Currently I have two very messed up knees, both as a result of accidents, one 9 years ago and the other 3 months ago. Currently I am doing Physical Therapy as suggested by my insurance company, plus my own regimen as developed over the past years of coping and experimenting.

The point here is that you can extrapolate from almost any condition to another and benefit from all of your previous experience in modifying behaviors or easing conditions. No, you may not be able to fully correct a problem – I will never get my knees back to fully functional – but you, and I, can maximize our functionality and minimize our constraints. We can also avoid wasting time on useless or even counterproductive activities and/or beliefs.

Do not underestimate the power of what we tell ourselves or allow ill-informed others to tell us.

Again, we are back to Henry Ford’s dictum, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.” (Which is why AA spends almost all of its time drumming into you that you are “powerless” and that “AA is the only way”.)

On the other hand – tell yourself that you have allowed a habit to grow into a maladaptive coping skill and that you can reverse that, and guess what? You can. Using my usual smokers’ analogy, most of us started smoking as a self-image enhancer, peer conformity and an FU to parental authority, and, if it didn’t kill us first, “kicked the habit” when we no longer needed or believed in the Marlboro Man or the Virginia Slims Woman and had outgrown the need to conform and/or defy.

Another important point when we are talking about alcohol use is that we are inundated by a constant stream of mythology. Television’s medical and firefighter dramas are a constant ad for 12 Step rehab propaganda. Is it any wonder, when pseudo-spokespersons push “rehab” under the guise of being authority figures, that most people succumb? Especially when real solutions are never presented but are actively blocked from being presented?

Think about that – TV writers and popular novelists actively push a “solution” that is generally less effective and more destructive than doing nothing. And because of this barrage of misinformation you either succumb to a non-solution which fails, or simply keep on drinking.

I do understand. I am asking you to think for yourself, to stand up to peers, media, family and pop culture; to do your own research; and marshal what strength you have left just when you may well be at your weakest and most vulnerable. – as AA and Minnesota Model rehab are well aware.

The good news is that my readers, clients, and advocates are exactly those who have attained a sufficient degree of maturity so as to be able to resist manipulation, evaluate options, and choose for yourselves what will work best for you, should you decide to initiate changes. Which of course means you are most apt to succeed when you incorporate real solutions: individual, confidential; incorporating CBT, assertiveness training, and motivational enhancement; along with the usual diet, exercise, and recreational considerations.

Consider what you would find helpful: a real assessment? A few sessions or a dozen? Supoort, accountability, absolution? Deprogramming? All are available along with a comprehensive free consultation. 760-580-5758