Willingness is a necessary criteria for becoming sober and entering drug and alcohol addiction recovery.
Recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is a difficult, but definitely doable process. However, nobody can be ‘forced’ to recover against their will. Millions of family members can attest to the fact that that is so.
Willingness is such an important phase of addiction recovery to the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous describes it as one of the three necessary criteria for recovery, (the other two being honesty and open-mindedness). The concept of willingness should not be confused with wanting to get sober. And here is the very important distinction. Many people want to end their drug and alcohol use, however they are not willing to go to any length to do so.
Willingness means to do whatever it takes to become sober. We prioritize your life so that sobriety and abstinence from drugs and alcohol is the primary focus in your life until you acquire the skills necessary to recover and stay abstinence. Many people are willing to make a start at at it are unwilling to continue the process, especially if it gets uncomfortable.
Unfortunately the prime driving force in making people become willing to do whatever it takes to become sober is pain. Pain is a wonderful motivator. There was a time when the belief was that an alcoholic or drug act had to "hit bottom" in order to get sober. This was simply because when a person is data now hopeless and helpless, they are often willing to do just about anything to make things better. It seems like the motivation for a person to give up drugs and alcohol is definitely lacking as long as they are still having fun in their life is going well. But that does not last long.
Willingness means to do whatever it takes, employing overwhelming force, getting education, and employing lifestyle changes sufficient to support recovery. One of the primary reasons for relapse and a low "success rate" in addiction recovery is certainly an underestimation of the willingness factor.
One of the first challenges in getting help for yourself or a loved one, is knowing where to start. We can help with a free assessment and someone to talk with right now. Click Here For Immediate Help And AnswersLast 3 posts in Addiction Treatment
- About - December 31st, 2008
- Addiction Treatment: Is Spirituality A Vital Part Of Drug Abuse And Alcoholism Treatment? - January 4th, 2009
- Drug Addiction Treatment: Is It Time? - January 8th, 2009
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thank you for sharing solid and proven truths about recovery here. more is needed to communicate to reality of rampant addiction among us and the hope for recovery.
Kim E. Williams´s last blog ..Quoting
The Harsh Reality of Drug Addiction richardmclaughlin007 — January 18, 2009 — after 11 months of sobriety from drug addiction, in 7 short days this man hits the depths of despair and insanity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNWCPDrJsM
This video was shot in Vancouvers downtown eastside by the narrator it is quite extreme, It shows how common place and and readily available drugs are and how people can succomb to a extreme physical reaction from lack of sleep, nutrition and dehydration. This video was made for many different reasons, one being educational the other as mentioned earlier it’s common place here in Vancouver, in any other city or town in North America this man would have recieved immediate medical attention but here in Vancouver both the police and ambulance just drive by. If you do not belive me come on down and see our little human circus slash “HARM REDUCTION EXPERIMENT”
This man was spotted two hours later sleeping on a concrete curb as his pillow.
Both the narrator and producer of this video have had spent many years struggling with addiction and have spent hard time in Vancouvers “NOTORIOUS” downtown eastside.
Today they have escaped and are clean and sober and now dedicate there lives to those who still suffer from “THE HARSH REALITY OF ADDICTION”