Today is the last day of the ‘What Recovery Means To Me’ series. First off I would like to sincerely thank all those who have participated and had the courage to share their views with others. The strength of character that you all show amazes me, and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to learn from you.
To conclude the series we will hear from Patrick M about ‘What Recovery Means To Me’. Patrick has been a Wired In volunteer for about seven months and has taught me a lot about the role of positive thinking – I marvel at his positive outlook on life, and how he tackles his problems head on and with a smile on his face! You can learn more about Patrick, and our other volunteers, in the Our Community blogspot.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
What Recovery Means To Me - Patrick M
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Yes Patrick in recovery we dare to dream and often make them come true. Good luck on your journey and thankyou for sharing with us. Dare to dream my friend Dare to dream! Big hug Annemarie x
Thank you for these stories of recovery. It has been an uplifting experience reading how those woh contributed overcame themselves and their addiction, their courage is self evident as is the fact that recovery is not just possible, but probable.
Recovery a personal view. Part 6
Over the past decade it has emerged that the comorbidity arising from or preceding addiction needs to be addressed in parallel with addiction for recovery to be sustained. It is therefore regrettable that within the current treatment protocols, it would seem that little more than lip service is being paid to this important aspect of recovery. More so as the presence of serious emotional and other mental disorders, is a major obstacle to successful recovery.
In view of that we should not be judgemental of those who continuously relapse. Sadly such judgement is common, especially among those who should know better and judge such unfortunates as ‘treatment resistant’ Their answer to that dilemma is to increase the severity of the addiction by long term prescribing of either the drug(s) or an equally addictive substitute. That they should do this in direct contravention of scientific evidence which clearly shows that ongoing use inflicts further damage on the patient’s brain and interacting systems to the point where the free will of the patient is eroded,(1) is in this writers opinion more accurately described as an experiment in social engineering, rather than good medical, or psychotherapeutic practice. That it disregards the urging of Hippocrates. ‘First do no harm’, is indisputable.
1 Drug Addiction erodes free will over time. Volkov, N. Psychiatric News July 6, 2007: Volume 42, Number 13, page 16: © 2007 American Psychiatric Association.
Post a Comment