I
have read a few recovery stories, reading them now and then, to keep myself in
check with my own Recovery and therapy.
I often cheer for those who have overcome their drug use, their
alcoholism and still battle with having to overcome the mental diagnosis which
caused them to forsake the world they live in.
The person I am writing about at this time lived a clean and sober life
after getting out of prison for many years, then suddenly relapsed on cocaine
and became lost in despair and recklessness, living the same abandonment he
suffered in his childhood. He caught
himself falling and faced his mistakes once again, this time teaching others as
a peer specialist, he has relapsed and gained strength again as others before
him have done.
As
he began to slip away from his sobriety, thievery began to take him down into
other depths. He had been married and began
using again on the streets, literally stealing from his job, yet as he
understood what he was doing, he turned and faced the problem he was having and
began to stand up again to the circumstances which caused his problem. He said one reason he relapsed is because he
forgot his coping skills as he is a trained mental health educator, who has a
dual diagnosis—mood disorder and drug addiction. He eventually checked into the hospital
knowing this was the most necessary of things to do. This same man was an ex-convict and those
whom he had worked with who were either drug users or drug dealers who he felt put
his sobriety in danger.
“The
mental health care system has long made use of former patients as counselors
and practice has been controversial…”
For
one thing our ex-drug addict/convict
is a self taught ex-convict who has become a prominent peer trainer giving
classes across the country today. He is
one of the small number of people whom have described publicly how hard it is
to manage a severe dual-diagnosis and what the setbacks could be. With the help of religion, medication and
self expression, he as others have found a way out of addiction and learned to
maintain their symptoms of dual diagnosis, without having to return to the
shadows.
Written
by Donald S.
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