How to Talk so Someone With Addiction Will Listen (families)

Many arrive in addiction treatment with clear symptoms of pathological gambling that often go unrecognized.

I’m constantly focused on acknowledging things I can’t control. I turn it over to my HP just like I used to do with the desire to drink.

True religious fanaticism is, in my experience, quite different from the sort of spiritual practice we find in most 12 Step groups.

You understand, on an emotional level, that you’re not really alone, and that everyone isn’t looking down on you for being who you are.

In recovery, shame can be a motivator for change.

Maybe for some individuals, whose goal is simply to get off drugs and meet like-minded people, a 12 Step fellowship fits the bill better than, say, the local church or civic group.

He can recite the Steps and thump the Big Book with the best of them, but somehow missed out on one of the truly important lessons of most people’s recovery — the need for a degree of personal serenity.

What I like about resolve is that it has no sell-by date. Resolve focuses on progress, not perfection.

As if he were proud of it — as if his list of treatment ‘failures’ represented a weird sort of achievement.

By the time the family gets around to taking action, conditions in the addict’s life have already reached the point where there’s a certain incentive to change.