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Post Info TOPIC: Relapse Prevention-Prediction & Stuff
Fyne Spirit


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Relapse Prevention-Prediction & Stuff
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Hi All, let me start this with a couple of quotes from the Big Book:

p24 "We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense aginst the first drink."

p45"Our human resources as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; They failed utterly"

pxxvii ..unless this person can experience an entire psychic change, there is very little hope of his recovery"

And finally p85 "Instead the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us."

This stuff from the book fits me like a glove. My last drink (bout) was, I believe, predicted by my new AA friends as I had not quite swallowed the first step. I wasn't willing to go to any lengths, I just went to about two meetings a week. They weren't surprised when I drank. But for the me that last drink was the final part of my first step, it was something of an experiment and it caused me to finally accept that I could never drink safely again.

Prior to that point I had plenty of times where I wanted to stop but couldn't, as described above. I saw a CBT strategy the other day, something about avoiding triggers or doing something fun that didn't involve drinking. In every case every item on the list meant drinking to me. If it was bad news it became an excuse to drink, if it was something positive, it became an "occasion" to drink. I could rationalise everything on those lists as a reason to drink. In spite of fresh disaster, I always came up with the flimsiest reasons to drink, fooling only my self of course.

I have found I can't predict with any accuracy who will drink and who won't. When I try I am usually wrong. The most deserving cases fail, and the most unlikely seem to suceed. But I have noticed that the ones who seem to achieve that psychic change, the spiritual awakening that the book is all about, nearly always credit their success firstly to their God, and then to a strenuous effort to work the steps.

Perhaps the best predictor is to look deep inside ourselves and ask "Am I working this program to the best of my ability?"

God bless,

MikeH



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Fyne Spirit

Walking with curiosity.
Dan B 76


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Thanks Mike for the topic I think it is something we all need to stay aware of. For myself I didnt relapse I choose to use again. I knew I was an addict I remembered the past but I had quit living the program about 6 months prior to using and was again living the past but without the escape of alcohol and drugs. My life was unmanageable just as it had been nothing was different except I was dry and miserable. Life had been much better when I was working a program so why I quit working it I dont know except We deal with alcohol cunning, baffling and powerful. By the grace of God I only used for a couple of weekends and knew what I needed to do.
Can I predict who may or may not make it no. For me I need to believe that everyone will make it. Even though I know that wont happen as statistics and addicts have proven that. Everyone in this program needs to feel supported and believed in. If others show or express doubt about someone I think they too will doubt. It is true if someone wants to use they will whether I have faith in them or not. My duty is to be supportive call them on their BS tell them if they dont do X Y & Z chances are they will not make it but to also tell them I know you can make it.


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jj


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great share. only when i was willing to do whatever it takes to stay sober, was i able to stay sober. it was a mind changing, life changing experience of truly accepting i am an alcoholic who is totally unmanageable in thought, word, deed, and under the influence of alcohol i did not care about anything except another drink.... i had the choice of accepting the help i found in AA or continue drinking until i died. i could not ride the waves of letting situations control my life any longer, i had to accept what i had done with my life and choose a new life without alcohol. i have never regretted choosing the AA way.



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chris


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In the 5+ years I've been sober and in the program, I have realized that there is no possible way you can predict who will relapse and who won't. People who seem like they are embracing the program and taking direction; the next time I hear about them they're in jail or dead. It saddens me sometimes when I sit in my home group and think about all the people who have come into and gone out of my life in that hall in just a few years time. Some I can picture their face and not their name anymore. But what matters to me is I stayed sober.

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Big Book Believer


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Fyne Spirit---thanks for giving quotes from the big book and including the ultimate question:  "Perhaps the best predictor is to look deep inside ourselves and ask 'Am I working this program to the best of my ability?' "

Our A.A. Basic Text shows us quite a few reasons why people relapse.

Here are 28 reasons:

http://dailyreprievecenter.com/ETC_blog/archives/1105



-- Edited by Big Book Believer on Sunday 25th of March 2012 01:53:11 PM

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"What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition."
~Basic Text, page 85
justadrunk


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Thanks for posting - I had to re-read this again today : )

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Mr_David


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Thanks Mike, for the insightful message...it was well-received.



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Mr.David
Wolfie55


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Old Dr. Silkworth wrote a nice piece on Slips. they didn't call them relapses back then. Anyway, its called Sobriety Loses Its Priority. That about sums it up for me.

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