We live in a society that tells us we should be able to figure out our problems and overcome challenges on our own; that if we can’t, we’re weak. Being open to trying something new requires a great deal of courage because it’s an admission that you don’t have all the answers. Years of drinking excessively could mean harming your liver with every sip.
How to Maintain Long-Term Recovery From Addiction
Most examples of powerlessness in sobriety have to do with admitting that you cannot change your behaviors on your own. Getting help from others at a treatment facility and in peer recovery groups can benefit your sobriety. Humans naturally gather together, which is why group therapy remains a powerful therapeutic tool for alcohol addiction. Further, groups with trained leaders, such as AA sponsors, can positively promote substance abuse recovery. These include reducing isolation, providing a support system, and witnessing the healing of others. You might not be ready the first time you decide to attend a meeting.
Step 1 of AA: “Powerlessness”, the First of the 12-step Journey
This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care. The key to their conclusion that drinking isn’t linked to longer life is based yet again on who moderate drinkers are compared to, Stockwell and his colleagues wrote. If you drink more alcohol than that, consider cutting back or quitting. When the drinkers were still relatively healthy, they could control their impulse to drink because the judgment and decision-making circuits of their prefrontal cortex would balance out those impulses. But, once addicted, substance use also disrupts prefrontal circuits.
The Power of Powerlessness
At Spero Recovery, we understand how hard it can be to admit that you are powerless over the effects of drugs and alcohol on your life. It’s not only damaging to your confidence, it can be humiliating. We all want to be considered strong and in charge of ourselves, so admitting powerlessness seems like a huge contradiction to that goal. Admitting powerlessness is what reveals your true strength, and our committed staff is ready to help you find it. We offer peer-led recovery programs that are rooted in the 12-Step program of recovery from Alcoholics Anonymous.
And, for those who need help and do not want it, help is still out there. Hosted by Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares strategies for coping with alcohol cravings powerless over alcohol and other addictions, featuring addiction specialist John Umhau, MD. Alcohol use can progress to a point where the only thing that can relieve the withdrawal symptoms is more alcohol.
The paradox of powerlessness
It’s a moment of profound self-realization and humility, opening the door to hope, healing and transformation. Remember, the 1st step AA is not the end but the beginning of a brighter future. If you’re struggling with alcohol addiction or drug addiction, please contact us now at FHE Health for compassionate help and support.
Medical Professionals
Now, yet another research analysis points toward that newer conclusion – that people who drink moderately do not necessarily live longer than people who abstain. The latest results are important because the researchers delved deep into data about people who previously drank but later quit, possibly due to health problems. This is an invitation to explore your thoughts and beliefs on the “powerless” concept.
- The alcoholic didn’t put or want the thought there, the only way to get it to stop is to have another drink.
- Acknowledging your powerlessness is liberating because it helps you realize the things you are powerless over so you can devote your energy to your actions–the things you can control.
- Recognizing this unmanageability is crucial because it propels individuals toward seeking help and making lasting changes.
- If we don’t feel like we’re in control of everything in our lives, we feel like we’re out of control personally.
- MARR Addiction Treatment Centers specialize in treating individuals whose lives have been destroyed by addiction.
- We offer peer-led recovery programs that are rooted in the 12-Step program of recovery from Alcoholics Anonymous.
- Until you do so, drugs and/or alcohol will continue to exert their power over you and control every aspect of your life.
- This pervasive stigma is a big reason why seeking help for substance abuse, or even admitting you struggle with substance abuse, is so hard.