Out From Under: Treating Your Own Addictions

First read this until you completely understand it. Then do the exercise. You may want to make a tape to listen to.

1) Stop consuming your substance for a moment. You can get back to it later. Just stop for now. Wait for the urge to subside.

2) Sit down, relax, and take a deep breath. Take ten more.

3) Close your eyes and experience how you feel. Then make a list of your sensations, thoughts, and feelings at the end of this exercise.

4) Try to remember a time as a child when you truly had fun.

5) Try to create that feeling now. Try to have that feeling now.

6) If you do experience the feeling of real fun, compare it with your "high."

7) Is your "high" just an imitation of fun?

8) Imagine throwing your substance in the toilet. Actually do it!

9) Say to yourself "Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop." Say this over and over.