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Welcome to Addiction Recovery
The path from “social use” of alcohol or drugs to “addiction”
is different for each user. Just as some people can drink alcohol without
becoming alcoholics, some people who try drugs can do so without becoming
addicted. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine in advance which
category you will find yourself in.
This site has been developed to provide information on addiction, as well as to offer information, hope and resources for recovery. We offer this information to help two groups of people: those who find themselves struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol, and those who care for someone in the first group.
The suffering that goes hand in hand with addiction is not limited to the alcoholic or addict. As the user builds a stronger and stronger relationship to the substance he or she users, all other relationships (spouse or significant other, family, friends, co-workers, etc) become weakened. A common piece of wisdom in the recovery community is “no alcoholic or addict suffers alone.”
The pain, shame, hurt feelings, despair, anger and hopelessness affect everyone involved. It’s also true in recovery that “no alcoholic or addict gets better alone.”
Before we deal with the path of addiction, types of treatment available,
and the ways you can help someone who may not yet realize they need it,
let’s build a foundation for the rest of the discussion. Let’s
deal with the “What Happens” and “How It Happens”
aspects of addiction briefly:
While a person may voluntarily experiment with alcohol or drugs, by the time the pattern of addiction has developed, there is nothing voluntary about the user’s behavior. Addiction creates a physical and psychological dependency in the user (that’s “What Happens”). Demonstrably toxic and dramatic changes take place in the alcoholic/addict’s brain, creating the disease we know as “addiction.” And it’s very difficult to pinpoint when the line between “using” drugs and “needing” drugs was crossed (and that’s “How It Happens”).
Suffice it to say that, by the time the alcoholic/addict needs help, they are incapable of changing their behavior alone. They need help. That’s what the rest of this site is designed to provide.