Self-help

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a self-help organization for people whose common goal is recovery from alcoholism, and it is the most widely accessed resource for individuals with alcohol problems (McCrady and Miller 1993). The philosophy is based on the concept of alcoholism as a chronic disease that cannot be cured, but one that can be halted by means of complete abstinence. AA has described 12 principles or steps to guide those in recovery. Twelve-step facilitation, a manual-based psychotherapy to promote AA participation (Nowinski et al. 1992), was equally efficacious, compared with cognitive-behavioral and motivational enhancement therapies, in a large study of treatments for alcohol dependence (Project Match Research Group, 1997). 

Developing a sober social network this can be through 12-step programs or other mutual self-help resources... 

Depression is a serious problem, but drugs are not the answer. In the long run, psychotherapy is both cheaper and more effective, even for very serious levels of depression. Physical exercise and self-help books based on CBT can also be useful, either alone or in combination with therapy. Reducing social and economic inequality would also reduce the incidence of depression. 

As a researcher and therapist, I also do not like the use of colloquial terms such as addict or junkie. These terms, although potentially helpful for some who find recovery in self-help programs, are not useful for everyone with a drug problem, and can be demeaning to some. In fact, some of my clients have been put off by such labels in treatment, and found them stigmatizing, and therefore potentially harmful. Besides, such terms are highly pejorative and uncomplimentary descriptions of behavior and are not diagnostically accurate terms (i.e., are not defined in the DSM-IV). I choose not to use these terms with my own clients for these reasons. 

This registered charitable self-help organization provides a variety of resources, information and support groups. Membership includes subscription to their quarterly newsletter, Ecological Health Alliance Support News. Fee 25 reduced fee for those in need. Make check payable to AEHA-BC Branch. 

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity A Survival Guide. Pamela Reed Gibson. Oakland, CA New Harbinger Publications, 1999. Features survival tools for coping with many aspects of MCS coping with the life impact of a chronic illness and with the unique aspects of MCS the need for social support, medical intervention and environmental controls self-help options identity and psychological issues applying for disability benefits and much more. 

Stage Three Continuing Care. After the rehabilitation phase, the patient enters a period of continuing care. At this point, treatment often transitions to community resources such as self-help groups. In many cases, continuing care patients move beyond the need for intensive psychiatric treatment but continue to require the support of others as they move through the long-term recovery process. 

Disnlfiram is initiated at SOmg/day for the first week. It can be continued indefinitely at 25 mg/day thereafter. Patients mnst be cautioned of the need to wait at least 1-2 weeks after their last dose before drinking. Otherwise, they risk the unpleasant effects of a disnlfiram reaction. Disnlfiram nse should not be seen as a substitute for other ongoing therapies, but rather as an adjunct to outpatient follow-up and self-help groups. 

Once the crash has abated, the patient should be reassessed and treatment recommendations made. Psychosocial treatments are the mainstay of treatment for cocaine addicts. Intensive outpatient programs and partial hospitalization programs are most effective during the initial phase of treatment. Psychotherapy and self-help treatment can help the patient devise means to manage craving and sustain sobriety. 

R. Findling, The Commitment Cure What to Do When You Fall for an Ambivalent Man (Avon, Mass. Adams Media, 2004). The self-help section of bookstores is filled with books on commitment phobia. It is, though, interesting to note that the emphasis of these books is on the greater difficulties that women have in getting men to commit than vice versa. 

In the Okakarara area, the domination of the Herero is quite apparent. Being cattle herders, they have always had a reliable source of income. Having built a strong traditional leadership structure, they have developed an efficient system of community self-help. These characteristics suggest that they would also be a suitable group to work with in terms of creating a common project that would empower these commimities and help build sustainable and fair market chains for morama value-added products. 

The Transform/Sheffield team postulate seven levels of managerial development. An alternative version of this model is to found in Pedler and Boydell s self-help book. Managing... 

The idea of influencing yourself has come from a self-help book on personal therapy. Tom Rusk and Randy Read, in a postscript to I Want To Change But I Don t Know How (1986), have set out their views on what constitutes best psychotherapeutic practice. Their conclusions are based on extensive observations, using videotape, film, and one-way mirrors, of therapeutic sessions. 

A frequent prescription in self-help guides is what might be called behaviour reversal . In fact in one particularly pragmatic guide, examples from which are presented in Box 10.6, over a third of the recommendations are of this nature. Many further examples of suggestions for behaviour reversal could have been cited, but there are probably enough in Box 10.6 to convey the point. 

Some clients may have had help in the past, either from the agency or a self-help group, or other health professionals, and have reduced but not been able to come off their tranquillisers. The indications here are of limited success that perhaps several stages in the process have been achieved but that new goals can now be explored. 

Review, endings and beginnings, recapitulation of what has been covered, exercise self-help, projections into the future, support in the future, letting go. 

A third project which the team helped start was FRODA (Friends and Relatives of Drug Abusers), a self-help group which meets on a regular basis to help its members to cope with their burden and occasionally generate action from statutory services. 

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