re - schizophrenia - well I don't have that but I have just been 
diagnosed with diabetes, so it's funny you should compare the two.  And
I do have a bipolar effective disorder called Cyclothymia.  Bipolar 
effective disorders were formerly treated under the umbrella term of 
"manic-depression".  I have to take Lithium, a non-addictive mood 
stabilizer, and an anti-depressant, which is also non-addictive every 
day.  Just like I have to surrender to my alcoholism and addiction in 
the first step of AA and seek help, I also had to do the same with this
mood disorder - and after I was sober too.  Like I said before 
Sobriety, for me, was NOT like playing a country western record 
backwards - I didn't get back the kids, the eyesight, the spouse, the 
car, the apartment, etc. and live happily ever after.  Some folks do 
and, frankly, I'm jealous of them.  But for me sobriety gave me the 
oppurtunity to work on other issues just like a normal person.  The 
bipolar disorder was one.  Being a survivor of childhood abuse, 
including some sexualized abuse, was another.  Being very codependent 
and addicted to unhealthy relationships were I enabled other alcoholic 
and addicted men was another.  
.
But I had all these problems before I got sober and I couldn't work on 
them because the alcohol (and drugs, in my case) were interfering big 
time.  The chemicals I used and abused interfered with every and all 
attempts by my doctors to treat the mood disorder - alcohol is a 
depressant and so were all the other drugs I habitually used, except 
for pot, which interfered in my treatment in a different way.  Also I 
was never able to get completely honest in talking therapy because I 
had to cover up my chemical dependency and abuse of substances other 
than those prescribed for me.  Also the chemicals kept me from "feeling
the feelings" I had to feel to get well as a survivor of childhood 
abuse.   Frankly I believe that I couldn't get over the codependency 
and unhealthy relationships until I was sober a bit because I needed 
someone in worse shape than me to point to - to say when I get that 
bad, I'll quit.
.
Robin Norwood, author of WOMEN WHO LOVE TOO MUCH and LETTERS FROM WOMEN
WHO LOVE TOO MUCH talks in her books about how she didn't do therapy 
with anyone with less than a year sobriety because she didn't believe 
they could benefit from it and she felt they were wasting there money.
An Adult Children of Alcoholics group (ACOA or ACA) - a 12 step 
fellowship - locally also suggests folks don't go there with less than 
a year of sobriety.  I've heard this more and more often from 
professionals who understand addictions - including alcoholism - and 
who are familiar with recovery.  They don't like to deal with anyone 
who isn't clean and sober because they feel the whole process is a sham
and they feel like they are ripping the person off financially.   Now 
not everyone agrees with this and I am not sure I do - some folks seem 
to get to AA via the therapy, especially those with a therapist who 
knows how and when to do confrontational styles of therapy.  But it is 
interesting to me.
.
As far as schizophrenia, for a long time one of my best friends in AA 
was a severe paranoid schizophrenic.  For four years in AA she did very
well.  She stayed sober and used a non-addictive medication called 
Serentil to treat her schizophrenia.  Oh she had her days when she 
experienced things that others around her didn't experience.  Most 
people call these things "hallucinations" - for some reason I always 
thought of it as an "alternate reality".   But she had a handle on her 
life.  She had a place to live and food to eat and clean clothes to 
wear and she kept herself clean, she wasn't on the streets anymore.  
She went to her therapy and treated her psychiatric illness.  She also 
develloped an interesting technique or "tool" of her own.  She had a 
notebook she used like a journal and when the "voices" started, she'd 
"do therapy with them" in the notebook.  Whatever it was she was doing,
it seemed to be working well for her.
.
Until one day some BOZO - ARGH! (As in it's been lovely, but I have to 
scream now) - in AA with double digit sobriety, who had been working as
an "alcoholism counselor" in EAP for a major business and who was 
considered an "expert" on alcoholism, even though he never had any 
schooling in this field, just his own experience, well this BOZO 
decided to tell her to stop taking her psychiatric medicine and that 
she'd never by "truly sober" (whatever that was) unless she did.
As a result, my friend ended up so paranoid she was afraid to sign 
papers to continue to receive SSI at her determination, her 
"hallucinations" got out of control and she thought she was "selling 
her soul to the devil" - for the latter reason, she was also afraid to 
go into a soup kitchen or a shelter and eat.  Some of us tried to take 
her home or take her to McDonald's and feed her when we could.  I let 
her sleep on my couch during a blizzard, but mostly she was reduced to 
eating out of garbage cans and living under people's porches for about 
a year.  She lost over a hundred pounds.  Finally a lawyer in AA 
convinced her to sign papers to make him her legal guardian and he put 
her into an apartment in a building he owned, got her SSI back etc.
But she never got stabilized from her schizophrenia as far as I know.
The last I could find out, she was put into the local state hospital 
for slugging a cop - not a good thing to do.
.
My point in telling you this story is two-fold, first NEVER EVER let 
any BOZO in AA tell you not to take your meds, especially an "expert 
alcoholism counselor" as many states require no more training for this 
than to be in recovery yourself - it's just a title, not necessarily an
education.  Secondly, I want you to know I've seen schizophrenia and I 
am about as familiar with it as one can be who is not a psychiatrist or
a schizophrenic, I think.  I spent sometimes four and five nights a 
week with this woman when she was first off her meds and in trouble - 
right up 'til she became homeless and then I kept in touch as much as I
could.  I know it's an illness.  I know it's biochemical.  I know they 
are coming up with new and better treatments for it.  And I know it's a
b*tch to have it.   I also know you can't cure it by willpower anymore 
than we can cure alcoholism - or really severe diarhea, for that matter
- by willpower alone.  It's like suggesting someone who has cancer, 
epilepsy, or even DIABETES cure it by willpower alone.
.
Finally I want to tell you that we have a 12 step program just for 
folks like us - and even if you don't have access to it in your area, 
getting and reading that programs equivalent of the AA "Big Book" and 
"Step book" might help you with AA, when you decide to go, if you 
decide to go.  This program is D.R. A. - Dual Recovery Anonymous - it 
is a 12 step program for people with a thought or a mood disorder and 
alcoholism and/or drug addiction - who are trying to stay clean and 
sober while treating their mood or thought disorder requiring 
medication and medical supervision.  Anyone who is or has been on 
medication for a mood or thought disorder and who is trying to stay 
clean and/or sober qualifies to be a member.  I have been to some 
meetings, including speaking at the anniversary party of one group.
It has been a good experience for me because I always kept AA and being
sober and clean as one part of my life over here and my mood disorder 
and psychiatric treatment over there - and never the twain shall meet.
But the DRA meetings I have been able to attend have helped me to see 
how I can integrate recovery in both areas and how I can extend the 12 
steps I learned about in AA to recovering from the Cyclothymia - the 
bipolar thing I have.
.
Anyway, I know this has been a long message, but I hope my experience, 
strength and hope as being a person in recovery and staying sober while
dealing with a similar mental health challenge will be helpful to you.
Thanks for letting me share it.  As always, it's helpful to me.
--- TriToss (tm) Professional 11.0 - #66
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