Do you know of more Detx or Rhabs?

If a rehab or detox center that is not on this blog for others to comment on please tell me. I would like to get as much info up here as possible. Because it is hard to find all the info in one place that people can comment on. If you have been to one of these services please leave your impression of that service on the comments. Granted the comments will be moderated :-) Thanks Frank Smolle

Drug and alcohol detox and Rehab:

In the media, alcohol and other drugs (A&OD) have been always an issue surrounding social problems and crime. I have started to make a data base for my-self about all the services that are available for people wishing to improve their lot in life. This has been a tiresome job because the information is so spread out and information that there is available is more often than not the propaganda of the organisation. The method of detox is most commonly an in-house or residential program, with some being non-medicated and others medicated. Likewise for rehabilitation from A&OD is either in a residential setting of in an inpatient program. But if you are a person trying to find the information you want to find the organisation of program that suites you, the process is daunting and you may not have the time, the patience, or the skill to get the information. Then if you do find the webpage of the organisation that you wish to attend, you will only get the information that the organisation wishes to publish and the favourable reports that are given to them by clients. Furthermore, the web page may be out of date, with rules being changed and the website still having the old information on it. I have been thinking about placing the information that I have gathered on this blog, instead of having a data base. Then having you the consumers of these services comment on the blog posting or comment on the organisation with your opinions. Because you have used a service you are in the position to state what you got out of the service and if you recommend the service to others. Granted some people like the 12 step program and find that that was the best thing for you, while others think the way to go is with the CBT styled programs. There are some programs out there that use Maslow's hierarchy of needs and other behavioural therapies. SO ... I was thinking about putting the guts of a service up on this blog. Ie: Service Name: Address: Contact details: Webpage: Style of program: Target client base: Then you can post your comments and comment to other people's comments about the service. Then if you feel that I have missed out on providing the information of a service you can either leave a comment or email me. The main reason for doing this is to provide you with the information about any A&OD service that are out there and at the same time give you the opportunity to comment with your experience in that service. But be aware that the comments are moderated.

Contemplation on what we have and how we live life.

So I was thinking about the stories about the Promised Land and how God said to Moses that His people will be show to the land flowing with milk and honey. Some will argue that this land is the life yet to come once we have departed from this mortal coil and entered the kingdom that awaits us. Others will say that this land has been realised with the people that followed Moses into the land that they dwelt in. But as I look around, Heaven and Hell is right before our eyes, depending what we choose to see. We live in a society that provides us with food from around the world, even when it is out of season in our own part of the world. We have been lucky enough to be bourn is a country that is not griped in public poverty, which supplies all these luxuries. If you wish to have cherries in the middle of winter, there are people or companies that will transport them from another part of the world to your local shopping centre for a price. Walking through the shopping centre we see cans of tropical fruits and premade meals that needs no effort to prepare for the dining table. Going to the bread aisle, there are breads from all types of cultures, and you have so much choice of white bread that brings on confusion because of the different marketing ploys. If you want fish you can have your choice of fish, fresh delivered from the fish markets two or three hundred kilometres away. I am too well aware of countries that do not enjoy these luxuries', and of the companies that market this fact on TV to raise money for them as aid, and only deliver approximately 5% of what they raise. Furthermore other governmental organisations and the United Nations send food and relief packages that are then usurped by corrupt people to sell to their own people. Likewise when money is given, this too is diverted to places other than that to help the population. Medication is also denied to people because of cost, because large pharmaceutical companies are not willing to make them affordable in those countries. But let's not digress too much. I find it remarkable that with all the technology and luxury items at our finger tips and servers to help us make lives easy, that we still strive to make life hard for ourselves and others. Some couples fight over how money is spent when others in the world just fight to survive. Some people abuse their power to hinder others, and become corporate psychopaths. We live in a time that does supply us with everything. So this is the time of flowing milk and honey. But I feel at times that it is also flowing with distractions that take our eye from what is important. I remember a few years ago, in 2003 or 2004, a man was given an arts grant of $50,000 to put on a public arts performance. He set him-self up in a shop window rubbing honey into furniture with great detail and passions, then at other times he would drink up milk and then regurgitate the milk on the floor where he was either kneeling or laying. Also he transported milk from one bowl to another with his mouth while ensuring that he spilt much of the milk outside the bowls on the floor. I also remember the public outcry of the amount of money that this one man was given to put on this art demonstration. But if we look at what he was symbolising with such a display, it hit home to me, that he was mimicking our decadent society, along with the waste that is within it. In conversation with others about this man and his art performance, I have not had one person talk about the depth of his message. Though we do see on the surface an egocentric person that wants attention and an easy way to get money from the arts council, although the publicised amount that he received may have been part of the performance and his message.

QLD Flood: PTSD

I have been watching the QLD Floods on TV. It accorded to me that when people watch this broadcast, that the images on TV would trigger memories of events of their past. Furthermore seeing the images would also bring on a feeling of depression and guilt.

By watching a movie we know that it is all make belief and we protect our emotions with this knowledge. But with the events on TV being brought to us Live into our living rooms of real events, and people displaying real emotions, we too with the empathy that we are borne with feel for the victims of the flood with greater intensity than if we would watch a movie.

Also for those that a prone to emotional instability, the News broadcast will feel as if you are living the event yourself. Thus if you have a low tolerance for emotional impacts or an under-developed emotional protection strategy, you should limit your viewing of the news. This is also advice for parents of young children.

I know that the broadcast is an all day affaire, just as it was with the first strike with the Americans and other forces invading Iraq. I also know that some reading this post would think I am off my tree by thinking that one could get emotionally distressed from just watching this on TV. And to that, my comment is that the feeling of Empathy is a powerful feeling that we are born with. The scientists that play around with fMri and Mri machines have found that we do have mirror neurons, that become active in the same way as if we were in the event our selves.

If you are suffering from such a problem, that is, if you fee distressed from the images that you see on the TV from the QLD Flood, that it is invading your dreams, and it feel that the images are occupying you idle thought during the day. Please talk to a counsellor or Skype me.

Coping with the festive season

From Radio National:
Life Matters

We're in the festive season and advertising images are everywhere - picture perfect families, relaxed and happy, celebrating together.

If that doesn't quite match how you feel about Christmas, then you're not alone.

Chris Day has some realistic advice to help us lift our spirits at this time of year, indeed for every week of the year.

Guests

Chris Day
Psychologist

Further Information

Dr Chris Day

Presenter

Richard Aedy

Story Researcher and Producer

Lindy Raine

I Found this interesting.....

Avoidance

Avoidance responses are typical to people with borderline personality disorder, which is bought about from abandonment and child abuse with punitive parenting (Young, 2005). Avoidant strategies are employed to episodes of anxiety (Laidlaw, Thompson, Gallagher-Thompson, & Dick-Siskin, 2003, p. 100). Clients also avoid stressful situations, for emotional protection from feeling distressed, and cognitive avoidance from ideas, or images when depressed (Moore & Garland, 2003, pp. 28-29). Avoidance behaviour is associated across the spectrum of mental disorders, because negative reinforcement cycles persist (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2004, p. 238). Clients feel relief from anxiety, fear, or distress, thus escape behaviour is a form of relief (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2004, p. 238). Avoidance is also related to dishonest relationships or is caused through an unwillingness or difficulty in understanding psychological content (Smelser, Baltes, 200, p.29-30). Once the client embraces the difficulty of the therapeutic process, avoidance can be transformed into observation and openness (Smelser, Baltes, 200, p.29-30).

This dimension should not be mistaken for avoidance-goal based treatment that is often used in A&OD rehabilitation, where clients goal is to avoid alcohol or drug use. Avoidance-goal based treatment concentrated on statements such as I must stop my un-healthy habits, or To stop being confused about my feelings (Elliot & Church, 2002). This style of treatment is suggested to have negative implications for the client (Elliot & Church, 2002). Whereas approach based treatment is preferred for the clients goal setting, which focuses on building on the self, with statements such as I can achieve a healthy life style, or To understand myself and my feelings (Elliot & Church, 2002).

Empathy

Empathy is another of the core behaviours that staff must have with clients to have the best outcomes from drug or alcohol addiction rehabilitation, empathy cannot occur without good communication and an understanding of what clients are going through. Empathy builds trust in the staff and creates the feeling in clients that staff are doing the best for the client. The display of empathy towards clients can be so readily mistaken for friendship by the clients because it may be a rare event in the clients social circles. Being part of the Rogerian method, empathy also holds that staff should possess an unconditional positive regard for the client (Corsini, 2002, p. 849). An Anti-positivist, Carl Rogers is well known for his counselling techniques and his Person centred therapy (AKA Rogerian therapy), with empathy being at the core of the counsellors skill. The ideology of Phenomenological theory that drove Carl Rogers is the subjective experience of people and the meanings and understanding of all aspects of the human condition and differences (Demorest, 2005, p. 2; Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). Human beings are not without agency dictated by the environment, but do have free will and have control over their behaviour (Demorest, 2005, p.3). The environment is not without strong and at time without powerful influences on the individual, though the perceptions and subjective experiences also have influence on behaviour (Demorest, 2005, p.4). Being a response to behavioural paradigm, client centred method is based on the precept that clients have a choice in the direction their live will go and in the therapy clear communication is used to be based on being genuine, empathic and respectful (McCarthy, 2008). Rogerian therapy focuses on a good human-to human relationship, recognising the clients own subjective experience, opinions, viewpoint, and understanding (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214).

By concentrating on a persons growth, and the personality functioning rather than the development of personality theory (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). Rogers viewed personality as a goal-directed behaviour, understanding that the person is at the centre of their reality reacting to an ever changing world, attempting to satisfy their needs as experienced in the phenomenal field (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). The individual has a unique perspective based on their own private world, thus the therapist must assume a frame of reference from the clients perspective (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). Emotional stability is based on facilitating goal-directed behaviour, and is structures on a self concept derived from evaluative interaction with others, which is fluid while having consistent patterns of self-perceptions (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). The phenomenal field refers to everything experienced at any given time (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). The internal frame of reference refers to the process by which therapists attempt to perceive the clients reality and experience as closely as possible (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214), somewhat like the Stanislavski method within theatrical acting. Rogers recognises that any individual is subject to their own subjective experience and perceptions that shape their understanding of reality that guide behaviour (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214). In treatment, therapists strive to understand clients by understanding their views of themselves and the environment in which they live (Wlison, 1996, p. 1214).

The self concept is considered by Rogers to be organized, consistent and learned attribute composed of thoughts about the self, derived by the interactions with others (Wlison, 1996, p. 1215). Thus the therapist must have a universal positive regard to challenge the clients negative self-view and self-worth, which was learned by the interaction with significant others, from childhood onwards (Wlison, 1996, p. 1215). Maladjustment behaviour stems from the inconsistency between the self-concept and their sensory and visceral experiences, with a lack of positive regard, concentrating on failure, imperfections and weaknesses (Wlison, 1996, p. 1215).

The quality of the therapeutic process is measured on the clients rating of accurate empathy, genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and trust within the experiential client-therapist relationship, which is closely associated with the success or failure of therapy (Wlison, 1996, p. 1216). All individuals are in this paradigm seen as persons in relationship not people in role (pigeon holed with labels) (Wlison, 1996, p. 1216).

Empathy reflects an attitude of interest in the client's thoughts, feelings, and experiences, empathy is a way of being that is powerfully curative, and has been described as the most important aspect of the therapeutic endeavour (Wlison, 1996, p. 1216). Those therapists that have this sensitivity to the client can in essence climb inside the client's subjective experience and their perceptions of reality (Wlison, 1996, p. 1216).