Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
There seems to be a few questions on DS about whether rehab works and what is it really like. Of course, there are as many different experiences as there are different people. The stats for recovery seem impossible to know.
There doesnt seem to be much information on the web about the actual experience of attending rehab just a lot of advertisements about different facilities and which celebrities are going to rehab. It is very expensive.
Personally, I went to rehab for 6 weeks and when I came out I drank again but I would not blame the rehab unit for that and not everybody drinks again.
For what it is worth, I will post my own experience and would appreciate other thoughts and views on the subject.
I have been sober since 1 May 2007 thanks to AA and the 12 Step programme that lead to my vital spiritual experience. My stay in rehab was just under 2 years ago and it was a rehab advocating the 12 Step programme of recovery.
Good:
A monitored detox
One-to-one counselling once a week with trained counsellors who monitored us daily and had recovered using the 12 Step programme
A chance to get away from my life as it was for 6 weeks and escape the every-day concerns to concentrate on getting better
A chance to study Step 1 in depth and keep a daily Step 10-style diary which we wrote last thing at night and discussed in group next morning
A chance to get to know other addicts from all walks of life and discuss everything we went through and had been through together in a group. At the same time we had to learn how to tolerate each other being thrown together 24-7
Themed group discussions
A regimented and structured routine following STRICT house rules and going to AA meetings twice a week
No contact with anyone on the outside apart from immediate non-addict relatives for an hour or so on Sundays and two outgoing phone calls per week to non-addict relatives
I hated all the CCTV cameras in the house but understood why they were there
The people who ran the rehab offered 18 months ongoing support by phone and encouraged us when we left to go back once a week to answer questions from those who had just gone in or were about to leave
They still encouraged me to go back and share my experience despite several relapses
Bad:
I formed some very close relationships being in an artificial environment and felt a bit lost without those people when I returned home, only one lived close by
It was scary leaving I felt I had not had enough time there and could not afford to pay to stay any longer
I was also scared by the feeling that everyone would expect me to come out cured - that was not just fear some people did expect me to be cured and more or less wiped their hands of me for a while after I relapsed
Outcome to Date:
Out of a group of twelve, nine (five men, four women) stayed in touch. From nine all relapsed except for one guy who fairly quickly got himself a sponsor to start the Steps and is still sober today. Three men and one woman stayed sober once having started the Steps, so that is five of us sober at present. One woman died as a direct result of her drinking almost a year ago and one man died as a direct result of his drinking just before Christmas. Two women are very seriously ill and still drinking. Both are in dire need of a liver transplant but cannot stay sober for a year to qualify for one.
Those of us still around regularly keep in touch and although we all live quite far away from each other we make an effort to meet up occasionally. We still all feel a close bond.
There doesnt seem to be much information on the web about the actual experience of attending rehab just a lot of advertisements about different facilities and which celebrities are going to rehab. It is very expensive.
Personally, I went to rehab for 6 weeks and when I came out I drank again but I would not blame the rehab unit for that and not everybody drinks again.
For what it is worth, I will post my own experience and would appreciate other thoughts and views on the subject.
I have been sober since 1 May 2007 thanks to AA and the 12 Step programme that lead to my vital spiritual experience. My stay in rehab was just under 2 years ago and it was a rehab advocating the 12 Step programme of recovery.
Good:
A monitored detox
One-to-one counselling once a week with trained counsellors who monitored us daily and had recovered using the 12 Step programme
A chance to get away from my life as it was for 6 weeks and escape the every-day concerns to concentrate on getting better
A chance to study Step 1 in depth and keep a daily Step 10-style diary which we wrote last thing at night and discussed in group next morning
A chance to get to know other addicts from all walks of life and discuss everything we went through and had been through together in a group. At the same time we had to learn how to tolerate each other being thrown together 24-7
Themed group discussions
A regimented and structured routine following STRICT house rules and going to AA meetings twice a week
No contact with anyone on the outside apart from immediate non-addict relatives for an hour or so on Sundays and two outgoing phone calls per week to non-addict relatives
I hated all the CCTV cameras in the house but understood why they were there
The people who ran the rehab offered 18 months ongoing support by phone and encouraged us when we left to go back once a week to answer questions from those who had just gone in or were about to leave
They still encouraged me to go back and share my experience despite several relapses
Bad:
I formed some very close relationships being in an artificial environment and felt a bit lost without those people when I returned home, only one lived close by
It was scary leaving I felt I had not had enough time there and could not afford to pay to stay any longer
I was also scared by the feeling that everyone would expect me to come out cured - that was not just fear some people did expect me to be cured and more or less wiped their hands of me for a while after I relapsed
Outcome to Date:
Out of a group of twelve, nine (five men, four women) stayed in touch. From nine all relapsed except for one guy who fairly quickly got himself a sponsor to start the Steps and is still sober today. Three men and one woman stayed sober once having started the Steps, so that is five of us sober at present. One woman died as a direct result of her drinking almost a year ago and one man died as a direct result of his drinking just before Christmas. Two women are very seriously ill and still drinking. Both are in dire need of a liver transplant but cannot stay sober for a year to qualify for one.
Those of us still around regularly keep in touch and although we all live quite far away from each other we make an effort to meet up occasionally. We still all feel a close bond.
deleted_user
Thanks to everyone for their responses to this discussion thus far - they all providing an illuminating insight to what generally seems to be a very closed and expensive book.
deleted_user
I am one of the lucky ones to have insurance that covered the 10,000.00 dollar bill. My husband works in the construction field. Not to stereotype, but they do have a reputation for drinking. You know, the good ol boys club. Having a few after work and so on. I could keep up with all of them. It was funny until I realized that it wasn't. But by then it was too late. I thought I could just drink and stop when I wanted to, that I could stop when I had enough. I know now that I could NEVER have enough.
deleted_user
Just my opinion.... I've been to a few, and spent a lot of money. Jail was the same, been to a few and spent a lot of money in fines. Rehabs are a safe enviornment. I really got tired if hearing the same ol' thing. I finally found out that I personally have to do it myself. Use the BB, and work the twelve steps, and stay connected to clean and sober people. I mean If I have to be with clean and sober friends. I use a lot of meditation, and become moved at my success, and try not to look back, but look for the NOW. This, like I said is me. I have choose only clean people to be around and associate with that think like I do and work the twelve steps. It's the ONLY WAY to keep me CLEAN. I have tried everything.
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