Newcomers and visitors may ask, can the DRA program help me even with the type of symptoms that I have? Such feelings are not uncommon. We need to help newcomers recognize that a variety of symptoms are possible with a dual illness. There is no single type of dual disorder. We do share a common bond as men and women who are affected by different types of “no-fault” illnesses whose symptoms can disrupt our ability to function and relate to others effectively.
Some of us feared that we were becoming hopelessly impaired. We came to believe that we would never be “normal” again. Many of us experienced great shame and guilt. We believed that our emotional or psychiatric illness and chemical dependency were our fault. Some of us have become secretive. We tried to keep our drinking and drug use a secret, and later some of us felt a need to keep our recovery and Steps a secret. We also felt our psychiatric illness must be kept secret, especially if our recovery program included prescription medication.
We seemed to run out of ways to protect our feelings and self-esteem and to protect ourselves from the attitudes of those around us. Many of us gradually went into a closet of denial. If there are any among us who have felt as though they were living in that closet, we welcome you. We want you to know that the fear, isolation, and secrecy no longer need be a part of your life!
All of the content in the DRA section of the site, is copyright protected by DRA World Network Inc., and is not in the public domain.
The DRA Crest logo is Trademark protected by DRA World Network Inc., and is not in the public domain.
Any reprinting or distribution is subject to our Terms of Use and all applicable U.S. and International Copyright and Trademark law.
Newsletter Sign-Up:
We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By agreeing you accept the use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy.
When you visit any web site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Control your personal Cookie Services here.
For perfomance reasons we use Cloudflare as a CDN network. This saves a cookie "__cfduid" to apply security settings on a per-client basis. This cookie is strictly necessary for Cloudflare's security features and cannot be turned off.
__cfduid
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site.
Find Us On: