Co Occurring Disorders

I was not able to meet with my sponsor today. There was some type of medical family emergency and he texted me at about 1:30 am this morning. No worries.

I was able to get to my book study. The book study was good. It was the same people except for one extra. It is a small group no more than 10 at any given time, but it is a new group and I rather like its intimacy. We are on chapter 2 and after each paragraph (we take turns reading) we pause for reflection and processing. I was rather quite during this meeting. The topic that kept coming up was mental health, psychiatry, therapists and people’s ignorance and the stigma associated with AA. I listened intently. They are all laypeople in the group (as opposed to in the field as I am) and only one person in this group knows that I am in mental health. It was interesting to hear about how those who see therapists related to the readings. There was some criticism regarding therapist’s ignorance about AA. This was different for me. One of my specializations was co-occurring disorders (mental health mixed with substance use issues) and I had a professional grasp of 12 step groups (AA or NA) for I would often go to these meetings in support of clients. This was very much so against the grain for therapists who normally might not accompany their client’s to meetings or gatherings of this kind. As one who was trained and practiced to think outside the box I had no problems accompanying clients or sometimes whole groups of people to AA or NA meetings. I would utilize any methods at my disposal (which was basically anything I wanted for my boss had a lot of faith in my practices) to assist the client with getting better or into their recovery both addiction wise and mentally. I helped a lot of people. However, my own mental health and tendency towards addiction suffered and I fell prey to my genetic pre-disposition as alcoholic. Denial is not just a river in another country and it was a powerful ally to me for many years.

The irony!

David j