PROFESSIONAL help versus 12 Step help.....

Nikky · Senior Member

PROFESSIONAL help versus 12 Step help.....

kitizzy · Senior Member

Nicky, Thank you for your post.

It has been proven that a lot of addicts suffer from concurrent disorders and become addicts because they were trying to medicate another condition.
Depression, schizophrenia, and bi-polar disorder are 3 just to name a few.
We are all addicts but most of us are not doctors.
It is really important that when you are trying to recover from addiction that everything is looked at.
If you suffer from major depression, there is a good chance that just doing the steps is not going to change your outlook.
The reverse is the same an addict who is depressive is not going to be cured by just taking Prozac.
I think that it goes back to the spiritual principles of NA. When we go into the rooms it is to speak from our own experiences.
We are not supposed to cast judgment on another addict's program.
If you are suffering, go get help. The point of recovery is to save your life. So don't do it half-way.

Nikky · Senior Member

I wish more members were forgiving, accepting, and open to alternative therapies as you are, Kathleen. I am under professional care. I need all the help I can get because NA was not enough for me. Perhaps my sister would be alive if members had not condemned her program, her slips. I plan on being there for her son every way I can. He has the right to choose to od, but I don't want it to be because he could not find help.

kitizzy · Senior Member

I agree Nikky,

It is the downfall of human existence. We measure everything through our own experience.
By doing this, we are really being judgmental.
I see this in the rooms with other things also. For example, I am newly clean and have embraced spirituality as part of my existence. There are some people that believe that
it should take me a lot longer to find my HP.
I have know God all of my life, I have just mad the choice to turn to him in all of my affairs.
I am lucky that way. But sometimes it takes away from me, when after a meeting another member approaches me and tells me that I only think I feel god. That I am going to need to do this for awhile before I can have that relationship.
I just say thanks for the advice and that I will remember not to call on their HP for help,
and that I am thankful that my God was just waiting for me to call out for help.
The program works because of collective experience.
Principles before personalities.

Good luck with your nephew Nikky. Remember that recovery by example is the best tool that you have to help him.
You are in my prayers.

Honey Bear · Senior Member

MY HUSBAND is going to get his MASTERS in ALCOL/AND DRUGcounsling. HE IS ALSO in RECOVERY himself. HE IS ALSO SEEING a SHRINK TOO!

CRACK screwed up his Brain chemistry.

(THIS CAME FROM HIS MOUTH not mine. He went to a therapist, and see's a shrink like once a month.)

TO ANYONE PERSON IN NA WHO SAYS ANYONE WHO TAKES DRUGS IS NOT CLEAN I GIVE YOU THIS STORY AND URGE YOU TO KEEP YOU MOUTH SHUT.

IN 1983 a "TRUSTED SERVANT" IN NJ Leading a meeting told a guy he wasnt clean because he was taking anti depressants, anti anxity meds....so the guy stoppped and within a 4 day period the same guy jumped in front of a moving train and committed sucicide!

If you are going to a doctor and taking medications as prescribed THIS IS WHAT IS CONSIDERED AN OUTSIDE ISSUE PERIOD>!!!!!!!!!

I CANNOT DRIVE THIS POINT HARD ENOUGH HOME>

IF I SOUND HARSH IM SORRY. THE LEADERS ARE ONLY TRUSTED SERVANTS THEY DO NOT GOVERN>

Nikky · Senior Member

I'm way too stupid to give advice.....12 steps are the program of recovery, not anything else in the Big Text, group stuff, etc. The members are NOT the 12 Steps. Even my shrink has me practice the steps and ignore everything else. I am not powerless over my shrink or her meds. I do know, however, when I'm making shit up to get a doc to give me pain meds, etc. There are crooked docs out there who'll write a scrip for money, not principles.

I suppose even the writers of the Big Text accepted prescribed meds...many, many members do not.

If, only if, I could change one thing about group membership, it would be that we completely do away with clean dates. And all talked about was the steps. That's all we're supposed to carry.

DennyBob · Newbie

I don't mean to sound like a kindergarden teacher here, it's just the way I break stuff down:

Addiction is a disease of mind body and spirit, that for many can be arrested through the 12 Steps. Narcotics Anonymous saved my life and I believe it is the best way, but it is not the only way - some go to treatment, church or whatever and find recovery there. I never did until I came to NA.

Depression, Scizophrenia, Anxiety, PTSD, etc are also diseases, which need treatment.

Managing the two has for me been a challenge. I suffer from anxiety (clinical despression) and have tried many things in the years I've been clean. I also have PTSD and was abused in every way imaginable.

I've gone to psychiatrists because a treatment counselor told me to. I've taken a few different SSRI medicines, with varying results. I got in with a "purist" crowd and decided that the steps were the solution for everything.
I read all kinds of books - John Bradshaw, Deepak Chckra, Scott Peck sort of stuff. I went to pychologists, other fellowships, and other support groups.

I did whatever I needed to do to recover and to feel better. I went to meetings and no matter what, I didn't use. I always had a sponsor and a service comittment.

Now I feel comfortable in my own skin, I am happy and healthy physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I have found my solution JFT - I practice my recovery, and I see a professional for depression. I take an SSRI and feel no shame. NA deals with the disease of addiction, not depression. Often, getting clean and working steps will help with depression, though.

For me it was important to find a prefessional with a working knowledge of NA and the 12 steps. My professional specializes in treating those with the disease of addiction.

-- Edited by DennyBob at 17:40, 2008-10-05

Nikky · Senior Member

ALL we have here is the 12 steps (I'm so f'd up, I need 16.....). For me, addiction was more than just the desire to have "fun"....I was freakin miserable and doing dope got me out of the misery....for my sister, doing dope kept her from blowing her brains out. Being on psych meds keeps me from that misery - I didn't realize I was born with a chemical imbalance, I just wanted to get high to get out of the misery.

For some addicts, asking them to stop using is asking them to give up the only thing that gets them out of their misery....it's not "recreational" to get high for them. My sister overdid it. It was misery she needed treatment for, not an addiction to having fun. For Becky, turning to a power outside herself was not enough; she needed meds and so do I.

NOW I'm balanced, and when I want to have fun.....I no longer use. It makes my life unmanageable. Reading The Universe in a Nutshell does not. Asking God to give me the power to carry out goodwill does not.

I just want newcomers to know we are not professionals. We are laymen. Members can relapse after 15 years of clean time....I did. I am NOT the 12 Steps. I'm just a humble traveler. And I have one goal....to reach those who still SUFFER, not the smug.

Raman · Guru

Addiction and withdrawl do distort rational thought.
When i was young and before i used drugs i was diagnosed with sleep disorder.
When i began my recovery in NA i was lucky to be taught yoga.
Im not judged in Na but the people in thenother Fellowship were quick to condemn us as lunatics.,,mad,,etc.
Using smack,LSD,grass and tabs over 14 odd years did leave my head in a mess,,
luckily for me ,my life dosent get unmanageable enough for me to want to self destruct when i get trapped by negative emotions.
The most judgemental person in my life has been my mother who even this day seems to look at me like Im a madman.
Point is that the Steps are all about living above and beyond all the negative things we and others think of ourselves.
Writing about feelings is the on;y way out,,is what ive exsperienced and what i see as the basic personal recovery method in NA !!
I am on ecospirin as a prophylatic andno one in NA has judged me for that.
And when I had a gall bladder problem and later removal of it i had to be given anesthesia.
No one really judged me for that,,,east of all my wonderful sponsor Bob.
The iup In times of illness describes the situation really well.
A sponsee of mine,,, before he became my sponsee had this very bad habit of discussing his meds with all and sundry aqnd they left him confused,bewildered and devastated.
I dont believe that we can believe everybody,,only a chosen few like sponsor,family,close NA friends,, those we hear share their agony about being condemned for beiing on meds and yes,,im going to say it,,,,God neeed to know of these things !!
However we also have to remember that inimes of illness when we get medicated we need to surround ourselves with our NA friends,,our bodies will not know the differance betwen the meds we prescribed for ourselves and the meds doctors prescribe us.
Allin all,,,I certainly condemn those that condemn those that need to medicate,,especially in order to keep sane and become responsible and productive members of the society that once rejected us and that we once rejected !
Thanks for letting me share !

Raman · Guru

Hi Denny,,
my sponsor lives in that area too,

Raman · Guru

and hey,,what i did mean in that post is=
I condemn those that condemn those who need medication as a honest supplement to their recovery,,
schizos,bipolar,heart,aids,hep-c,etcetc etc all of em need medication to live and survive another day !
Just let them be.
No one has a right to make rules about being on medication for an illness.

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