Resources For

Here we arrive at the core of stigma: the alleged inferiority of the person with alcoholism based on weakness of will. But alcoholic people aren’t weak-willed; if they were, it would be much easier to convince them to seek help.

Alcoholism is stigmatized. So is drug addiction. So is mental illness. And that’s an important obstacle to recovery.

In most cases, our only pre-admission contact with prospective patients and families is by telephone.

A patient said he’d visited a local family clinic three times in the past year for drinking-related problems and the physician never once mentioned that he needed treatment.

We keep running into situations where ASAM criteria don’t seem to apply.

Picture a boat with two holes in its bottom. Fix one and not the other and the second leaks a little worse than before.

I wasn’t trained in how to incorporate material about faith and God into counseling. Most of my graduate school education was on traditional social work practice.

Once someone with alcoholism acknowledges the need for professional help, even insincerely, the biggest obstacle is gone.

He still isn’t willing to talk about me or my feelings. The kids and I went through three years of pain waiting for him to reach the point where he admitted he needed help

The goal of treatment is to maximize chances for a successful outcome. But ultimately, to drink or not to drink remains the alcoholic’s choice.