Vanderbilt study suggests coffee may help alcoholics quit drinking
Not all recovering alcoholics smoke cigarettes, but almost all of them drink coffee, according to a new Vanderbilt study suggesting that healthy intake behaviors could help addicts kick their habit.
The study, “Coffee and Cigarette Consumption and Perceived Effects in Recovering Alcoholics Participating in Alcoholics [...]

Breaking through denial is
alcoholic’;s first step in
recovery Looking in the
mirror and accepting what
we see can be one of the
hardest things we ever do.
It’;s especially hard when
the image staring us in the
face is painful or doesn’;t
fit with how we want to
see ourselves. Sometimes,
the truth is so painful that
we avoid it at any cost.
Refusing to accept a
painful reality that alters
the perception of ourselves
is a psychological defense
called denial. As human
beings, we may use denial
to protect ourselves from
knowledge, insight or
awareness that threatens
our self-esteem, mental or
physical health, or
security. The

TOOLS OF RECOVERY 1.
MEETINGS: We attend AA
meetings to learn how the
Program works, and to
share our experiences,
strengths, and hopes with
others. In meetings we
learn that our struggles
and troubles are not
unique, and we gain the
hope and assurance that
we can recover and grow.
2. SHARING AT MEETINGS:
Being honest and
vulnerable in front of our
peers is frightening but
worth it. Many of us
believe that we recover in
direct proportion to our
willingness to share at
meetings. 3.
TELEPHONING: We use the
phone to contact members
of AA between meetings.
4. DEVELOPING A
SUPPORT SYSTEM: Meeting
with other AA members

Online AA Offers Digital
Assistance for Recovery
Many things can prevent
people from attending
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
meetings in person, from
disability to lack of
transportation to a sheer
case of the nerves. Now,
those unable to attend
face-to-face AA meetings
can do so virtually, thanks
to computer technology
and the Internet, the
Canadian Press reported
June 10. Daily online chats
and weekly discussion
groups are part of the web
of AA Internet services. “I
can no longer cope with
noise, people, pressure,
stress, anxiety, fatigue,
speaking to more than one
person at a time,” said
Carol O., a 53-year-old
Ottawa resident now in
recovery

My Bottle, My Resentments
and Me “My sponsor told
me if I wanted to form a
relationship with my Higher
Power, it would be
necessary for me to
change. At a meeting one
night a member said, ‘;It’;s
not how much you drink,
it’;s what drinking does to
you.’; That statement
changed my whole
attitude. Of course I had
to surrender and accept I
was an alcoholic.” © 2001
AAWS, Inc., Fourth
Edition; Alcoholics
Anonymous, pg. 443

Defining WILL for Recovery
Will power, will and higher power are terms discussed in 12-Step programs of recovery. I for one did not understand the differences between the various attitudes and actions I adopted. Then I came across something similar to the following and I was able to tell the difference between them - at least [...]

Living Sober Some methods
A.A. members have used
for not drinking About that
title… Even the words
“stay sober”-let alone live
sober-offended many of us
when we first heard such
advice. Although we had
done a lot of drinking,
many of us never felt
drunk, and were sure we
almost never appeared or
sounded drunk. Many of us
never staggered, fell, or
got thick tongues; many
others were never
disorderly, never missed a
day at work, never had
automobile accidents, and
certainly were never
hospitalized nor jailed for
drunkenness. We knew lots
of people who drank more
than we did, and people
who could not handle their

The Promises…of Alcohol and Drug Addiction

If we are casual with this phase of our development, we will be drunk before we are halfway through.
We are going to know a new imprisonment and a new misery.
We will relive the past and won’t be able to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word CONFLICT [...]

Stories of recovery
Debbie Bonafede, Mingo Junction, OH
1999. What a way to end the decade - spiraling downward into the depths of hell…they called it "hitting bottom."
In January of 1999 I entered a wonderful treatment center. (I didn’t think it was so wonderful at the time.) It was snowing in Ohio - a blizzard actually. But [...]

First three steps of AA
define the problem,
solution In 1934, Bill W.,
cofounder of Alcoholics
Anonymous, got a call from
a former drinking buddy,
Ebby T. “Rumor had it that
he’;d been committed for
alcoholic insanity,” Bill
recalled. “I wondered how
he had escaped.” In
reality, Ebby was two
months sober. This
disappointed Bill, who
wanted to recapture the
spirit of their earlier
drinking escapades. When
Ebby came to visit, Bill
pushed a drink across the
table. Ebby refused it.
“The door opened, and he
stood there, fresh-skinned
and glowing,” Bill recalled.
“He was inexplicably
different. What