by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Dec 22, 2006 | Mental Health
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION from the Florida Jewish News Look,” I said to Lawrence a week after he decided to quit drugs for good, “this is going to be really, really hard because eventually, you’re going to be in pain and you won’t wanna stay there. That’s when you...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Feb 18, 2004 | Mental Health
Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Never, ever kick yourself in the rear for your past. This is NOT how Steps 4-8 of the 12 Steps should be done. Looking at what you did–or were not able to do–admitting it, asking for help...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Feb 18, 2004 | Mental Health
Step 1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable. Acknowledging weakness is very scary. It means letting go of the one thing that may have kept us alive–substances. These steps pertain also to any other addiction...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Dec 9, 2003 | Mental Health
Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Well, I’m going to be iconoclastic. I don’t think that the things we do that hurt others are necessarily defects of character. So, I might be parting ways with the terminology...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Dec 4, 2003 | Mental Health
Substance abuse and addictions do not occur in a vacuum. It is not merely the result of vulnerable kids becoming involved with the wrong crowd. If only it were that simple. In fact, substance abuse is more a symptom of the real problem than “the” problem....
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Dec 4, 2003 | Mental Health
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. If you thought this one would be simple and obvious, you have another guess coming. This step is about nothing less than the meaning of life: Why are we here? What is...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Dec 4, 2003 | Mental Health
Step 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Well, if you look through this site, you’ll know that I believe in God, so if you don’t agree with that outlook, you’ll have to figure out how to work out this...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Dec 4, 2003 | Verbal and Emotional Abuse
1. Accept The Fact That Everything You Did Made Sense I was once speaking to a brilliant and accomplished woman who had recovered from alcohol abuse. She had been severely emotionally and verbally abused most of her life. Abuse hurts. Sometimes there is only one way...
by DrDeb Hirschhorn | Sep 24, 2003 | Mental Health
Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs How many times have you heard some certain 7-year old say, “sorry” like this: “Sorrrrreeee.” He’s kind of fed up with saying it. But...
