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Road to Recovery

Mistaken Belief #1

Mistaken Belief #2

Mistaken Belief #3

Mistaken Belief #4

Mistaken Belief #5

Mistaken Belief #6

Mistaken Belief #7

Mistaken Belief #8

Mistaken Belief #9

Mistaken Belief #10

Mistaken Belief #11

Mistaken Belief #12

Mistaken Belief #13

Mistaken Belief #14

Mistaken Belief #15

Mistaken Belief #16

Mistaken Belief #17

 By: Terry Gorski with additions by: Lee Jamison

A MISTAKEN BELIEF IS SOMETHING THAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE TRUE AND ACT AS IF IT WERE TRUE WHEN, IN FACT, IT IS FALSE.

Mistaken Belief #12: Those who relapse to use of alcohol or drugs over and over again are hopeless because they are "constitutionally incapable" of recovery.

Fact: Those who relapse to use of alcohol or drugs repeatedly are not incapable of recovery. They just have not learned how to prevent relapse. They can learn how to get better.

Sally, a relapse prone alcoholic/addict, talked of her progress; “I thought I was hopeless. I was detoxed over twenty times and completed three private and four public rehabilitation programs. I ended up in a halfway house nearly dead and totally demoralized and down on myself. I heard a lecture on the warning signs of relapse. It was like someone was telling my story. Those warning signs gave me the words for what was happening to me. I got interested and started to listen and learn. I went to work identifying my warning signs and setting up plans to manage them. It wasn’t easy but relapse prevention planning gave me concrete, solid things to work on. I stayed sober for eight months, longer than in years. When I drank again I was humiliated, but returned to the halfway house. They wouldn’t let me feel sorry for myself. They didn’t blame me. They just said ‘it’s a very powerful disease. Let’s get you stabilized and see what we can do differently this time.’ I’ve been sober now longer than ever before. I believe that I can get well.”

It is true that people cannot get well with the knowledge and skills that they have. They have not learned to interrupt old behavior patterns and do something different. They have not learned that relapse is a process that can be changed. They have not learned about sobriety-based symptoms and what to do to manage them. They have not learned to recognize when they are moving away from recovery and moving in the direction of relapse. They do not have hope that they can ever get well.

The consequence of believing that you cannot get well is despair. Without hope there is no motivation to try again and you are condemned to a life of despair.