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Dry Drunk Syndrome–Is it Beatable?

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Don't feel the same after you've quit. A Definition of Dry-Drunk Syndrome When I moved from Albuquerque to Cincinnati, I went to some AA meetings and made it a point to network with recovering drinkers.  As you’ll recall from previous posts, it’s important to have at least some connection with recovering alcoholics as you go through your own recovery.  This helps commiserate and to not feel alone. Now, it’s important, of course, not to allow these friendships or collegial relationships to … [Read more...]

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Pros and Cons of Relapse Prevention

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Friends, today’s topic is something that quite a few recoverers may not know about.  Relapse Prevention is a while school of thought developed by addiction counselors and therapists and other professionals.  As the name implies, this approach explicitly labels the component of the process in which the recovered alcoholic could possibly hit a relapse. A report by Larimer, et al. discusses the Marlatt Cognitive-Behavioral Model.  First, this model aims to identify high-risk situations, such as … [Read more...]

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Breaking Good: What Breaking Bad Can Teach a Recovering Alcoholic

Be the Reverse Walter White The great television show Breaking Bad is all about transformation.  It grabbed people’s attention because it showed such a shocking transformation, which was the centerpiece of a very controversial and hard-to-watch story.  We watch, season after season, a school teacher getting into the manufacture of crystal meth, becoming known for the purity of his product, getting mixed up with fearsome criminals, building a web of lies, killing people, destroying his family, … [Read more...]

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Moderation Management: One Recovery Option

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Moderation Management: a stripped-down AA? One of the reasons recovery from drinking throws such a fright into people is that when many people think of abstinence, they think of just that: giving up cold turkey.  It’s not a fun hobby, that’s for sure.  But there are other ways of doing things.  Today we’ll discuss moderation management, a form of recovering from alcohol without going cold turkey. Moderation Management—with the details to follow--just the idea of drinking in moderation while … [Read more...]

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Taking Charge of Your Recovery

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Take Charge of Your Recovery There’s a paradox: recovery is insanely hard.  When something is insanely hard, the tendency is to back off, slack off, maybe quit a little.  But the paradox, of course, is that if you don’t work super hard at it, it will be impossible.  It’s something that requires your full attention and full effort. I’ll tell you the difference between just thinking you’re going through recovery and really taking charge. Albuquerque: Feeble Attempts I did my heavy … [Read more...]