Originally Posted by
justhadenough 
Hello.I have a question please
I know people in AA say stopping drinking is only the first bit of the problem, it's sorting life out that remains the bigger challenge. Do secular approaches believe the same? Or is it more of the case that life does improve almost automatically when we stop drinking-for me,it has,although some problems do remain? Or maybe a bit of both.
I would be interested in others' thoughts on this.I'm a month sober, feel hugely better but feel I need to address various issues about how I react to things,stop worrying about the past,let the future be what it will be and learn how to live today.
Well, not all secular approaches are the same. The one I'm most familiar with, SMART Recovery, recognizes that while ceasing addictive behavior is a huge accomplishment, many of us, following abstinence, can benefit from learning life-balance skills. So, SMART incorporates many tools designed to help build these skills.
In my own personal situation, I found immediate benefits to simply being abstinent from alcohol. I felt better physically and emotionally simply because I wasn't poisoning myself anymore, and didn't have to deal with guilt from nightly blackouts.
But I'd been drinking for 25 years and had done some real damage to myself during that time. Basically, I had no coping skills, and I had some childhood trauma to deal with. So, although I didn't struggle horribly with abstinence per se, I certainly had work to do.
For that task, I looked to a professional who took an eclectic approach incorporating CBT principles and psychodynamic therapy. She was very creative and challenged me. I learned a lot from her. I believe the approach she used would have worked well alongside the SMART Recovery program, but at the time I was unaware that SMART even existed.
So...what sorts of things have you considered or run across that look interesting to you, or that you think might be helpful to you?