A quick hit of addiction and recovery

By Chris O'Brien

Say the word addiction, and you're talking more varieties than Ben & Jerry's has flavors. Webster's says it's abandoning oneself to something compulsively or obsessively, which further broadens the spectrum - theoretically, one could be "addicted" to bathroom cleaning or knuckle cracking. Some assume that a person can be addicted to anything - drugs, sex, booze, religion, food, TV, biting fingernails; anyone could increase the list ad infinitum. But for the sake of this piece, let's use a colloquial definition of addiction: The compulsive and personally destructive use of drugs and alcohol, including nicotine and caffeine, and possibly food and sugar.

One more thing: There's a lot of grey area between the wine aficionado and the alcoholic, the social puffer and the pothead, the sweet tooth and the sugar addict. No contest here on who is or is not an addict - that's ultimately a self-diagnosis. As a rule of thumb, however, if your habit is interfering with your life - or your life is interfering with your habit - you might be an addict.

Let's get sober

Now that we're clear on addiction, let's talk about recovery. In the simplest sense, recovery is divided into two parts. First, there's stopping or changing the destructive behavior. When it comes to sugar, food and sex, that probably means modification and moderation. But for drugs and alcohol, it usually means total abstinence. The second part of recovery is what happens after you've stopped the behavior. Implicit here is the assumption that the bad habit was there for a reason - that it was serving a purpose psychologically, physically or both. In most cases, it's unreasonable to think that simply removing a substance will make everything peachy. Just quitting drinking, for example, is only the beginning. The underlying issues, the causes and conditions of the addiction, must be addressed in some way for a person to enjoy a lasting and fulfilling recovery. How many of us know someone who has quit abusing a substance, but is just plain miserable? Think of the grumpy ex-drinker; the irritable ex-smoker; or the moody, always-dieting, self-obsessed ex-overeater. Many believe true recovery begins after you've put the plug in the jug, stomped out the butt, put down the needle or driven by the drivethrough.

Breaking the habit can be a formidable challenge. And there's certainly more than one way to break an addictive habit and embark on a road to recovery. Here are some options:

Rehab. Treatment centers are a great place to remove yourself from temptations and start the process of recovery. Prices and programs vary widely. For about $40,000, you can watch the surf and rub elbows with rock stars at Passages in Malibu, California. For the thinner wallet, county-subsidized programs such as the Alcohol Recovery Center (ARC) on north Broadway in Boulder offer inpatient detox on a sliding scale, ranging from $6 to $120 per day depending on income and other qualifications. Besides cost, you'll want to check out the staff. Many facilities employ certified counselors - identifiable in Colorado by the call-letters CAC, certified addictions counselor. In the big picture, however, don't let these considerations deter you too much. Any help is better than none.

Twelve-step programs. Beyond treatment, probably the most effective recovery programs in the past half century are 12-Step groups. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous and the like have helped millions recover from addiction. The principles and methodologies of AA and its kin are used by most recovery centers and treatment programs, and the vast network of meetings and accessible support spans the globe. These groups are easy to find (they're listed in almost every phonebook and many newspapers) and they're free. The numbers show that the AA-related programs have helped and continue to help millions. Even so, they may not be for everyone.

Rational Recovery. A slew of do-it-yourself recovery programs can be researched in the self-help section of any decent bookstore. One of the best known is Rational Recovery, a recovery method for alcohol, drugs and other addictions. Unlike AA and other 12-step groups which base recovery on group interaction, the individual takes charge of his or her own recovery using a specific technique called AVRT (addictive voice recognition technique). According to this technique, self-awareness and other tools lead the addict to an event, a moment of recovery, that is followed by permanent abstinence without the need for support groups.

Natural options. Natural remedies can be very effective at fighting addictions. Depending on the condition and individual, everything from acupuncture to Zen has been used to treat addiction. For the conscious and able individual, a holistic shift - a change in mind, body and spirit including diet and attitude - may be more effective than just a sudden expelling of the evil substance without changing other lifestyle characteristics.

"I think trying natural remedies first is a good idea," says Brigitte Mars, herbalist and author of Addiction-Free - Naturally: Liberating Yourself from Tobacco, Caffeine, Sugar, Alcohol, Prescription Drugs, Cocaine, and Narcotics (Healing Arts Press, 2001). "Perhaps start with something simple and gentle, like homeopathy or aromatherapy, then improve the diet to stabilize blood sugar levels - I feel that alcohol addiction is closely intertwined with sugar - and get adequate levels of fat and nutrition to satisfy the body. The next stronger treatment would be herbs, then, as a last resort, drugs."

Mars suggests finding a holistic practitioner with experience in naturally treating your particular addiction. The word-of-mouth network is usually the best place to shop for such a practitioner. Some of the more popular and effective natural treatments include:

• Homeopathy. Effective with many addictions, particularly alcoholism, different homeopathic remedies are said to help support withdrawal by alleviating cravings, irritability, shakes, fears and anxieties, and depression. A homeopathic practitioner can recommend the appropriate ingredients depending on individual needs.

• Acupuncture. Particularly effective for smoking cessation, treatment at points in the ears has been known to completely remove nicotine cravings. Acupuncture's ability to relieve withdrawal symptoms can also support detox from other serious addictions, including addictions to alcohol and drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

• Therapy and counseling. Quitting an addiction is not only physically and emotionally challenging, it can be confusing and painful. It can awaken sleeping mental monsters of all kinds: childhood issues, low self-esteem, grief, regrets, fears and so forth. These are formidable foes, and often impossible to face alone. Different forms of therapy and counseling can offer support in the battle for mental peace and sanity.

For non-life threatening addictions, such as an intense sweet tooth, a natural remedy alone can be very effective. And for those in the grips of chronic alcoholism or drug addiction, natural remedies can be incredibly supportive, relieving symptoms and rebalancing and nourishing the body through the tough transition of withdrawal.

There isn't only one kind of addict, and there isn't only one way to recover. In fact, just as addicts mix drugs and addictions, a recovery cocktail may be the best treatment. For example, one alcoholic might best recover with a few days of inpatient detox, followed by some acupuncture treatments, diet and lifestyle changes and regular AA meetings. Another might take Antabuse for six months and practice Rational Recovery. The best thing to do is try something, anything at first, and keep trying until you find a regimen that works. Whether you're shoplifting lipstick, surfing sex on the Internet or drinking Scope, chances are your life could be a lot better if you could just get the monkey off your back. Millions of others have recovered from seemingly hopeless addictions - you can too.

Resources, local and beyond

For more information on addiction recovery, try the following resources:

• Alcoholics Anonymous: www.alcoholics-anonymous.org
  Denver AA (meetings and info): www.daccaa.org
  Boulder AA (meetings and info): www.bouldercountyaa.com

• Boulder County Addiction Recovery Center (ARC), www.co.boulder.co.us/health/behavhlth/detox/index.htm

• Internet Addiction Recovery Guide (includes info on treatment centers, medication and holistic approaches as well as a message forum): www.addictionrecoveryguide.org/index.html

• Rational Recovery: http://www.rational.org/index.html rational recovery

• State of CO CAC programs: www.dora.state.co.us/mental-health/cacprogram.htm

• www.4therapy.com/locator/index.php

• www.naturalfamilyonline.com/YFH/20046_alcoholic.htm: Overview of homeopathy and alcoholism

• www.silcom.com/~alexb/Acupuncture/addiction_info

• www.something-fishy.org/default.php Online support and info for eating disorders

The following are Nexus advertisers who work with addictions. Turn to the page number after their names to learn more about them.

• Chi Sheng Acupuncture, Drs. Liu & Piefen Yan, 303-939-0732

• East West Medical Center, Zhangping Hou, OMD, LAc, PhD, 303-320- 5593

• Robert Hartman, MA, 303-777-5987

• Brigitte Mars, MT, AHG, 303-442-4967

• Adam Reynolds, 303-938-8633

• Carol Sazama, LCSWII, 303-938-9189

See also the Nexus Calendar and Classifieds for more resources for addiction recovery.

More Journeys