How to Cope with an Addiction

How to Cope with an Addiction

How to Cope with an Addiction

How to Cope with an Addiction

One of the most important things we do is break thatisolation by mandating contact with others. If patientsconsistently come back from their meetings and retire totheir rooms to watch television, we will call them on theirisolating behavior and tell them to start knocking on other people's doors. That simple act of taking the first step andthe tentative "May I come in" is just as important as anyinsight they might have during a classroom lecture ortherapy session, for they have taken an action and foundout the real cause of their lonelinessthemselves.

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Another way we break the habit of isolation is by useof the buddy system. As soon as they enter treatment newpatients are given a buddy who takes them around theunit, shows them where everything is, explains the schedule, and in the process enriches his or her own recoveryby reaching out to help others. No matter where patientsgo for the twenty-eight days of treatmentfor a walk, to the laundry, on a weekend passthey go with a buddy.Lots of patients react intensely to the lack of privacy, but the truth is, being too private has allowed them to act self-destructively. We don't even let our patients cry in private.They've done too much of that already.

You can break out of the isolation you may be in athome by going to meetings of Overeaters Anonymous.There you will meet people who, like yourself, are willingto make profound changes to restore sanity in their lives.You may need more than an OA, however. You need asponsor and you may need a therapist. Overeaters Anonymous is a support group, not a therapy group, and themeetings are really not a place to go to seek therapy.

Coping with an addiction in a group is a lot less painfulthan coping with it alone. I love the conference theme Iused once: "We don't have it all together, but together wehave it all." I have also noticed that people in 12-stepmeetings laugh a lot, not at jeering put-downs of othersbut at themselves. A room full of uproarious laughter is contagious and healing, and it takes the onus off recognizing you have an addiction. There are even those who cometo see their addiction as a blessing, though it is not arequirement for membership in these wonderful fellowships. You can also break your isolation by readingthis article with a buddy, with whom you are in constantcontact. When you feel the need to reach out, your buddywill be there. When your buddy needs you, you'll be there, too. That kind of mutual support breeds self-respect.

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