Don’t Confuse a Spiritual Solution with a Spiritual Bypass
An excerpt from 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recoveryby Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Don't Confuse a Spiritual Solution with a Spiritual Bypass The spirituality to be discovered and uncovered through working the Twelve Steps offers a remarkable way of life. But believing that you don’t need to deal with personal issues [...]
Spirituality as Avoidance (Luther’s Story)
An excerpt from 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recoveryby Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Spirituality as Avoidance (Luther's Story) Luther, a client of mine, comes to mind. He had been sober for three years when he began seeing me for psychotherapy. Our first meeting was most unusual; he began by telling me [...]
Summary: Digging in the Muck
An excerpt from 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery by Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Summary: Digging in the Muck When a patient of mine is ambivalent about addressing a painful issue, I offer this reminder: “You can pay me now or pay me later.” We can try to avoid digging [...]
Understanding Emotional Sobriety | Part One
Understanding Emotional Sobriety: John's Anxiety is Caused by Lack of Emotional Sobriety An excerpt from 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs are Gone by Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing John's Anxiety is Caused by Lack of Emotional Sobriety The concept of emotional sobriety is not easy to grasp. [...]
Understanding Emotional Sobriety | Part Two
Understanding Emotional Sobriety: Emotional Differentiation An excerpt from 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs are Gone by Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Before we get on our way, I want to introduce you to the psychological concept of differentiation, because it will be quite helpful in understanding emotional [...]
Understanding Emotional Sobriety | Part Three
Understanding Emotional Sobriety: Bill W.'s Letter on Emotional Sobriety An excerpt from 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs are Gone by Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Bill’s Letter on Emotional Sobriety To better define emotional sobriety, I want to unpack a letter that Bill Wilson wrote to help [...]
Recovery Today | Emotional Sobriety in Relationships
Earnie Larsen, author of “Stage II Recovery - Life Beyond Addiction” helped us understand that recovery unfolds in stages. The first stage is concerned with getting and staying clean and sober. We can think about this stage as breaking the bond of addiction. But as Earnie noted, getting out of a bad place is not the same as getting into [...]
Serene Scene Magazine
Andrew: I have the distinct pleasure of sitting with Dr. Allen Berger, Ph.D., practicing in Hermosa Beach and in Westlake Village, California. Author of the awesome books, 12 Hidden Rewards of Making Amends, 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery, and coming in the spring, 12 More Stupid Things That Mess Up Your Recovery. Thank you so much Dr. Berger [...]
Dr. McGee: 12 Stupid Things
First there were the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Now, Allen Berger, Ph.D. has come up with 4 gems that all contain dozens of benefits for those in recovery from addiction. They are: “12 Stupid Things that Mess Up Recovery” “12 More Stupid Things that Mess Up Recovery” “12 Smart Things to do When Booze and Drugs are Gone” “12 [...]
Learning and Growing from Our Past
So many of are plagued by painful past experiences. Regardless of what happened, we can find ourselves stuck in the past. This creates much sober suffering (a wonderful term coined by Fred Holmquist). We end up reacting the present though it were our past. When we are stuck in the past we can’t deal well with what is going on [...]
Recovery Matters | Part Three
Recovery Matters An excerpt from 12 More Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery by Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct…Every time a person imposes his instincts unreasonably upon others, unhappiness follows. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 1952 -1981 Getting [...]
Recovery Matters | Part Two
Recovery Matters An excerpt from 12 More Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery by Allen Berger, PhD., Hazelden Publishing Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct…Every time a person imposes his instincts unreasonably upon others, unhappiness follows. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 1952 -1981 Understanding [...]