Stark Raving Sober

Recovery Slogans and Sayings

2011-11-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

"You can't be too stupid for a 12-step program but you can be too 'smart'."

So. Wrong. Have a Happy Halloween (but not this way)

2011-10-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence

2011-09-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

Pavel Ševela / Wikimedia Commons

Sixty percent of male drug abusers commit some form of domestic violence against their intimate partners according to a new study. The survey of 153 men aged between 20 and 65 who were attending rehab for cocaine, alcohol, and/or heroin abuse revealed that psychological violence was more common than physical violence. The most commonly reported forms of abuse, in order of frequency, were: personal control, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, emotional blackmail out of guilt, disregard for ideology or religion, abuse based on gender roles, emotional blackmail through enforcement, economic abuse, emotional blackmail out of fear, loss of personal control and social isolation.

Addiction and Recovery News further reports that:

Alcohol and cocaine abuse are most strongly associated with domestic violence perpetration
While cannabis and opioid abuse are most strongly associated with victimization

If you are involved in a domestic violence situation, you can call the DV Hotline at: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit http://www.thehotline.org/

Comedian Rick Shapiro on Potheads and Coke

2011-09-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Laughter is the best medicine, even if it's bittersweet. In Rick Shapiro's case, The New York Observer writes:

Carol Burnett once called comedy "tragedy plus time." Mr. Shapiro has dispensed with the time lag: For him, comedy is tragedy, period.

Rick Shapiro has been considered an explosive comedic talent, a sort of punk-rock, white Richard Pryor with a literary bent, part Iggy Pop, part Philip Roth. But Mr. Shapiro was also notorious for being a holy mess, a world-class drug addict who turned tricks for drug money, spewed rage and obscenities, and bit on the ass anyone who tried to help him make it. Shapiro has plowed through a half-dozen managers and spent months in psych wards and rehab programs.

In a quiet moment in a coffee shop, probably around 1987—he’s not sure exactly when—Mr. Shapiro decided to get clean.

Kudos to him and here's hoping for more of the above.

Recovery Slogans and Sayings

2011-08-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

"Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, hard way." ~Billie Holiday

Side note: alcohol is a drug

Bits and Pieces: Official Definition of Addiction, Sex, Porn, Internet, Gambling, and Neurobiology

2011-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

The American Society of Addiction Medicine released a new long-form definition of addiction which encompasses sex, food, and gambling. Here's hoping the DSM committee gets it right, as well.

Not everyone is on board with expanding the definition to include behavioral addictions, however. An ever-widening rift at the world-renowned Betty Ford Center was sparked, in part, by controversy over admitting sex and gambling addicts.

This video presents an excellent, non-dogmatic primer on the neurobiology of porn and addiction (spoiler alert: it's a lot like drug or alcohol addiction).

And this fellow shares his personal story of porn addiction and treatment. Britain, (which we know has some serious sex addiction issues), just launched a new treatment service aimed at the nation's estimated 1.2 million internet porn addicts. It has helpfully whittled the traditional 12-steps of fellowships like Sex Addicts Anonymous down to just five. Oy Vey. At least they're acknowledging that it's an addiction.

Meanwhile, internet addiction, while closely linked with porn addiction, may have to wait to be taken seriously due to the shortcomings in research on the subject which make it difficult to validate, as summarized in the journal Clinical Psychology Review.

Russell Brand, Katy Perry, and 'Last Friday Night'

2011-08-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

It seems odd that someone in recovery from sex addiction would choose to hang out with porn actresses, give interviews to Playboy, and marry, well, this. It also seems a bit surprising that someone in an intimate, long-term relationship with a recovering addict would write and release a song like Last Friday Night, with the lyrics:

There's a stranger in my bed,
There's a pounding in my head...
I smell like a minibar...
It's a blacked out blur
But I'm pretty sure it ruled
Yeah we danced on table tops
And we took too many shots
Think we kissed but I forgot...
Trying to connect the dots
Don't know what to tell my boss
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping in the dark
Then had a ménage à trois...
This Friday night
Do it all again

The kicker - in the video, featuring real-life teenager Rebecca Black, Teen Choice Awards favorite Katy Perry portrays a high school kid. . . So when she's not giving Elmo sex ed on Sesame Street she's making videos depicting teens having fun blackout drinking.

Of course it is understandable that having been raised by religious conservatives and spending most of her life as a Christian singer, Katy Perry might be acting out, now, the way most kids do when they're 15. And Russell Brand may be similarly emotionally stunted, having stopped maturing when he started using, as they say. Still, the behavior above is just . . . not what one would expect from a person in recovery and their spouse. Unless, of course, the recovery program in the Perry - Brand household is of the stark-raving-sober variety. In which case it makes perfect sense.

Thoughts on the Drug War, Legalization, Decriminalization, & Addiction

2011-07-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Image via World Travels

Addiction & Recovery News sums up my thoughts on the subject perfectly:

It seems most of the arguments for legalization can be lumped into two categories:
1. stop locking addicts up; and
2. legalize and tax drug sales and fill state coffers with new tax revenue.

It seems to me that [2] has some implications for drug crime. If we ever legalized and taxed it, I suspect that the tax would be very high ... this would create a gray market for addicts who would be consuming the lion’s share of the drugs.

In reference to [1], is legalization necessary to end this? Could sentencing laws be changed? Or, are there ways to get law enforcement to make it a lower priority?

Finally, we do have a legal and regulated drug market—prescription drugs. And, they’re the fastest growing segment of the drug problem in the states. And, they’re currently associated with high rates of OD. And, it’s increasingly associated with crime. And, they’ve surpassed marijuana as the drug most often used by someone trying drugs for the first time. And, they’ve become a significant problem with teens.

This is not an argument for the status quo, but meant to challenge suggestions that we have two choices (status quo or legalization) and that legalization would be a great thing.

Hear, hear. I would add that the legal red-light district in Amsterdam became such a racket for international organized crime syndicates' money laundering, and devolved into such a seedy and unattractive area, that even the notoriously laid-back Dutch are trying to reign it in. Sound like something you want in your back yard? (If the answer is "yes" you have clearly stumbled upon this blog by accident and should probably go rinse your mouth and eyes out with whiskey immediately to avoid possible contamination.)

Hat tip to Pea Pod, for recommending this piece.

RIP Amy Winehouse and Betty Ford: Tragedy and Hope

2011-07-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Photo by Dan Arnold

What to say about Amy Winehouse and her tragic recent passing? The New Yorker review of her Back to Black album in 2008 opened by saying, "Is there anything surprising about Amy Winehouse’s being awarded five Grammys this month? A cynic might say that her ability to stay alive is startling." Which begs the question: did the media, the state, and, dare I say (and I will only because I'm sure they're not reading this) her parents hasten and abet her death by doing nothing? Which opens a whole can of worms about involuntary commitment that I don't want to get into, here.

What seems appropriate to say is that Amy Winehouse was a gifted musician and it is sad that she died. I do not want to remember her "at her best," however, as TMZ suggests (alongside a video of her guzzling booze as she sings). I've never been a fan of the saying that, "some of us must die so that others may live," but I do believe that acknowledging and accepting the harsh reality of untreated addiction is what helps some of us stay sober. I hope that her family can remember Amy as she was before the disease destroyed her. I, however, will always think of Amy Winehouse as the singer whose music I wouldn't buy, even though it was good, because I felt like I would be enabling her to kill herself by supporting her work financially. And I need to remember that because I could be the person who spends every cent that crosses my path on dope and eventually dies of an overdose if I were to return to the lifestyle that Amy had.

Addiction kills. Sadly, that is what I will remember about Amy.

The story of Betty Ford's life, which ended peacefully two weeks ago, offers the antidote to the tragedy of Amy Winehouse's. After being confronted by her husband (the President) and her children after she had exhausted herself with alcohol and pills she found recovery and worked to start a center that has helped other addicts and alcoholics. Some of us will die from this disease, but not all of us have to.

There is hope.

Recovery Slogans and Sayings

2011-06-24T05:45:00.000-07:00

"Everything after 'but' is bullsh*t."

Crunk and Disorderly Boating

2011-06-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Every year people drown in drunken boating mishaps, but that was not the case for these three lucky yahoos who got lost boating the English Channel in a toy dingy. The Australian reports:

Three drunken revelers rescued after 11 hours greeted the authorities in French, thinking they had sailed across the stretch of water separating the two nations. Instead the men, equipped only with a bottle of wine and one paddle, were only 3.2 km off the English coast...

The trio, aged between 18 and 22, had launched their inflatable toy dinghy from the beach at Littlehampton, West Sussex, at 9pm on Saturday. Authorities came to their rescue on Sunday morning after a birdwatcher spotted them waving for help. They believed they had reached France, and courteously greeted their rescuers with "Bonjour!"

After being treated for hypothermia and checked over at the Worthing hospital they were determined to be no worse for wear and released.

Perhaps the toy dinghy boaters should get together with the drunken Barbie car operator and form some sort of league.

Bits and Pieces: 'The Opium of the Masses,' Black Poppy, Black Eyed Peas, and Britney Spears

2011-05-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Turns out opiates are 'the opium of the masses.' Almost one-quarter of U.S. adults surveyed said they had abused prescription painkillers in the last year, following a 10-fold increase in the medical use of opioid painkillers and a 500% increase in overdose deaths.

Following that analogy to the author's conclusion, "The abolition of [opiates] as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness."

The fact that the mainstream industrial pharmaceutical complex is now the biggest 'dealer' of opiates might put a bit of a hitch in Black Poppy's hip, outsider, addiction lifestyle schtick. (P.S. is it really a lifestyle choice if you're unable to choose not to use?)

Black Eyed Peas, purveyors of The Other Opium of the Masses, bad pop music, bring us the new hit single, Just Can't Get Enough: "I think about it every night and day / I’m addicted, wanna jump inside your love / I wouldn’t wanna have it any other way / I’m addicted and I just can’t get enough."

Might we suggest starting a support group with Britney "You're toxic / I'm addicted to you" Spears?

Relapse: The Sober Coach Chronicles on A&E

2011-05-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

A&E's wildly popular series Intervention recently came to a close, after becoming so notorious it was observed that many subjects seemed to know what they were in for long before the 'surprise' interventions took place. It's replacement, Relapse: The Sober Coach Chronicles, which is already sparking much the same debate about exploitation of addicts, premiered on April 5.

In case, like me, you weren't quite clear on what a sober coach is, A&E explains: "Sober coaches are former addicts who... dedicate their lives to giving individualized attention... The coaches are often a last resort for addicts who have tried other methods to get sober but have failed." Charging for 12-step work is sure to invite skepticism, however from what I saw coaches did seem very genuine and earned their paychecks by putting in hours above and beyond regular service work. (Interesting scuttlebutt: an anonymous commentor - for what that's worth - says everyone in the field knows that one of the coaches on the show "is a con artist and actively loaded.")

The show works like this: in each episode a coach works with an addict for a week to get them through withdrawal and 'personal challenges.' It doesn't amount to very much time, but in at least one case the coach did an admirable job of connecting the client with the local recovery community before saying a tearful goodbye (see image above).

In the episodes I screened, the addicts' drugs of choice included meth, heroin, oxycontin, marijuana and crack. It wasn't clear to me that all of them were actually 'relapsing' - rather, most seemed never to have been in recovery before. There was much of the same graphic depiction of drug use in the first half of each episode that viewers of Intervention will be familiar with - probably not safe for anyone susceptible to euphoric recall who might be triggered to use. There were also similar goosebump and tear-jerking scenes of redemption and hope in the second half of each episode.

It will be interesting to see if Relapse can capture the loyal following of Intervention. Hopefully it will help some addicts find recovery, regardless.

Recovery Slogans and Sayings

2011-05-13T15:07:00.001-07:00

"Pick your pain: the pain out there that gets worse or the pain in recovery that gets better."

Top 10 Recovery Tunes: Music for Clean and Sober Listening

2011-05-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

1. This is by no means the best video, but it is one of the best recovery tunes: How a Resurrection Really Feels by The Hold Steady

2. When I Was Drinking by Hem is a pretty, folksy little ditty

3. Don't know if the Beastie Boys are in recovery, but I love their take on Gratitude

4. Come Away From It by Ani DiFranco is a powerful song

5. Ball and Chain by Social Distortion: a classic

6. Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians surprisingly upbeat take on a serious subject: Little Miss S

7. This is a great recording of Van Morrison performing Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore

8. Again, don't know if Pink is in recovery, but it sounds like she might know a thing or two about wanting to be Sober

9. Frank Turner's beautiful and melancholy The Next Round

10. And, of course, the No No Song by Ringo Starr

Enjoy!

12-Step Anonymity Online: Celebrities and Bloggers

2011-04-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

You can see the video of Rob Lowe talking about Charlie Sheen and the "anonymous organization" he belongs to, here. I originally posted on this topic about a year ago and decided to bring it up, again, after a commenter pointed out that an issue of the Grapevine addressing anonymity and the internet was published, recently. Twelve step programs state that every member ought to, "maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films." So, I've often wondered if I should know that musician Trent Reznor picked up a Narcotics Anonymous keychain or that blogger Aaron M. Duke of Plympton Massachusettes, pictured here, in in AA?

Two authors recently illustrated the fine, hazy line between high-profile anonymity breaking and almost-breaking. Famous children's author Robert Munsch told the media he was "seeking help through Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous," for his cocaine and alcohol problems. Celebrity publisher Bill Clegg, on the other hand, coyly told a reporter that he, "still attends 12-step meetings." It seems that Clegg is getting off on a technicality by not specifying exactly which 12-step programs he's attending.

And, most importantly for people like me, where is the line for bloggers? Sober, not Somber, whose profile does not include an image, name, or location, blogs about ETA - Every Thing Anonymous - in order to maintain anonymity. Others show part or all of their faces, along with varying levels of personal information.

Bloggers and celebrities appear to be breaking the anonymity rule left and right, but online in the information age, it's not entirely clear what the rules are. For instance, I've wondered if I should relay breaches of anonymity on my site or if I am Part of the Problem when I repeat that Robin Williams goes to 12-step meetings.

The internet didn't exist when the admonishment to "maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films" was written by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. So what does anonymity in the digital world mean to you and how much or how little do you feel you need?

Update: Polarizing right-wing Fox News personality Glenn Beck provides a good example of what the AA founders were concerned about when they wrote the anonymity tradition - might people who don't share Beck's views hesitate to seek help from AA knowing that the controversial figure is a member?

These are the comments on the original post.

12-Step Joke: A Man Died and Went to Heaven...

2011-04-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying the discussions over at Binge inking on such serious topics as harm reduction and the scientific evidence for 12-step recovery programs. I also enjoy the jokes. Thanks to PeaPod for sharing this one:

A man died and went to Heaven. St Peter asked: ‘What denomination are you?’ The man said: ‘I don’t belong here, I don’t go to church.’ St Peter said: ‘Well, we don’t make mistakes, you belong here alright. Let’s just walk around and you can see if you’d like to stay.'

So they walked down a long hall, and St Peter opened a door, and there were many pews with people kneeling and praying and crossing themselves. ‘Who are they?’ asked the man. ‘Those are Catholics’, answered St Peter. ‘Well, I don’t want to stay there,’ said the man as they continued walking down the hall.

St Peter opened the next door, and there were pews with people sitting in them staring straight ahead. ‘Who are they?’ asked the man. ‘Those are Protestants’, answered St Peter. ‘Well I don’t want to stay here either,’ said the man as they continued down the hall.

The next room they went to, smelled like coffee as soon as the door opened. The man looked inside and there were people laughing and hugging one another. He watched them form a circle and recite the Serenity Prayer. The man said: ‘I like these people; who are they?’ St Peter shrugged his shoulders and said;

‘I don’t know, they won’t tell us.’

The DSM-5 and Addictions: Sex Addiction, Internet Addiction, Hoarding and Eating Disorders

2011-04-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the image, Neuroskeptic

Soon it will be official that sex addiction is actually 'sexual interest and arousal disorder,' according to the DSM-5, the authoritative manual for diagnosing mental illness. This is a small detail in a bigger story, however. The DSM currently acknowledges only a hand full of behavioral addictions: pathological gambling; excessive shopping; and binge eating disorder; and these are classified as impulse control disorders rather than addictions.

This may be remedied by the NIMH Research Domain Criteria project which is working to define disorders in terms of, "genetic findings and neural circuit maps." This should place behavioral addictions and substance addictions in the same category because they represent disruptions to the same biological pathways. For example, when problem gamblers gamble, their brains light up like addicts' and alcoholics' brains. (Not coincidentally, roughly half of gambling addicts are also addicted to alcohol) Similarly, "when a compulsive overeater is shown images of palatable foods, the brain’s pleasure centres are activated in a way that differs from 'normal,' non-addicted eaters, but is similar to drug addicts."

Another important factor in addiction is the interaction between the environmental and genetics. This may not be sufficiently addressed by the NIMH RDC project, however. Some disorders strongly influenced by environmental factors that should be included in the addiction matrix of the DSM are hoarding, anorexia and bulimia, and internet addiction.

The consequences if a disorder is not listed correctly in the DSM are significant. Health care providers will recommends treatments, and insurance providers will allow benefits for those treatments, based on the DSM listings. Will hoarders be rehabbed in a way that addresses their compulsive shopping? And will it be covered by insurance? The DSM will determine that.

Here's hoping they get it right.

More on the DSM debate, here.

There's an App for That: Digital Tools for Drinkers and People in Recovery

2011-04-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

First there was Gmail Goggles, an email app people could instal to save themselves from sending embarrassing drunk-mails.

Naturally, with the advent of apps for smart phones, the drunk dial was tackled next. Geeks with, we suspect, some experience in the area developed The Bad Decision Blocker and Don't Dial for the iPhone. To help people "understand and control" their drinking, developers also created the Drink Control app. Sort of like the digital version of a really sick Al-Anon, it counts your drinks for you.

With Twitter and Facebook, however, the consequences of over-imbibing have become ever more complex (just ask Courtney Love). To help navigate these new minefields, the Last Night Never Happened "morning after" app erases social media posts a person might regret or not remember making. If that fails, some might try the O'Douls of the iPhone: iBeer.

In the end, folks who realize that the best way to avoid chemically enhanced digital embarrassment involves getting down to root causes and conditions will also find digital support for recovery. There are dozens of apps for people trying to stay clean and sober including Sponsor Support, Friend of Jimmy, and the 12-Steps AA Companion Alcoholics Anonymous app. Here's to that!

Update: A commenter just pointed out that Promises has a nice looking app, as well. Thanks for the tip!

Recovery Slogans and Sayings

2011-03-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

Via Syd:

"When I change those around me either change or go away."

Should Drug Courts be Cut?

2011-03-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

Image by Jonathunder

Drug courts are under attack right and left. On the right from budget cuts, and on the left from harm reduction advocates who, "complain that the outcome measures are abstinence focused"... (because addicts not using drugs is a bad thing? I'm not even going to touch that one).

The decision to defund drug courts is a harsh surprise to people like Christy Hanley who started using when she 16, became addicted to crack, and got sober after a court intervention. Ten years later, she tells the graduates at a ceremony at the Kentucky drug court she went through that she's clean and raising three little girls. "Now, what's that worth to the state of Kentucky? What's that worth to the United States?" Judge Lucinda Masterson asks.

So why is there still doubt as to whether drug courts work? Douglas Marlowe, a researcher with the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about efficacy versus effectiveness.

Efficacy means that if you do something and you do it in the right way and under the right circumstances, then you can prove in a research study that yes, this will work. I think drug courts have passed the efficacy stage. Now we’ve got ... 600 more in line to come up in the next year or so. What quality are those drug courts providing? ...it’s not clear what the quality is out there in the world and that’s the issue of effectiveness.

Marlowe is convinced of the efficacy of drug courts because in a randomized controlled trial where drug court clients were assigned to court either every two weeks (a relatively high frequency) or only when there was a problem the positive effects were so large that in one case researchers had to stop the study because it wasn't ethical to continue giving the lower dose of hearings.

In other words, if the goal is to break the cycle of addiction, drug courts are a good idea.

Good Times, Bad Times in Tortilla Flat, with The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

2011-03-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Addicts and alcoholics are portrayed sympathetically and with humor - but not without accompanying consequences - in John Steinbeck's 1935 novel Tortilla Flat and the 2009 documentary The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. The two don't seem to have much in common, but after reading / viewing each, I was struck by the humanity as well as the insanity, rationalization, and self-delusion of the drug addled and booze swilling characters in both. The fictional paisanos and real West Virginians aren't unlikeable - on the contrary, both stories are rich with shades of gray and it's easy to feel sympathy, horror, sadness, and hope for the people involved.

The Whites are a family with deep roots in the South and the bottle. It's clear from viewing the escapades of the younger family members that prescription pills are the new hillbilly crack. The documentary follows one young White as he is convicted of attempted murder and another who decides to try a different path and just might make it.

Steinbeck's famous novel casts the more or less homeless paisanos as knights of the round table whose wine doused adventures are, like the Whites', heroic and epic, at least to them. Here, too, although Steinbeck doesn't villainize his ne'erdowell protagonists, he doesn't shy away from delivering the inevitable consequences that befall them, either.

I highly recommend both.

Old Fashioned Alcohol and Drug Ads for Mothers and Housewives

2011-03-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

Yikes. With 'legitimate' prescription pill abuse widespread and on the rise, one wonders how much has really changed.

Recovery Slogans and Sayings

2011-03-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

"I had a pretty good sober run for eight years - then the 3rd grade happened."

The Perfect Gift For That Special Someone's Third or Fourth DUI

2011-02-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

We've featured 14's artwork here, before, as well as Lindsay Lohan's, shall we say, handiwork. I can't imagine it's easy to be in Lindsay's shoes, and I wish her the best - hopefully in the future we will associate her more with Robert Downey Jr. than with Anna Nicole Smith. La Lohan's Wikipedia page appears to have been written by someone on her staff (sample: "In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, Lohan gave fund-raising assistance to the British Red Cross in March 2010 to provide aid for the country." Note to Lindsay: hire assistants with better writing skills) but the page does list at least three trips to rehab. Here's hoping the third time's the charm.