The Canyon

Take some action while you’re going through your recovery or while your contemplating detox. For books that look at addiction and recovery with a focus on the psychology of our choices, check out:

* Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding Our Darker Selves by James Hollis
* The Self Psychology of Addiction and Its Treatment: Narcissus in Wonderland by Richard B Ulman and Harry Paul
* Treatment of Alcoholism and Other Addictions: A Self-Psychology Approach by Jerome D. Levin
* The Addictive Personality: Understanding the Addictive Process and Compulsive Behavior by Craig Nakken

Drug Addiction Recovery Workbooks

For books that are interactive in nature, the kind that you can turn to for guidance in those moments when you need spiritual help rather than clinical instruction, turn to:

* Soul to Soul Meditations: Daily Reflections for Spiritual Growth by Gary Zukav
* Addiction & Recovery for Dummies by Brian F., PhD Shaw, Paul, PhD Ritvo, Jane, D.Phil Irvine
* The Addiction Workbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Quitting Alcohol and Drugs (New Harbinger Workbooks) by Patrick Fanning and John Terence O’Neill
* Willpower’s Not Enough: Recovering from Addictions of Every Kind by Arnold M. Washton
* The Recovery Book by Arlene Eisenberg, Howard Eisenberg and Al J. Mooney

History of Drugs of Addiction

If you’re an addict, one of your favorite topics is going to be drugs, whether or not you’re in recovery. It’s a hard habit to break and addicts aren’t alone in this. The history and evolution of drug production are a constant source of interest to addicts, alcoholics, and “norms” across the board. These are some of the best books I’ve seen on the subject:

* On Speed: The Many Lives of Amphetamine by Nicolas Rasmussen
* Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse by Paul Gahlinger
* Altering American Consciousness: The History of Alcohol and Drug Use in the United States, 1800-2000 by Sarah W. Tracy and Caroline Jean Acker

Autobiographical Books About Drug Addiction

The personal stories of those who have been through addiction and recovery are inspiring and uplifting when you’re in or contemplating getting treatment for your drug and alcohol addiction. You get to laugh at the comedic moments and experience the ups and downs of addiction and recovery vicariously, whether or not you identify with the author. There’s a lot to learn from other people. The following is a good place to start:

* Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff
* Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
* Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

* More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction by Elizabeth Wurtzel
* Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir by James Salant
* The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx
* How to Stop Time: Heroin from A to Z by Ann Marlowe
* A Small Journal of Heroin Addiction by Robin Marchesi

Fiction With Drug Addiction as the Major Theme

Want to disappear into a fiction world and watch other people destroy their lives with drugs and alcohol? It’s a great way to validate your choice to enter recovery. Check out:

* Crank by Ellen Hopkins
* Glass by Ellen Hopkins
* Smack by Melvin Burgess
* Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction by Luke Davies
* Beauty Queen by Linda Glovach

Are there any books on drug addiction and recovery you recommend?

The stigma of either a drug addiction or a mental disorder is difficult enough. Having both can make a person want to hide their face in town. Famous people have had to deal with their dual diagnoses in public, which would be unthinkable for most folks. However famous (or unfamous) you are, it can be hard to get around the stigma of addiction and mental illness together.

Stigma is some kind of trait or characteristic that causes a person to be rejected or shamed by the masses. Unfortunately, stigma is also closely related stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. All of these social phenomena are based more on beliefs and values than actual fact. Society resists open-minded thoughts and discussions about addiction and mental illness. Mentally ill addicts magnify their own (repeat source) self-stigma by assuming no one would help them anyway.

Prevalence of Dual Diagnosis

Dual diagnosis is much more common than people may think. According to Foundation Associates, “Up to 65.5 percent of people with a substance dependence disorder had at least one mental disorder and 51 percent of people with a mental disorder had at least one substance abuse disorder.”

Many people with dual diagnoses never get treatment for a variety of reasons. The stigma can make it difficult to ask for help. The stigma can make it difficult for communities to talk about problems and solutions for mentally ill addicts.

How to Beat the Stigma

Fame has been doing one thing for addiction and mental illness. It has put real names and faces to the labels “addict,” “bipolar,” “alcoholic,” and so on. Celebrities’ substance and mental disorders have at the very least made it easier to spark conversations these problems. And when a celebrity actually comes forward to speak honestly about their struggles, fame and pain can come together in an educational stigma-breaking sort of way. I’m not saying that celebrities often look for opportunities like this, but it can happen. Some good recent examples of this:

• Carrie Fisher has a book about her struggles with bipolar and drugs.
• Brooke Shields came forward about her postpartum depression.
• Jane Pauley will be attending this years NAMI convention, also discussing her book about her bipolar experiences.

Read up on mental illness and addiction yourself. When the gossip mags blurt out how Britney Spears has bipolar or a drug addiction, look it up at a reputable source like NAMI or The Canyon. Is it what you thought it was? Do you know someone who fits these criteria that might actually need your help? Are you suffering from drug abuse or mental illness symptoms but haven’t reached out because of stigma?

If you find yourself in the definitions of “drug abuse”, “alcoholism”, or “mental disorder,” find one person you trust to tell your story. Many mental disorder and drug abuse symptoms mess with your judgment and your logic, causing you to think no one would want to help a “loser” or “junkie” like you. If you are suffering in silence, things will only get worse. You may not be able to afford to wait until someone rescues you. Find someone you know, or contact The Canyon to speak to someone will listen and extend help to you.

Who’s Fighting the Fight Against Dual Diagnosis Stigma

Fortunately, people with mental disorders and drug addictions have some pretty large and loud advocates in their corner. The common person doesn’t have to fight the stigma all alone. Here are some great resources for stigma busters you can learn about and even do yourself.

Foundation Associates Outreach and Advocacy
Foundation Associates Anti-Stigma Campaign
NAMI Stigma Busters
National Mental Health Awareness Campaign
You Tube – Mental Illness Stigma Project

Your Comments

What do you think about the stigma of mental illness and addiction, especially when they occur together? Have you had a dual diagnosis and experienced the stigma first-hand? What conversations have you heard others having about these issues?

photo credit: Dawn Ashley
Addiction and PTSD a Frightening Mix

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is like living an endless nightmare. You can feel like the horror is happening all over again, but it’s worse because it just keeps coming. You just want it all to go away, but you feel you have no control.

What are PTSD Symptoms?

PTSD can develop after a person has experienced or witnessed something shocking, gruesome, life-threatening, or disastrous. This could be a natural disaster, a devastating car accident, witnessing someone being killed or severely injured, war, etc.

Symptoms are usually grouped in three main categories:

Re-experiencing – flashbacks, feeling similar emotions and sensations as if the trauma were occurring again right at that moment
Avoidance -not wanting to talk about the trauma, go near the scene, speak to those involved with the traumatic experience
Arousal- sleep problems, anger, hyper-vigilance, overactive startle response

Persistence of these symptoms for more than a month determines a diagnosis of PTSD. For more specific information about this diagnosis, check out this helpful website – ptsdsupport.net.

Prevalence of a PTSD Dual Diagnosis

About half of the men and women in the US will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime, but only 20-30% of them will develop PTSD from it. Alarmingly, most men with PTSD also develop an alcohol or drug problem that was not present before the trauma. About half of the women who develop PTSD will do the same.

How is PTSD Treated?

Cognitive behavioral therapy is commonly used to teach people how to cope with their symptoms better. It is also used in the form of “exposure” techniques where the person is gradually exposed to the triggers for anxiety and fear. This slow exposure is paired with consistent use of coping skills to decrease the anxious reaction to the triggers. This is done to bring the symptoms down to a more manageable level that doesn’t interfere with daily life, relationships, work, etc.

Going through detox with PTSD can be pretty tough. The withdrawal process often heightens a person’s anxiety levels, which is just the opposite of what a PTSD sufferer wants. Extra care and support must be given to someone with PTSD going through this process. Anti-depressants are sometimes used to help with the symptoms.

How Does PTSD Interact with Drugs and Alcohol?

It’s not hard to see why someone with traumatic anxiety and repetitive nightmares would turn to drugs and alcohol. It may seem like a way to drown their awareness of their horrible thoughts and feelings. However, the use of drugs and alcohol actually worsens PTSD symptoms over time.

What Treatment Options and Support are Available for PTSD and Addiction?

The Canyon is a wise option for someone seeking treatment for PTSD and addiction. Not only do they manage the full range of detox and addiction treatment programs, but the staff is highly trained to help a person with trauma experiences. Treatment plans are tailored for each person depending on their needs.

The internet and community support networks also offer terrific support for PTSD no matter where you live. Gift From Within is a website that gathers information on trauma support groups around the United States and the world. Look around the site – it has more than it appears at first. One creative method of social connection is an Email Support Pal Group. Also, this is an long thread on SoberCircle about PTSD and addiction. It shares some personal experiences and some good coping suggestions.

Your Input

PTSD can be frightening and life-changing. Did you ever turn to drugs or alcohol to numb the pain? What ways have you learned to cope with PTSD in healthier ways?

There’s nothing glamorous about drug use, as most of us realize eventually. You may have heard stories about famous people who use drugs to party or get through life, but many of them end up on a slab in the morgue.

Still not convinced?

Check out this list of actors and actresses who died of drug overdoses.

1. Marilyn Monroe – Her death, due to an overdose of sleeping pills, was ruled as a “possible” suicide.
2. John Belushi – Died in 1982 after injecting a speedball – a mixture of cocaine and heroin.
3. River Phoenix – Died of a heroin overdose while in the presence of his younger brother Joaquim in front of the trendy Viper Room.
4. Heath Ledger – Died of an accidental prescription pill overdose.
5. Christopher Pettiet – You know him as Zach the budding chef in “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”. He died of an accidental overdose in 2000.
6. Mary Anissa Jones – Better known as Buffy from “Family Affair”. Drugs found in her system at the time of her death include Seconal, PCP, methaqualone and cocaine.
7. Lani O’Grady – You remember her as the brainy and practical Mary on “Eight is Enough”, Lani died in 2001 at the age of 46 of “drug intoxication.” Found in her system at the time of her death were Vicodin and Prozac.
8. Chris Farley – Overdosed in 1997 after taking a speedball.
9. Judy Garland – Died in 1969 of an overdose of barbiturates.
10. Anna Nicole Smith – Died in 2007 of “combined drug intoxication.”
11. Elvis Presley – Found dead in his bathroom in 1977 after overdosing on prescription drugs.
12. Rodney Harvey – On the verge of being taken very seriously as an actor, Harvey died of a heroin overdose in 1998.
13. Nick Adams – Died of a drug overdose in 1968.
14. Nick Cantor – The Dirty Dancing actor died after injecting a shot of pure heroin in 1991. He was
15. Montgomery Clift – Died in 1966 at the age of 45 – the combined effects of drugs and alcohol.
16. Dorothy Dandridge – Died at age 46 of an antidepressant overdose.
17. W.C. Fields – Died as the result of a shot liver due to excessive alcohol abuse.
18. Robert Pastorelli – The Murphy Brown actor died of a drug overdose in 2004 at the age of 50.
19. Dana Plato – Died of a drug overdose in 1999 after taking Vicodin and Vanadam.
20. Edie Sedgwick – Died in 1971 after mixing alcohol and barbiturates.
21. Brad Renfro – Died of a heroin overdose in 2008.

If only they had sought out help earlier.

Can you think of any we have missed? Please add your suggestions in the comments …

The overwhelming responsibility of helping a child across the bridge of their teen years into adulthood can feel like an impossible task when it comes to attempting to discern whether or not your child is using drugs. What drugs are even out there? What drugs does your teen even have access to? And what does being under the influence look like? Is this really drug addiction or innocent experimentation?

Here are a few things you can look for that may tip you off about drug abuse that requires drug addiction treatment:

* Slipping Grades. It’s virtually impossible to keep up with the hectic demands of homework and tests when you’re experimenting with any drug or alcohol. You may even notice an overt or sudden disinterest in even going to school. You might want to check with the attendance office at your teen’s school to make sure that she hasn’t been absent more often than you’re aware. If he or she has been a part of extracurricular activities in the past, her interest and participation in these may falter or disappear completely as well.

* Health. Using drugs or alcohol weakens your immune system. Also, recovering from a binge can look like an illness. If your child has previously been healthy, but suddenly seems to pick up every cold or constantly feels ill, drug use may be the cause.

* Physical Appearance. Extreme changes in dress or a sudden lack of interest in grooming at all may indicate depression, changes in peer group or friends and may also point to drug use and abuse.

* Mood Changes. Moody behavior and general irritability and crankiness are hallmarks of the teenage experience, even they never touch an illegal substance. If your teen’s interest in privacy suddenly seems extreme to the point that you are permanently excluded from entering their room under any circumstances or they disappear with friends who you may or may not know very well without telling you where they’re going, then they may be using drugs.

* Financial Urgency. A lack of funds during the teen years is nothing to be concerned about. It’s totally normal. But sudden and constant requests for money without a good reason or purpose may be an indications of drug use, especially when combined with the disappearance of money from your wallet or other formerly safe storage places in your home. You may also notice that things are missing from house, which opens up the possibility that your child is stealing to pay for his or her drug habit.

If you think that your teen is using drugs or exhibiting any of the abovementioned behavior, you can start by asking them about it. One or two signs may be easily explained by something other than drug use. Don’t accuse, but do show your concern. If you feel quite sure that drug use is the cause of the changes in your child, The Canyon can help by providing you with a professional interventionist to confront your child and get him or her into the drug rehab facility they need.

What are some changes you noticed in your child’s behavior that tipped you off to his or her drug use?

Imagine feeling on top of the world with a rush of seemingly endless energy, only to crash to the depths of despair and emotional pain a few days later. And now imagine trying to live your life during all this. Is it any wonder so many people with bipolar disorder also develop an addiction? The connection is so strong and the personal stories can be devastating. Tragically, this wildly swinging mood disorder can lead to suicide. You may very well know someone like this – someone who may need complete drug rehab treatment and a new chance at life.

Bipolar Disorder Symptoms

Bipolar disorder has a mix of symptoms, both manic and depressive. Bipolar consists of several emotional “states” that a person goes between.

Depression – symptoms include sad or angry mood, negativity towards themselves and others, sleep problems (too much or too little), change in eating patterns (too much or too little), thoughts of suicide or death, despair, hopelessness, social isolation

Mania – symptoms would be rushed speech, flight of ideas, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, excessive energy, heightened sex drive, reckless behaviors such as spending sprees, crime, dare-devil activities, impulsively, heightened aggression, feeling of invincibility, overestimating their abilities and inflated ego

Hypomania – milder form of mania that may not seem to interfere with daily life, but could easily transition into full mania or crash into depression

Mixed mood – moods can change and cycle rapidly, even within one day

What Does Bipolar and Addiction Look Like Together?

Foundation Associates has several compelling stories from people dually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Sometimes bipolar and addiction is apparent in the teen years, which was the case for one young man who also adopted an addiction lifestyle by that time. Another undiagnosed bipolar addict maxed-out credit cards, did all kinds of reckless behavior, and went missing for days. Yet another bipolar addict experienced years of undiagnosed ADHD and a learning disability along with a cycle of crime and incarceration.

Bipolar Treatment

Bipolar treatment is usually a combination of medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. They have lived a life of extremes – extreme behavior, extreme thoughts, and extreme emotions. Therapy and medication help them to learn about living with moderation and balance. Together, treatment can help correct harmful patterns that have been established while the person has gone untreated.

Mood stabilizing medication is the most common “first line of defense” against bipolar symptoms. Frequently used meds include Lithium, Zyprexa and Serequil. Sometimes anti-convulsants such as Depakote are used if Lithium has not worked. When the main bipolar “state” is depression, Wellbutrin can be carefully used for symptom control. It’s crucial that a person is properly diagnosed as bipolar. If anti-depressants are used to treat the depressive cycle of bipolar, they can spur on manic cycles.

Bipolar and Addiction Have Strong Connection

Bipolar disorder and addiction have an alarmingly strong connection. Here are just a few information tidbits to get you thinking.

• 56% of individual with bipolar disorder have dual diagnosis
• The depression part of the cycle often leads into drug or alcohol relapse
• Manic episodes of bipolar increase a person’s lifetime risk for addiction to 4x’s that of the general population.
• Addiction tends to increase resistence to lithium

The complexities of co-occurring disorders is still not universally understood across the medical and mental health professions. Treating dual diagnoses together is only a recent phenomenon. Can you imagine how many bipolar addicts there must be out there that aren’t well understood and aren’t getting the treatment they desperately need?

Bipolar Dual Diagnosis Treatment at The Canyon

Dual diagnosis treatment at The Canyon is the complete treatment choice for addicts with bipolar disorder. So many people have had just their addiction or the mental disorder treated, leaving many problems untouched. The Canyon takes in the whole picture. Their expert professionals address all the complexities of effective dual diagnosis treatment.

The Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) has support groups and an informative website to check out. The internet hosts a great variety of resources such as bipolar message boards, bipolar online support groups, and bipolar blogs.

Your Comments

How has Bipolar Disorder affected your life? Do you have a loved one who has gone untreated? Have you yourself been down the painful road of bipolar dual diagnosis? The Canyon is here to help. We truly appreciate and respect your stories of struggle.

It’s hard enough to tell whether or not someone else is addicted to drugs, especially if they’re trying to hide it from you. It may be more difficult, however, to figure out whether or not you are addicted to drugs. Earlier, we posted about 5 Signs of Drug Abuse and Addiction. Today, we’ll talk about how you can figure out whether your own drug use constitutes abuse or addiction.

Take a hard look at your life and your actions around drugs and alcohol recently. Have you noticed any of the following?

* Need for the drug. You may feel like you have to have the drug or alcohol at regular intervals every day. Physically, you may be addicted to it or mentally, you may feel that it is necessary to have the drug in order to deal with stressors or problems, to relax or to celebrate. In other words, there’s always a reason to get loaded. Hardly a day goes by that you don’t use.
* Maintaining a steady supply. You tend to stock up on your drug of choice or alcohol, making sure that you always have some or have a way to get more should you run out. For example, before you go to bed, you make sure that you have something for the morning or if alcohol is your drug of choice, you always have some on hand.
* Failed attempts to quit. You may have tried to stop using drugs or alcohol for any number of reasons, just to take a break or to prove to yourself or someone else that you can. Whether you rationalized it or not, you quickly returned to your old habit of using despite your best intentions to abstain.
* Focus on obtaining the drug no matter what. Even if you run out of money, you’re intent on getting more of your drug of choice. Maybe you choose to hang out with people you don’t like or trust knowing that they’ll supply you with what you want. Maybe you end up stealing from family or friends to pay for it. Perhaps you’ll get try fraud or theft to pay for your drugs. Your focus on getting more of what you need no matter what the cause is a definite sign of addiction.
* Continuous bad decisions under the influence. Because you are rarely NOT under the influence of drugs or alcohol or recuperating from a binge, you end up doing things that put you and others in harm’s way. Driving is one common example, but if you have small children or work in a place with heavy machinery, the wellbeing of those around you is also threatened just by you not being at your best.

Of course, there are a number of different physical and psychological effects of drug addiction that will vary depending upon your drug of choice, how long you have been living with your addiction and your current dose or the combination of substances that you’re using.

Be honest. You’re not doing yourself any favors by minimizing the extent of your drug use. Addiction is a medical disease and, as such, can be treated. There is no cure, but The Canyon can provide you with medically supervised detox services as well as comprehensive, multi-faceted therapeutic options in either an inpatient or outpatient format. Give us a call if you have any questions and check out our site for more informative articles about the complexities of dual diagnosis or the co-occurring disorders of depression and drug addiction.

Schizoaffective disorder is an unusual and commonly misdiagnosed condition. Because of the mixture of symptoms, doctors and mental health professional often catch just the schizophrenia or just the mood disorder. It can take some time to really sort out all the symptoms and make a proper diagnosis.

Typical schizophrenia symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech, thoughts, and behavior. Mood symptoms can include depressed mood, social isolation, negative thoughts, thoughts of harming oneself, sleep problems, despair, and some mania (for manic subtype). Although there have not been any official prevalence studies done, experts estimate that about one in every 200-500 people could develop schizoaffective disorder sometimes in their lives.

How Might Schizoaffective Disorder and Addiction Look to Friends and Family?

Schizoaffective disorder causes a lot of emotional pain along with confusing thoughts, isolation, and mood problems. It’s common for people with schizoaffective disorder to develop an alcohol or drug addiction while trying to self-medicate their pain or increase feelings of pleasure. Substance use can magnify their isolation, mood symptoms, and thought problems.

If some you knew had both problems, you would likely notice the strange schizophrenia symptoms (delusions, disorganized behavior, etc) as well as limited social interactions. They may seem to really lose touch with reality for periods of time. Drugs and alcohol often impair judgment and increase impulsively. They may seem frequently suicidal from both the dual diagnosis problems and the affects of their addiction.

How is Schizoaffective Disorder Treated?

Schizoaffective treatment has many components to it. Cognitive therapy is used to help reconnect thought processes and cope with emotions. If they are actively suicidal, they may need to be admitted to a hospital or inpatient psychiatric unit. Group and individual therapy supports them as they learn (or relearn) and maintain good social skills. Anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, and anti-psychotic medication are used in combination depending on the person’s symptoms.

Family involvement is an important part of treatment. Some people with schizoaffective disorder live with family members because they cannot care for themselves. Families greatly benefit from psychoeducation about the disorder and family therapy. Medication is a critical part of treatment and must be closely monitored.

How Does Schizoaffective Disorder Interact With Drugs and Alcohol?

Alcohol and marijuana worsen schizoaffective symptoms. Alcohol and drug addiction can interact in harmful, even deadly ways with anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications. People with schizoaffective disorder can create a more devastating affect on themselves with smaller and less frequent amounts of alcohol or drugs than people without a mental disorder. Just think for a minute about all these dangerous factors put together. Getting proper dual diagnosis treatment is critical for someone in this situation.

There is bad news and good news about schizoaffective disorder and dual diagnosis. The bad news – people with schizoaffective disorder and an addiction are more likely to have relapses and are more likely to require hospitalization than those who abstain from drugs and alcohol. But wait, here’s the good news. The long-term prognosis looks good when these people follow long-term drug treatment programs along with other support systems for several years.

What Treatment and Support is Available for Schizoaffective Dual Diagnosis?

The experts at the Canyon are specifically trained to treat both mental disorders and addictions. The team works together to provide coordinated treatment for a challenging dual diagnosis like schizoaffective disorder and addiction. Ongoing support can be found on schizoaffective message boards, schizoaffective forums, and another schizoaffective forum.

Your Thoughts

What’s been your experience with schizoaffective disorder and an addiction? Were you misdiagnosed at first, or did you get connected with the right kind of help right away. The more we learn about your experiences, the more we are able to provide high quality custom treatment for people with schizoaffective disorder. We truly appreciate your comments and stories.

A number of different drugs are included in this category, including well-known drugs like MDMA or ecstasy, GHB and Rohypnol. Some even include methamphetamine and LSD in the list when they include club drugs, but we’ve addressed those drugs in other posts, 5 Signs of Hallucinogen Addiction and 5 Signs of Addiction to CNS Stimulants.

Signs of Club Drug Use

Depending upon which drug is being used, the signs, of course, will vary. Ecstasy, for example, provides a euphoric high but is also mildly hallucinogenic in its effect. Users under the influence tend to be “out of it,” grind their teeth, and get hot easily. They may be wearing very little clothing despite cold temperatures due to their elevated body temperature. Short-term memory is relatively nonexistent.

Rohypnol and GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) are both found in clubs, used intentionally and unintentionally in some cases. Both drugs have been used in rape cases and kidnappings as well as purposeful poisonings and overdoses on unsuspecting victims. Users have a difficult time with motor skills, even staying awake, find it difficult to see or stand or talk. The morning after, most experience a total blackout on events.

Signs of Addiction to Club Drugs

Those who use club drugs regularly tend to carry some of the effects of the drug with them even after their dose has worn off. Loss of short-term memory, confusion, and an “airheaded” quality pervade. When addiction is in effect, the user may experience withdrawal symptoms in between doses, including nausea and vomiting, anxiety, insomnia, sweating and tremors or shakes. Addicts tend to be irritable with seemingly little or no cause in between using and when they are high, may be overly affectionate or effusively emotional.

Drug Rehab for Club Drug Addiction

If you suspect that you or someone you love is addicted to club drugs, you can get help. The Canyon is a multifaceted drug addiction treatment program that handles addictions of all kinds including a variety of club drugs alone or in combination. Don’t let anyone tell you that the use of club drugs is harmless. It isn’t. Long-term use can lead to overdose, brain damage, seizures, respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, coma and death. Don’t let it get that far. Choose The Canyon’s drug rehab program and a new life with a new future instead.

Once you are out of dual diagnosis rehab, it’s so important to have continued support with your recovery. Drug rehab certainly isn’t a cure, and much work continues as you create a sober life over the years. Many people have found 12-step support groups to be a big part of their recovery process. I’ll explain how they can support recovery, some advantages of a dual diagnosis support group, and where you can find more information about these groups.

Dual Diagnosis Group or Traditional 12 Step Recovery Group?

Of course, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to support groups. However, there are some groups that are offering help to those with the unique challenges of a mental disorder and a substance addiction. These dual diagnosis groups tend to share the general philosophies and approaches as the traditional 12-step groups. However, they do have a “unique advantage” according to a study in March of 2007 about dual diagnosis 12 step-based groups. Recovery is a lifelong process, and groups offer not only support but also strategies for common recovery issues.

Dual Diagnosis Group or Traditional 12 Step Recovery Group?

Availability of dual diagnosis support groups is somewhat limited compared to other 12-step groups. However, if there is one in your area and you are in recovery from dual diagnosis problems, I strongly encourage you to check it out. More and more groups are being formed around the country as it becomes increasingly clear that dual diagnosis persons have some unique needs.

The traditional support groups like NA and AA can still be beneficial for some people with a dual diagnosis. Each and every 12-step meeting is unique regardless of its particular problem focus. If this is the only type of support in your area, this can still be a good resource for you. The support group study mentioned above stated that the differences between dual diagnosis and traditional groups wasn’t as important as the support they provided. It is not unusual for someone to try more than onegroup because of their schedule, the mix of people that attend, or other factors. So don’t be discouraged – this is a personal journey and there is no way to know what fits until you just start with a group.

Dual Diagnosis Recovery Groups to Explore

Dual Diagnosis Anonymous began in California and seems to be expanding. The website looks somewhat new and parts are under construction. However, there is contact information, literature available, some good links, and even materials to start your own support group. It seems this is one to watch for, especially if you live in California.

Dual Recovery Anonymous began in Kansas City, Missouri nearly twenty years ago. They have an extensive website with resource, a “meeting finder” feature, and even a bookstore. There seem to be meetings available in nearly every state and look like a fairly well established group.

Recovery Anonymous is a bit different. This is aimed at folks who haven’t found success or a good fit in other self-help support groups. They welcome people with all kinds of problems including addictive overeaters, gamblers, drug and alcohol addicts, and people with mental disorders. Another unique features is that they also include any family members or other supportive people in someone’s life. Recovery Anonymous also focuses more on “restoration of sanity” and a “solution focus.” There is quite a bit of information there, so it is worth a look.

Double Trouble in Recovery does not offer any history on their website that I could find. However, they have many long webpages that answer nearly any question you could have before visiting a group. There are materials available, contact information, and quite a bit about sponsorship. There is a link at the top of the main page about a list of meetings. It is apparently still be built, so check their site soon or use the contact information to find a meeting near you.

What Do You Think?

Have you been to any dual diagnosis support group meetings? What’s been your experience there? Who has been to both a traditional recovery group and a dual diagnosis group? How would you compare the two groups? Are they mostly similar, or did you notice some important differences?

Your input is especially valuable here since dual diagnosis support groups are more limited. It helps us to be more in touch with grassroots recovery efforts.