May
25
2010
I’ve always only heard of AA for alcoholism, but recently heard about the hollostic treatment, what is this?
Posted by: Alan in alcoholism treatment, tags: About, Alcoholism, always, heard, hollostic, I've, Only, Recently, This, Treatment
I’m not sure if I spelled hollostic right, but have you heard of this? Are there other methods to deal with alcoholism besides these two? Thanks for your help!
Entries (RSS)
May 25th, 2010 at 7:22 am
google it.
May 25th, 2010 at 8:20 am
There are various other mechanisms. AA gets mentioned because it is one of the longest running and has been shown by independent study to have the highest success rate (Around 40-50% remission). While these numbers seem low, keep in mind that most methods of treating addiction have extremely low success rates – many of them focus heavily on the chemical itself and fail to address the severe psychological issues, or address them within the context of flawed psychological models. When studied, these have very poor success rates.
While generally not as good as AA, regular work with a cognitive behavioral therapist who has experience in treating addiction can achieve decent success rates – especially when working with a doctor who specializes in addiction medicine and can deal with the physiological consequences of alcohol abuse.
Holistic treatments tend to focus on the idea of ‘detox’. They promise relief from the long term damage that does not exist, and a ‘cure’ to addictive tendencies in a short period of time. Some of them ones I’ve turned up just briefly promise relief in two weeks – which is frankly ridiculous. Essentially the only way to maintain sobriety is with regular maintenance. In the case of AA this is available with regular meetings – sometimes daily, and the relationship with the sponsor, or in therapy by at least weekly meetings and regular availability of the therapist for contact in crisis.
There are various small time treatment programs, all of which have abysmal success. One of the larger ones is Scientology based Narconon, which is incredibly expensive and frankly complete bullshit from almost any standpoint.
There are certain programs like Moderation Management which deal with less severe alcoholism and can manage about a 17% of people using the program returning to healthy alcohol consumption.
LifeRing is another program that does not use the 12 step system, but it’s main failing is the lack of the sponsor/addict relationship. I’ve got no data on it’s success rate.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Hi Claire,
I think what you need to understand is the addiction part. I’m a recovering drug addict and here’s how I did it.
I first learned the reason for addiction and the cycles or steps that one goes through. They would go something like this. Curiosity or peer pressure, then one has maybe had something go wrong in there life and they want to forget and feel different, that’s when they self medicate, then it turns into an addiction. Then you go into denial, then you realize you have a problem, your try to rehab yourself, then relapse and then go to rehab and for many relapse…
A one year plan is best to keep going in the right path.What I did next was go to a long term rehab (3-6months is best). You then have a clean start when you get back out to the real world. After rehab it’s best to have support. There’s AA which you already know about. I myself didn’t like AA or NA, but they do have good support and you can get a sponsor to help you go through what ever might come your way. I then started to see a therapist as my last stage of recovery. I use that as my support and it is helping me to find out why I self medicated in the first place. Therapy is one of the best ways I have come to grips with my addiction. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is on the road to recovery.
I think that one thing we all need to get over this is just plain will power. Support of family and friends are also vital. They also need to be educated in what a person goes through and the steps to addiction and recovery. To realize there may be a lot of let downs but it can work. As they say relapse is part of recovery.
For an acoholic there may need to be some medical help with the withdrawl part, it is the easiest and safest way to go. It will shorten the time it takes to go through it and the help with that part will keep you going.
This is just a short verse of my recovery. Feel free to email me anytime. I would be more then happy to answer any question.
Take care
Cella
Please stay away from any rehab called NARCONON or NEW LIFE as they are SCIENTOLOGY and they have them all over the world.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:16 am
The reason you only hear about AA is that 95% of the treatment centers in the US are 12-step based–despite the fact that studies have shown that AA’s success rate is about the same as it is for people who simply quit on their own (5%–I don’t know where that other person got the idea that AA has a 40-50% success rate).
There are a number of other treatment options and recovery support groups out there, everything from the “long talk with your doctor” method to online support groups such as Smart Recovery. Such groups are not holistic as much as they are secular (AA’s basic premise is that God, or a higher power, gets you sober).
Avoid Narcanon at all costs. Narcanon is very thinly veiled Scientology.