Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Oct. 25, 2016 - Addiction and Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016

"God has abundantly supplied this world with fine doctors, psychologists and practitioners of various kinds. Do not hesitate to take your health problems to such persons. Most of them give freely of themselves, that their fellows may enjoy sound minds and bodies. Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist. Their services are often indispensable in treating a newcomer and in following his case afterward." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 9 ("The Family Afterward"), p 133.

Today, let me not be discouraged even in sobriety if AA is not enough to treat my physical, emotional or spiritual sickness. But it was never intended. If clinical depression or bipolar disorder have been ever-present shadows in my life, for example, I may need medication to stabilize those conditions, and I should not and cannot feel let down if AA does not treat such maladies. AA instead is one of multiple therapies that I might require. As the program notes, alcohol is but a symptom of our underlying problems. And if those problems should be a medical or psychological condition that warrants medical treatment, quality sobriety will be elusive if we treat only the symptoms and leave the conditions unattended. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016

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