery method originally developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, according to the lawsuit filed in Sacramento federal court. He aksed to be reassigned to a secular recovery program.
The 12-step program required "acknowledgment of the existence of a supernatural God,....deference to a monotheistic 'higher power,' and participation in prayer," the suit alleges.He was subsequently arrested for violating parole and sent back to prison for four months, the suit alleges."The First Amendment....guarantees that the state cannot require anyone to participate in these types of religious activities, nor penalize those that resist," said Hazle's lawyer, John Heller of Chapman, Popik & White in San Francisco."Courts across the nation have recognized that the 12-step method is religious in nature," Heller added.The suit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages for Hazle and an injunction prohibiting such use of state funds in the future.A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AA has a strict privacy policy, so none of the members can have their names published while in the program.

2008-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

recently conducted an interview with a young woman who had graduated from the 45th Judicial Circuit Family Dependency Treatment Court. I couldn't publish her name because she was (and still is) in Alcoholics Anonymous. AA has a strict privacy policy, so none of the members can have their names published while in the program. For the purpose of this article, her pseudonym is Natasha.
Talking with Natasha, I couldn't get over the fact that she was near my age (possibly even younger). Unlike most of my contemporaries, she has already faced one of the most difficult events that she will ever encounter, dealing with a dangerous addiction, and overcoming it. Natasha shared with me that before the family dependency treatment her life was very rough and very dark. She drank everyday and drove with her two children in the car.
"I drank until I passed out every evening," she said. She said that one time her neighbors spent all day trying to wake her up because her children were outside playing unsupervised and naked. They brought the kids into her apartment and shook and slapped her in an attempt to rouse her.
"I have no idea what it must have been like for my children. They just found snacks in the closet. I don't know because I wasn't any type of mother to them," said Natasha.She stated that her relationship with her boyfriend was very unhealthy. She said that they would break-up and get back together, and at one point she filed a restraining order against him, but then got back together with him. At one point, they fought with the neighbors, and the police were called. They arrested her boyfriend because of the restraining order.
"So I drove to the police station. My phone wasn't working. I decided to drive to the police station to find out when he would get out of jail, even though I had been drinking. See I thought that no one could tell that I was trashed, even though I looked horrible and probably smelled," she said. She remembered that she prayed on the way to the station, even though she stated she did not believe in God at the time. She prayed for His help because she was just so tired of the way her life was. She hated life. She made it to the police station and found out that her boyfriend would get out the next morning. As she was leaving the station, the officers ran after her. "They said, 'Ma'am did you drive here.' I said, 'yeah,' and I even had my youngest with me. They wouldn't let me drive back home, they ended up driving me back," she stated. Once home, they asked her to do a breathlizer test. She refused.
"So they were there for a while, on their cell phones and things, and they ended up taking my youngest son into custody right then. Then they told me that DFS (Division of Family Services) would get in touch with me," she said.
The next day she talked to DFS about family drug court, which she was told she would have to participate in to get her children back. Her older child was not taken into custody, but could not be with her and had to stay with his father.
She was in the program a little over a year, sharing that she did the best she could to do everything that they suggested. She attended AA meetings, NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings and four meetings a month for drug court. Additionally, DFS (and her drug court case worker) did in-home visits. She also attended parenting classes, which was a requirement of family drug court.Through her hard work and dedication, her children were returned to her in approximately two months, which is quite a feat in that it often takes longer to regain custody of children.
"The way I saw things was so twisted. You know, I thought these people kidnapped my kids, what's wrong with the government? I didn't trust them," she stated. She explained that even though she was suspicious of drug court, she had no other choice but to go. She described her time without her children, "as extremely devastating."
After awhile in the program, she realized that the government and individuals involved in the program were on her side and they wanted the best for her. Looking back, she stated that DFS stepped in and took care of her kids when she could not.
She admitted to her own mistakes during that time and did not try to rationalize her actions. She took responsibility, speaking honestly and directly, being much more adult and mature than many older individuals that I know.Even though she has completed family drug court, she still regularly attends AA meetings and is active in the Drug Court Alumni organization. Drug Court Alumni is composed of those who have graduated the program and those in the latter phases of it. The Drug Court Alumni group offers support and keeps the participants united in their efforts to maintain a sober lifestyle. They also like to give back to the community through various fundraisers, for example they have donated funds to the American Red Cross to benefit flood victims. "I am really grateful for them (those involved in drug court) because they showed me a new way of life and they showed me how to live clean and sober. They really helped me out a lot," said Natasha. She went on to say she could never make up for what drug court has given her back- her life

"The Last Ride," a tribute to Dr. Bob Smith, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, who is buried in Akron.

2008-09-22T18:28:00.001-07:00

"The Last Ride," a tribute to Dr. Bob Smith, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, who is buried in Akron.

If you drink too much you put yourself at risk of liver cirrhosis (pickled liver), gastritis (stomach ulcer and inflammation), depression,

2008-09-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Abstinence is better than excess but not better than a small amount daily. People who do not drink are slightly worse off in terms of overall health than those who drink one glass of wine or similar a day.
If you drink too much you put yourself at risk of liver cirrhosis (pickled liver), gastritis (stomach ulcer and inflammation), depression, sexual dysfunction, heart disease, high blood pressure, road traffic accidents, certain cancers, and obesity (three pints or glasses of wine is the equivalent of an extra meal a day!). Alcohol in pregnancy can be very harmful to the unborn baby's development.
Anyone who shows signs of withdrawal after a day or two of not drinking is alcohol dependent. The signs of withdrawal include nausea or feeling sick, trembling, sweating, anxiety and a strong desire to have a drink. People whose work is affected by alcohol consumption, who drink by themselves or early in the day, or who try to conceal the amount they drink, are likely to have an alcohol problem.
Like any drug it can take time, effort and support to regain control. For some, this will mean stopping drinking alcohol completely. Few alcoholics can maintain a low intake without relapsing into heavy drinking again.
If you think you need help or know someone who does, your GP can point you in the right direction and may support you with advice and support on how to cut down.
Alcoholics Anonymous have their own website at www.alcoholics-anonymous. org.uk and can be reached on 0845 769 7555. For family members affected by drinking, AL-Anon Family Groups provide support on 0207 403 0888 or online at www.al-anonuk.org.uk.

Treatment Staff Referrals, Participation Expectations, and Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Adolescent Involvement in Twelve-Step Groups

2008-09-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Treatment Staff Referrals, Participation Expectations, and Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Adolescent Involvement in Twelve-Step Groups
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly: Volume: 26 Issue: 4. pp. 427 - 449
Adolescents treated for substance use disorders (SUDs) appear to benefit from participation in Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA). However, as compared with adults, fewer adolescents attend, and those who do attend do so less intensively and discontinue sooner.
It is unknown whether this disparity is due to a lowered expectation for youth participation by the clinicians treating them, as they may adapt the adult-based model to fit a less-dependent cohort, or whether recommendations are similar to those of clinicians who work with adults and other factors are responsible.
All clinical staff (N= 114) at 5 adolescent programs (3 residential, 2 outpatient) were surveyed anonymously about referral practices and other beliefs about 12-step groups. Staff rated AA/NA participation as very important and helpful to adolescent recovery and referral rates were uniformly high (M= 86%, SD= 28%). Desired participation frequency was over 3 times per week. The theoretical orientation and level of care of the programs influenced some results.

Findings suggest lower adolescent participation in 12-step groups is not due to a lack of clinician enthusiasm or referrals, but appears to be due to other factors.

sponsor and sponsorship is practiced, is Alcoholics Anonymous or simply AA. AA is a meeting society

2008-09-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

A widespread organization, where the term sponsor and sponsorship is practiced, is Alcoholics Anonymous or simply AA. AA is a meeting society that is informal in nature, with the goal of helping alcoholics achieve sobriety. A twelve-step program devised early on is used as the guidelines for which recovering alcoholics follow.

Historically, AA began with practicing sponsorship. This sponsorship entailed an alcoholic sharing his experience, hope and strength with a fellow alcoholic. This was overtime formalized and developed as a great tool in achieving permanent sobriety among alcoholics.

Each member of AA is eligible in becoming a sponsor. As a sponsor, they are given an opportunity to help other new members who wish to ’sober up’. This type of sponsorship is in no way financially-based; rather it is regarded as a type of personal support-system in recovery.

Sponsors are regarded as a teacher, friend, tutor, older brother or sister, and experienced guide to the sponsees. Basically, a sponsor in the AA program is someone who has also gone through the twelve-step recovery guide. This way, a sponsee is able to relate with his/her sponsor by leading them through a mutual sharing of experiences and stories.

What to look for in a sponsor

For a recovering alcoholic, matching up with a sponsor is like choosing a best friend. Sponsees are given free reign on deciding who their sponsor should be, and this is often a good process for them. Looking for the best sponsor, however, is not as easy as it seems. The qualifications may differ from each available sponsor, leaving sponsees sometimes confused.

A solution to choosing sponsors is through temporary sponsors. This member type provides an easier transition for a sponsee before he/she finds the right sponsor — this is done by providing the necessary information every recovering alcoholic should know. Temporary sponsors also serve as a temporary guide in answering any clarifications or questions a sponsee may have regarding his or her situation and progress as an AA member.

As a suggestive guide, the factors to look for when deciding on a sponsor are the following:

The potential sponsor should be able to relate with the sponsee

He/she has had more time in recovery than the sponsee

He/she is available for personal meetings, phone conversations and group discussions

Lives by the guidelines of the twelve-step program

Can be a friend and also a firm guide to the sponsee

Can emphasize the spiritual aspects of the program

He/she can ‘walk the talk’ in all affairs

Jason Alan Humphreys had a clean record - no trouble with the law - until he made the mistake of driving drunk in January 2005 and killing a pregnant

2008-09-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

Jason Alan Humphreys had a clean record - no trouble with the law - until he made the mistake of driving drunk in January 2005 and killing a pregnant woman, prosecutors said.The 33-year-old Diamondhead man will serve 10 years in prison for choosing to drive impaired while returning home from a Mardi Gras parade in Waveland. The crash claimed the life of 22-year-old Jaimee Hart Anderson, who was five months pregnant.Harrison County Circuit Court Judge Roger Clark sentenced Humphreys on Thursday to 20 years and suspended 10 years, leaving 10 to serve. He faced a maximum of 25 years. The victim's family was willing to accept Humphreys' guilty plea, entered July 29, said Assistant District Attorney Joel Smith. Humphreys wanted sentencing delayed so his family and friends could be present.
"He was just an average guy with a family and a job when he made that bad decision, thinking he was sober enough to drive," said Assistant District Attorney Charlie Wood.At the time Humphreys was the manager of the Sonic Drive-In restaurant in Waveland.Anderson, whose husband had recently deployed for military service in Iraq, and her mother were returning home from Wal-Mart. They were on Edwin Ladner Road near Vidalia Road outside Pass Christian when Humphreys lost control of his vehicle.Humphreys, his wife in the car with him, swerved off on the shoulder of the road and overcompensated. His car crossed the road and turned sideways in the women's lane, striking their vehicle, prosecutors said. His blood-alcohol level was 0.12. The state's legal limit is 0.10.Humphreys was charged with only one count of DUI causing death. Prosecutors said laws in effect at the time didn't consider a fetus a life.Anderson's mother, who was driving the other car, was seriously injured in the crash.Anderson's husband and the couple's other child moved to Texas after the wreck.

Allegedly too intoxicated to walk a straight line, a prominent South Florida lawyer charged with drunken driving early this morning after an accident

2008-09-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

Allegedly too intoxicated to walk a straight line, a prominent South Florida lawyer charged with drunken driving early this morning after an accident in Fort Lauderdale still reportedly retained his legal skills.Al Milian blamed his flat feet for his inability to perform the field sobriety test and refused to take a Breathalyzer test, reports the Miami Herald. And as far as the damage caused by veering off the road and driving across the lawn of a two-story apartment building along U.S. 1 was concerned, he allegedly offered a different explanation.''He never once apologized for ruining my property,'' says property owner Susanne Morton. "Instead, he said that I didn't have enough lights. There are lights over U.S. 1.''
Milian worked as a Broward County prosecutor for 12 years before becoming a staff attorney for the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association and then going into private practice four years after that, the newpaper reports. He ran unsuccessfully for the office of Miami-Dade State Attorney in 2000 and 2004.
He couldn't be reached for comment by the Herald. However, the Sun-Sentinel says Milian disputes that he was drunk, but declines to discuss the incident further.
In addition to having a problem walking a straight line at the accident scene, Milian also couldn't stand on one foot and count, according to a police report. "He repeatedly put both feet on the ground and said the number four twice," the Sun-Sentinel writes.The article says Milian apparently drove onto the apartment building lawn after he misjudged a right turn he was attempting to make onto Southeast Sixth Street.

local man opened the back of his new flat-screen television Tuesday to figure out why it would not work, he received quite a shock

2008-09-18T06:19:00.002-07:00

local man opened the back of his new flat-screen television Tuesday to figure out why it would not work, he received quite a shock -- and not the electrical kind. Instead of faulty wiring, the man found a kilogram of cocaine bundled up inside the electronic device, according to Newnan Police. Detective Sgt. Danny McDonald said the Newnan man bought the 22-inch television at a postal auction in Atlanta on Friday, along with other items. When he tried to plug it in, the TV would not play. Searching for an explanation, the man reportedly removed the back panel of the set and discovered a plastic-wrapped brick of the illegal drug inside. McDonald said the man immediately called the police, who are still investigating the origin of the cocaine. The street value of the drugs is estimated at between $30,000-$35,000, according to authorities.

Unmanageable Perth businessman has been arrested and detained in Venezuela, charged with having a trafficable quantity of cocaine on a yacht.

2008-09-18T06:19:00.001-07:00

Perth businessman has been arrested and detained in Venezuela, charged with having a trafficable quantity of cocaine on a yacht.It is understood the 44-year-old was charged along with a US citizen.A Sydney man has also been arrested in connection with the drug haul.The Department of Foreign Affairs says the Perth man's case is being monitored by staff from the Australian embassy in Brazil.

William H. Duty of Williamson lost his West Virginia law license

2008-09-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

William H. Duty of Williamson lost his West Virginia law license, after showing he needed to lose it.Duty, having failed to appear for a Supreme Court of Appeals oral argument where he might have saved his license, tried to reschedule.He moved for reargument, though he hadn't argued at all.He hadn't even filed a brief.Too late, the Justices agreed. They annulled his license Feb. 15, for harming clients and undermining public confidence in the legal profession. Duty, a member of the bar 22 years, blamed his errors on painkiller OxyContin.He sought treatment when the Office of Disciplinary Counsel brought charges against him, but the Justices would not excuse rule violations on account of that."Duty's chemical dependency upon OxyContin, although warranting continuing treatment, did not rise to the level of avoidance of responsibility," they held.They ordered Duty to pay $2,000 restitution to former client Randy Stiltner. Duty told Stiltner he hadn't received a $2,500 check when he had.Stiltner learned the truth by calling the attorney for the defense.
The Justices also ordered Duty to reimburse the Lawyer Disciplinary Board for the proceeding and warned that if he doesn't, they could hold him in contempt.They found "particularly egregious" the commingling of Duty's money and a $25,000 settlement he obtained for sisters Rachel Lockhart and Rita Sammons."Duty opened a checking account in his own name at the Bank of Mingo in Mingo County, West Virginia, with the $25,000 and used that account for his personal and office expenses," the Justices wrote.In nine days the balance plunged to $7,634.12.
Duty restored the full amount, after the sisters complained. He tried to coax Sammons to withdraw the complaint, but she persisted.Under oath on March 31, 2005, Duty swore he didn't embezzle.On the same day, Sandy Gillman filed a complaint claiming he let the statute of limitations run on her injury claim.Duty had given Gillman three days to pay a filing fee, without explaining that her claim would expire on the fourth day.Gillman didn't pay the fee and couldn't find another lawyer.
Duty shared a fee with his secretary, Sheria Fields. She referred car crash victim Ernest Prater to Duty, who told her she would receive half his fee.A rule of professional conduct states that, "A lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a nonlawyer."Duty asked his associate in the Prater case, Christian Harris, to withhold $3,500 from a $100,000 settlement.Although Duty later telephoned Harris and told him to forget the $3,500, disciplinary chief Lawrence Lewis counted the request as a rule violation.Lewis charged that Duty broke 15 rules in all, including five that he broke twice."While there is evidence in the record that Respondent has been addicted to OxyContin for two to three years, it cannot be said that this chemical dependency caused his misconduct," Lewis wrote to the Court last year.Glen Rutledge of Williamson represented Duty in the disciplinary process. When the case reached the Court, Duty acted "pro se" -- for himself.The Justices left a door open for Duty, providing for reinstatement if the Office of Disciplinary Counsel guides him through a narcotics or alcoholics anonymous program.He would have to take 12 hours of classes in legal ethics and practice for two years under supervision.

restore apartments for nonprofit Over-the-Rhine Community Housing

2008-02-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

Every Saturday morning, Matt Hidy heads to Moeller High School, gathers a crew of 10 to 20 fellow students and carpools to Over-the-Rhine.There, they pick up hammers, drills and other tools and they help restore apartments for nonprofit Over-the-Rhine Community Housing.Last Saturday, they stopped working for a little celebration. Their latest project, a storefront they helped transform into a nonprofit coffeehouse, will be ready to open soon.Called Choices Café, the shop will provide coffee and conversation for a donation - probably 75 cents or so per cup - on weekends. Volunteers will staff it. Community groups and other organizations including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous will hold meetings.For Matt, Choices already symbolizes positive choices for him. "Sometimes I may not feel like I'm doing a lot for the community, but I'm doing the best I can," said Matt, 17, a Moeller senior who lives in Liberty Township.Two years ago, when he began working on rehab projects in Over-the-Rhine, Matt was so nervous driving in the neighborhood that he'd turn down his car stereo to be less conspicuous. Now, he and his teammates wave and chat with residents."It's such a nice, polite community in the day," Matt said. "At night it turns different ... but it's just like any other place."Mike Moroski, a Moeller English teacher, has involved Moeller students like Matt in rehabilitation and other work in Over-the-Rhine for about eight years. Each year, 150 to 200 boys volunteer. Many, he said, develop a close relationship with fellow rehab leader Mike Rogers, who works for and volunteers with Over-the-Rhine Community Housing. Rogers, who helped name Choices, shares his story of recovering from drug addiction with the boys."The relationship between him and them is the real story," Moroski said.Rogers, an Ohio University graduate who works in maintenance, said he credits the kids with helping him stay clean for three years so far. "Those kids have changed my life dramatically," he said. "They have no idea. They allow me to mentor them."Miami students designed the interior of Choices and built its front counter. Another Miami student is writing a business plan, and some Moeller parents are completing its nonprofit paperwork."It's really bringing a bunch of different people from different backgrounds together so we'll be able to understand that we're all just humans at the end of the day, " he said.

an attempt to curb underage drinking

2008-02-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

Teenagers will be targeted through new and inventive school lessons in an attempt to curb underage drinking in Norwich.Alcohol awareness sessions will be given to teenagers between 16 and 18-years-old who are likely to be going out in the evenings and might be tempted to drink alcohol.The sessions will take the form of an alcohol workshop which will help young people understand about unit measurements of alcohol, weekly recommended limits, what constitutes binge drinking and the risks of alcohol, such as violent incidents and sexual consent issues and under-age sales of alcohol.The Norwich Safer Drinking City Programme, currently funded by Norwich Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, has asked the Norwich based Matthew Project to pilot five alcohol awareness sessions with young people aged between 16 and 18-years-old.Shirley Magilton, consultant for the Norwich Safer Drinking City Programme, said: “You can either teach young people on a one to one basis or you've got to go where young people are, which is schools and youth clubs.“All you can really do is give them the information but it can save young people getting into the criminal justice system.“Otherwise there is the potential for them to drop into it and become low level offenders.“So many people come to Norwich and we want it to be a safe city. That's to the benefit of the whole of Norwich.”Lessons are designed to be interactive and fun and help youngsters to make sensible decisions about drinking and stay safe if they are drinking at night.Workshops will include activities such as physical experiments with bread and alcohol to demonstrate the effects of alcohol and asking youngsters to take part in activities such as Giant Jenga while wearing goggles to simulate how drinker's eyesight can be affected by so-called “beer goggles”.The Matthew Project has been tasked with delivering the project in schools.The youth team currently works with young people all across the county of Norfolk, delivering drug and alcohol education and outreach sessions to around thousands of young people, mainly aged between 10 and 25 years-old.Graeme Stewart, youth team manager at the Matthew Project, said: “The sessions are being designed to be interactive, relevant and informative, helping young people access the knowledge they need to make sensible decisions about drinking, and also helping them to have a plan for staying safe if or when they do enter the night time economy.”

24-hour drinking laws were likely to remain in place

2008-02-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

majority of Britain's 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol, marking a worrying "tipping point" for underage drinking, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, warned today, as she promised to step up enforcement.The home secretary gave a clear hint that the 24-hour drinking laws were likely to remain in place.Smith indicated that Home Office research will be published later this month will show that longer opening hours have not had a dramatic impact on crime and disorder.She reiterated her concern about irresponsible drink promotions such as "50p shots until midnight" and "all you can drink for a tenner" nights, announcing that consultants KPMG are to report by March on how well the drinks industry is implementing its own standards to curb the practice.Although legislation to ban cut-price promotions - some of which have led to supermarkets selling alcohol at cheaper prices than bottled water - has not been ruled out, the home secretary said there were clear signs that drinks companies were taking their responsibilities more seriously.A decision on whether to legislate will not be taken before a Department of Health internal review delivers its report in June on possible links between cut-price alcohol and harm to health.Ministers promised at the end of 2007 to change the law if necessary to curb what is termed "deep discounting" - selling alcohol below cost price - by shops and supermarkets.Smith used a Home Office conference in north London on alcohol enforcement to warn of the dangers of underage drinking and confirmed that she was prepared to tighten 10-year-old police powers to confiscate alcoholic drinks from under-18s in public places.She said: "I will listen to the police and give them extra powers to make it illegal for under-18s to drink alcohol in public so that they don't have to prove reasonable suspicion, if needed."But the home secretary made clear, by highlighting the fact that more than 333,000 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol, that she wants to tackle underage drinking.She announced an £875,000 enforcement campaign over the coming half-term to confiscate alcohol from under-18s drinking in public. A similar campaign which ran in 23 local police divisions last autumn led to 3,700 litres of alcohol being confiscated - equal to 6,500 pints.This year the campaign, from 9-24 February, will involve 175 local police divisions across England and Wales.Smith warned parents they must act, stating that nearly half

campaign by the university to combat irresponsible drinking

2008-02-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

campuses in South Carolina, California shed light on dangers of drinking
Here's hoping college faculty in Kansas and across the nation take good notes about something 40 professors at Fresno State have started doing in their classrooms.
Or, more accurately, something the professors aren't doing.As part of a campaign by the university to combat irresponsible drinking, the Fresno State instructors have taken a pledge to watch what they say to students about drinking.No more jokes during Monday morning labs about weekend hangovers. No more TGIF talk during the last lecture of the week.Michael Caldwell, an associate music professor who organized professors to take the pledge, said he took the initiative partly in reaction to the alcohol-poisoning death of a 19-year-old Fresno State student in January 2006.In taking the pledge, Caldwell and 39 of his colleagues agreed to become familiar with laws and campus policies about alcohol, and become aware of programs and services for students seeking help for alcohol problems. They agreed to promote responsible attitudes toward alcohol in classroom discussions, and they further pledged not to make comments suggesting that all college students drink to excess. Caldwell said students have told him their instructors have made comments to the effect of, "Everybody enjoy partying this weekend," and, "OK, it's the weekend. Let's go party.""It's easy to make flippant comments about alcohol, and bring your own life or the college atmosphere into the classroom," Caldwell said. "It's usually very innocent and unintentional."Although Caldwell said the pledge isn't designed to blacklist anyone or make faculty uncomfortable, the initiative has caught on with only a tiny fraction of the university's 1,300 part-time and full-time faculty. One faculty member said the pledge was a restriction on speech and raised questions about academic freedom.What a sad reaction.It's hard to see how taking a voluntary pledge would cause any harm.What's not so hard to see is that excessive drinking is a problem on college campuses.The same day The Associated Press distributed a story about the pledge, the AP also circulated a story saying three fraternity members at Clemson University were charged in connection with the alcohol-related death of a freshman during an off-campus party.The fraternity members' activities weren't directly connected to the student's death, a prosecutor said, but the three were charged with transferring beer and liquor to a minor and using fake identification to buy alcohol. The students facing charges are 19, 20 and 21 years old.The deaths at Clemson and Fresno State happened a nation apart, but they're not isolated incidents. Alcohol abuse has led to medical problems and fatalities on campuses elsewhere.In reaction, college administrators are taking steps to curb excessive drinking.The pledge at Fresno State is a grassroots step in that direction, and it's worth pursuing on other campuses.

fabricated significant incidents in the book

2007-12-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

James Frey has received the ultimate penalty — expulsion from Oprah's Book Club. After being invited into the club — resulting in best-sellerdom for his memoir about his drug addiction, alcoholism and treatment, A Million Little Pieces — it was revealed that Frey fabricated significant incidents in the book.

Negating the validity of alcoholism.

2007-12-20T04:13:00.000-08:00

Research has shown that alcoholism is a choice, not a disease, and stripping alcohol abusers of their choice, by applying the disease concept, is a threat to the health of the individual.
In a recent Gallup poll, 90% of people surveyed believe that alcoholism is a disease. Most argue that because the American Medical Association (AMA) has proclaimed alcoholism a disease, the idea is without reproach.
But, the fact is that the AMA made this determination in the absence of empirical evidence. After reviewing the history of the decision, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that the AMA has been pursuing its own agenda in the face of evidence negating the validity of alcoholism.

Alternative viewpoint

2007-12-20T04:08:00.000-08:00

While A.A. with its 12-step approach has helped millions of people over the last 60-plus years, but there is no evidence that A.A. is better than other approaches for everyone.
Some people just don't find A.A. attractive or constructive for their particular situations.
based on recent research, people don't join A.A. or find it helpful because of many diverse reasons:
"It's just a substitute dependency."
"It's too religious."
"There is too much dogma."
"I don't feel I fit in."
"My problem isn't as bad as theirs."
"I haven't hit my bottom and I don't want to wait until then to make a change."
"They say I am powerless, but I feel I'm not powerless."
"It's like a cult."
"I don't feel I am an alcoholic" "I don't have an addiction."

serious gambling addictions

2007-12-20T04:04:00.000-08:00

A study published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) finds that people who gamble online may have more serious gambling addictions than gamblers who wager in land casinos.
The APA issued a health advisory on Internet gambling.
The study questioned 389 users of the dental and medical clinic at the University of Connecticut. Thirty one of the study participants had gambled on the Internet; 14 of those reported doing so weekly.
"We're not seeing a lot of recreational gambling on the Internet," said Nancy Petry, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Health Center and one of the study's authors.
"The Internet seems to attract people who are prone to or who have already developed a gambling problem."

women prefer to affirm that they have the power to choose

2007-12-20T04:01:00.001-08:00

"We admitted we were powerless over [our addiction]-that our lives had become unmanageable." The purpose of this step is to crack through denial or an inflated ego and acknowledge a destructive problem. It can be helpful to say "I am powerless to change my partner," but many women abuse chemicals or stay in harmful relationships because they feel powerless in their lives. Thus, many women prefer to affirm that they have the power to choose not to use chemicals or have dependent relationships. So, alternatively:

We acknowledge we were out of control with but have the power to take charge of our lives and stop being dependent on others for our self-esteem and security.

concept of sickness

2007-12-20T03:54:00.001-08:00

A. A.'s did not use the concept of sickness to absolve our members from moral responsibility. On the contrary, we used the fact of fatal illness to clamp the heaviest kind of moral responsibility on to the sufferer. The further point was made that in his early days of drinking the alcoholic often was no doubt guilty of irresponsibility and gluttony. But once the time of compulsive drinking, veritable lunacy had arrived and he couldn't very well be held accountable for his conduct. He then had a lunacy which condemned him to drink, in spite of all he could do; he had developed a bodily sensitivity to alcohol that guaranteed his final madness and death. When this state of affairs was pointed out to him, he was placed immediately under the heaviest kind of pressure to accept A.A.'s moral and spiritual program of regeneration -namely, our Twelve Steps. Fortunately, Mr. Link was satisfied with this view of the use that we were making of the alcoholic's illness.

Women who question "the program,"

2007-12-20T03:35:00.000-08:00

Women who question "the program," as it's often called, have been shamed, called resistant, and threatened with abandonment. They have been trained to believe that male models of nearly everything are better than whatever they might create for themselves.
Some women are grateful for what 12-step programs have given them: a generally available peer model providing support and understanding at no cost. Yet no one way works for everyone. The steps were formulated by a white, middle-class male in the 1930s; not surprisingly, they work to break down an over inflated ego, and put reliance on an all-powerful male God. But most women suffer from the lack of a healthy, aware ego, and need to strengthen their sense of self by affirming their own inner wisdom.
Research strongly suggests that alcohol addiction has links to genetic predisposition. A vital point that seems overlooked in AA is that in the case of nearly all substance abuse, the brain chemistry and the body ecology need extensive healing in order to prevent the protracted withdrawal syndrome of depression, anxiety, volatile emotions, and obsessive thinking that can last for years. Too often women endlessly attend groups, have psychotherapy, or take antidepressants when their emotions are actually being influenced by a chemical imbalance that could be helped by proper nutrition and exercise.

Other addictions and codependency (as well as the will to recover), are influenced by cultural oppression, which includes poverty, battering, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Treatment programs need to incorporate understanding - and advocacy - regarding these concerns.

Parental attitudes and habits influence kids.

2007-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Several interesting studies indicate that if teens believe that their parents are against drinking and drug use, teens are less likely to try them. Parental disapproval acts as a "buffer" against peer pressure. Children of "permissive parents" who are more accepting of drugs and liquor or who leave decisions about them to their teens are more likely to have children who abuse substances.

Genetics count less than we once thought.

2007-12-01T10:20:00.001-08:00

Studies of identical twins show that although there is a genetic component to alcoholism and drug abuse, genetics does not trump environment. You can have a genetic predisposition for alcoholism or drug abuse, but environmental factors have to come into play for it to develop.

Besides genetics, risk factors for teens are undiagnosed learning disabilities, bi-polar disorder, childhood traumas, anxiety, depression, and feelings that they do not fit in with their peer groups. Any teen who says that he or she loved drugs or drinking from the first try is also at greater risk. The earlier a teen starts using, the more likely he or she will be addicted. Latchkey children who are home alone after school are at more risk than supervised children. Finally, growing up around heavy drinkers is another big risk factor.

Genetics count less than we once thought.

2007-12-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

Alcohol is a factor in 66% of student suicides.

2007-12-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

Around 28% of college dropouts result from alcohol abuse.
Alcohol is a factor in 66% of student suicides.
Alcohol is a factor in 60% of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Alcohol is a factor in 40% of academic problems.
Around 87% of college students who do not engage in binge drinking have experienced problems resulting from their peers abusing alcohol, including physical assault, sexual harassment and abuse, disrupted sleep, and disrupted study sessions.
The Journal of American College Health published a survey stating that 73% of assailants and 55% of rape victims used drugs of alcohol prior to their assault.
Financial problems have resulted from the money spent on alcohol, which is more than is spent on books, soda, coffee, juice, and milk combined.

found dead in the Mississippi River

2007-12-01T10:18:00.001-08:00

Lucas Homan, a 21-year-old student from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was found dead in the Mississippi River with the equivalent of a case a beer in his system. He was preceded by 8 young men who were also found dead in the river after a night of binge drinking. He had begun drinking the night before at a house party to celebrate the Oktoberfest. He continued drinking at downtown bars with a hometown friend who had been visiting. One of those friends was found stumbling around on the street and was taken to an alcohol detoxification center. Homan's body was found 2 days later

drinking a massive amount of alcohol

2007-12-01T10:17:00.001-08:00

18-year-old Gordie Bailey was found dead in the Chi Psi fraternity house at the University of Colorado at Boulder after drinking a massive amount of alcohol in a college hazing ritual. He had been told to drink four 1.75 liter bottle of whiskey and six 1.5 liter bottle of wine in 30 minutes before returning to the fraternity house. After he passed out, the group wrote racial slurs and other demeaning slogans on his body in another fraternity ritual. Previously, he had been named to the club lacrosse team and had excelled in athletics, music, and drama in his high school in Massachusetts, where he was co-captain of the varsity football team, playing both middle linebacker and offensive guard. He had also been given the "Class of 2004 Award of Excellence in Drama."

The Easy Alternative

2007-12-01T10:16:00.001-08:00

One advantage of 12-step programs is that you can easily find meetings everywhere. NA has over 33,500 meetings per week in 115 countries; AA is an even larger worldwide organization. Another advantage is that the program is volunteer, making it a very cost-effective way of providing services to alcoholics and addicts on a twenty-four hour basis.

first members of AA came up with the twelve steps through trial and error

2007-12-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

The very first members of AA came up with the twelve steps through trial and error, keeping only those steps that worked toward recovery. The key to working through the twelve steps is being completely honest with yourself, especially when you are listing all the people and institutions that make you angry, and making amends to those you have hurt. Members are not allowed to drink or use drugs at all. As they say in AA, one drink is too many - twenty drinks is not enough.

widespread questioning of these programs has only begun recently

2007-12-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

Drug addiction, codependency, incest, compulsive eating, sex, gambling, and shopping - multitudes of people are using 12-step programs modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to recover from these problems. But beneath the surface of this massive movement, women are asking, is this really good for women? While female dissatisfaction with AA is not new (Jean Kirkpatrick founded Women for Sobriety in 1976), widespread questioning of these programs has only begun recently.

Temenos

2007-11-07T18:08:00.001-08:00

Temenos is a 'practical vision' for a non-hierarchical, non-professional, wholistic Australian community network, which provides workable, compassionate, non-coercive and cost-effective alternatives to the Mental Health System, drug-based (biologic) psychiatry and hospitals for persons experiencing an acute crisis in living. Temenos places equal focus upon human rights advocacy for persons in the 'Mental Health System' who have been diagnosed as having a 'mental illness'.

'Non-professional' denotes, firstly, that Temenos does not assume that professional 'mental health' training and education automatically translate into an ability to help persons in an acute personal crisis; secondly, it implies that the work of Temenos is largely voluntary, that is, 'amateur', or based on compassion, not on a desire for 'professional' financial gain. As a consequence of the relatively high fees charged by professional 'mental health' persons, a vast, disempowering, socio-economic gap persists
between 'professionals' and (usually financially poor) persons in crisis.

suicidal thinking as an addiction

2007-11-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

obsessive suicidal thoughts drove her to three drug overdoses and three confinements in psychiatric wards.
Susan Rose Blauner knew the killer stalking her for 18 years: It was her own mind.

During that time, obsessive suicidal thoughts drove her to three drug overdoses and three confinements in psychiatric wards.

Through a combination of spirituality, 10 years of intense psychotherapy, her own fierce determination, and the loving support of family and friends, Blauner gained control over what she terms an "addiction" to suicide.

"I see suicidal thinking as an addiction. For me, it became an addiction just like alcohol is to an alcoholic. With stress, I reach for suicidal thinking," Blauner says.

She recounts her experiences and offers advice in her new book, How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying To Kill Me: One Person's Guide to Suicide Prevention. Blauner calls it a hands-on guide for those plagued by suicidal thoughts, their families and friends, and mental health professionals.

"I started writing the book about 10 years ago, and I was actually suicidal through most of the time I was writing it," says Blauner, 36, who lives on Cape Cod, Mass.

As she wrestled with her self-destructive demons, she searched for a book on suicide prevention that was written by an ordinary person with firsthand experience. "I wanted a book that would tell me how not to kill myself," Blauner says.

She couldn't find the kind of book she wanted, so she decided to write one herself.

Listen to our radio show on Attempting Suicide and Coping with Suicidal Thoughts
using windows media player

What would drive someone to actually try and kill themselves? For years, our guest, Melanie, was told she was worthless, lazy, crazy, and would never amount to anything. She and other callers share their stories of suicide attempts and how they feel about surviving. Dr. Kumar provides insight into psychological aspects of suicide.
"It gives a very unique perspective in that it's coming from the mind of a suicidal thinker. The book is very empathetic and compassionate. It's really a conversation between myself and the reader, whether they're the suicidal thinker or the caregiver," Blauner says.

She wants those haunted by suicidal thoughts to know they're not alone, and that they shouldn't be ashamed to reach out for help.

"It's a real in-your-face book. The thing I realized is that most suicidal thinkers don't want to be dead, they just don't want to feel the pain anymore in their brains," Blauner says.

Her book, which carries a foreword by Dr. Bernie S. Siegel, provides suicidal thinkers with ways to keep from taking their life so they can buy the time to learn how they can reduce their emotional pain. It includes a list of coping strategies that Blauner calls her "25 Tricks of the Trade."

Those strategies include asking for help, using suicide emergency hotlines, having a crisis plan, gaining an understanding of your feelings, signing no-harm-to-self agreements, therapy, exercise and keeping a journal.

The book also has important messages for family and friends of suicidal people. It includes letters from Blauner's family and friends describing their experiences and feelings when Blauner was actively suicidal.

"Caregivers can see that they're not alone, and that it's OK to be angry and still love the person. It's OK to be confused. It's OK to not have all the answers," Blauner says.

advertisement

People who have lost a loved one to suicide can find some solace in the book and ease their guilt that they could have done more to prevent the suicide.

"They see that, in that moment, there's such constricted vision and tunnel vision for the suicidal thinker that the rest of the world doesn't even exist. It's just you and this brain that's telling you that you want to be dead," Blauner says.

Writing the book was a form of therapy for her.

"It helped me make sense of why I had to struggle for 18 years. There's a reason for this. So now I can give back to the world so that someone else does not have to struggle."

She says she'll donate 10 percent of any royalty profits from the book to the National Hopeline Network, Kristin Brooks Hope Center, a suicide prevention hotline.

Blauner says she recently experienced an "epiphany" that suicidal thinking doesn't have to be a part of her life anymore.

"I'm as healed as I can be in the moment," she says. "I'm pretty convinced that I'm never going to kill myself, but I can't say that those thoughts won't ever occur to me again in my life."

Her life is now one of ongoing vigilance. For example, she has to ensure she doesn't create any undue stress that may trigger suicidal thoughts. Those stressors include such things as being tired and hungry.

Blauner admits that suicide is still a difficult subject for people to discuss.

"One of my goals is to really bust it out in terms of the stigma of mental illness, and just get people talking about it," she says.

Each year in the United States, about 30,000 people commit suicide and there are about 730,000 suicide attempts. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students and the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24.

The National Hopeline Network 1-800-SUICIDE provides access to trained telephone counselors, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or for a crisis center in your area, go here.

RELATED LINKS AND INFO
Understanding and Helping the Suicidal Person
Depression: Understanding Thoughts of Suicide
Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide
Suicide in Youth: What You Can Do About It
All About Teen Suicide
The Suicide of Older Men and Women
Feeling Suicidal? How To Help Yourself
Reasons for Living Can Prevent Suicide During Depression
Psychotherapy in Treating the Chronically Suicidal Patient
Handling A Phone Call From A Suicidal Person
Suicide Facts, Suicide Statistics
Suicide Risk Runs in Families
High-Suicide Families Eyed By Genetic Scientists
Suicide: The Risk is Lifelong for Those Who've Tried It Once

the results of one codependent relationship ...

2007-10-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

I don't believe Amedeo was ever again able to sleep soundly. There were times when he awoke in the middle of the night screaming and screaming with a voice neither of us recognized as his own.

The excitation-patterns of abuse had been stamped into him for years.

On another colourful occasion, I surreptitiously called the police. When they arrived, I begged them to commit Aldo, I was hysterical, quartered by grief. The two young blue-shirted men were mortified - so kind, and so completely impotent. My mother's signature was required for him to be committed and so the whole deal fell through. She wasn't signing anything.

Aldo knew this. Exuberant in his supremacy, he then delivered one of his most extraordinarily insane monologues to the two men (his eyes rolling back into his head, the bolts in his neck turning, hair sprouting from his palms, lightning forking so dramatically in the background, a raven perched on each of his hunched shoulders, et cetera).

Mother stood and gazed at all of us with minimal recognition, a deliriously and deliberately vacuous monster. She was dressed, I think, in lemon chiffon. New jewels, the usual four-inch-heeled mules. Her son's blood was on the wall (and on the tables, sinks, doors and her husband's hands), but this was irrelevant. Unpleasant truths had no place in her life. Reality was such a bore and anyway, it was nothing to do with her, nothing at all: it wasn't really happening, it was a dream. Her denial mechanism reduced all hate-crimes to a trick of light.

“When a codependent dies, someone else’s life flashes before their eyes!”

2007-10-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

“Codependency is an emotional, behavioral, and psychological pattern of coping which develops as a result of prolonged exposure to and practice of a dysfunctional set of family rules. In turn, these rules make difficult or impossible the open expression of thoughts and feelings. Normal identity development is thereby interrupted; codependency is the reflection of a delayed identity development.”

Though originally defined as a predictable response for the partner of a person suffering from chemical dependency, codependency is now recognized as a maladaptive strategy that people typically utilize, in their efforts to cope with a wide range of life stressors. Codependency is, essentially, an addiction to another person; the compulsive need to control that part of their life that is out-of-control. It has been said that “When a codependent dies, someone else’s life flashes before their eyes!”

5,400,000 people in the United States alone who are suffering from alcoholism.

2007-10-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

5,400,000 people in the United States alone who are suffering from alcoholism. 4,500,000 of them are males while 900,000 are females. (Encyclopedia Britannica) More than 55,000 people aged 15-29 across Europe die each year as a result of alcohol-related road accidents, poisoning, suicide and murders according to the World Health Organization. (European Public Health Alliance, Dec 2004) Again as with smoking the children of parents consuming alcohol are more likely to become victims of the ills of alcoholism. Fetal alcohol syndrome is well known for causing developmental disorders, mental retardation and birth defects in fetuses of women who consume alcohol during the course of their pregnancy. (Welch-Carre E, Adv Neonatal Care, Aug 2005) In a study by Rivara FP et al., the risk of homicide was shown to increase for non-substance-abusing persons living with other members who abused alcohol and drugs. (JAMA, Aug 1997) Studies by the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, indicate that about 15 percent of the US national health care budget is spent each year treating patients with alcohol related problems. In purely economic terms, alcohol-associated problems cost the society about $185 billion per year. In human terms, costs cannot be calculated. (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2001) Scientists believe that the presence of certain factors in an individual’s environment influence whether a person who is genetically at risk of alcoholism would ever develop the disease. The risk for developing alcoholism can increase depending on the person’s environment, including culture, economic status and living condition; family, friends, peer pressure; and accessibility of alcohol. A study by Noris J, from the University of Washington reports that: "both alcohol consumption and violent pornography have been implicated independently in the commission of sexual aggression. In addition to alcohol consumption, the presence of alcohol in the context of violent pornography may act as a permissive cue to influence judgments of such material's acceptability and self-reported likelihood of engaging in sexually violent behavior." (J Stud Alcohol Suppl. Sep 1993) In some developing countries the rich classes evening entertainment, means hours of intensive drinking. The quality and number of bottles consumed has become a symbol of status. The reason can be searched in sudden agricultural and economic development, resulting in cultural adaptation of western life style and the affluent attitude toward alcohol as a status symbol. (Dr. Gupta R, The Tribune, online edition, Apr 2002) Here the danger lies again for children who in imitating their parents and elders, fall into risky behaviors including alcohol, drugs, and sex. There is indeed a very high correlation between these three risky behaviors. The increasing reliance on television, alcohol, and gambling as the most common outlets for stress and tensions, and the predominant form of entertainment is a devastating social behavior with far reaching consequences.

The effects of Porn addiction

2007-10-20T00:37:00.000-07:00

Through internet, videos, cable television, satellite and magazines, pornography has become accessible to almost everyone. By its powerful appeal, pornography leads many into sexual addiction which has many harmful side effects. According to Ybarra ML, in a study about children and adolescence who, are exposed to pornography "those who report intentional exposure to pornography, irrespective of source, are significantly more likely to report delinquent behavior and substance use in the previous year. Further, online seekers versus offline seekers are more likely to report clinical features associated with depression and lower levels of emotional bonding with their caregiver" (J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv. Sep 2005) Another study by Frei et al, in Switzerland demonstrates the clear relationship of widespread access to pornographic materials on internet with the emergence of "deviant sexual fantasies in men with no previous record of any offences". (Swiss Med Wkly. Aug 2005) According the Maitse T, "There has been a failure to recognize that pornography degrades and disempowers women in the home, workplace, and broader society. Like prostitution, pornography contributes to the creation of an image of women as objects--a view that facilitates rape and domestic violence. The pornography industry both creates and feeds on men's need to control women". (Gend Dev. Nov 1998) In another study Dr. Victor Cline has described the progressive nature of addiction to pornography. Once addicted, a person’s carving for pornography becomes more frequent and more deviant. Becoming desensitized to the material, the individual does not get a thrill from a previously exciting material any longer. Eventually, all these together (increased craving and desensitization), forces many addicts to act out their fantasies on others. (New York: Morality in Media, 1999) Though no one seriously advocates the legalization of cocaine or heroin, however, somehow the pornography industry has managed to convince a large share of the population to accept that viewing porn is not only harmless, but is also a right. By ignoring pornography's true nature as highly addictive and destructive material, we are going to face seriously troubled times. According to Dr. Patrick Carnes, about 3-6 percent of Americans are sexually addicted. That is as many as 20 million people. (Sex Addiction Q&A, May 2005) Not being limited to individuals, however; the epidemic of pornography is one of the leading reasons for family breakdown today. Attending a meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in 2002, two-thirds of the divorce lawyers indicated that excessive interest in online porn did contribute to more than 50% of divorces they dealt with that year. They also added that pornography almost did not have a role in divorce about seven or eight year earlier. (PR Newswire, Nov 2002) The devastation is not limited to adults either. In an estimate, the US Department of Justice states that about nine out of 10 children of ages 8 to 16 have been exposed to online pornography