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Letter From Pelican Bay Prison
LifeRing offers an”e-mail pal” program for people who can’t or prefer not to be involved with our face-t0-face groups. Read about it on this page: E-Mail Pals. One of our members exchanges emails with a person looking for some help and offers support, information and, we hope, friendship. Many, many addicts are very isolated and…
“To Drink, or not to Drink, That is the Question … “
Below is a version of Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquy from Hamlet, revised by Richard, a longtime member of LifeRing and a stalwart of its email groups. If Hamlet were wrestling with addiction, along with his other pressing woes, the Bard might have given him these words to speak: To drink, or not to drink–that is…
Former Obama Official Offers His View of Recovery
In an appearance in New Zealand, President Obama’s former deputy drug “czar” Tom McLellan made some interesting points about “recovering” addicts. He was quoted at voxy.co.nz as commenting on the myth that nobody fully recovers from addiction: “The fact is about half the people who get treatment for serious addiction relapse in the first year. That’s…
A LifeRing Keeper: Coming Out of Hiding
Some of the LifeRing online venues allow members to post relatively long comments and some of these are very well written and informative. What we call “Keepers.” They deserve a wider audience. Here’s a fine recent example from the LSRsafe email group, slightly edited and with names altered: “When I continue to isolate and hide,…
Book Review of “The Addiction Solution” by David Kipper, MD
The Addiction Solution, by David Kipper, MD (with Steven Whitney) Rodale Press 2010, 284 pages, $25.99 Reviewed by Patricia Gauss, August 2011 Written by David Kipper, MD, a Beverly Hills doctor who specializes in addiction, The Addiction Solution provides a simple, straightforward account of the brain science underlying addictions. He also proposes that certain individuals…
Addictive Personality? You Might be a Leader!
There was a fascinating piece in the New York Times that I found very interesting, both for the positive spin it put on the so-called “addictive personality” and for it’s discussion of some current thinking regarding the role of brain chemistry in addiction. See it HERE. In summary, the article asserts that the brain physiology…
Interesting Article on Addiction Research
The New York Times published an interesting article on July 10th that is worth a look. It talks about a growing trend to treat addiction as a medical problem rather than a spiritual, or psychological, disorder. The article speaks of addiction as a “disease” which will bother some. I’d prefer the word “condition.” It compares…
Planning Meetings July 11 & 12
LifeRing’s year-long planning process will begin in earnest Monday, July 11, with a meeting in the LifeRing chat room at 5, and again at 9 PM Pacific on skype and in chat. On Tuesday morning, July 12 we’ll hold another meeting in skype at 6 AM Pacific. Please join us! This month we’ll be focusing…
Message from a LifeRing Convenor
One of LifeRing’s convenors writes: Tonight’s meeting was just one of those wonderful gatherings in which I felt tremendous love and connectedness with each person present. A member with 11 months’ sobriety convened the meeting. It’s such a joy to see the transformation that has taken place in him, as he moved from viewing sobriety…