An Overwhelming Sense of Helplessness Traumatic experiences, and the traumatic stress that follows, are the result of circumstances beyond our control. Whether it’s “hard” trauma, like the horrors of war, or “soft” trauma, such as emotional or sexual abuse, we survivors often feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness. And, all too often, our response to…
Details
The Antidote to Self-Will This week, we’d like to turn our attention back to our discussion of the principles of the twelve steps. The sixth step of Alcoholics Anonymous reads, we “[m]ade a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all” (italics mine.) As you can probably…
Details
A Gateway to Mental and Physical Health Problems Traumatic experiences, particularly those that one may encounter in childhood, are a major risk factor for a number of mental health conditions. These can range from substance use and eating disorders to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, according to an article by Harvard Health, trauma…
Details
Taking a Closer Look A recent blog from the always-excellent Eating Disorder Hope echoes some of the things we’ve written in the past about eating disorders in males. The article, by Andrew Walen, founder and Executive Director of the Body Image Therapy Center in Maryland and D.C., and entitled “Males with Eating Disorders Are a…
Details
Two Humble Requests As the page finally turns on a year unlike any other in history, Ocean Recovery would like to make two humble requests. The first is to please attend to the mental health of both yourself and those close to you. As we’ve said numerous times in blogs over the past year, the…
Details
Taking Ownership and Living With Integrity With the infamous fourth step and its attendant principles, courage, behind us, we turn our attention to the fifth principle. It can be a difficult concept to grasp, so we’re going to have to break it down and take a close look at it. In the steps, once we…
Details
Searching and Fearless The principles of twelve-step programs each correspond to a step. This week’s principle undergirds the fourth step, which has a reputation both infamous and legendary among those of us in recovery. The step reads, we “made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” After admitting to ourselves we had a problem…
Details
Extra Support During a Trying Time This week, we’d like to put our discussion of twelve-step principles on hold for a minute. As you may know, in addition to substance use disorders, Ocean Recovery has also treated co-occurring eating disorders since 2002. And the holidays can be a tremendously difficult time for people struggling with…
Details
The Third Principle We here at Ocean Recovery hope everyone had a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving holiday. As well all know, though, recovery doesn’t take vacations. It is with this in mind that we’d like to get back into our examination of the principles of the twelve steps. So far we’ve learned that we need…
Details
The Second Principle Last week, we posted a blog kicking off a series discussing the principles of the twelve steps. We started things off by talking about honesty. The first step of Alcoholics Anonymous reads, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.” We examined how this means that…
Details