The Addiction Antidote: Surrender: A primer on Recovery

Welcome to Recovery 101, the addiction antidote. In The addiction antidote, you will learn:

1. Addiction is a disease, not a problem of will. Millions of addicts achieve remission and sustain a healthy, full life.
2. The most effective, affordable, sustainable treatment for addiction is the Twelve Step Program. It's free and universally available. No matter where you live, there is probably a Twelve Step meeting within a few miles of your home.
3. The Twelve Step Program was invented to combat alcoholism. It has since been found effective against scores of compulsive behaviors.
4. Acting out (engaging in the problem behavior) is not the disease. Acting out is a symptom of the disease.
5. Once an addict, always an addict. We do not become "unaddicted." We learn to abstain through surrender, by admitting that we are helpless over the problem. This admission is the First Step.
6. Addiction is a family disease. Nuclear and extended families are often codependent to the point that it is appropriate for them to enter treatment together. Addiction is also thought to be congenital.
7. Twelve Step Programs have "auxiliaries" for families of addicts. It is not necessary for an addict to be in recovery for an intimate other, codependent or not, to seek help in their own support group.

There is more to learn inside, including where to turn for help.
This booklet is a companion to Side Trips From Cowboy: Addiction, Recovery and the Western American Myth