RE71: Alcoholism and Addiction is a Disease and I Shouldn’t Still be Talking About it.

by Paul Churchill | Jun 27, 2016 | Podcast

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Kevin, in remission for 13 years, shares his story and why he created We Face it Together.

Here are some of the bullet points Paul discusses in the podcast today. This information comes from Learn About the Disease on the We Face it Together website.

• This disease is complicated because it’s physical, mental, biological, environmental, physiological, social and spiritual.
• 23 million Americans suffer from addiction. 90% don’t get the treatment they need leaving 20.7 million Americans living with untreated addiction.
• 100 million Americans have serious health issues due to addiction. This is the nations and the worlds number 1 public health issue.
• Addiction sufferers are not bad people who need to get good. They’re sick people who need to get well.
• It is an illness that causes lasting changes in brain function that are hard to reverse.
• Research points to structural and functional differences in the brain and to genetic factors that may predispose some individuals to this disease.
• In nature, rewards usually only come with effort and after a delay. But addictive substances shortcut this process and flood the brain with dopamine.
• When the disease takes hold, these changes in the brain erode a person’s self-control and ability to make sound decisions, while sending highly intense impulses to take drugs. Taking drugs becomes a matter of survival.
• Someone who is sick with this disease will engage in risky and dangerous behaviors despite serious consequences because of these profound changes in the brain. 
• “…addiction is not about drugs, it’s about brains. It is not the substances a person uses…; it is not even the quantity or frequency of use. Addiction is about what happens in a person’s brain when they are exposed to rewarding substances or rewarding behaviors, and it is more about reward circuitry in the brain and related brain structures than it is about the external chemicals or behavior that “turn on” that reward circuitry.” –American Psychiatric Association 

  ^{Sources: The Addicted Brain (Harvard Health Publications), Understanding Addiction (National Institute on Drug Abuse), Drugs, Brains and Behavior: The Science of Addiction (National Institute on Drug Abuse)}

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RE70: Kellie, at 8 months sobriety, Realized She Didn’t Know Who She Was, and She Was Fine With That. RE70: At 8 months sobriety, I Realized I Didn’t Know Who I was; But that is Just Fine.

by Paul Churchill | Jun 20, 2016 | Podcast

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Kellie, with 2 years of sobriety, shares how she has been successful in sobriety.

Kellie has been part of the Recovery Elevator podcast since the beginning. She was written blog posts, helped line up interviewees and helps with social media.

Don’t forget to support the Recovery Elevator Podcast by shopping at Amazon with the Recovery Elevator link:

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This episode was brought to you by Cafe RE and get your daily AA email here!

RE69: How Many of the Interviewees Have Stayed Sober?

by Paul Churchill | Jun 13, 2016 | Podcast

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I often get asked if any of the interviewees on this show have relapsed and the answer is yes. Sure, some of them have relapsed, but how many. When I really got to thinking about this, my optimism wavered and when I dug deeper into the question, I realized it was more than just a few had relapsed; it was a lot.

Also in this episode, Stephen Girard, with 32 years of sobriety, explains how he’s made it this far. Girard is a recovery coach and has his own podcast called The Real Deal Recovery Podcast. 

Don’t forget to support the Recovery Elevator Podcast by shopping at Amazon with the Recovery Elevator link:

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This episode was brought to you by Cafe RE and get your daily AA email here!

RE 68: The Stigma is Even Worse for These Alcoholics

by Paul Churchill | Jun 6, 2016 | Podcast

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Matt, sober since 12/11/15, who is the 4th lawyer to be interviewed on this podcast, shares how leaving a law firm to start a private law practice while drinking, can be tumultuous; to say the least.

I got the idea for this podcast from the a article I recently read in the Fix called My Top Five Female Recovery Memoirs by Regina Walker .

Statistically, women don’t recover from alcoholism at nearly the rate men do. A study in Germany concluded that alcoholism was twice as fatal for women as for men. The women in the German study with alcohol addiction were five times more likely to die during the 14-year period of the study than women in the general population.

As a culture, we often judge women with addiction issues far more harshly than we do with men. Alcohol advertising often portrays men drinking as a bonding experience, while portraying women who drink as sexual predators or, at the very least, sexually objectified (“if she is going to get drunk, she is asking for it”). Though it’s difficult for anyone with a substance abuse issue to ask for help, it is that much more difficult for a woman, who often bears an additional, gender specific stigma.

Turnabout, by Jean Kirkpatrick

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas,

Blackout Girl: Growing Up and Drying Out in America by Jennifer Storm

Drunk Mom by Jowita Bydlowska

Yellow Tale, by Tiffany Goik

Don’t forget to support the Recovery Elevator Podcast by shopping at Amazon with the Recovery Elevator link: www.recoveryelevator.com/amazon/

This episode was brought to you by Cafe RE and get your daily AA email here!