DUAL DIAGNOSIS weekly discussion meeting online

This meeting is closed. Click HERE for the current meeting.

Due to a server problem, we did not start the meeting on time this morning. The usual meeting time will be 9AM CST (10AM EST, 8AM MST, 7AM PST) every Sunday morning.

The server problem may occur from time to time for the next week or so while MDJ performs an upgrade; so, if you want, you may leave a message for me by going to my own web page at www.blessedtobebonkers.com.

So thanks for your patience.

CLICK HERE for last week's meeting.

MEETING GUIDELINES

Explanation of words used in discussions to date (Dual Diagnosis Dictionary, © 2007 www.cerebral-storm.com):

ACCEPTANCE: belief in true or factual relationships; taking things as they are; deliberately avoiding an effort to change things which one cannot change.

ADMISSION: confession, telling the truth about one's self.

ADMIT: confess, tell the truth about one's self.

POWERLESS: lacking strength, resources, or authority to manage or control a person, place, thing, or event; tending to require help.

POWERLESSNESS: a persistent, permanent, or ongoing lack of strength, resources, or authority to control a person, place, thing, or event; persistent, permanent, or ongoing tendency to require help.

If you have come to this forum then you have perhaps started on the journey which we all have shared--a gratifying journey to discover NOT WHY we are the way we are, but a journey rather to learn how to change the way we are.

The foundation for that change is a simple rite.

In AA, we express to ourselves and to others like us, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable." [Step One, the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous.]

Few of us have really stopped to consider the meaning of those words. We have chosen our sponsors, we have started the saga of 90 meetings in 90 days, and we have begun the daily ritual of saying "My name is [Jim], and I am an alcoholic."

HOWEVER..., without truly knowing the meaning of the words in the first step, we will soon become critics of the program; and our criticism, based on ignorance of "Step One", will become the first link to our next relapse.

In short, we will become victims of knowledge without understanding....

The idea of powerless applies to the first drink, the first drug, the first manic obsession, the first negative obsession of depression. All of these "firsts" are choices we face.

When we CHOOSE to take the first drink or drug; when we CHOOSE to obsess over some manic thought or some depressive emotion, we become POWERLESS to control the consequences of our choice.

We ARE powerless once we have made those choices, and the course of our lives as a result of those choices has become unmanageable.

We admitted that our lives had become habitually unmanageable, because we habitually made bad choices.

Thus, "Step One" summarizes the dilemma we face, and admitting that we are alcoholic, addicted, and mentally ill gives us a daily, up-front reminder that we need to learn to make better choices.

For ALL of us who WANT to recover, that daily reminder is essential to restore our commitment not merely to make different choices, but also to make those choices the benchmark for our new way of life.

Therefore, Step One, along with our new understanding, leads us to our first life changing choice.

Each day then, we choose (one day at a time) not to take that first drink or drug, and not to indulge that first manic thought or depressive emotion.

For those of us especially who are new to recovery, we turn immediately to our groups and our sponsors for the support, the knowledge, and the direction which will enable us to honor our new choice--one day at a time.

The discussion is open for your comments. Please observe the guidelines. The moderator will lock the discussion at the end of the two hours, but you are welcome afterward to continue in the "lounge" or by private message.

At any time, if you need to refresh or update the page, you should be able to press a hot key like, for instance, f5 on your keyboard.

My name is Jim, and I have Bipolar One with a history of alcoholism and addiction. I am from Florida.

The topic is "Taking the first step toward recovery."

The questions for discussiion are:

(1) What do AA, NA, DRA mean when they state "We admitted that we were POWERLESS over _______, that our lives had become UNMANAGEABLE?"

(2) Give an example of HOW POWERLESS and UNMANAGEABLE have affected your life.

Thank you.

Please observe the MEETING GUIDELINES

It's your meeting now, so please introduce yourself briefly, if you will, and post your comment.

Respectfully,

Jim

Post edited by: JR1, at: 06/01/2008 08:16

Post edited by: JR1, at: 06/08/2008 06:52

Post edited by: JR1, at: 06/15/2008 18:00

1. Answer to question powerless over my addiction to alcohol. It means I needed and still need help. Interestingly, enough by understanding that I needed help in overcoming the desire to drink I gained the power to overcome it. Because by recognizing that I needed help I also understood that I did actually have the power to decide not to drink. Power over the addiction came from knowledge that I have an addiction and need help.

That my life became unmanagable was seen in the alcohol fueling my mood swings...highs were extreme and the lows were also.

During the meeting Norma mentioned, in so many words, how important it is for me to be aware of my diseases--the way my thinking turns over control to my diseases. ...how important it is for me to be aware and alert on a daily, sometimes even minute-by-minute, basis. ...to respond to that awareness by seeking help.

Now..., members of NA, AA, or DRA will probably recognize that we have been discussing Step One of their respective recovery programs.

"We admitted we were powerless over ____, and that our lives had become unmanageable."

For purposes of this discussion group, it will be important to realize, in a general sense, that we have suffered from the choices we made and the reactions we have had to people, places, and events.

We need to realize the choice for the addict to take the first drug, the choice for the alcholic to take the first drink, the choice for the substance abuser to self-medicate, the choice for the dual diagnosed individual to react in fear and without reason--all these choices are what made life unmanageable for us.

Therefore, don't you think that a proper objective for recovery is to find a way to make better choices? ...to make well reasoned choices? ...to seek to change our attitudes, beliefs, and reactions to people, places, and events? ...if nothing else, to learn to think things out, to reason with truth rather than with fear?

Admission is telling the truth. Acceptance opens the door to change what, for most of us, has been a bitter truth indeed!

Thanks for your participation and your comments. I hope, if you have more to say or you merely wish to talk to others in the group, that you will remain and visit in the DUAL DIAGNOSIS LOUNGE

or perhaps move to the private message system after the meeting.

My name is James Rist. Thank you for allowing me the honor to chair this meeting.

I'll leave this thread open for late comers. Okay?

See you next week?