Wasted: An Alcoholic Therapist's Fight for Recovery in a Tragically Flawed Treatment System (43 page)

To my old friends:

Dale Wallace and his wife, Deb Renner, who stuck by me for forty years. I can never repay your kindness and loyalty. To Brian, Irene, Ralph, Jan, Troy, Derek
and Mary, thank you for not turning your backs on me in Penticton. Deb and Doug Crow, your deer roasts, and your sweat lodge on the banks of the beautiful Similkameen River, helped me heal. Doug passed away last year. I miss you Doug. I pray you’ve found peace in the happy hunting ground. To Randy and Lynele, dear friends who struggled to understand my journey—I see acceptance in your eyes now.

To my clients:

I’m very indebted to my clients, past and present, who find solace and inspiration in my story, especially First Nations clients such as Rhonda Terbasket, who remained steadfastly in my corner, even when she deserved much better. And I’m thankful to them for sharing their wisdom about this complex disorder. I’m sorry I couldn’t get sober sooner.

To staff at
Surrey Memorial Hospital:

You probably had some idea just how fragile I was when I returned to work. Your support ensured I kept my job, which ensured I stayed sober. And then you wrote my profile, took my picture and uploaded it all to PlentyofFish. You saw my loneliness and took action. You transformed my life.

To the people in my new life:

New friends: Anne and Tony
Giardini, Tony Harrison, Adrienne Tanner and Mike Walker, Sue Ridout and Bruce Mohun. You helped me believe life can be good again.

To Maureen’s warm and often wacky family: I so needed to laugh again and you taught me how.

To Maureen, who took quite a chance on a newly recovered alcoholic, I love you.

MOST DOCTORS DON’T KNOW HOW TO TREAT ADDICTION

1.
CASA
Columbia, “Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap Between Science and Practice,” accessed February 15, 2015,
casacolumbia.org/addiction-research/reports/addiction-medicine
.

2.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress,” accessed February 1, 2015,
surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/full-report.pdf
.

3.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Excessive Drinking Costs U.S. $223.5 Billion,” last modified April 2014,
cdc.gov/features/alcoholconsumption
.

DRUGS APPROVED TO TREAT ADDICTION

1.
Barbara J. Mason et al., “Gabapentin Treatment for Alcohol Dependence: A Randomized Clinical Trial,”
JAMA
Internal Medicine
174 no. 1 (2014): 75, accessed March 20, 2015, doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.1
1950.

2.
“Topiramate’s effects on alcohol use similar to
FDA
-approved drugs,”
The Brown University Psychopharmacology Update
26 no. 5 (2015): 3–4.

3.
Renaud de Beaurepaire, “Suppression of Alcohol Dependence Using Baclofen: A 2-Year Observational Study of 100 Patients,”
Front Psychiatry
3 (2012): 103, accessed March 21, 2015, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00103.

COULD VIVITROL WORK FOR
MIKE?

1.
James C. Garbutt et al., “Pharmacotherapy for Adults With Alcohol Use Disorders in Outpatient Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,
JAMA
311 (18): 1896.

COMMUNITY REINFORCEMENT AND FAMILY TRAINING (CRAFT)

1.
Hendrik G. Roozen, Ranne de Waart, and Petra van der Kroft, “Community Reinforcement and Family Training: An Effective Option to Engage Treatment-Resistant
Substance-Abusing Individuals in Treatment,”
Addiction
105 no. 10 (2010): 1734, doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03016.

WHY ME?

1.
Alcoholics Anonymous.
Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book
, 4th edition. (New York: A.A. World Services Inc., 2013), 58.

2.
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, “Study of Genetics, Environment and Alcoholism Leads to Pilot Prevention Program,” accessed April 16, 2015,
drugfree.org/join-together/study-of-genetics-environment-and-alcoholism-leads-to-pilot-prevention-program
.

3.
Marc A. Schuckit et al., “The Impact of Focusing a Program to Prevent Heavier Drinking on a Pre‐existing Phenotype, the Low Level of Response to Alcohol,”
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
39 no. 2 (2015): 314.

TRAINING DOCTORS IN ADDICTION MEDICINE

1.
CASA
Columbia, “Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap Between Science and Practice,” accessed March 15, 2015,
casacolumbia.org/addiction-research/reports/addiction-medicine
.

MY RELATIONSHIP WITH AA

1.
Gabrielle Glaser, “The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous,”
The Atlantic
, April 2015, accessed April 25, 2015,
theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255
.

2.
Marica Ferri, Laura Amato, and Marina Davoli, “Alcoholics Anonymous and Other 12-step Programmes for Alcohol Dependence,”
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
3 (2006), doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005032.pub2.

Copyright © 2016 by Michael Pond and Maureen Palmer

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Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
ISBN
978-1-77164-196-8 (pbk.)
ISBN
978-1-77164-197-5 (epub)

Editing by Trena White (first edition)
and Jennifer Croll (second edition)
Copy editing by Stephanie Fysh (first edition)
and Jennifer Croll (second
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Cover design by Nayeli Jimenez

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

The advice provided in this book has been carefully checked by the author and publisher. It should not, however, be regarded as a substitute for medical advice.