Relapse Prevention:
Reading Literature

Dual Recovery Anonymous™ is an independent, nonprofessional, Twelve Step, self-help membership organization for people with a dual diagnosis.

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Reading DRA Literature

If you don’t want to slip, stay out of slippery places.

Reading recovery literature helps us to understand and reinforce our program of dual recovery. It focuses us on recovery and away from cravings, restlessness, and boredom.

It helps move us from the problem into the solution. Our literature and recovery books are an ever available resource that provides us insight and believable hope on our journey of dual recovery.

Many D.R.A. members find that when read on a daily basis, the literature further reinforces their dual recovery and continues to bring new meaning to living the Twelve Steps.

When our sponsors are unavailable, our support network can’t be reached, and no meetings are currently scheduled, we can always turn to our recovery literature.

The DRA World Service Office recommends the following books for a basis in dual recovery:

  1. The Dual Disorders Recovery Book
  2. The Twelve Steps and Dual Disorders
  3. The Twelve Steps and Dual Disorders (Workbook)
  4. Today I will do one thing – Daily Readings for Awareness & Hope

Recovery literature put out by other Twelve Step organizations, treatment facilities, and publishers that specialize in recovery literature can also be an excellent source of help and information

 

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Back to Relapse Prevention Tools

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First Things First

Rome was not built in a day Recovery takes time. As each day goes by we learn concepts and gain insights that will help us move on to the next stage or Step in recovery. When we move from active addiction into dual recovery we have decided to engage in a process of healing and growth. The simple slogan, First Things First, reminds us to set our priorities in an orderly way.

We cannot do everything at once and we need not feel overwhelmed or guilty for that. In every situation there is one thing that is more important, then one that is next in line and so on.

When we use Good Orderly Direction and put recovery first in our lives, we reduce stress and clear a path to progress.

This Too Shall Pass

Cravings, anxiety, anger… all are temporary. Most of these uncomfortable states last only an hour or two. We can use this slogan to remind ourselves that things change. We no longer feel the need to immediately seek relief in a drink or drug. We can be patient. Chances are that if we take a walk, go to a meeting, or call a supportive friend, our feelings will change or the cravings will pass.

Our psychiatric symptoms may flare up from time to time and this slogan is a useful reminder that can help us keep our recovery on track through those times. It might not feel like it while we are having strong symptoms but those symptoms are in reality only temporary. We felt better before them and we will feel better again after them– so, this too shall pass.

One Day At A Time (ODAAT)

Recovery is a day-by-day process. If we set realistic goals we can meet them. Goals like staying clean and sober. “For this 24 hour period I will not drink or use street drugs. I will do the best I can today and I’ll deal with tomorrow when it gets here.”

In dual recovery it helps when we forgive ourselves and let go of yesterday. Tomorrow isn’t here yet. What we can change and be responsible for is the present. We can focus our energies on making the best of today.

Easy Does It

Seeking balance and avoiding excess tension

Dual Recovery is about much more than remaining abstinent and taking ones medications. It’s about changing our attitudes and learning new ways to live. This does not happen overnight. We don’t need to demand perfection or punish ourselves for mistakes along the way. It helps to be patient and gentle with ourselves.

We can not rush recovery. Insights and serenity come in their own due time. The Steps make sense when we work through them carefully and methodically. Easy does it, reminds us to be gentle with ourselves and not burden ourselves with more than we can handle. We try to approach life in a relaxed manner while taking responsibility for living in the solution. Things have a way of unfolding when we are willing and patient.

H.A.L.T.

Hungry Angry Lonely Tired

This tried and true slogan helps us to stay in touch with our feelings and needs. Sometimes the onset of anxiety or a sudden drop in mood can be traced to our having forgotten to eat so our blood sugar levels are off kilter. Sometimes we may be carrying a resentment, or feeling lonely, or we are just too tired. Taking a little time out from our busy day to ask ourselves if we are feeling too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, gets us in touch with our feelings. When we know what we are feeling we can make choices and take the appropriate action to get our needs for food, companionship, or rest, met.

Being too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, are conditions that leave us more vulnerable to the temptations that lead us away from our program of dual recovery. Part of recovery is learning to pay attention to these inner signals and practice appropriate ways to meet our needs and resolve issues in a manner that will enhance our abstinence and serenity.

Keep It Simple

When we are having a hard time or feeling overwhelmed by life’s demands, it helps to remember our most important priority. We need above all to stay abstinent and stable. Without that we have little real chance of sorting out life’s complexities.

A lot of us tend to overcomplicate things. This simple slogan reminds us that we can reduce things to their basic components and deal with them in manageable sized chunks. By focusing on one thing or one part of one thing at a time, the impossible becomes a series of small manageable tasks.

Active addiction distorts our thinking. It takes time to lift the fog of drugs and alcohol. It can take time to get our medications adjusted just right. The slogan, Keep It Simple, reminds us to be gentle with ourselves, enhances our recovery, and helps us to reduce stress.

Live and Let Live

A Form of the Golden Rule

When we live and let live, we don’t need to criticize, judge, or condemn others. We have no need to control them or try and make them conform to our way of thinking. We let others live their own lives and we live ours.

This simple slogan helps center us on our own dual recovery and on living our own life in the best way we know how. Live and let live is one of the keys to peace in our lives. When we practice tolerance in our lives we are liberated to work on our own issues. When we use this slogan we end many of the conflicts in our lives and gain the ability to stop new ones before they build into big ones.

Today I Will Do One Thing

Appropriate action, no matter how small, results in change and growth. Change happens one step at a time. Our task is to keep taking these steps, however small, each and every day.

“Today I will do one thing” reminds us that our task is to keep taking these small steps even when we don’t feel like it. One small step taken every day is progress. When we manage to accomplish even one small thing that we set out to do each day, we can feel we are making progress in our dual recovery.

We find that action often precedes motivation. When we go ahead and take a small step each day, our sure and steady foreword movement and growth motivates further recovery.

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