Steps on our Road to Recovery

Steps On Our Road to Recovery for 17 to 23 May 1999.

Published Last Week. A daily hint published each day since June 1996. This is past my second year anniversary since starting my web pages. Page Down for the next days that are added a day at a time. I have moved to http://www.recoverybydiscovery.com and this daily page is now here at https://www.recoverybydiscovery.com/daily.htm . I would appreciate any feedback, questions and suggestions that you have.

What I am mainly going through now is the DSM-III-R Desk Reference a "disorder" at a time and commenting on the spiritual and recovery aspects. The DSM is what the American Psychiatric Association uses to label symptoms to facilitate communication in their community. Unfortunately, the labeling from the DSM can shut down communication with those seeking temporary assistance and spread the stigmas of mental illness. The DSM can also bring some comfort by telling some that others have had the same experience. I am adding additional comfort by pointing to some ways to start getting out of the "disorders". I am not writing about cures. I am writing about how the cure process works over time. Instantaneous cures can be as traumatic as the original event that generated the disorder or illness. Instantaneous cures may not do us any good, when we get the same disorder back, since we have not changed the thought system that caused the disorder in the first place.

I am just going to give you a picture of what is left in the DSM-III for us to discuss. There is an Appendix A with three disorders that they thought needed more study before they coded them. Then there is Appendix B with decision trees to help give us our codes. Appendix C has an alphabetic listing of the "disorders". Appendix D has a numerical listing of the codes they use. And lastly they have an appendix with out a letter. That is a list of symptoms with all the name that they can call us. I found it significant that they did not just call this Appendix E. It seemed like they are avoiding the simplicity of just using symptoms. I am not going to avoid that here.

17 May 1999

Next we have "avoidance behavior". So, when we have avoidance

behavior we could get labeled with any of the following:

Agoraphobia without history of panic disorder, Avoidant disorder of childhood or adolescence, Avoidant personality disorder, Borderline personality disorder, Panic disorder with agoraphobia, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Separation anxiety disorder, Sexual aversion disorder, Simple phobia and Social phobia.

What is avoiding about other than having a fear? When we are avoiding

something we have a difference between what we want and what we have.

That is our fundamental challenge, having a difference between what we

have and what we think we want. What we are avoiding is something

that is unconscious to us. It is a part of us that we are not conscious of.

That parts wants what we do not consciously want. We are being given

another opportunity to see what we are not conscious of.

18 May 1999

The next fear is of embarrassment due to physical symptoms. We

do not want to be judged by others due to our physical symptoms. That

is what happened to Job in the Book of Job. His friends tried to judge

him when his fears came upon him in physical form. When we have

this fear, and we all do to some extent, we get very few labels. They

are:

Agoraphobia without history of panic disorder, Body dysmorphic disorder, Panic disorder with agoraphobia, and Social phobia.

19 May 1999

The next fear is of social situations. We all have some fears

of not being up to all social situations. We all avoid some social

situations, not just the high end of the social scale. Some of us avoid

the low end of the social scale. That is wise since that some would

not have the social skills for that social set.

When we have enough of this fear to get a label we could get the

following labels:

Avoidant disorder of childhood or adolescence, Avoidant personality disorder, Schizotypal personality disorder, and Social phobia.

20 May 1999

The next fear is "worrying". Worrying is about a fear of something

being different than we want it to be. A future anger, a difference

between what we want and what we may have.

When we have enough of this fear we can qualify for the following

labels:

Adjustment disorder with anxious mood, mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct, or mixed emotional features, Generalized anxiety disorder, Organic anxiety syndrome, Overanxious disorder, Separation anxiety disorder.

21 May 1999

The next fear is "outburst of aggression or rage". Why is that a

fear? Because there is a large difference between what is wanted

and what is. That also make it generic anger.

When we have enough of this anger or fear we can qualify for

the following labels:

Alcohol idiosyncratic intoxication, Alcohol intoxication, amphetamine or similarly acting sympathomimetic intoxication, Antisocial personality disorder, Borderline personality disorder, Cocaine intoxication, Dementia, Dementia associated with alcohol, Inhalant intoxication, Intermittent explosive disorder, Late luteal phase dysphoric disorder, Mental retardation, Multi-infarct dementia, Nicotine withdrawal, Oppositional defiant disorder, Organic personality syndrome, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimers, Sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic intoxication.

22 May 1999

The next fear is "antisocial behavior". Do I need to point out

that there is a difference between what they want and what they

have?

There is also a long list of labels that they can give us when

we act too antisocial:

Adjustment disorder with disturbance of conduct or mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct, Adult antisocial behavior, Antisocial personality disorder, Bipolar disorder with manic or mixed, Borderline personality disorder, Childhood or adolescent antisocial behavior, Conduct disorder, Cyclothymia, hallucinogen mood disorder, Intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, Organic mood syndrome, PCP mood disorder, Pyromania, and Schizoaffective disorder.

23 May 1999

The next fear is apathy that was listed under behavior

and mood/affect disturbances. Apathy is when we have given

up on being able to change what we have into what we want.

There is again a long list of labels that we can qualify for as follows:

Depressed and Mixed Bipolar, Dementia with and without alcoholism, Hallucinogen mood disorder, inhalant intoxication, Major depression of single or recurrent episodes, Major depressive episode of the melancholic type, Multi-infarct dementia with depression, Opioid intoxication, Organic mood syndrome, Organic personality syndrome, PCP mood disorder, PTSD, Alzheimers, Schizoaffective disorder, Schizophrenia, and Uncomplicated bereavement.

Very Respectfully,

Michael Foster, MA

DiscoveryCoachemail

https://www.recoverybydiscovery.com or

http://i.am/rbd; Total-DC or 868-2532

or 868-6749

Very Respectfully,

Michael Foster, MA

Discovery Coach

https://www.recoverybydiscovery.com

DiscoveryCoachemail

"Learn HOW to recovery by discovering the blocks you need to remove and the actions you need to take and what you need to let go of as your blocks to your blessings."

From my book in process, The Spiritual Cookbook (Generic Recipes for a Better Life)

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I started my daily page, because it is useful for me to look for some recovery tip or secret each day for my spiritual growth. we and I only need one secret to work on and let it work on me each day. They are secrets because they are usually the opposite of what the majority of society teaches. They must be secret because they are not commonly used. A friend of mine once said "Common Sense is not much in Common.". Now that I have grandchildren I am also writing for them. I would have really liked for my grandparents to have passed on what they learned.

I am including Sunday as it is my formal day of learning the lord most high's secrets. If you would like ask questions, or contribute some of your wisdom, or want to make some comments or want to vote for which day to put on my tip of the month page or tell your success stories, click Michael Foster, M. A.