Recovery Blues speaks to the overwhelming majority of former substance abusers who experience depression as an offensive intruder trespassing on their recuperation, and also to their professional
counselors, employers, and families. The dark valleys and frantic episodes
that plague these folks would be treated as mere annoyances by the "normal"
populace. Routine disappointment and "the blues" are the common colds of
emotional distress.
But these feelings that the general population has learned to drag itself
through by necessity and the blessed knowledge that these moods are truly
ephemeral, are new to the recovering alcoholic or addict, having been
formerly controlled or postponed through chemical abuse.
Sobriety itself represents a form of grief generating loss similar to the
experiences of leaving the security of childhood, divorce, or the death of
a loved one. It is "the day that the circus left town", and the awful
reality of reality. In men, these downside periods frequently orbit around
the realization of addiction-related lost time and tenure in school, family
responsibilities, or their careers.
Newly sober women seem to suffer from this problem at twice the rate and
severity as men. This may only reflect a general ability and inclination
to be more open with their sponsors or counselors. However, this ratio is
about the same for diagnoses of serious Major Depression.
Although references to mental illness are made wherever appropriate, only
one chapter is devoted exclusively to symptoms of Clinical Depressive
Disorders. It discusses in depth the importance of length of depressions
from onset, severity, incapacity, irrational behavior during manic swings,
thoughts of death or suicide, etc.
While the book does not dwell on Depression requiring medical attention,
alcoholism and drug addiction are not exclusive diseases. Just as a person
can be an alcoholic and also have a broken leg or diabetes, an alcoholic
can also suffer from unrelated mental illnesses that may have been masked
or misdiagnosed while they were deep into their addiction.
This chapter accurately represents the current psychiatric wisdom and
consensus, and the reader is given clear guidelines to alert those who
should be looking beyond self-help literature.
Recovery Blues metes out specific, unambiguous rules and advice. Moods
are described as Bright Side, Twilight and Somber Side, and specific
remedial tasks are assigned to each period. The development of firm,
positive habits which eliminate or lessen stress are spelled out, as are
behavioral prohibitions and precautions during low periods.
Rather than padding the book with dreary case histories, each chapter
contains a short anecdotal composite which is attributed to a fictional
recoveree, struggling through the obstacle course of early recovery. While
written to fill a serious need, the style and selection of anecdotes is
humorous and readable, and the illustrations will bring to the reader
smiles of knowing recognition and identification.