alcoholics drug addicts & anonimity

[HeXp£Øi±]

It's a curious thing, we addicts spend our lives urinating in public getting in public brawls getting thrown out of bars humiliating ourselves getting arrested and thrown in jails making fools of ourselves getting our names published in local police blotters and local papers and generally becoming the focus of town gossip. Then we decide to get clean and all of a sudden we're worried about 'anonimity'.

Hmmm...

 

[Luis G]

 

[alex]

I think it's more commonly reffered to as 'shame'

 

[HeXp£Øi±]

Yes but when people finally begin to clean up that shame isn't from all the acts they've commited, it's from the notion that they might possibly be an addict but even more so being seen as having anything to do with those other people in the world of recovery since the newly recovering addict views them as very strange and troubled people. New addicts rarely identify with the recovering addict. So yes shame but i would say misguided shame.

 

[alex]

It is widely taught in AA and in recovery centers that you will go thru a 'greiving' period.....that is, greiving for yourself.

 

[HeXp£Øi±]

Interesting. Greiving for a fix yes, and for losses over the years that haven't been greived over yet. I hadn't thought of it in that respect however. Very true.

 

[75renegade]

IE: Alcohol/Drug, use/abuse is really jus' another "relationship", in a person's life, in which the user's allegiance to it competes with his/her other relationships, with the real folk, who love them.

Unfortunately or fortunately, continuin' use/abuse, astranges the user from those who love him most, pushin' 'im closer to a point of isolation an' despair.

As ya said, (an' I paraphrase), identifyin'/admittin' there's a problem, is one thing, dealin' with it honestly, quite another.

A very soberin' topic Hex.

The desire to claim "anonymity"/"anti-identification" with those who've been at the point of honest confessions an' takin' action against their choices of dependency, is obviously a form of denial, that jus' delays the user's healing.

I say, don't be afraid to befriend the user, but don't allow any sense of pity to prevent ya from takin' a strong stand against the choices of those who really don't wanna divorce their relationship with their addictions.

Jus' love 'em, accept 'em. But don't be too afraid to leave 'em to their choices.