Most individuals who suffer from the disease of addiction have made numerous attempts to stop the downward cycle that results from drug and alcohol abuse. For the vast majority that struggle with addiction, professional help through the means of therapist and certified addiction professionals is needed if there is going to be any chance of obtaining long-term, quality sobriety.

A life addicted to drugs or alcohol is often filled with chaos and drama. Inpatient drug rehab will provide its clients with the support and guidance that is pertinent during the very beginning stages of recovery from drugs and alcohol. During a client’s stay at an inpatient drug rehab, they will have the structure in their life that was missing during their active addiction. In order to overcome addiction it is essential to build a strong foundation. A quality inpatient rehab can make this happen. With the help of a professional staff, as well as his or her peers, an individual will learn the necessary actions needed in order to achieve long-term abstinence from drug and alcohol.

For those who have had failed attempts to stop their abuse of drugs and alcohol on their own or have had failed attempts at an outpatient rehab program, inpatient addiction treatment may be the ideal next step. Inpatient treatment will cater to the individual needs of each client as well as provide a safe environment that is isolated from the outside world.

Simply put, recovering from the disease of addiction is extremely difficult. Inpatient addiction treatment offers the round-the-clock support needed.

It is common for individuals who struggle with an opiate addiction to turn to either Suboxone or methadone to overcome their addiction. While Suboxone and methadone may help an individual with their cravings for other opiates, it is a common occurrence for individuals who suffer from addiction to become dependent on these substitutes, as well as mix them with other drugs. Just like other opiates such as OxyContin and heroin, Suboxone and methadone are highly addictive. Using one of these in an attempt to control another addiction is essentially exchanging one drug for another.

In order to overcome opiate addiction (or any addiction for that matter), the best action is to first participate in a medically supervised detoxification and then follow through with addiction treatment. In addiction treatment, clients have the opportunity to work with therapists in both individual and group settings. Therapists help clients identify the core troubles and behaviors that fuel their addiction. Knowing that everyone who suffers from addiction is unique, a quality addiction treatment center will provide each client with an individual treatment protocol. Treatment plans can include cognitive behavioral therapy and relapse prevention classes.

Millions of individuals have been able to overcome their addiction to drugs and alcohol through the means of addiction treatment. While Suboxone and methadone may be a short-term quick fix, it is bound to lead to other problems. Addiction treatment will help individuals build the foundation that is necessary to lead a life that is happy, productive, and completely free of drugs.

The fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are famously known for their anonymity. It is very common in the preamble readings to hear something like “what’s said in this room, stays in this room. I have the right to say that I’m an alcoholic and I was at the meeting, but I can’t say that you’re an alcoholic and you were at this meeting.”

These days more and more support is found on the Internet and various social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. Recovering alcoholics and addicts from all over the world are a part of these networks, thus making their recovery from addiction very public to the rest of the world.

Some argue that these types of social networks are breaking the anonymity of the fellowship. “Whom should I share my recovery with?” “Is it breaking tradition to talk about recovery?” “Is it OK as long as I don’t talk about anyone else?” These are common questions in today’s world of the Internet, blogs, and social media.

We are curious about how far you are willing to go when it comes to discussing your recovery online. Please take a second to fill out the one question survey below.

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Alcoholics Anonymous scholar Ernest Kurtz – author of “Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous” and “The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning” – is at it again with his sometimes  unorthodox and perhaps controversial explorations of AA history, this time with an essay entitled “Alcoholics Anonymous and the Disease Concept of Alcoholism.”

To cut to the chase, the crux of his argument is that the disease concept we hear invoked so often – generally interchangeable with the word ‘alcoholism’ itself – was not bandied about or even accepted in AA until the 1940s or 50s when Mrs. Marty Mann advocated for its adoption by the AMA and the health care profession.

Kurtz digs up plenty of compelling evidence that Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, found the disease concept problematic, and flatly refused to introduce it into the AA vocabulary or literature.  Bill put it rather plainly: “We have never called alcoholism a disease,” and elaborates further on his reasoning here:

We have never called alcoholism a disease because, technically speaking, it is not a
disease entity. For example, there is no such thing as heart disease. Instead there are many
separate heart ailments, or combinations of them. It is something like that with
alcoholism. Therefore we did not wish to get in wrong with the medical profession by
pronouncing alcoholism a disease entity. Therefore we always called it an illness, or a
malady — a far safer term for us to use.

To me this makes perfect sense – the intrinsic claim that alcoholism is a medical disease that meets all the criteria of being organically based in cells or organs has never seemed accurate or helpful.  Better to get on with business and call alcoholism, as Kurtz claims it was conceptualized and named in the pre-Mann era, an “emotional maladjustment.”  You can throw in a number of other phrases that attempt to describe the core problem – “spiritual bankruptcy” (which I suppose could be seen more as a symptom or result rather than an original cause), “hopeless condition of mind and body”, etc. – but to call it a disease per se, according to Kurtz, was believed by Bill Wilson and other to be a stretch.

To me this is mainly semantics – to my mind, there is some complex of emotional “maladjustments” or immaturity or disturbance, a mental obsessiveness and a general tendency towards both selfishness and self-destruction – that we could personify or give agency to by calling it something or other.  Disease, I believe, is the wrong word.  Malady works, but it’s kindof stuffy.  I guess I’d go with illness for convenience’s sake, but maybe there’s another word that is eluding me at the moment.

Interestingly, when I brought this up to my sponsor, he wasn’t buying it, at all.  In fact, he told me that he thought I was looking for loopholes by worrying about and debating these essentially academic issues – that I was, in his words, looking for an excuse to drink.

I sure don’t feel like that what’s I’m doing, but the unconscious – err, the disease? – is cunning, baffling, powerful!

Anyone have any thoughts or feelings about this issue?