Dealing with shame when you can't seem to quit

        Alcohol and drugs take the edge off.  There's no doubt about that but when your need to block out the negatives in your life start to put you in the danger zone with your consumption you soon realize that quitting is just not that easy. The obsessions and compulsions that drive this lack of control travel on a continuum that can be seen  as a journey from light use to addiction - no one starts off with a drinking/drug/technology problem it just develops; sometimes frighteningly fast and sometimes over a lifetime.  The end result is the same and the feelings of powerlessness and shame often rise as a result.
     
The habit of judging our weakness is enough to send us straight to the bottle - shame is a great driver of substance abuse.  Know that your brain undergoes significant changes when you have dependence or addictions in areas that control both drive and executive thinking so the voice that will normally get you to put the breaks on is on a "break" while the part of your brain that drives things such as emotion, hunger and fear is supercharged.  You can get things back to normal but it needs time without psychoactive drugs and behaviours to achieve this.
         Finding your most powerful motivations will start your neuro-detox - could be your children or it could be your sport!  Find someone to guide you through the process of gaining control through this time because it really is so very hard just to get a start.  I know because I've see people do this journey every week for nearly 20 years.  Doing it alone is even harder and doing it without a plan is almost impossible.
        Always remember every attempt is not a failure - just use it as a learning opportunity so you can see what triggered you to use/drink today and find a solution for tomorrow.    
 

As you take those first steps, let the shame go and feel the power return!

                                     Aly Birmingham Geats 

Alcohol & anxiety... Handle with Care!

When dealing with stressful days or nervous situations, you may be tempted to have a glass of wine or a beer to calm your nerves. However, drinking alcohol, especially heavily and over a long period of time, can actually increase your anxiety. Drinking alcohol can have serious consequences if you’re being treated for anxiety. Having a drink might seem like a good way to ease anxiety, but you may be doing more  harm than good. There’s some truth to the idea that alcohol can reduce stress. Alcohol is a sedative and a depressant that affects the central nervous system. At first, drinking can reduce fears and take your mind off of your troubles. It can help you feel less shy, give you a boost in mood, and make you feel generally relaxed. In fact, alcohol’s effects can be similar to those of anti-anxiety medications. Occasionally unwinding with alcohol isn’t necessarily dangerous at times but once you start drinking, you can build a tolerance to the de-stressing effects of alcohol. This can make anxiety and stress even more difficult to cope with.

All things drugs and alcohol: Consulting room/office available to rent in Dee Wh...

All things drugs and alcohol: Consulting room/office available to rent in Dee Wh...:     Consulting room/office available to share in Dee Why ,  Northern Beaches.    We are looking for someone reliable and professiona...

Consulting room/office available to rent in Dee Why, Northern Beaches.

  Consulting room/office available to share in Dee Why, Northern Beaches. 

  We are looking for someone reliable and professional to share our therapeutic space. The current days available are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning and Friday morning.  This is flexible as we are interested in finding someone who is serious about their practice (to take all these days would total $150).  Please call Aly on 02 94890250 and leave a message if I am in session (we can be hard to catch).

Counselling for women on the Northern Beaches

I write this post today with a broken heart grieving our beautiful fairy godmother who lost her long and brave battle with addiction this week.  Thank you darling lady for letting us know you.  

Northern Beaches Alcohol culture mirrored across the country!

One in seven patients entering hospital emergency departments on Australia Day were there because of alcohol-related harm, research by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine has found.

The largest snapshot survey of its kind undertaken in Australia and the first to investigate the relationship between alcohol-related harm and Australia Day, it found that as of 11pm on Tuesday, 15% of patients across 100 emergency departments were there because of alcohol.

The chairwoman of the college’s public health committee, Associate Prof Diana Egerton-Warburton, said that figure was closer to 8% on an average weeknight.

On Friday and Saturday nights alcohol-related emergency presentations could reach 14%.

“We’ve been doing this survey for the past three years and this was the highest ever resulted recorded for Australia Day, and higher than an average Friday or Saturday night,” she                                                                 said.

The figures revealed a “huge and entirely unnecessary burden being placed on our already over-stretched emergency departments”, Egerton-Warburton said.

She urged government action on extended trading hours, low prices and heavy advertising of alcohol, all factors known to contribute to harmful drinking.

“For every additional late trading hour, there’s a 20% increase in serious assaults and injuries,” Egerton-Warburton said. “States like NSW and Queensland are already trying to take a lead on introducing early last drinks to help address this tide of human tragedy that arrives in our emergency departments.

“We need to have a national agreement on safe alcohol trading hours. It will save lives.”

“This is the cost Australia is paying for its all-too-familiar relationship with alcohol, and again supports our argument that governments are not doing enough and that the well-understood evidence about fixing this problem, including getting rid of quick access to booze and reducing trading hours, is the only way to address it.”

All things drugs and alcohol: MDMA needs to be studied, not demonisedMDMA, or ...

All things drugs and alcohol: MDMA needs to be studied, not demonised

MDMA, or ...: MDMA needs to be studied, not demonised MDMA, or as it's better known, ecstasy, is one of the most heavily regulated drugs wor...