ORTC Articles

How will you experience freedom in recovery?

As you progress in your recovery you will feel a renewed sense of freedom and happiness from letting go of dishonesty, unresolved anger, and controlling behaviors. There is a great freedom and liberation in letting go of the lies, blame, and resentments that we used to justify our addictive behavior.

You may also begin to experience the world through awakened senses. Earlier, your senses of touch, smell, hearing, taste, and sight may have been diminished by the disease of addiction. As time passes and you remain abstinent, you will likely notice a renewal of these senses.

Others experience freedom on a less physical level. Sometimes serenity is experienced in spiritual insights that you missed when you were focused on your addiction.

Surrendering to your Higher Power brings freedom from the weight of trying to fix a problem (addiction) that you can’t fix on your own. The more you let go and let your Higher Power take control of your life, your choices, and your thinking, the greater freedom you will experience.

Most people in recovery also experience greater freedom after they have completed a thorough and honest personal inventory, share that inventory with another person, and then take steps to make amends to those they have hurt. Doing these things as part of your Twelve Step program will help you find freedom.

Amphetamines include illegal drugs such as meth or methamphetamine, and improperly used legal drugs such as Ritalin.

What are amphetamines?

Amphetamines are stimulants that are often used to reduce fatigue and depression and increase concentration and alertness. Amphetamines include illegal drugs such as methamphetamine (meth), and improperly used legal drugs such as Ritalin. Amphetamines come in the form of brown or white powder, as red liquid in capsules, or in tablet form. They can be snorted, injected, or taken orally. “Crystal meth” or “ice” is the crystallized form of methamphetamine and can be smoked.

Most amphetamines are produced and sold illegally, the most prevalent of which are methamphetamine and ecstasy. Ritalin, used for treating attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy (a sleep disorder), is a legally sold and produced amphetamine. It can also be used illegally.

What are physical consequences of amphetamine use?

Because they increase blood pressure and heart rate, amphetamines can lead to heart-related problems or stroke. Other symptoms include irritability, dilated pupils, aggression, and difficulty sleeping. In large doses, amphetamines can result in visual and auditory hallucinations, anxiety, paranoia, and distorted perceptions.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) uses the term “stimulant use disorder” to define a pattern of amphetamine or other stimulant use that leads to significant physical, interpersonal, medical, or work problems. Stimulant use disorder is rated as mild, moderate, or severe based on how many criteria are met. A person diagnosed with stimulant use disorder can also be classified as in remission, or what is commonly referred to as “in recovery.” Those with stimulant use disorder should receive treatment, and those who identify themselves as addicts often find the skills and support to stay sober through peer support groups like Narcotics Anonymous.

Addiction is considered a brain-based disease characterized by abnormal drug-seeking behavior that leads to impaired control over one’s drug use. Addiction means a person will continue using alcohol or other drugs despite the harm it does to his or her health, family, work or school, and relationships. An addict may experience withdrawal symptoms (physical pain, fatigue, depression, trouble sleeping, irritability) if he or she stops using, and may need to keep using just to feel normal. “Curing” addiction is not a matter of willpower or moral strength any more than is curing diabetes or cancer. Like diabetes and cancer, addiction is considered a chronic disease which is beyond one’s control and fatal if left untreated.

How does amphetamine use affect a co-occurring mental health disorder?

Co-occurring disorders, or dual disorders, occur when a mental health disorder, like depression or schizophrenia, is present along with addiction, alcoholism, or other substance use disorders. Screening for co-occurring disorders should be part of any good assessment or treatment plan.

Many people with a mental health problem turn to substances to feel better. For example, a person who is depressed may turn to amphetamines to feel more animated. Such substance-related solutions often develop into substance-related disorders and fail to treat the mental health problem. What’s more, they also prevent people from developing the coping skills to have a fulfilling life, experience satisfying relationships, and feel comfortable in their own skin.

Abuse of amphetamines can result in possible psychosis, inconsistency in mood, mania, paranoid delusions, anxiety, auditory and visual disturbances, and loss of appetite. Amphetamine withdrawal symptoms include depression, loss of pleasure, sleep difficulties, paranoia, and violent behavior.

How does amphetamine use affect the brain?

The role of brain chemistry in substance use disorders is a relatively new finding in the treatment field, but a rapidly growing body of evidence supports it. The human brain is similar to a computer. Every time you feel something, millions of nerve cells, or neurons, are firing messages to each other. When you use drugs, you are basically introducing a virus into the computer, and the effects distort your emotional, physical, and mental life.

Each classification of drugs affects a different brain chemical or neurotransmitter. Amphetamines affect dopamine, which is believed to release chemicals that allow us to feel pleasure. Amphetamine use is similar to flooding a computer with stimulation—data, images, music, videos, games, etc. After the flurry of activity, the computer drastically slows down and the user experiences a “crash,” leading to fatigue and depression as the brain and body deal with the sudden drop in stimulation.

Is amphetamine addiction treatable?

Yes. Detoxification and withdrawal from amphetamines can take several weeks, especially with methamphetamine. People who use amphetamines often lose their appetite and as a result may get malnourished and dehydrated. Medical treatment for amphetamine addiction addresses several needs: nutrition, dental care, behavior modification, coping skills, and continuing care support such as Twelve Step groups. Antipsychotic medication may also be required. It is recommended that amphetamine users seek medical supervision to help them quit.

Addiction won’t go away, like a cold or the flu. It is a chronic disease, meaning you have it all your life. However, by staying sober and getting ongoing support, recovering people can live normal, healthy, productive lives.

Web resources

There are many resources out there. The websites for the following organizations were chosen for their usefulness and user friendliness.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

This government organization is dedicated to addiction research and education. Through its website you can access up-to-date publications about many different drugs of abuse as well as emerging trends.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

SAMHSA is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities. Its website offers information and resources about preventing and treating addiction and mental illness.

What is the Twelve Step philosophy of spirituality?

All Twelve Step programs promote spirituality, rather than promoting specific beliefs about religion or God. Twelve Step programs aim to help you establish a relationship with a Power greater than yourself—however you choose to define it. The Big Book tells us that at first all we need to know about God is that we ourselves are not God. Still, some newcomers to recovery find it helpful to think of “God” as their Twelve Step “Group of Drunks” or the “Good Orderly Direction” they are now seeking.

The concept of spirituality is a very personal one. Spirituality is the quality of your relationship with yourself, your Higher Power, and the world. How do you know when you are growing spiritually? If you are beginning to see positive changes in your thinking, attitudes, behaviors, and relationships with others, you are growing spiritually.

When you were in active addiction you likely believed your ideas were almost always “right,” and you may have tried to control or manipulate others to make them conform to those ideas. But spiritual growth requires that we let go of the pursuit of control that can lead to manipulation, intimidation, anger, resentments, and so on. You still can make decisions and take action, but you know that the results are in the hand of your Higher Power. Trying to control your life—that is, trying to force certain results—destroys your spirituality. This quest for power can inhibit the spiritual nature that will protect your recovery and improve the peace, serenity, and sense of abundance in your life.

It is not possible to love your Higher Power and be at peace with yourself while you treat everybody else badly. Any improvement in one set of relationships improves the others. Any deterioration in one set pulls the others down.

For example, you may go home one night and have an ugly argument with a beloved family member. You may dig deep down for every nasty, personal thing you can say to hurt them, and by the end of the argument your relationship is severely damaged. During this argument you are not in communion with your Higher Power, and most likely you are not feeling very good about yourself. You may even feel that you hate yourself and so you push that anger, fear, and resentment outward toward others. When you do this, your relationship with your Higher Power and with others is damaged.

When you were in active addiction you may have searched for happiness, peace, serenity, and abundance, but only found a spiritual emptiness in your life. Many addicts try in vain to fill that void with alcohol or other drugs, money, relationships, material things, or compulsive behaviors of one type or another. But these external devices cannot resolve an internal need for spirituality.

How can you immediately improve your spirituality?

Begin to treat all people with the dignity and respect that belongs to all of us. Do not judge others; your choices and actions are no more right than anyone else’s. Everyone has made poor choices; everyone has acted out of selfishness. When you have turned yourself and others over to your Higher Power, your relationships will improve, your self-respect will improve, and you will grow closer to your Higher Power.

How can you continue to build your spirituality?

As you begin to practice spirituality you may quickly see big gains in your confidence and serenity. At those times, it seems easy to be spiritual, to feel light and joyous, free and forgiving. But what does spirituality mean on the Monday morning after you’ve lost your job, your dog has run away, and your child has been suspended from school?

How can you sustain your spirituality on the roller coaster of emotional and physical challenges that most of us endure? The best way to sustain your serenity is to view spirituality as a daily practice of prayer and meditation. Prayer is the practice of talking to your Higher Power, and meditation is the practice of listening to your Higher Power.

Practice prayer and meditation

Many recovering people find it fulfilling and easy to begin their spiritual practice first thing in the morning. Upon waking, ask your Higher Power to help you to be willing to let go of self-pity, dishonesty, fear, control, and selfishness and to direct you during the day ahead. At night, before going to sleep, review your life for that day. Look for traces of resentment, blaming, fear, or control. Plan to make any necessary apologies or amends tomorrow. Avoid “worry, remorse, or morbid reflection that would diminish your usefulness to others,” as AA recommends.

At times this “letting go” may leave you feeling agitated or indecisive. If so, take it easy. Instead of struggling for an answer, trust that an appropriate course of action will soon become clear to you.

Recovery action Steps

Give yourself the gift of spirituality every day by taking twenty minutes to reflect on where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going.

1. Use a daily planner and schedule twenty minutes every day for prayer and/ or meditation. Write down this time and consider it as high a priority as a business meeting or other appointment.
2. Make a list of what you’re grateful for—family, friends, a job, a roof over your head—and reread it every day.
3. Tell your sponsor, recovery support group, and supportive family members about your promise to spend this time on your spiritual practice. They will hold you accountable and check on your progress.

What are the rewards of a spiritual life?

Remember that spirituality, not mere abstinence, is what grants us a daily reprieve from our illness of addiction. The Twelve Steps are not a sobriety program or relapse-prevention program, they are a program for living spiritually.

The hard reality of being addicted is that you can no longer rely on yourself to be your own best judge. Embracing spirituality and trusting your Higher Power will help you surrender your willfulness enough to allow the Twelve Steps to work for you.

When you believe in a Higher Power of infinite love, understanding, and compassion, you’ll find more than recovery from the disease of addiction, you’ll grow personally as you experience more freedom and peace. Dependence on this Higher Power, which is unlimited in forgiveness and love and can be tapped whenever you need it, only makes you stronger. Through this strength you will become more independent and confident, personally and spiritually.

What is grief?

Grief is a normal response to loss. Feelings of grief may range from sadness to intense pain, depending on the severity of the loss. You may experience grief that doesn’t last long and is tolerable. Or you may feel a deeper, longer-term pain akin to clinical depression. You may need professional care to help cope with intense grief and the resulting depression.

People experience the emotion of grief for many reasons. It could be due to the death of a loved one or the loss of a job or, for an addict, it could be a variety of losses due to chemical use: broken marriages, strained relationships with children, and so on. Even stopping the use of chemicals can cause loss and grief.

What are the stages of grief?

The typical stages are denial and anger followed by bargaining, sadness or depression, and finally acceptance. When you begin recovery, you give up something around which your life has revolved for a long time. Suddenly you find yourself facing the world without the substance, without a way of life you’ve depended on to numb your pain. You may also have other losses due to your substance use disorder. Like many alcoholics and addicts, you may have sacrificed everything for your addiction: family, friends, job, self-esteem.

Classic Stages of Grief during Recovery

1. Denial and anger: You don’t want to admit powerlessness and you are angry at having to say good-bye to your chemical and your old behaviors.

2. Bargaining: Instead of working hard, you try to bargain for recovery by making promises to use or drink less, behave better, go to church more, and so on.

3. Sadness: You feel depressed because you can’t cope with the drug and you can’t cope without it.

4. Acceptance: You accept the reality of your addiction—you can’t have just one. You are powerless against this disease.

What problems might you have with unresolved grief?

A sense of loss can last a long time; being told by others to “get over it” can be dangerous advice. Or you may be in denial, telling yourself that you are past the grief. Sometimes we push our grief down deep inside, but if we do it may rise at unexpected moments. An anniversary, a place, a person, a memory, an article of clothing—almost anything can trigger grief. If grief catches you by surprise, it could overwhelm you and trigger a relapse.

During recovery, emotions that you haven’t felt for years sometimes come to the surface. This is a time to deal with neglected grief and a chance to acknowledge current losses as well as old ones you never faced.

How can you deal with the losses that are not caused by your addiction?

People coping with specific losses such as the death of a child, a suicide, or loss of family through divorce—and survivors of trauma and victimization—often benefit by talking to others who have faced similar losses.

The grief process isn’t necessarily a smooth one. You won’t heal the feelings once and be done with them. All of the work you do in the Twelve Step program of recovery will contribute in some way to lessening your grief and eventually letting go of it.

Recovery is an opportunity to reflect on your own loss, face it, and fully accept that grief is not a bad emotion. Grief can teach you how great your capacity to love is.

Recovery Action Step

Grieving is common in early recovery. You may have suppressed your grief over the loss of a child, spouse, partner, parent, or other relationship. Grief is a process that needs to be faced and completed.

1. List some significant losses in your life.

2. Which have been the most painful?

3. Do these losses still affect your life today?

4. How can you start to accept these losses? Discuss these feelings with others in recovery to gain more insight.

Where can you get help in dealing with grief?

If you are facing specific losses, look for a group that addresses that kind of loss. You will find immediate solace by talking to those who know what you’ve experienced. If your grief is centered on the loss of the chemical in your life, participate heartily in Twelve Step recovery groups. There you will find many others who cope with that loss every day.

Rituals, such as writing letters, can help you handle grief. Write to those with whom you have unfinished business, whether these people are living or dead. Talk out your grief on paper. By reflecting on your own loss, you will learn and begin to heal.

Web resources

Gift From Within

For survivors of trauma and victimization, this international nonprofit offers articles on coping with trauma and post-traumatic stress and lists of support groups, conferences, and retreats.

What is abstinence?

Abstinence means being free of mood-altering substances, whether the substance is alcohol or other drugs. Abstinence can be a “white-knuckle”experience or a positive journey. We know from decades of experience that if you try to avoid alcohol and other drug use through sheer willpower, you will have a poor recovery that won’t last. If you learn to enjoy the freedom from compulsion, you will have a far better recovery experience.  Abstinence means refraining from all mood-altering substances, not just your substance of choice. For example, those who stop cocaine use but continue regular use of other substances are likely to remain in a cocaine-using environment.  The consequences of that use may prevent them from developing the stable lifestyle that is important to maintaining cocaine abstinence.

Why is abstinence so important?

The dangers of “just one” are well known by those who have lapsed. Having just one of anything—a drink, a pill, a drag, an injection—starts a chain reaction. “Just one” is followed by one more and one more as your body yearns to recapture that initial euphoria. What is addiction, after all, but a compulsion for more?  Abstinence is a critical first step on your way toward lifelong recovery. By remaining free of substances, you stop the vicious cycle of use that results in negative consequences, only to be followed by more use. Embrace Step One: make a conscious decision to admit that no matter how strong your willpower, it won’t stop you from using. This is your admission of powerlessness.

The four freedoms of abstinence

Abstinence frees you from destructive patterns. Freedom from substance use means physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual freedom. Abstinence gives your body a chance to heal. It gives your emotional ups and downs a chance to even out. It helps you think clearly by putting an end to denial, illusion, and false hope. Abstinence is a balm for your spirit; it is the quiet that comes when destructive behavior stops, allowing your inner thoughts and values to rise to the surface.

What steps can you take to remain abstinent?

Learn to recognize and avoid the environmental triggers that lead to drug use.  Identify and engage in alternative behaviors when you experience cravings.  Remind yourself often that your goal is to achieve and sustain abstinence from all drugs. Participate in healthy activities. Join and participate in Twelve Step groups.

What is heroin?

Heroin is a highly addictive illicit drug. It is the most widely abused drug of the opioid category, meaning drugs that are derived from the opioid poppy. It is typically a brown or white powder, and is most often snorted or injected in a solution directly into the blood stream.

Heroin increases pleasure and reduces pain by replacing natural endorphins with even stronger painkillers. After the initial rush, users usually experience flushed skin, a dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in their arms and legs. Symptoms may also include nausea, vomiting, severe itching, and drowsiness. Cardiac functions and breathing slow down severely, sometimes to the point of death.

Although pure heroin is becoming common, street heroin can be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because abusers often don’t know the actual strength or contents of the heroin they are using, they are at risk of fatal overdose.

Many prescription painkillers (like OxyContin, codeine, and Vicodin) are derived from the opioid poppy as well. People who abuse prescription painkillers will often take them without a prescription, take more than prescribed, or crush and snort pills to get the rush they seek. Both heroin and related prescription drugs are called “opioids.”

What are the physical consequences of heroin use?

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) uses the term “opioid use disorder” to define a pattern of opioid use that leads to significant physical, interpersonal, medical, or work problems. Opioid use disorder is rated as mild, moderate, or severe based on how many criteria are met. A person diagnosed with opioid use disorder can also be classified as in remission, or what is commonly referred to as “in recovery.” Those with opioid use disorder should receive treatment, and those who identify themselves as addicts often find the skills and support to stay sober through peer support groups like Narcotics Anonymous.

Addiction is considered a brain-based disease characterized by abnormal drug-seeking behavior that leads to impaired control over one’s drug use. Addiction means a person will continue using alcohol or other drugs despite the harm it does to their health, family, work or school, and relationships. An addict may experience withdrawal symptoms (physical pain, fatigue, depression, trouble sleeping, irritability) if he or she stops using, and may need to keep using just to feel normal. “Curing” addiction is not a matter of willpower or moral strength any more than is curing diabetes or cancer. Like diabetes and cancer, addiction is considered a chronic disease which is beyond one’s control and fatal if left untreated.

Because heroin and prescription drugs (when abused) provide a similar high, it’s become an increasing problem for people who abuse prescription painkillers to move to heroin, as it is often cheaper and more readily available. Heroin overdoses are more common in these cases.

How does heroin use affect a co-occurring mental health disorder?

Co-occurring disorders, or dual disorders, occur when a mental health disorder, like depression or schizophrenia, is present along with addiction, alcoholism, or other substance use disorders. Screening for co-occurring disorders should be part of any good assessment or treatment plan.

Heroin affects the central nervous system and can both mask and mimic the signs of a serious mental illness. People with serious mental health issues may increasingly use heroin to quiet their thoughts and avoid dealing with their inner pain. Heroin use may also accelerate an underlying mental health issue.

How does heroin use affect the brain?

Heroin enters the brain, where it is converted to morphine and binds to receptors known as “opioid receptors.” These receptors are located in many areas of the brain (and in the body), especially those involved in the perception of pain and reward. Opioid receptors are also located in the brain stem—important for automatic processes critical for life, such as breathing (respiration), blood pressure, and arousal. Heroin overdoses frequently involve slowed or stopped breathing and cardiac arrest. Because abusers often don’t know the actual strength or contents of the heroin they are using, they risk fatal overdose.

Heroin users may experience collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, liver and kidney disease, and other problems. They are also in danger of exposure to HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases through sharing needles.

Is addiction to heroin treatable?

Yes. Treatment usually begins with medically assisted detoxification to help patients withdraw from the drug safely. Medications such as clonidine and buprenorphine can be used to help minimize symptoms of withdrawal. However, detoxification alone is not treatment and has not been shown to be effective in preventing relapse—it is merely the first step. Drugs such as methadone or buprenorphine have been proven effective in reducing heroin cravings. Twelve Step groups such as Heroin Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have been helpful in giving recovering addicts support and motivation to stay sober.

Addiction won’t go away like a cold or the flu. It is a chronic disease, meaning you have it all your life. However, by staying sober and getting ongoing support, recovering people live normal, healthy, productive lives.

Web resources

There are many resources out there. The websites for the following organizations were chosen for their usefulness and user friendliness.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): This government organization is dedicated to addiction research and education. Through its website you can access up-to-date publications about many different drugs of abuse as well as emerging trends.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): SAMHSA is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities. Its website offers information and resources about preventing and treating addiction and mental illness.

How can your attitudes toward religion affect your recovery?

Twelve Step programs are not religious in nature. Still, for some of us, our religious background can help us in recovery—or it can hinder us, especially if our past experience gets in the way of our search for a Higher Power.

Spirituality is central to the Twelve Steps, and our religious background may influence our current spiritual life. But no matter what our background, we can renew our spirituality now, and we can choose the terms that work for us.

Religion is meant to nourish and sustain our spirit. Growing up, some of
us may have attended a church, synagogue, or mosque, or participated in other rituals or holiday celebrations that gave us positive associations with religion. For others, religion is a fairly neutral issue. And some of us may have negative associations with religious traditions or authority figures—perhaps based on our own early experiences.

These past experiences may hold you back in recovery if they keep you from finding a loving, guiding Higher Power you can really trust.

Personal Recovery Story

“Sobriety hasn’t changed my feeling about religion. In AA, I’ve learned you don’t have to be religious in order to be deeply spiritual. I have a Higher Power of my own understanding today. She’s a woman, for one thing. She’s nothing like the God my old church believed in. She’s a feminist, of course, and she has a fantastic sense of humor. She knows me better than I know myself and loves me to pieces. The longer I’m sober, the more I turn to her for guidance. When I first came to AA I heard someone say that their Higher Power has better plans for them than anything they could possibly imagine. After thirty years in AA, I can honestly say that has been my experience too.”

—Jackie, recovering alcoholic

In order to work a lifetime of recovery, you’ll need to find your Higher Power by working Step Two:

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Does that mean you have to believe in God? Definitely not. A Higher Power can be defined in many ways. Some people may call their Higher Power God. For others it is the inherent greatness of nature and the universe. For some of us it may be a group of recovery friends whose collective wisdom is greater than our own. Some call their Higher Power “G.O.D.” for “Group of Drunks” or “Good Orderly Direction.” If you’re like many people in early recovery, you haven’t defined your Higher Power yet. That’s okay; you don’t have to know who or what your Higher Power is right now—you just need to know that you aren’t it.

A belief in God or religion is not necessary. What is necessary is grasping the idea that we can’t achieve sobriety alone.

Recovery Action Step

If your spirituality is being inhibited by your past views of religion and God, you might take a look at how you developed those views.

1. Think about some specific early experiences you had with religion and describe them in your journal. How did you feel in each case? Safe? Angry? Happy? Guilty? Shameful? Exalted?
2. Compare these experiences. Do they share a common thread of emotion? Or do they contradict each other?
3. Reflect on these experiences. How strongly have they shaped your attitudes toward religion and spirituality today? Are your current attitudes inhibiting you in working Step Two?

Share your answers with your sponsor and recovery support group. They can listen, share in your struggle, and provide insight and advice that comes from experience in recovery.

What can you gain from believing in your Higher Power?

When you believe in a Higher Power that has infinite love, understanding, and compassion, you’ll find more than recovery from the disease of addiction; you’ll grow personally as you experience more freedom and peace in your life.

Read the Big Book, page 63, “How It Works,” for a prayer that you can say when you are ready to decide to hand your life over to your Higher Power:

God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will.

By saying this prayer, you are realizing that your Higher Power has a new place in your life. The terms “God” and “Higher Power” can be interchangeable, depending on which of them—or both—you feel comfortable using.

How will spirituality help you with recovery?

All Twelve Step programs promote spirituality, rather than promoting specific beliefs about religion or God. They aim to help you establish a relationship with a Power greater than yourself—however you choose to define it. The Twelve Steps are not a sobriety program or relapse-prevention program, they are a pro- gram for living spiritually. Spirituality, not mere abstinence, is what grants us a daily reprieve from our illness of addiction.

Spirituality is the quality of your relationship with yourself, your Higher Power, and the world. How do you know when you are growing spiritually? If you are beginning to see positive changes in your thinking, attitudes, behaviors, and relationships with others, you are growing spiritually.

How can honesty affect your recovery?

Sobriety requires us to change the way we live, to adopt a lifestyle that requires rigorous honesty. While in active addition, most addicts and alcoholics are far from honest. They live in a world of deceit and denial. Recovery demands that they be honest with themselves first, but also with their families, their friends in recovery, and those they have harmed. The Big Book states, “Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. . . . They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty.”

Honesty means speaking the truth to yourself and others. At times, however, it needs to be tempered with compassion. Never use honesty to purposefully hurt someone. Practicing honesty makes it apparent that wisdom is also needed. When you are struggling with an issue of honesty, talk about it with your sponsor or recovery support group.

Learning how to be honest after living dishonestly takes focused effort and it requires the help of your Higher Power. Making small, daily choices to be honest will help you grow and develop spiritually.

The “typical” heroin addict could be a good kid from a good family or a successful professional—not just the stereotypical street addict.

What Is Heroin?

Heroin is a highly addictive illicit drug. It is the most widely abused drug of the opioid category, meaning drugs that are derived from the opioid poppy.

Heroin increases pleasure and reduces pain by replacing natural endorphins with even stronger painkillers. After the initial rush, users usually experience flushed skin, a dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in their arms and legs. Symptoms may also include nausea, vomiting, severe itching, and drowsiness. Cardiac functions and breathing slow down severely, sometimes to the point of death.

Although purer heroin is becoming common, street heroin can be cut with strychnine or other poisons. Because abusers don’t know the actual strength or contents of the heroin, they are at risk of fatal overdose.
From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)

How Does Heroin Use Affect a Co-occurring Psychiatric Disorder?

Heroin affects the central nervous system, and mental functions are clouded—which can mask and mimic the symptoms of mental illness. In Australia, a 2002 study found that drug abuse and mental illness are major contributors to increasing levels of suicide and/or heroin overdose. Source: Melbourne Division of General Practice. 2002. Relationships between mental health, personal circumstances and drug use in young Victorian heroin users.

IDDT Fact Sheets

How Does Heroin Use Affect the Brain?

Heroin enters the brain, where it is converted to morphine and binds to receptors known as opioid receptors. These receptors are located in many areas of the brain (and in the body), especially those involved in the perception of pain and in reward. Opioid receptors are also located in the brain stem—important for automatic processes critical for life, such as breathing (respiration), blood pressure, and arousal. Heroin overdoses frequently involve a suppression of respiration.

Is Heroin Addiction Treatable?

Yes, and it is important to remember that detoxification is the beginning of treatment, not the entire process. Drugs such as methadone or buprenorphine have been proven effective in reducing heroin cravings.

Where Can I Learn More?

• about.com An easily searchable consumer Web site with extensive content.
• beyondblue.org An organization working to address issues associated with depression, anxiety, and related substance misuse disorders in Australia.
• drugabuse.gov A National Institute on Drug Abuse Web site.
• familydoctor.org A consumer Web site of general health information, including addiction and mental illness.
• hazelden.org Since 1949, Hazelden has provided interdisciplinary treatment for addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
• healthyplace.com This easy-to-search consumer Web site contains extensive information about severe mental illness and specific drug use.
• samhsa.gov and csat.samhsa.gov These U.S. government Web sites are dedicated to mental health and substance abuse treatment, respectively.