re: Have you ever had a family member struggle with drug abuse? (Updated)

quote:

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what helped you recover?

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Well, I had to get out of the academic exercise of whether it was a disease or a moral failure or lack of will power. It simply does not matter which it is.

For whatever reason, I could not control it. It's a fight and I did AA for many years. I hated everything about it as I want to be self reliant. But I found that it was only through being around others like me that helped me get better. I was sober for 9 years the first time and decided that I probably had it under control. So, I started again and it went downhill fast.

I was embarrassed to go back to AA and hated it again, but they helped me -- again. While some consider it a cult or another crutch, I can tell you that I never had a DWI or got into trouble by not drinking. The deal is that I had to do whatever I had to do to get as much time between me and my last drink as possible. I think every addict has to do this. It is too easy for addicts lime me to look at a program such as AA; find something we do not like; and reject it. I hated all of the "trite" sayings, like "one day at a time" or "if you don't but I now see that they are profoundly true

In early recovery I had to do what I was told to do (which I hated). But following the advice of others who had stayed sober for a while worked for me.

I wish your brother and your family the best. He can get better, but he'll need to do some real work.