Military Families and Alcoholism
Al-Anon/Alateen Helps Military Families
Recent published reports show that heavy drinking has increased in the military. What data is not shown are the effects of this drinking on others. For 55 years family members and friends of alcoholics have found help and hope in Al-Anon meetings. There are meetings held on or near military bases in the US, Canada, and around the world. Al-Anon provides a safe, confidential, and free place for military families to share with and learn from other family members and friends of problem drinkers.
The latest Al-Anon/Alateen Membership Survey (completed in November 2003) shows that 25 percent of Al-Anon members and 29 percent of teen members surveyed have a relationship with a problem drinker on active duty in the military. An additional six percent have a relationship with a reservist, and 10 percent of adult and 29 percent of teens are dealing with a problem drinker retired from the military.
The common bond among Al-Anon/Alateen members (and indeed the only requirement for membership) is that there is a problem with alcohol in a relative or friend. The relationship with an alcoholic may be current or past, and members come together for mutual aid and support. There are no dues or fees for the confidential meetings. There are no professional counselors; members take turns facilitating the meetings where they share their own experience, strength, and hope with each other, to learn how to better cope with the effects of alcoholism on their lives.
Al-Anon (which includes Alateen for younger members) was founded in 1951 by the wives of two early AA members, and has evolved from 87 scattered groups to the over 26,000 Al-Anon Family Groups in 115 countries that can be found today. Additional information is available on the Al-Anon/Alateen Headquarters Web site, www.al-anon.alateen.org. For local meeting information, please look in the white pages of your phone book under “Al-Anon.†Local Al-Anon offices are also listed on the Web site.
Solvents, Inhalants and Volatile Substances
Solvents, Inhalants and Volatile Substances Characteristics and Effects
- Since ancient times people have inhaled the vapours of perfumes, ointment and burning spices as part of their religious ceremonies. Solvent misuse, as we know it, emerged during the 1950s in the USA and has since spread to most parts of the world.
- Three main types of inhalant are organic solvents, volatile nitrates and nitrous oxide.
- Some of the most common inhalants include glue, aerosol spray cans, paint thinner, petroleum products, chrome based paint, felt pens.
- Inhalation is either through the mouth or nose. Often the product can be sprayed into a plastic bag or soaked onto a rag and then inhaled or it is inhaled directly from the container.
- Inhalants are absorbed through the lungs into the blood stream, which then carries the chemicals rapidly to the brain. They slow down the activity of the brain and central nervous system.
- Intoxicating effects are often quick acting (7 to 10 seconds), intense and short lived lasting no more than 30 to 60 minutes (some inhalants only last 2 minutes).
- Effects can include excitement, dizziness, stupor, disorientated and uncoordinated, visual disturbance and slurred speech. Prolonged use, particularly leaded petroleum products, can lead to brain, liver, kidney, and especially lung damage. Death can arise from respiratory arrest and cardiac irregularities.
- Organic solvents are often readily available, inexpensive and are commonly used by young people in their first few years of secondary schooling.
| How Huffing Gasoline Changed My Life by Joyce Ruskuski |
Alcoholism Affects the Entire Family
Alcoholism Affects the Entire Family…Not Just the Alcoholic
How many people are involved in the life of any one alcoholic? Family, friends, employer, co-workers… It is important to remember that all these people are affected by alcoholism-not just the alcoholic. Many of them spend a lot of time and energy trying to "fix" the alcoholic: covering up for them, punishing them, taking responsibility for them.
For over 56 years, Al-Anon Family Groups (including Alateen for younger members) has been providing help and hope to families and friends of alcoholics. In non-professional, mutual support meetings, members share their own experience, strength, and hope to help one another to recover from the effects of alcoholism.
Living with alcoholism has been described as living on a merry-go-round, where each family member, friend, and employer plays a role with the alcoholics in their lives. These behavior patterns are like the script of a play, repeated over and over, centering on the alcoholic.
A player can learn a new role by attending Al-Anon, gaining understanding of the disease of alcoholism and how it has affected them. When this happens, and the person changes their behavior, they are rewriting the script. There is no guarantee that the alcoholic will change, but the alternative is staying on the "merry-go-round." Insanity can be defined as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Changing one’s behavior can be uncomfortable and very difficult to do, but members learn that they have to take responsibility for themselves and their own recovery.
Whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not, all family members and friends are welcome in Al-Anon. When anyone in a family enters recovery, the family itself will begin to change.
The Al-Anon Suggested Welcome says, "The family situation is bound to improve as we apply the Al-Anon ideas. Without such spiritual help, living with an alcoholic is too much for most of us. Our thinking becomes distorted by trying to force solutions, and we become irritable and unreasonable without knowing it."
Based upon the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon Family Groups (which includes Alateen for younger members) provides non-professional, free, and confidential support for families and friends of alcoholics. Parents, children, spouses, partners, friends, grandparents, and co-workers of problem drinkers can find hope and help in Al-Anon/Alateen. There are over 26,000 Al-Anon and Alateen groups in 131 countries. For more information about Al-Anon/Alateen in your community visit the Web site, www.al-anon.alateen.org
Gangsters Anonymous
“Through gang life, we tried to avoid reality, pain and misery…. We sought relief through retaliation, extortion, and robbery more and more often….
“We reached a point in our lives where we felt like a lost cause…. We were sick and tired of pain and trouble; we were frightened and hid our fear…. When nothing relieved our paranoia and fear, we hit bottom and became ready to ask for help.”
–from the unreleased “Gangsters Anonymous: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions”
Kenny Mitchell, 44, is a longshoreman and the founder of Gangster’s Anonymous. He believes the solution to homicide lies in changing the thinking of gang members through a 12-step program.
LA Times: What is Gangsters Anonymous?
Mitchell: It’s a 12-step program, based on Alcoholics Anonymous. We are recovering gangsters who meet to help each other stay crime-free. We believe the gangster mentality is a disease–a mental disorder. We are sick. We suffer from a criminal mentality. But recovery is our responsibility.
Full story at; Gangsters Anonymous in the LA Times.
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12 Steps: A Spiritual Journey (Tools for Recovery) by Friends in Recovery |
Spirituality a Smoking Cessation Aid
Most smokers say they would welcome ways to integrate their personal spiritual beliefs into their attempts to quit smoking cigarettes, and research suggests that a spiritual component could improve the odds of quitting.
Oregon Health & Sciences University researchers found that 78 percent of current smokers believed that incorporating spirituality into their quit attempt could be helpful. The finding echoed anecdotal reports by patients encountered by school researchers.
“We know that smoking-cessation medications coupled with behavioral interventions increase quit rates, but quitting is still difficult and some smokers need more support in order to quit successfully,” said lead study author David Gonzales, Ph.D. By excluding spirituality from interventions, he added, “We may be missing opportunities to assist these smokers.”
“Our findings suggest that although not all clinicians want to talk about spirituality with their patients, those who do feel comfortable doing so will likely find most patients who smoke are receptive,” Gonzales said. “Asking smoking patients if they have a spiritual practice or belief may be important to their care.”
Reference: Gonzales, D., et al. (2007) Support for spirituality in smoking cessation: Results of pilot survey. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 9(2): 299-303.
See; Nicotine Anonymous which has a spiritual aspect.
| Nicotine Anonymous: The Book by Nicotine Anonymous World Services |
Women like Skills and Abilities in Men not Dominance
Women Prefer Prestige Over Dominance in Mates
A new study in the journal Personal Relationships reveals that women prefer mates who are recognized by their peers for their skills, abilities, and achievements, while not preferring men who use coercive tactics to subordinate their rivals. Indeed, women found dominance strategies of the latter type to be attractive primarily when men used them in the context of male-male athletic competitions.
Jeffrey K. Snyder, Lee A. Kirkpatrick, and H. Clark Barrett conducted three studies with college women at two U.S. universities. Participants evaluated hypothetical potential mates described in written vignettes. The studies were designed to examine the respective effects of men’s dominance and prestige on women’s assessments of men.
Women are sensitive to the context in which men display domineering behaviors when they evaluate men as potential mates. For example, the traits and behaviors that women found attractive in athletic competitions were unattractive to women when men displayed the same traits and behaviors in interpersonal contexts. Notably, when considering prospective partners for long-term relationships, women’s preferences for dominance decrease, and their preferences for prestige increase.
“These findings directly contradict the dating advice of some pop psychologists who advise men to be aggressive in their social interactions. Women most likely avoid dominant men as long-term romantic partners because a dominant man may also be domineering in the household.” the authors conclude.
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This study is published in the December 2008 issue of Personal Relationships.
To view the abstract for this article, please click here.
Source: Blackwell Publishing
On-line Gaming Withdrawal Symptoms
Withdrawal symptoms - these things can/may happen when a person quits gaming.
- Anger (if forced to leave by parents or someone else)
- Feeling of emptiness
- Depressed
- Relief
- Sleep pattern interrupted
- Have fantasies and dream about the game
- Urge to go back to gaming and try to control the time played
- Think about the game for extended periods of time
- Feelings become uncontrolled
- Rampant mood swings
- Crying excessively
- Feel anxious
- Feel afraid
- Feel irritable
- Feel distressed
- Feel sad, in mourning
- Feeling lonely, bored
- Don’t know what to do next
- Without direction
- Very restless
- Sleep alot, to catch up.
- Feel sick to stomach
- Procrastinate in real life
- Feeling afraid and wanting to run, instead of facing the fears
- Feel empty and grey, and in a lot of pain
- Knowing that if you were gaming you wouldn’t feel so crappy
- Allergies act up
- Have restless, unfillfillable, taunting dreams…
The extreme anger is very noticable, especially if the person is TOLD to leave the game (are not doing because of their own decision.
The anger is the dark side.
- Shame leads to anger.
- Anger leads to hate.
- Hate leads to suffering.
Go to; On-Line Gamers Anonymous
What is alcoholism?
Alcoholism is a primary, chronic, progressive disorder that has a predictable course; with inherited, physical, psychological and environmental risk factors; and is fatal if not treated and its progress arrested.
A Disease of the Brain
Alcoholism is also a brain disease because alcohol changes the brain-it changes its structure, how it works and how it thinks. These brain changes can be long lasting, and lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who are alcoholic.
Alcoholism is not the result of another disorder but it is a causative factor in other disorders.
Alcoholism is a chronic condition that continues over a long time, progresses consistently or intermittently, and can be managed.
As an addictive drug, alcohol use over time can lead to craving and impaired control. Even if the decision to drink is voluntary at first, what happens after someone takes a drink depends to a large extent on an individual’s genetic vulnerability to alcoholism, and how one’s body and mind react to alcohol.
A patient may not experience many symptoms until alcoholism has advanced. Some patients may relapse more frequently than others.
Each person processes alcohol in a unique way.
Women’s bodies don’t tolerate alcohol as well as men’s. Because of their physiology, they develop alcohol-related medical problems more rapidly than men. Women also develop brain atrophy, cognitive deficits, a higher depression index, alcoholic heart problems, myopathy of skeletal muscle, and alcoholic liver disease faster than men.
Although a single gene or set of genes has not been found that causes alcoholism, the risk for developing alcoholism is estimated to be between 50 to 60 percent inherited.
Many Chinese and Japanese people have a genetic predisposition to alcohol that causes physically unpleasant reactions so strong that they prefer not to drink. They experience early and acute headache, nausea, flushing & rapid heartbeat.
Research has shown that sons of alcoholic fathers very often have a much greater tolerance for alcohol. Their brain chemistry actually encourages heavier drinking.
People use alcohol to feel good, at least initially, and many believe modern society encourages drinking.
Alcoholics die, on average, about 12 years sooner than non-alcoholics. This figure does not include suicide, car wrecks, homicide and other accidental death. Nor does it take into account the mixing of drugs that often have a multiplier and/or additive effect.
Treatment for alcoholism includes elements of medicine, psychology and sometimes medications. The primary aim is restoration and maintenance of physical and psychological health and wellbeing through abstinence from alcohol. In this context treatment is both harm reduction and harm prevention.
By Robin Foote; BA (Welfare), NCAC, RA. www.BriefTSF.com
On-Line Gamers Anonymous
We are On-Line Gamers Anonymous, a twelve-step, self-help organization and web site dedicated to helping those addicted to computer/video/console/on-line games. We also welcome the gamer’s friends and family, by offering our support and sympathy. Regardless of involvement or severity of addiction, these web pages and message board forums are always open to those in need.
We have 3,100 members on-line.
“Excessive game playing can be a symptom of serious underlying mental/emotional problems. This board is not intended as a crusade against any particular game, but to alert people that excessive playing should be evaluated in context with any other symptoms a person may be displaying. Then, if there is still concern about the individual’s state of mind, we recommend that he or she seek a professional evaluation.” (Used by permission from Leucol)
Participating in OLGA/OLG-Anon is a healing journey.
Please respect each other’s privacy. Everyone who participates in ANY OLGA or OLG-Anon affairs agrees to this anonymity principle: Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here! Thank you for your courtesy.
Our Mission
On-Line Gamers Anonymous is a fellowship of people sharing their experience, strengths and hope to help each other recover and heal from the problems caused by excessive and/or obsessive game playing.
Understand Our Code
- The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop playing on-line games.
- There are no dues or fees for OLGA/Olg-Anon membership; we are self- supporting through our own contributions.
- OLGA/Olg-Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes.
- Our primary purpose is to stop our on-line game playing and to help other compulsive on-line garners do the same.
Go to; On-Line Gamers Anonymous and
For Healthcare workers and parents
So called low risk drinking isn’t
Researchers find 2,800 premature deaths vs. more than 800 prevented
Like any drunken tale too good to be true, it turns out the supposed health benefits of low-risk drinking have been greatly exaggerated, says a Victoria researcher in an international report released Monday.
"We need to be careful about our drinking and the idea that alcohol is really a health product," said Tim Stockwell, director of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.
Focusing their findings on Canadian statistics, researchers found that while more than 800 premature deaths were prevented each year due to the benefits of moderate drinking, that same type of consumption caused 2,800 premature deaths.
That means a net of 2,000 people die of so-called low-risk drinking annually in Canada, Stockwell said. Add to that 5,300 deaths a year due to high-risk drinking and it turns out more than 7,000 people die prematurely each year due to the ill-effects of alcohol use.
Those deaths include such things as motor vehicle accidents, alcohol-related cancers and liver disease.
Low-risk drinking is defined by researchers as no more than an average of two standard drinks for women, three for men.
A Canadian standard drink is 12 ounces of beer, 11/2 ounces of liquor or five ounces of wine.
Countless major peer-reviewed studies heralded the benefits of low-risk drinking.
The report entitled Alcohol-Caused Mortality in Australia and Canada: Scenario Analyses Using Different Assumptions About Cardiac Benefit is published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs and can be found at www.jsad.com.
Cindy Harnett, CanWest News Service
