GL>-=> Quoting Steve Kemp to Jane Kelley <=-
GL> SK> Really? Considering that I've been clean and sober for over a year 
nd
GL> SK> a half, and I was an addict for 12 years.....hmmmmm. RIGHT! _I_ don't
GL> SK> know  what I'm talking about? SURE!
GL>     What were the reasons you were able to become an ex-addict?
GL>     Do you have to change your diet?
There are open meetings of A. A. in your area which you can attend
quietly and just listen.  You will learn why people come to the
realization that drinking is not for them.
Most treatment facilities will also offer some sort of free literature
or other information if asked.
In my case, I had a hell of a hangover which lasted three full days
after drinking just one bottle of beer on a weekend.  Did that again the
next weekend with the same result only at that point, the
over-the-counter stuff I'd taken didn't work.  Found one Percodan pill,
a strong oral opiate, which dimmed the pain to the point where I could
stand it.
That is when I arrived at the conclusion that if I were going to
continue to drink, I would need opiates to offset the resultant pain.
Went to my doctor, got the usual counseling of that day (1969) and
decided to attend A. A. and stop.
11 years later I went to the oldest school for chemical dependency
counselors in this nation, Seattle University, run by Jesuits.  The old
priest who founded it doesn't talk, he fires words like machine gun
bullets.  So I got a tape recorder and managed to keep up with the other
folks in the class.
Had trouble with only one professor, a non alcoholic who was trying to
teach us counseling techniques.  I went over her head and took the
course again from someone who knew first hand what works.
And I can assure you that one of the first things we got told was that
we were far from experts in the disease and its treatment when we
entered Seattle U.  Father James Royce made it very clear to us.  And he
would look at anyone with a year and a half of being clean and sober who
attempted to set himself up as a guru and then slice him up with words
in telling him the nature of his error.
It takes 15-16 YEARS to get the maximun benefit from A. A. for a genetic
alcoholic!  That point is where the war mentioned in the Big Book is
over and "we are at peace".  During that time attendance at meetings is
a must as is total and complete abstinance.
It takes around two years to get through any professional classes
designed for counselors.  Who also have to be clean and sober along the
way.
Someone without any other knowledge except their own disease can be very
dangerous when they attempt to render counseling and advice to others.
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ All hope abandon, ye who enter messages here.
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