Starting a New Life

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts to my new blog. I'm Fred Hansen, Ph.D., and my area of specialization is addiction - helping those who abuse or who have developed a dependency on alcohol, illegal or prescription drugs. I have been working with patients for 24 years and have had a great deal of success in helping people find their way back to a life filled with joy and happiness. I recognize what a struggle overcoming a dependency on alcohol or drugs is and I never minimize or trivialize the difficulty involved. Every day I work with dozens of patients at my outpatient clinic, Life Management Resources, helping them answer the question, "Do I have a problem, and if I do, what can I do about it?"

I know that many of you have had family and friends tell you "if you would just stop drinking or using, everything would be alright." Don't you wish that were the case! What they don't recognize is the fact that alcohol and drugs are not the problem - that's right, they are not the problem! They are the solution for us, the solution to the difficult pain we feel when we remember events in our life, the hurtful memories of childhood or young adulthood. They are the solution to the difficulties we face every day of our life. They are the solution for many of our troops coming home from the middle east who have suffered unspeakable trauma. They are our kevlar vest that protects us from the hurt and the pain of life. The problem, as we know, is that the solution is temporary. We need a better solution, and we need it now.

Over the years I have worked with thousands of people, spending hours in my office getting to know them, listening to their stories, their sufferings, and their pain. I am moved by their sincerity and embrace their difficulties because I know that for them there is a solution. I know that recovery is possible and life can be joyous in a shorter length of time than they ever imagined.

A couple of years ago I began noticing that when I had the opportunity to spend an hour or so with a new patient, and had the chance to explain to them what "help" really meant - how the lessons I could teach them would help them swing the pendelum from a dependency on a substance to a dependence on themselves and their own self-confidence, they embraced a program of education and therapy, they found help, got better, and went on to lead normal lives. So I began the task of putting the essence of that conversation into words - at first to make it into a book, but realizing that too many people don't take the time to read - I put it into a DVD and named it Finding Hope. It is the message I have given to thousands of people over the years who have turned their lives around. It is an explanation of what treatment is all about. It takes them into illustrations of what treatment programs are all about. It takes the fear out of getting help. Thousands have already found the vast resources of this video to be the key to changing their life. That is why I have started this blog. I want to hear back from you about the video.

Secondly, I want to start providing a great deal of information about chemical dependency, what alcoholism is, what drug addiction is, what treatment programs are all about. What it means to make a decision to get help. I invite your comments about your personal successes.

As I present topics in our program each week, I will add these to this post. Hopefully, you may find these useful in your life.

Dr. Fred, May 18, 2008