I have nothing against pharmaceutical drugs. Anyone who has taken an anti-anxiety pill will tell you that they work beautifully for what they were intended to do. The problem is that we rely on these drugs as a stand-alone treatment instead of part of a comprehensive plan for the emotionally distressed person. After a lifetime…
We hear an endless barrage these days about “freedom” and “democracy”. They are beautiful ideas, myths to dream about, but do we in fact live by these ideals? The definition of freedom is “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” The definition of licentiousness is “lacking…
Ever since the end of World War II our standard of living has more or less been on the rise here in North America and the rest of the first world. We are currently living a style of life that emperors a century ago could only dream of. We are offered a plethora of choices…
One of the things I realized during my years of therapy is that my mind had been taken over by powerful emotions that stemmed from events in my early childhood. To that extent my mind, and therefore my life, was constantly being hijacked by pain and anger from the distant past, fueling a deep and…
By my mid twenties I had recognized the pattern: every time I resurfaced from a depression it was accompanied by the same emotion: anger. I realized that if depression could be characterized as repressed anger, which is a form of powerlessness, then it only made sense that getting in touch with my fundamental power would…
Six years after I resurfaced from my journey through addiction and depression, my sister sent me a revolutionary work by Dr. Gabor Mate. His book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, validates from a medical perspective what I lived through experientially. Dr. Mate is one of those rare breeds of people who go where the…
A few days ago I received an envelope of letters from a group of young people in recovery I’d taken out and introduced to the sport that literally saved my life. It’s always been my intention to share my love of ice so that it may help others. I think I might be on track……
“If you are dependent on something outside yourself to feel good, you are addicted.” When I was offered the choice of trading in my cocaine habit for a lithium habit, I knew the only difference was a legal one. I knew in my bones that I needed to face the uncomfortable feelings I had been…
People often ask me why I can have a glass of red wine with dinner if I am a recovered addict. I tell them that substances are not the problem; the psychological state underlying the abuse is. Once I dealt with the underlying issues, and healed from them, the substances became irrelevant. Like most things…