May
11
2010
What other methods for helping with alcoholism are there other than AA?
Posted by: Alan in alcoholism treatment, tags: Alcoholism, helping, methods, Than, There
I’ve heard of Rational Recovery but don’t know anything about it.
Entries (RSS)
May 11th, 2010 at 1:05 am
You can check yourself into a rehab program; I imagine you could get psychological and medical counseling to help as well.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:18 am
http://rational.org/ is the website.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:25 am
For many people the AA philosophy of abstinence does not work. An addiction is ingrained in a persons life and it is difficult for them to picture life without the substance. This of course is above and beyond the biological dependence that people experience. Harm reduction can be helpfull to some. Controversial, harm reduction is basically when a person attempts to reduce either the substance use or the harm that is created by substance use IE alcohol users would discontinue driving when they use or herion shooters would use clean needles or switch to methodone. This practice can be a place to start an intervention with a person whom is abusing a substance. As far as Rational Recovery is concerned I am not that familiar, but a very quick review of some scientific literature states it has demonstrated some positive results. Good luck.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:01 am
Rational Recovery is self help the same as AA but from a different view point.
I would suggest professional counseling with a licensed chemical dependancy counselor.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help you get sober, stay sober, and prevent relapse.
May 11th, 2010 at 2:32 am
Entering into a drug treatment program might be a good start. There have been other methods though certainly most don’t have a notable success rate. Can you dig it?
May 11th, 2010 at 3:21 am
There are alcohol treatment centers and detox programs, which are effective depending on the severity of the patient’s illness. Recovery Connection has more information: http://www.recoveryconnection.org/addiction/alcoholism.php
May 11th, 2010 at 3:30 am
Well, first of all, most people who’ve been diagnosed with alcohol dependence (the term that mental health professionals use instead of alcoholism–but it means an alcohol addiction) recover without treatment or involvement in AA, according to a recent large study. Many do so without completely abstaining, although the worse a person’s drinking problem is, the more likely it is that complete abstinence will be necessary:
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh29-2/131-142.pdf
The notion that treatment is necessary to recover, or that AA is a necessary component of treatment and recovery, simply is not true.
Now, with that said, there are a number of recovery support groups other than AA. Rational recovery is actually not a support group at all, however. It’s an approach to recovery, but social support is NOT involved, and actually the RR people would be very offended at being advertised as a support group, as that is completely against their philosophy.
The groups that DO use social support include SMART Recovery (which is the biggest group next to AA), LifeRing, SOS, Women for Sobriety and Men for Sobriety, and Moderation Management (which is not abstinence-based–the others are).
If you need to quit or cut down on your drinking, you can do it and…you are NOT powerless.