Alcoholic blackouts

Alcoholic blackouts were first documented by E.M. Jellinek in his book "The

Disease Concept of Alcoholism."

An alcohol-induced blackout (a blackout caused heavy drinking) is a period of time during a drinking episode when a person is functional but cannot remember what they were doing.

A "blackout" is not to be confused with "passing out.". 

Passing out means having episodes of unconsciousness during drinking when the drinker is not functioning and appears to be asleep

If you or someone you love is in the grips of addiction call us today for immediate help.

Coaching With Substance is Australia's No. 1 provider of Recovery Coaching Services and  WINNER of 2014 Best Not-For-Profit in ALL Addictions.  

Call us 07 5606 6315 (7days) Confidentiality assured.

Website www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au     

Email info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Are you drinking too much?

Are you worried about alcohol abuse or alcoholism? Here are the signs of problem drinking.

It’s a common question. How do you know if you have a drinking problem?  

Drinking alcohol is a problem if it causes trouble in your relationships, atwork or in school, in social activities, or in how you think and feel.

The signs of alcohol abuse:

1. The need to drink before confronting certain  

     situations 

2. Frequent intoxication

3. A steady increase in the amount of alcohol 

    consumed

4. Solitary drinking

5. Early morning drinking

6. Denial of drinking

7. Family disruptions over drinking

8. Blackouts or temporary amnesia

9. Continuing to drink despite adverse 

    consequences from drinking

If you’re still not sure if you have a problem with drinking alcohol, take this alcohol screening test. And check this out if you’re interested in learning how to cut down on your drinking.

What is the difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism?

Alcohol abuse differs from alcoholism in that it does not include

an extremely strong craving for alcohol, loss of control, or physical

dependence. In addition, alcohol abuse is less likely than alcoholism to include tolerance (the need for increasing amounts of alcohol to get high). Problem drinking can be successfully treated with brief intervention by primary care physicians. Alcohol addiction is a lifelong disease with a relapsing, remitting course.

Alcoholism is an addictive dependency on alcohol characterised by:

1. craving (a strong need to drink)

2. loss of control (being unable to stop)

3. physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms

4. tolerance (increasing difficulty of becoming drunk)

Alcoholism is a type of drug dependence. There is both physical and psychological dependence on alcohol. Alcoholism is a primary, chronic, progressive, and sometimes fatal disease due to the habitual use of alcohol often described as any "harmful use" of alcohol--meaning the alcoholic continues to drink despite recurrent social, personal, physical, or legal consequences as a result of their alcohol use.

If you or someone you love is in he grips of alcohol addiction call us today and let us help you 07 5606 6315.  Website www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au.  Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Meth Addiction: Triggered by Weightloss and Body Image issues.

Here at Coaching With Substance we are noticing a disturbing new trend of teenage girls and young women who use the drug crystal meth to lose weight -- up to 18 kilograms a month.

This is a recipe for disaster. This combination of body image issues and the drug's weight loss appeal.

Crystal meth, the street version of the drug methamphetamine, is an a very addictive stimulant that causes elation and alertness in addition to curbing appetite. Meth users can smoke, snort, inject or swallow the drug.

  

They usually ingest a crude combination of cold medicine, brake cleaner, fertiliser, drain cleaner and iodine along with a myriad of other chemicals.

Meth is an appetite suppressant. It's a drug that will give you stimulation for 12 hours, with no need to eat and no need to sleep. It's also cheap -- between $5 to $10 per hit -- and has consequently been labelled the "poor man's cocaine."

Young women know and find out quickly that there are drugs that do reduce your appetite and cause you to lose weight, and meth is so affordable.

At CWS we are recording and alarming increase of calls from parents of teenage girls aged12 to 18. These women have such a distorted body image.

According to the World Health Organization, methamphetamine is the most widely used illicit drug in the world after cannabis. We're in this era of stimulant drugs -- "the need for speed". But when it comes to body image, we also seem to have the need to be thin.

Methamphetamine has been around for decades. It was marketed in North America in the 1920s as a weight-loss drug. It was touted for its dietary benefits. It's amazing that in the first place this drug was used was for weight loss.

Meth is relatively simple to make. There are thousands of recipes on the Internet and police estimate that an investment of about $150 can yield an amount worth about $10,000 on the street. But it also has lethal side effects. Meth use can cause insomnia, hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety as well as heart problems, convulsion, brain damage and death.

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS IN THE GRIPS OF METH ADDICTION CALL US TODAY FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. PHONE 07 560 66315

Web: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Email info@coachingwithsubstance.org.auinfo@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

5 Alcoholism Myths

5 Alcoholism Myths

These myths would be of interest to anyone involved with alcoholism – wives, partners, parents, children, adult children (co-dependents) and of course the alcoholic. 

Myth 1: An alcoholic is the falling-down drunk on skid row.

Answer: Only three percent of alcoholics are on skid row. Those alcoholics on skid row are undoubtedly in the last stages of the illness. Most people with alcoholism are in the early and middle stages. They have families, they hold regular jobs, they may not appear to be any different from anyone else. The person with alcoholism may be an automobile mechanic, an officer of a large corporation, an actor, a salesman, a press operator, a stock clerk, a secretary, a housewife.

Clearly the disease of alcoholism is no respecter of persons.

About 80% Australians use alcohol and enjoy the relaxation it brings them. Unfortunately about one in fifteen of these develop the disease of alcoholism. This disease eventually causes premature death or insanity unless it is treated. But it is a slow progressive illness and often requires five to twenty years before its victim becomes unemployable or incapable of being a responsible employee or housewife.

Myth 2: Alcoholics are hopeless drunks.

Answer: Nothing could be farther from the truth. While there is no known cure, alcoholism can be arrested with proper treatment. Fifty to seventy percent of employed alcoholics who receive treatment recover and lead normal lives. For example, the businessman and the doctor who founded Alcoholics Anonymous were once considered by their friends to be “hopeless drunks”. Instead, they demonstrated that alcoholics are anything but hopeless. And the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, through which millions have received help, offers dramatic proof that people with alcoholism can recover. High Functioning Alcoholics (HFA's) are the most common form of Alcoholics, and the ones in most denial.

Myth 3: Alcohol is the cause of alcoholism.

Answer: The exact causes are still not known despite continuing research. However, it is known that alcohol by itself is not the only cause. If it were, then there would be 1 alcoholic for each person who drank alcohol.

We can draw parallels with another disease whose cause we do not know– cancer. Some people develop cancer, others do not. Similarly, some drinkers develop alcoholism, others do not. Like cancer. in another way, alcoholism can be treated and the chance of recovery is better in the early stages. What is becoming very clear that there is a definite genetic factor. 

Myth 4: Alcoholics could recover if they had enough will power.

Answer: Recovery from any serious illness requires a strong will to live. This is not what we mean when we talk about "will power". People do not recover from illnesses by simply resolving that they will stop being sick! They can resolve to go to the doctor. That can help. They can resolve to follow the doctor’s advice. That can help. They can resolve to follow through with any kind of treatment that is necessary. All theses things can help in their recovery from the illness.

Actually, most people with alcoholism have a great deal of will power. For example, the person who has a responsible job and a serious case of alcoholism. By sheer will power he gets to work in the morning on days when with any other illness he would stay home in bed. After a bender he gets up in the morning with butterflies in his stomach and suffers from “the shakes”. Somehow he gets shaved without cutting himself too badly, has a shower, puts on his clothes, and takes a bit of the “hair of the dog that bit him” the night before. The nip of alcohol quiets his shaking nerves enough so that he can get a cup of coffee and a slice of toast to sit in his stomach. Then he goes off to work and somehow gets through the day even though he may feel terrible. This is not the picture of a man lacking will power.

Instead, it is a picture of a conscientious man who wishes to keep up appearances — a person who is suffering from an illness and does not know that he can get treatment for it. Like most people, he believes the myths about alcoholism being a moral problem.

Myth 5: Alcoholism is a self-inflicted moral problem

Answer: Some people are ready to admit that alcoholism is a disease — but then maintain it is a “self-inflicted disease”. This is a pretty silly idea if you look at it carefully in the light of what happens with other illnesses. Being overweight may help bring on a heart attack. Yet, we never say a fat person’s heart attack was self-inflicted. Most people have had the experience of mission sleep and fatiguing themselves, and then catching a cold. Again, no one says that the cold was “self-inflicted”, even though, with sufficient rest, they might not have caught the cold. Thus if we say that alcoholism is “self-inflicted”, we also must admit that many other illnesses are “self-inflicted”. In addition, we do not speak of any disease itself as being a moral problem. ALCOHOLISM IS A DISEASE NOT A DISGRACE!

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS IN GRIPS OF ALCOHOLISM CALL US TODAY FOR IMMEDIATE HELP ON 075606 6315 or EMAIL: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

7 Characteristics of addiction according to the DSM

The American Psychiatric Association says that a person is dependent if their pattern of substance use leads to clinically significant impairment or distress shown by three or more of the following in a 12-month period:

1. Tolerance as defined by any of the following:

* a need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or desired effect

* markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of the substance

2. Withdrawal, as manifested by either of the following:

* the characteristic withdrawal symptom of the substance

* the same or a closely related substance is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms

3. The substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended (loss of control)

4. There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use (loss of control)

5. A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain the substance, use the substance or recover from its effects (preoccupation)

6. Important social, occupational or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of substance use (continuation despite adverse consequences)

7. The substance use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance (adverse consequences).

If you or someone you love is in the grips of a substance addiction call today for immediate assistance and to begin the admission process.

If you or someone you love is in he grips of  addiction call us today and let us help you 07 5606 6315.  

Website www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au.  Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

12 Steps and Post Traumatic Stress

12 Steps and Post Traumatic Stress

Applying the 12 Step Approach to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Powerlessness

On the surface, this idea seems a simple one for trauma survivors. You feel totally helpless and overrun by your trauma and your trauma symptoms. In fact, when you were traumatized [whether this was child abuse, a robbery, battery or an explosion…to name a few], you were helpless in the face of an overwhelming event.

Whether your trauma was last month or 30 years ago, you feel helpless in the face of your symptoms. You struggle with issues of control and mastery. You wish you could control your symptoms. And when you are alone, you wish you could go back in time and somehow prevent or stop your traumatic experience.

Applying the twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous requires an admission of powerlessness that is quite different from being overwhelmed by the traumatic force(s) that shattered your being and sense of safety.

In this instance, you admit that you could not control what happened to you. Also, you admit that you cannot manage the symptoms you experience. You hit a bottom in your experience of your life as it is. So that you can become willing to take the actions suggested in the remaining steps.

In essence, the difference between your admission of powerlessness and the helplessness of your trauma is one of a willingness to take action. Trauma helplessness is passive. Recovery powerlessness is active.

* This is a paradox. You admit you are powerless; so that you are able to take action.

Spirituality

Many trauma survivors have a problem with spirituality. In fact, you have one or more of the following issues with spiritual beliefs and a Higher Power concept.

* Where was God?

* What do I believe in now?

* How do I reconcile a belief in God with what has happened?

* How do I face the reality of my fragile life?

* How can I trust God again now that I know bad things can happen to me?

* I cannot forgive my perpetrator

* I am lacking in my faith.

* Why???

* How can I believe in a Higher Power when there is evil and cruelty in the world?

* How does God view suffering in the world?

* What is the meaning of what happened?

* I don’t feel safe anywhere.

* My life no longer feels predictable

* I am angry with God, is He angry with me?

* I feel like God abandoned me.

* I feel betrayed by God.

* What is my relationship to God now?

* I feel ashamed; God wouldn’t want me anymore.

* I feel dirty; so, I cannot get close to God.

* I feel distanced from the community now that this happened.

* No one will ever understand.

* Am I at fault?

* I feel so powerlessness.

* What do I believe in now?

* How do I make sense out of what happened?

* I no longer understand the meaning of life.

* Where is there value in my suffering?

* My perpetrator was never punished, what now?

* I don’t feel like I belong anywhere anymore. Goodness doesn’t protect anyone.

* How can I believe in a loving, all-powerful God after what happened? How do I resolve my feelings of guilt with a faith in a Higher Power?

* I still feel God abandoned me.

* It is difficult to think of God as a loving Father after what my own father did to me.

These are very deep questions.

You have a right to this difficult struggle with ideas related to faith and belief in God. Your struggle doesn’t prevent you from working a 12-step program of recovery. In fact, being in this struggle is one aspect of working a 12-step program of recovery on your PTSD.

All that is required to work this aspect of a 12-step program is a willingness to face these issues. You do not have to believe in God to start working a program of recovery. What is needed is an open mind and a resolve to work through the spiritual damage done to every trauma survivor. Spiritual recovery from trauma comes when you make your peace with a belief in a higher power even though this awful trauma happened to you.

Moral Inventory, Defects of Character and Shortcomings

The easiest way for me to tell you how to apply the ideas from steps four, five, six, and seven to your PTSD is to tell you what this is not:

* It does not include all the things your perpetrator told you to justify their behaviour.

* It is not anything told you by another person about yourself; especially those things that begin with the sentence: “The trouble with you is….”

* It is not self-abuse.

* It is not the toxic shame many of you feel

* It is not blaming yourself for your traumatic experience.

* It is not taking responsibility for another person’s bad behaviour.

With these ideas in hand, you can safely use the AA Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous and the AA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to follow these steps and support your recovery from PTSD.

Twelve Steps

1. We admitted we were powerless over our trauma and the effects of the trauma–that our lives had become unmanageable.

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

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and the effects of our trauma on our lives.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to survivors of trauma, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

If you or someone are in the grips of Post Traumatic Stress Contact us on Ph 07 56 066 315 (7days) or Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au. 

Website: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.