'Hurt' Redone by Johnny Cash

I hurt myself today
to see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
the only thing that's real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but I remember everything
what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
upon my liar's chair
full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear
you are someone else
I am still right here

what have I become?
my sweetest friend
everyone I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
a million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

(**EDITORS NOTE: So many songs in today's media express the pain of Addiction, whether it be to Drugs or Alcohol. Some songs talk of life after Rehab, like this one a remake of a Nine Inch Nails song by Johnny Cash talking of his life of drug addiction and loss, another great example of this is the St. Anger album by Metallica. That album was to express the lead singers journey through and after his Alcohol Addiction. Finding a song that you can relate to may help you through your recovery or that of a loved ones'. )

Sober Living

Sober living programs are absolutely instrumental in the addiction recovery process. It’s a truth often overlooked by drug rehab patients: Sobriety has got to be a lasting thing, and drug rehabilitation can’t be limited to drug treatment centers. On the contrary, successful rehab is that which provides for the long-term health of rehab patients…and so it is that sober living facilities are vital way stations on the road to recovery, especially insofar as they help to ease the transition from primary drug treatment to the real world.

If there’s one lesson you learn here, let it be this: Drug treatment doesn’t end the day a rehab patient leaves a drug treatment facility. Indeed, successful rehabilitation is and must be always be an ongoing process, one driven by patients who’ve developed the self-esteem and self-control necessary to stay sober over the long haul. It is, in the end, precisely in the development of those life skills that sober living programs and sober living centers exert their greatest influence over the addiction recovery process.

Sober living helps bridge the gap between rehab and real life. An addiction treatment process without a sober living component would be a most fractured thing indeed; rehab patients, if they’re going to get healed and stay healed, need to experience the sort of supervised responsibility that only sober living programs can provide. In the fight against addiction, anything less than an extensive and edifying stay in a sober living center just won’t cut it.

The following text provides a brief summary of the sober living process: why sober living is so important, what makes sober living successful, how sober living patients can maximize their chances of success at sober living centers. The road to addiction recovery is invariably a long one, and it’s safe to say that no addict travels it without suffering a little in the process. That said, drug treatment and rehab really can work, provided you get the help you need from caregivers you can trust. And make no mistake: You can’t ever expect to get where you need to go without stopping spending time in sober living center along the way.

~Article Courtesy of Sunset Malibu

Programs

Sunset Malibu is a fully equipped residential alcohol rehab and drug treatment center located in Malibu with magnificent 180 degree whitewater ocean views just outside the sunny confines of Los Angeles, California. Our facility is one of the most prestigious drug rehab centers in the country specializing in alcohol detox, substance abuse treatment, painkiller addiction treatment, and the treatment of co-occuring disorders such as depression and eating disorders.

Sunset Malibu is a highly acclaimed top notch treatment center where individuals and families seeking refuge from the pain of alcoholism or drug abuse can find sanctuary. Our addiction recovery program is set in a beautiful, private location that offers the highest quality amenities and comforts. Our addiction treatment philosophy is one that incorporates a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional methods utilizing the talents of the best practitioners in the world.

Our staff members are experts in their fields and they have drawn deeply on their experience to design effective programs for a wide range of addictions and disorders, including:

Alcohol Addiction Cocaine Addiction Depression Dual Diagnosis Drug Rehab Eating Disorders

Gambling Addiction Heroin Addiction Interventions Methamphetamine Addiction Opiates Detox Pharmaceuticals Addiction

Words to Motivate

"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow."
Doug Firebaugh

"Heed the still small voice that so seldom leads us wrong, and never into folly."
Marquise du Deffand

"Never let life's hardships disturb you ... no one can avoid problems, not even." saints or sages."
Nichiren Daishonen

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." Helen Keller

"Take the first step, no more, no less, and the next will be revealed."
Ken Roberts

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy." Guillaume Apollinaire

Treating Dual Diagnosis

"Dual diagnosis is a term that is very easy to define, yet very difficult to treat. When you are suffering from dual diagnosis, what has essentially happened is that you are suffering from both a mental illness problem and a substance abuse problem....[since] one of these is always a mental illness... it is hard to define dual diagnosis without defining the term mental illness as well. A mental illness can be thought of as any illness that can affect what would otherwise be your normal mental abilities. Therefore, something like a concussion would not be considered a mental illness most of the time since it is a symptom that goes away. Something like depression on the other hand would be considered a mental illness because it fits the definition that was given above.

When one is treating dual diagnosis, the main thing to be aware of is that for it to be an effective dual diagnosis treatment, it needs to be something that will work on both the mental illness and the substance abuse problems simultaneously. If you have a mental illness that is treated, the substance abuse could easily bring the mental illness back even after treatment has been successful (i.e. depression resurfacing due to an alcohol addiction). Similarly, if you get great treatment for you substance abuse but leave the mental illness alone, it could easily drive you back to substance abuse later (i.e. bipolar personality shifts recreating the drug addiction that you just got over). Not many clinics actually get the importance of treating dual diagnosis components at the same time, but we certainly do. We understand this because we have seen so many other people mess up at different points. Ultimately, we were the ones that had to clean up the messes left by other clinics, something we really do not enjoy doing. Dual diagnosis absolutely has to be a single shot taking everything out, otherwise you could end up right where you started at the end of the day." (Article taken from Sunset Malibu)

Bipolar Diagnosis:

"Bipolar [a.k.a. manic depression] is a complex illness. There are many different symptoms -- and several different types -- of bipolar disorder. The primary symptoms of the disorder are dramatic and unpredictable mood swings. The various types of bipolar disorder range from mild to severe... There are several types of bipolar disorder; all involve episodes of depression and mania to a degree. They include bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic disorder, mixed bipolar, and rapid-cycling bipolar disorder... When a person's illness follows the classic pattern, diagnosing bipolar disorder is relatively easy. But bipolar disorder can be sneaky. Symptoms can defy the expected manic-depressive sequence."(WebMD)

A bipolar diagnosis can change your life in an instant. It can leave you feeling uncertain about the future and unsure about where to turn for assistance. If you are someone that has just recently been diagnosed as bipolar and you are having these feelings, do not worry. You are by no means alone in that regard. Just about everyone that gets a bipolar diagnosis goes through different stages where one or all of those emotions reign paramount in their mind. You can have these emotions with no problem. When they will become a problem is if you let them take over your life and do not get help for dealing with the bipolar symptoms even when they begin to get really bad.

If you need some help with your bipolar diagnosis problems, you should definitely give us a call. Sunset Malibu is one of the leading clinics around when it comes to bipolar diagnosis. Not only do we have the ability to quickly and effectively pinpoint your problems, but once we know what your problems are we also have the ability to go ahead and begin treating you for those problems. We are the complete package. Not only that, but we also have the ability to do everything with discretion and professionalism. Those qualities seem to be in short supply these days, but we have both.*

(*This Article was provided courtesy of Sunset Malibu.)

How to Make an Intervention Work

Remember, an intervention only ever has one goal: to encourage an addict to enroll himself in a rehabilitation program. With that in mind, the most successful interventions are those which are conducted in a spirit of love and support; addicts need all the empathy they can get, and a successful intervention is necessarily one suffused with compassion and concern. To make drug recovery real, you’ve got to show an addict that you care about him, and that you want him to get better. Short of that, your intervention efforts won’t be anything but wasted.

Pioneered by intervention specialist Ed Storti, the Storti model emphasizes the paramount importance of love and support in the intervention process. The premise is a simple one: Addicts need inspiration from an intervention, nothing more and nothing less. An intervention succeeds when it instills dignity, trust, and motivation in the intervennee; that addict who benefits most from an intervention is the one who receives compassion and warmth from every individual involved in it.

It should perhaps go without saying, then, that the purpose of an intervention is very definitely not to shame an addict, or hold him accountable for the damage wrought by his drug habit. Yes, if you’re conducting an intervention you’re bound to be able to cite a whole litany of transgressions committed by the addict you care about…but transgressions aren’t the point, not when your only goal is to convince an addict that he needs to get help. If an intervention’s going to work, in other words, you’ve got to be able to put your empathy ahead of your ire.

And, again, it’s not easy. An intervention will test the resolve of everyone involved, and only those intervention processes undertaken by stalwart and steel-willed individuals can be expected to effect lasting recovery. The Storti model calls for fomenting a “positive crisis” in the course of an intervention: an edifying but emotionally-charged event that precipitates real growth for the individuals involved. If you can do that much, you’re well on your way to where you want to go.

This Article was taken from Sunset Malibu Luxury Addiction Treatment Center