Aysha

I keep seeing this comercial for "The Addiction Cure" book. I have been told there is no addiction cure. And in my experience, it seems to be true. And most certainly wont happen for me just by reading a book. Love alone hasnt been enough to "cure" me. Whats more powerful than love?
Obviously my obsession to use drugs.

So it got me thinking. What could be a sure fire cure for addiction? Or even anything for that matter. And my conclusion is amnesia. Or if there was some way that you could erase the memory of using and all the experiences that go with it. Then you wouldnt know what it was like to begin with and not crave.
How can you miss what you never had..Right?

If only, I can dream right?

So thats what goes on in my mind sometimes.

I know..Pretty pointless. But it would be the definate cure IMO if it were possible.

Any thoughts on "The cure?"

LexieCat

I think it's a money-making infomercial.

Your "amnesia cure" reminded me of "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"--ever see that movie? The cure for the pain of lost love is to wipe every trace of the loved one from your mind.

I used to get up every day wishing I didn't have to drink, that I'd never gone where I did with alcohol, but there really IS no going back--only forward.

Trish, if I were you, I'd listen to the people here on the board who have struggled the way you are. Their experiences might not be identical to yours, but what worked for them will work for you, too.

SASA

but if you erase the memories about addiction, wouldn't you just start new, going out finidng alcohol by chance and start drinking and getting addicted? I think the memory of being addicted is also a good thing, you at least know now that you have a problem and can work on it. you get stronger after each relpase or slip until you can get trough (at least that what I learned)

Fandy

I've seen that commercial too, it is also promoting their book..."The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure"....I read some of the reviews on Amazon and decided not to waste my time or hard-earned $$.

susanlauren

I bought the book. Out of curiousity, mainly. I thought there would be all sorts of things that I would disagree with in the book. Ironically, there was far more that I agreed upon than disagreed upon. Am I going to follow the book's recommendations? Actually, yes, some of them, I will follow. I would encourage you to keep an open mind. Check out the book at the library. The main problem I saw with the book is that most people won't have the type of money that would be needed to follow the recommendations. What is it that they say about "contempt prior to investigation ..." ? SusanLauren

PrimalScream

I'm reading the book now...I like it. So far the main thing I get from it is you have to cure the underlaying problems you have...addiction is just a symptom of these problems. Once the underlaying problems have been cured there will be no need to medicate yourself with drugs and alchohol. The sons herion addiction story is worth the $18 you pay for the book alone...I couldn't put it down while reading that.

Zencat

The thing that I have noticed about addiction is: With so many common symptoms that people share with addiction, I find it comforting to know that there are different successful ways to treat it. One treatment modality may work for someone and then may not work for someone else...at least that has been my observation. So "The Cure" may be just the right program for some people with addiction.

Aysha

Yea ..I thought about that too.

I was just thinking what makes me want to use when I do crave. And its the memories of the good ole days. The physical feelings of anticipation, the excitement of it all. I know I dont feel the things heroin addicts feel for dope or alcoholics feel for alcohol. Why? Because I am not addicted to those things. Does this make sense?
Its usually my mind romatisizing the past that kicks up the physical anxiousness in the pit of my stomach that gets so uncomfortable at times that I just cave.

This was just a random thought.

I actually have the book on my book swapping account wish list.
I just got done reading the "The Last Addiction." That really didnt do much for me.
Again underlying issues.
But I dont think I have any. Maybe I am in denial.
But if I never got high for any other reason than because it was fun and exciting. Most of the time out of boredom or for a long time thats just the life I was living. I never got high to kill any pain. As far as I am aware I dont have any that is tramatizing.
Everyone says because my mother has been missing.
I am ok with it now. I have been for awhile. Sure it bothers me to not know what happened. But my gram made sure I knew she loved me and that she just couldnt take care of me. And my gram has more than made up for that missing part of my life.
I got issues after using. Consequences and things I have done or missed because I was high.
I guess really I need to come to terms with death. I really had a death reality check when my gramps died. It opened a whole new level of anxiety for me. I never had to deal with death before. I mean I get really deep in thought trying to understand death. Like obsessive sometimes.

But I am very obsessive about alot of things. Even simple little things like how the silverware is put in the dish washer.

Anyway. Thx for the responses. I hope to read more.

I guess I just need to accept that nothing worth it ever comes easy.

Raindance

The premise of the "cure" is that you need to deal with the issues that lead you to medicate yourself with an addictive substance.

PrimalScream

I'd like to hear your thoughts on it after you read it Aysha. I am only half way through but it already has me thinking of why I binge drink so much. I always thought it was because I just loved the euphoria of getting drunk/stoned...but the more I think about it the more issues I am finding I have. I went back to my first drink when I was 14...I remember I was alone at home and heading out to meet a bunch of people...for whatever reason I thought I would try a shot of my fathers whiskey, I drank a shot and just remember how gross it was and how it burned the whole way down...but then when the warmth started radiating out through my body I couldn't believe how good it made me feel! I think I had two more shots before I left the house. I look back at it now and I realize I was very shy and didn't like meeting new people or hanging out in large groups...I think I sensed that maybe the whiskey would help me with that...and boy did it! After that I pretty much wanted to drink at any social situation...and still do. That is just one of the things I have come up with while thinking of why I drink...the more I think about why I drink the more I see how much I use alcohol to manage anything difficult or uncomfortable in my life. I guess the hard part is to work on all these issues so I don't need to drink...It's hard because you know there is this easy way to deal with them...drink!! And when things get so confusing or tough that you (I) don't want to work on them anymore it's so easy to drink and feel the euphoria and not have to think about any of your (my) problems.
Anyway, I find the book is really making me look at my life, which is probably a good thing.

Harry01854

Change the last word "cure" to "with willingness, honesty, openmind and being thorough" and you have the same exact thing I found in the 12 Steps of AA. Just takes a lot of work.

The only thing that is really different is he choses a little bit of a different way for the process and it costs a lot more money.

Too many people have proved him wrong before he even started to think of this book. One thing they have proven wrong is that there isn't a cure for alcoholism and addiction. In my own opinion, if there was then why is it everytime I tried to be a moderate drinker again I have failed miserably.

Just my own opinion. I don't like the thinking that there is a cure.

Harry

wpainterw

Aysha:
My spouse uses the word "cured" ("He's cured now! He's taken the 'cure' or maybe "They sent him to take the 'cure'!") This drives me ballistic. After 21 plus years of not drinking I'm still in "recovery" and I always will be. There's always a chance for a relapse and as time goes on the relapses tend to be more and more severe. I now take a whole bunch of blood pressure pills (having had a heart bypass op. 13 years ago). If I started drinking, the booze and the pills would be a disaster. And without the pills it would stlll be a disaster. A real ER situation. So I've got to keep an eye on that tiger watching me from the jungle, never let my guard down. Posting on this site helps remind me. Thanks for letting me do that!

W.

getr345

The only "cure" for addiction I have ever found to work is to not put a substance that I have been addicted to in the past (or I suppose any known addictive substance) in my body. It really seems to work with time. Maybe it's not a cure per se, but maybe there really is no cure for addiction, just a process with a beginning and an end: Use of substance, addiction to substance, discontinue use of substance, withdrawal from substance, no longer addicted to substance, permanent abstinence from substance.

zbear23

I'll go along with AA's POV: I am an alcoholic who has "recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body." I am not cured. I still cannot drink in safety. To me, "recovered" means that I no longer succumb to the insanity of thinking....or even wanting...to have a drink. It has no value for me BECAUSE, through my spiritual practices, including AA, I have dealt with the underlying issue(s)....which was self-loathing...totally based in egocentric fear. My solution was to become engaged in a process of change which had the effect of convincing me that I was lovable, and thus allowing me to love myself.....and others.

Addictions are IMO simply learned coping strategies to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Spiritualality pursues neither one, and thus my recovery is fully dependent on my spiritual fitness....not in my avoidance of addictions. My Inner peace is not imported from the outside....I've needed to go within to discover it.

blessings
zenbear

susanlauren

The book does not advocate going back to using addictive substances after one becomes sober. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The book is very clear that one cannot ever drink or use again. As I understood it, "cure" means living a sober/clean life healed from the underlying causes and conditions.

In AA, one says, My name is .... and I am an alcoholic. It is understood that once one becomes alcoholic, one is always alcoholic. Remission is the best one can hope for even if one deals with the underlying causes and conditions. AA seems to say we can never fully or completely or permanently deal with our underlying causes and conditions.

The book approaches it from the standpoint of My name is .... and I am a beautiful, unique, precious human being. I once used alcohol/drugs in an abusive/dependent manner but since I have dealt with the underlying reasons for my addictive behavior, I no longer use alcohol/drugs. I am cured from my addiction.

The book does not accept the "disease concept". It views alcohol dependence as more of a maladaptive behavior brought on by underlying causes (alcohol dependence as a symptom of something else like trauma, abandonment, grief, etc.).

I think there are more similarities than differences between AA and The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure. Where people in AA get hung up on is the word "cure" vs. "in remission" and whether alcoholism is a "disease" vs. a "maladaptive behavior''. Self-esteem wise, I think it would be healthier to say, "I did something unwise/foolish (as in drank abusively or dependently)" as compared to saying, "I am an illness (alcoholic, drunk, etc.)"

People don't walk around saying, "My name is ... and I am cancer, or diabetes, or heart disease or asthma." We don't (or shouldn't) equate our very being with something we have (i.e., illness or possession) or something we have done (i.e., used alcohol/drugs).

If someone has high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol then loses his or her excess weight and no longer has high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, one says, "I once had these conditions" or "my excess weight and excessive food intake once jeopardized my health." As in the past, not in the present.

I would rather say, "I once used alcohol in a dependent manner," as compared to saying, "I am (my very essence, my very being) is a stigma of a disease." SusanLauren

LaFemme

Hey Susan! I agree 100% Thanks!

And just because there wasn't a cure in the past doesn't mean there can't be a cure in the future:-)

susanlauren

Trish,
Thank you for raising this topic. I've been doing a lot of thinking about it, and it probably wouldn't be politically correct to go to an AA meeting and raise it for discussion. This time around, I have two years four months sober in AA, and I am beginning to question the need for lifetime commitment to AA. In the past I've had 7 years sober in AA and 6 years sober without AA. I absolutely know sobriety is possible without AA. The reason I went back to drinking was grief -- following the death of my mom. Needless to say, I did not handle my grief very well (in a healthy manner). The price of admission to AA is "My name is ... and I am an alcoholic." It's not that I don't believe I am alcoholic. It is more that I don't believe the nature of the condition. I AM are two very powerful words. My essence as a person is not the disease of alcoholism. Can we grow beyond a destructive behavior or tendency? Or are we forever doomed to our past? Am I ever tied to a group for addiction? I would like to think that we can grow beyond a destructive behavior or tendency. I would like to think I am capable of becoming a different/better/changed person. It is not that I am ungrateful to AA, because I am. It is that I wonder if I have replaced one addiction (to alcohol) with another addiction (to AA)? I don't know if this is making sense, and I am finding the comments very helpful. SusanLauren

HidLid

Susan you are making plenty of sense. AA does push very hard for you to be forever devoted to AA no matter if you have completely eliminated the desire/addiction of alcohol. That is why many people call AA a cult, although proponents of AA would say that you stay dedicated to help other alcoholics, a concept that does have merit.

yeahgr8

Susan It's fantastic that you are doing so well with your sobriety:-)

I have met a lot of people in AA and i'm sure you and i would be the first people to say that we aren't unique...

Your post of how you were 6 years sober without AA and then 7 years sober with AA...wouldn't it be far better for you to think of it as 6 and 7 years respectively between drinks...surely you dont want to be taking that first drink again in a few years time and this time is for good?!

I've met quite a few people who get into the rooms, do not think they need a lifetime commitment to the very thing that is thier saviour at the beginning then turns into a chore...i myself attend one meeting a week now and intend to attend more when i move country next week with the express purpose of being there for another guy like me when they need help just as someone was there for me when i was in pain...

I think we need to be very careful about the selffish side of our personalities because it would be very easy for me to say as a recovered alcoholic so long and thanks for the fish and ill maintain my spiritual fitness elsewhere and to heck anyone else...

Its also very easy to forget where you came from too and without meeting, at whatever frequency i decide to do, i know that my head would forget that i was an alcoholic and it may be a similar story to your own in a few years time!

I notice we were talking about the label alcoholic and how we are all beautiful people inside...well the world has been judging us on our actions and clearly we aren't beautiful people inside...we can change to be and thats absolutely there for anyone but i find romanticising about what a great guy i was is delusional and lets have it like it really is...just my opinion:-)

I like the sure all addictions book though, great idea for a money spinner...lots of vunerable people out there!

Aa pushing hard for people to stick around...sure does who the hell would be there to help the alchie otherwise...my sponsor said AA is a bridge to normal living and warned me not to live in AA, but then again he had worked the real program of AA which is the 12 steps....sitting round a table 5 time a week hanging off sobriety through fear of taking the next drink...thats not AA, even though the majority of the people in any given room may be doing this:-)

LaFemme

Not all alcoholics are ugly inside. I was a beautiful person inside when I was an alcoholic and I like to think I am the same person now, just much, much healthier and able to cope with life better. It's one of my problems with AA, the beating up on our alcoholic selves. I do not intend to spend the rest of my life defining myself as an alcoholic. I intend to spend the rest of my life as an ex-drinker.

As for the book, which was the purpose of this thread. If it helps someone get sober, then it has value and merit. I'm sure there are people who is has helped.