tmbg

I wanted to come back and let everyone know that I am giving AVRT a try as it seems to fit much better into my world-view.

I do not in any way belittle anyone's experience with AA or rehab, but I do believe my Dr. had a point. Last time I went out on medical leave, I was demoted. That's just the way the world works. Just my experience. It happens, especially when in a professional job that has a high public profile. It does get on your "permanent record" so to speak. [Notice how the public loves to go ga-ga over a rehab story?]

I certainly don't want to stir the pot and would be willing to discuss why AA has not worked for me via PM.

I am praying, staying sober, waking up.

dawnrunner

Best wishes to you in your journey! I am finding AVRT thinking extremely helpful (in combination with several other approaches) so I hope it works for you, and if it does not, I hope you find another strategy or perhaps a combination of things that helps you keep moving forward.

michelle01

Good luck with the new plan tmbg, I think that sometimes it's best for people to be in care, because it really is a life or death situation. I've been there because I was just no longer able to cope with any day to day responsibilities anymore, I had to shelve them for awhile and I am now appreciative to the people who cared for me and kept me safe during that time. It was an opportunity for a new start that I am now grateful for.

miamifella

In spite of what was said earlier, rehab (in my experience) does not have you work the steps. They support 12-step programs and may require you to attend 12-step meetings, but what rehab offers is psychological counseling that is different than the support you get in 12-step programs. They can also help break the pattern of family enabling by teaching your loved ones how to handle your drinking.

The thing that I found helpful was it made it easier for me to talk about my addiction. I had so much same that I could not discuss it in therapy and could not face 12-step recovery. I do not think I could have posted to a site like this. But rehab made my addiction part of my life that could be looked at and talked about rather than a shameful secret.

jc76

I'm.actually waiting on a call back from a rehab house. I need to be locked in a setting hell maybe even jail to keep me away from booze. I'm UN employable, up to every episode is a blackout. I may get a day or 2 sober then the horrific stomach aches start and the bottle "fixes" it. So I know I need to be locked up. Woke up this morning after a heavy night of drinking and for the 1st time in my 3 year drinking career finally realised I can't stop without being put in a setting where there is no alcohol, AA alone was not the answer for me. I just need to be away to clear my head.

Boleo

TU's right. I spent 130 days in Rehab and still felt like I needed a drink 99% of the time. What did help was getting kicked out of rehab and realizing
"my life was unmanageable".

It must have been the missing half-step because I thought I had been through the steps several times at that point. The problem was, my intentions were to use the steps, my sponsor, the fellowship and even God to manage my own sobriety. The instant I quit chasing sobriety - sobriety chased me.

2granddaughters

One of the group leaders in my rehab helped me when he said that recovery was like learning to play the piano for someone who HATED the piano.

No matter how much you hate the piano, how much the sound of it irritates you and you would rather be cleaning a toilet than sitting in front of it............
If you practice it for an hour a day, like it or not, you will learn how to play it.

Wishing everyone the best.

Bob R

LDT

Sorry 2granddaughters.......I've been a piano teacher for 30+ years, and that statement is not entirely accurate (lol).....but I get what you mean anyway.

Boleo

Hummmm....

If door #1 was having to play the piano and door #2 was having to clean the toilet and door #3 was having to kiss a cobra on the nose? I would be caught in cognitive dissonance. LOL!

King Cobra - YouTube

RobbyRobot

Rehabs of course don't stop people from wanting a drink. If they did, wouldn't life be grand, eh? Imagine the possibilities

I'm not sure how getting kicked out of a rehab equates with having an unmanageable life. For me going into one proved that, not the other way around.

Step 1,2,3. Very powerful stuff. Alot there to appreciate in or out of rehab, you know? Enough to move forward and get on with it. I finished the AA program while in rehab - 90 days. So of course it really depends on the individual, we all know that. And its not a race either. Fast or slow -- dosen't win and dosen't lose, respectively. There is no finish line to the journey. Each new day brings more joy and less pain when we don't go back to drinking any more.

For those that do return to drinking --> blaming people, places, and things, just makes it all worse. I drank because I wanted to be drunk alot more then not be drunk. Simple really. Its not rocket science why we drink and why we dont. It can get real complicated to attempt and fail at controlling drinking, absolutely. But its a no brainer to either drink or not drink. Been there and done that. Who hasn't? Once you drop the control issues, it all comes together one way or the other. Just get honest about what is what and go with it unconditionally. You'll get results everytime.

Chronic alcoholism almost killed me dead. Opinions about rehabs, and programs, and this or that was always meaningless to me while I was getting drunk, which was why I never asked for outside help for my drinking until I didn't want to be drunk anymore period. When I did ask, it worked. Rehab worked. AA worked. Gestalt therapy worked. Working with other alcoholics worked. SR worked. And AVRT will work too.

30 years without another drunk. Awesome. It all works because I want to not be drunk anymore. Really, with my attitude about not getting drunk anymore what wouldn't work? It's totally meaningless what works for me, and why would I care? If it works I'm good and all set.

I've heard hundreds of guys and gals tell me this or that dosen't work over the years and they tell me after another drunk or just before another drunk, so I have learned to take their doomsday opinions with a touch of reality check, you know? Of course there are always exceptions to every rule.

It is an interesting thread. For some rehab was a waste. For others a start to their journey in recovery. Like anything else its really up to the individual, right?

eJoshua

For me, rehab was a great start to my recovery journey -- but I looked at it as just that: a start.

I agree with the benefits some of the other posters have brought up. I viewed my stay in rehab as a chance to call TIME OUT on my life and reevaluate everything. I was able to get over most of the physical symptoms of withdrawal and start thinking about what I was going to do to stay sober. The great irony of getting sober is it's very hard to decide how you want to get sober without first being dry, and I needed those 30 days to truly dry out and figure out my stuff.

Terminally Unique

Robby,

I concur with what you wrote in your post. The OP had very specific concerns, however, and it is in this context that I posted. Excepting your first response in this thread, I seem to be the only one that took his concerns seriously, and eventually I sent him a private message addressing them.

Everyone else told him to do precisely what he clearly stated has not worked for him, or which would jeopardize his livelihood. I am sure that everyone who posted was genuinely concerned, but we can't just simply disregard the OP's concerns, either.

RobbyRobot

Boleo

You said "with my attitude about not getting drunk anymore what wouldn't work?"

I believe you. Your sobriety was an inside job. I tried that route three years before my problem was solved . My sobriety is an outside job. Not wanting to drink has nothing to do with why I am sober today.

I never said Rehabs don't work. I said rehab did not work for me. Out of the 30 or so guys I knew in rehab, only two of us were sober 1 year later. The other one tried to stay in touch with everybody he knew. What does that say when it was supposed to be a year long rehab program. Two out of 30 is not all bad. It just says some ways are more reliable than others.

claren

Hi Lenina,
I'm new and this is my second day sober. You give good advice and at the end of the day three months out of our lives is not much. If I can't stay sober I will be going too just like TM is thinking. My problem is all my social triggers. What do I do if I can't drink? I'm off to a charity auction tomorrow and it will be swimming in booze, so I'm pretty scared of that. That is why I think rehab is good regardless, a few months being kind to ourselves and letting the healing process start has to be a start! I went to rehab a couple of years ago and only did a five day detox, few nights later I was drinking. I should have stayed, but like many drinkers I was not kind o myself. It is so good o share experiences. Thanks!

PaperDolls

Just to be clear, I didn't tell anyone what to do. I shared my experience. Take it for what it is.