If you've got an addicted loved one who says one of these statements, I'm about to tell you; it is likely lying more often than not. Of course, you shouldn't believe this. But, before I tell you these statements or lying examples, I want you to know that just because you're not going to believe these lies anymore doesn't necessarily mean that you should call them out, especially not in the moment.
You don't always have to call it out, but you don't have to believe it.
#1. Some version of, "I only hide it because ____."
For example, "I only hide my drinking because it upsets you. I don't want to get you upset." Any reason for hiding the dependence is addictive behavior. And yeah, there may be a little truth in some of the reasons that they're giving you for hiding, but the big reason they're hiding it is that they know that the addictive behavior is out of bounds in some way,
So when you hear this statement, it's essential to understand that they may be lying to you, but it's highly...
The majority of clients that we see in our office stop drinking on their own without having to go to long-term treatment, like 30, 60, or 90-day treatment. And honestly, it's not that complicated.
Detox
When quitting alcohol, you have to consider whether or not you need a medical detox from the alcohol. Believe it or not, stopping alcohol from cold turkey is one of the more dangerous things to quit. So before you implement any of the other techniques that I'm about to tell you, it is crucial to have a thorough medical assessment.
Once you have that figured out, here are the critical pieces to doing this on your own, without going to long-term treatment.
1st Key to getting sober without rehab
The first thing that I want you to do is to make drinking a non-option.
What do I mean by non-option?
Make it easier on yourself. For example, one obvious thing is to take the alcohol out of your house and remove the temptation.
2nd Key to getting sober without rehab
The next thing you...
How do you rebuild trust and put your relationship back together when alcoholism is in the equation? Let's look at four practical, helpful, and successfully proven strategies. If you do these four things, you'll be well on your way to putting your relationship back on track.
Anytime there's an addiction issue inside a relationship, you will develop trust issues on both sides. The person with the addiction also does not trust the family member because both people have probably been a little dishonest.
One practical and helpful tool that we use in our office is Soberlink.
Soberlink is an alcohol monitoring system that has proven highly effective in restoring the relationship. Family and trust and helping people along their journey in recovery. What Soberlink does is provide accountability for the person in early recovery, and it gives the family peace of mind.
Long before Soberlink sponsored my channel, I've been a huge fan. We've used...
Does my drinking or substance use affect my kids?
Of course, it does, but HOW does it affect your kids? Some
of these things might be difficult to hear, but necessary.
We're going to be looking at it from the child's point of view, focusing specifically on how a parent's alcohol or other substance use or abuse affects you as a kid and even as an adult now.
If you want to know if you have an addiction or a loved one has an addiction problem and how severe that problem is, you can click HERE to download the criteria for substance use disorder.
Affect #1: When you're using substances, you are modeling that behavior for your kid. If you use substances in your home, you're modeling that's the way adults in the family have fun or party. It may come across to your kid as really glorified, "Ooh, that's how adults are happy! That's how adults connect. When I get older, I'm going to do that!"
If you're using substances to help you cope with stress or problems, then you're also modeling...
Recently, I released a video titled "Is AA(Alcoholics Anonymous) a religion?" You can watch it HERE.
Now, I pose the question, Is alcoholics anonymous a cult? What about narcotics anonymous or any of the unknown' for that matter? (read to the end to get my opinion).
You've probably heard that AA is a cult, but we're going to take an objective look and find out what qualities of AA are like a cult, and if AA isn't a cult, what the heck is it?
I think the best way to tackle this question is to look at the qualities of a cult and see if AA has any of those qualities.
Spoiler alert! -- It has some of those qualities.
The first quality of a cult is having a questionable commitment to a leader. If you're familiar with alcoholics anonymous, you know that it was created by someone named Bill Wilson. Eventually, he brought along a friend named Dr. Bob, if you had to say someone was the leader of alcoholics anonymous, it would be Bill and Bob, for sure, but neither...
What's the difference between a problem drinker and an alcoholic? Just this week, I saw 4 new clients struggling with this exact question. Most people don't understand the difference between someone who drinks a lot and someone who has a diagnosable alcohol use disorder.
Can I be honest with you? The difference between a problem drinker and an alcoholic is that they're only one stage away from becoming a full-blown alcoholic.
People who are problematic drinkers usually move over into alcohol use disorder eventually, but they do so in stages.
Here are the 4 stages of alcoholism:
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