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Stay inside your own Hula Hoop!
September 5th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Joan Connor Clark
If I stand directly in the center of a ‘mental hula hoop’, everything inside it is my responsibility. This includes my actions, my thoughts, my words – all of my “stuff.” Whatever is outside of that circle is none of my business. Of course I can reach out from inside my hoop to help others, and I can share my space with friends that I invite in. However, it’s important that I remember to not jump uninvited out of my hoop into someone else’s. I also shouldn't judge the value of another person's space; my hula hoop is no better or worse than that of anyone...

Musician Brings Insight to Patients
August 22nd, 2011 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) recently had a true spiritual experience. Jim Smith (in the photo here with Patrick Haggerson, left), a musician from London with 34 years of sobriety, performed a mini-concert for patients. Jim is traveling on a Winston Churchill Fellowship, researching the use of music as therapy in alcohol and drug treatment centers in the U. S. He heard about Patrick Haggerson’s music, found Patrick’s work on the web regarding 12-Step recovery music and reached out to him. Patrick, in the true spirit of fellowship, reached back. The...

“The Steps Work You – Fifth Step”
August 8th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Andrew Rohrer
I did my Fifth Step with my sponsor sitting on lawn chairs in a park in Santa Monica. I feared that in sharing my secrets with my sponsor, he would find me contemptible. I was disappointed when it was over. I was expecting…something. But there was no white light. Then again, I had told the truth about what I could recall, and my sponsor had not rejected me, neither had his head exploded from hearing of my loathsome behavior. The thought occurred to me, had I made my secrets seem impossibly heinous when, in fact, they were simply the stuff of human frailty and...

“Meeting Makers Make It”
June 21st, 2011 / BFC Insights / Andrew Rohrer
I thought I was just going to a meeting. In the beginning, I went to meetings mostly on the west side of greater L.A. – Santa Monica, Venice, Culver City, Marina Del Ray. In order to meet my goal of a meeting a day, I often left my work in West Hollywood each day at noon to attend a meeting. I also attended a few meetings in Beverly Hills, and I went to the giant Pacific Group meeting on Sunset Boulevard (everyone should, at least once.) I went to a meeting in Bishop, CA and another in Mammoth. I went to a meeting in Yosemite Valley, where a local was so glad to see us he cried, and my...

What is a Hangover?
June 20th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
The term hangover was originally a 19th-century expression that described unfinished business—something left over from a meeting—or "survival." The meaning of hangover as “morning after-effect of drinking too much" first surfaced in 1904. A few of the signs and symptoms of a hangover include the following: anxiety decreased attention and concentration depression fatigue headache irritability nausea sensitivity to light and sound sweating thirst vertigo vomiting Generally speaking, the more alcohol that’s consumed, the more...

Love the One You are With
June 6th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Andrew Rohrer
I‘ve heard it said that if drinking and using was the only thing wrong with me, everything should have been fine when I stopped. But of course, it wasn‘t. Once I had some time to heal without re-injuring myself, I learned that I had a legacy of difficulty with emotional intimacy due to being raised by a family dealing with, or rather, not dealing with, addictive disease. In my first year of recovery, I was on the rebound from my second marriage. Even I could see that I wasn‘t well enough for a romantic relationship. Luckily, I was also terrified of involvement and committed to...

“Late Bloomer”
May 30th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Andrew Rohrer
I was almost ten years sober in September of 2001. I was living in New York City about a mile from Ground Zero. I had to show my ID to the National Guard just to get to my apartment. I was laid off from the sales job I had with a media company the week after 9/11. As I started to look for more of the same kind of work, I felt utterly deflated—I knew that I had to make a change. I was scared and unsure. I thought that if I proposed to my family that I was going to go back to school to do something else, that I would be greeted with outrage and criticism. When I announced that I was...

Significant Events in the History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America
May 26th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
1750 to Early 1800s Alcoholic mutual aid societies (sobriety "Circles") are formed within various Native American tribes. Some are part of, or evolve into, abstinence-based Native American cultural revitalization movements and temperance organizations. 1774 Anthony Benezet's Mighty Destroyer Displayed is published. It is the earliest American essay on alcoholism. 1784 Dr. Benjamin Rush's Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits on the Human Mind and Body catalogues the consequence of chronic drunkenness and argues that this condition is a disease that physicians...

Serving Alcohol to Young People at Home is Risky
March 10th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Close to three-quarters of a million young people age 12 to 14 currently drink alcohol in the United States, and more than 100,000 of them got their alcohol free from a parent or guardian. According to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 5.9 percent of 12 to 14 year old adolescents drank alcohol in the past month, and 93.4 percent of that number was given alcohol for free the last time they drank. "People who begin drinking alcohol before the age of 15 are six times more likely than those who start at age 21 and older to develop...

Working Through Pain in Recovery
March 8th, 2011 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
I grew up in a chaotic, alcoholic family, but I didn't realize alcohol was the problem, I just knew I was unhappy, so when I grew up, I drank. I thought that's what grownups did. I had a glass of wine when I got home from work to decompress from my wretched job, and another to get dinner started, and a couple more to get the kids through their homework. I had to do this by myself, because of course by then I was a single mother, having married a man even more abusive than my father, and having subsequently divorced him. All these painful experiences I stuffed into my body -...

Alumnus Shares Holiday Gratitude
December 17th, 2010 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
"What a blessing to be in treatment during the Holidays." Strange statement I wrote in my journal many years ago. What happened to my resentment and self pity? Perhaps, the true spirit of that holiday was that my gift, to be opened, was the removal of my obsession and relief of my burden. Then it came to me that being in recovery each day was a gift, each day was Thanksgiving - not just for me, but for all my family and friends who loved me enough to bear my absence that first year. Enjoy the blessings of your Higher Power through these holidays and remember that a...

Behind the Scenes in Alumni Services
December 7th, 2010 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center Alumni Services staff takes their responsibility to alumni seriously, offering a wide variety of services both during and after treatment. The staff of five includes a department secretary; each of the other four is responsible for a designated on-site residence hall as well as CDE (Clinical Diagnostic Evaluation) transfers and the Intensive Outpatient Program. The hall responsibilities include: • Attending daily morning ‘pass-down’ to stay current with each patient’s progress • Facilitating weekly Relapse Prevention groups, strongly emphasizing the...

Dr. Garrett OConnor Honored in Ireland
December 2nd, 2010 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
On December 2, 2010, in a ceremony scaled down due to extremely adverse weather conditions, the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, Dublin, conferred honorary doctorate degrees on actor, Brendan Gleeson; nuclear physicist Professor Richard Milner and Dr. Garrett O’Connor, President of the Betty Ford Institute. Honorary degrees are awarded by the university to individuals who have contributed significantly to public life, the betterment of society, and the interests of humanity in Ireland, Europe or elsewhere. It is an honor of the highest level given to those whose...

Chronic Pain
November 1st, 2010 / BFC Insights / Peter Przekop D.O.
I am your pain You have let me in and, I am here to stay I will consume you And your energy And your thoughts I will control your life I will not leave I will not allow you to be yourself I will control your emotions I will steal your sleep I will take you from your family I will steal you from your friends At times you may feel like I have left But I will always return I will show you no respect But you must respect me I will make you anxious I will make you uncertain When you are down, I will intensify I will make you feel alone I will destroy your sense of worth...

Choose your Attitude by Choosing Gratitude
August 6th, 2010 / BFC Insights / David Burgdorf
The theme of gratitude is familiar to those of us in 12-Step recovery programs. I imagine that all of us – at one time or another – have heard from a tough sponsor, “It’s time for you to write out a gratitude list.” The symptoms for which this is the treatment are: self-pity, whining, grousing, complaining, and general snarliness. The little action of writing the gratitude list, or what my grandmother called “counting your blessings,” has some psychological heft behind it. Viktor Frankl, the great Viennese psychiatrist and death camp survivor, is frequently quoted...

Who’s There? Alcoholics Are Missing “Face Values”
June 18th, 2010 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Getting along with other people is a critical ingredient for a full and happy life. Yet building and maintaining healthy relationships requires the ability to correctly read and express emotional facial expressions (EFE), an ability that alcohol-dependent individuals tend to lack. It has been observed that alcoholic subjects overestimate the intensity of EFE, misinterpret EFE, and are unaware of this impairment. This study explored why people with alcohol dependence (AD) have deficits in emotional facial expression (EFE): Is it because of fundamental emotional problems, or because of a more...

Rundown Neighborhoods Contribute to Heavy Drinking
June 18th, 2010 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
The past decade has produced research on relationships between neighborhood characteristics and health but few studies have specifically looked at how a neighborhood may play a role in shaping alcohol use and misuse. This study looked at the impact of the “urban built” environment – a reference to not only all the buildings of a neighborhood, but also the streets, parks, and public spaces within it – on recent alcohol use. Researchers recruited 1,355 respondents through a random digitdial survey of New York City (NYC) residents, using structured interviews to both assess their...

Tag Your Own Damn Moose!
June 18th, 2010 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Note : Content in this article may be dated and include staffing and program information that is no longer current. Michael S. Neatherton President, Betty Ford Recovery Hospital When I agreed to write this article, it seemed like a good idea…at the time. As the deadline grew closer and ‘NAATP Article’ kept surfacing on my task list, it no longer seemed like a good idea. Instead, I felt I was trudging along a road – but not one of happy destiny. This task became an intrusion on an already busy schedule, and once again, I asked myself why I thought this was a good...

Betty Ford Institute Names CEO
December 1st, 2008 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Dr. Garrett O’Connor has been named the first Chief Executive Officer of the Betty Ford Institute. Dr. O’Connor served for several years as Chief Psychiatrist of the Betty Ford Center. He also founded and guided the Clinical Diagnostic Evaluation (CDE) Program at the Center. In announcing the establishment of the Betty Ford Institute, former First Lady Betty Ford stated, “Although we at the Center have long been involved as a leader in education and training in addictive disease and its treatment, as well as in public policy efforts, the establishment of our Institute will allow us...

We’ve Lost a Friend
December 1st, 2007 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Just hours after we learned that President Gerald Ford had died, patients and staff gathered in the Firestone Auditorium on the Betty Ford Center campus, and I had the honor to share some reflections on a person all of us both respected and loved. Gerald Ford was, of course, president during tumultuous times. The Vietnam War. Terrible inflation. The aftermath of Watergate. A country bitterly divided. One of his proudest moments occurred long after he left the White House. It was when Caroline Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy awarded him the Profile in Courage Award at the JFK...

Betty Ford Institute
June 1st, 2007 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
“Recovery” means many things to many people. So many things to so many people, that the meaning of this word/concept/lifestyle has taken on a mysterious or even “fringe” quality that has prevented popular understanding and acceptance. The challenge of the inaugural Betty Ford Institute Consensus Conference was to try to develop a definition of “recovery” that would have utility for clinicians and researchers alike. In the Fall of 2006, a blue-ribbon panel of researchers, policy makers, clinicians and members of the recovering community, met in Rancho Mirage,...

Awareness Hour Anniversary
December 1st, 2006 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Leftover coffee and donuts. That’s really what sparked the creation of a treasured institution that’s been alive and well in California’s Coachella Valley (home to the Betty Ford Center) for coming up on three decades. Dr. Joe Cruse, who at the time headed the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, noticed that every Saturday at the conclusion of general medical staff meetings, there was always extra coffee and donuts. It seemed a shame to just throw it all away, so Dr. Cruse suggested to his friends Maribel and Del Sharbut that the refreshments could perhaps be offered...

“Poppycock!”
June 1st, 2006 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
"Contrary to the orthodoxy, drug addiction is a matter of morals." That quote appeared on the op-ed page of the influential Wall Street Journal – not 50 years ago, not five years ago. It appeared May 25, 2006. Like a bad dream that you just can’t shake, this notion of alcohol/drug addiction as a character weakness – not a disease – just won’t go away. Ironically, in the “you-have-to-laugh-or-you’d-cry” department, the op-ed piece cited above had a one-word headline: “Poppycock.” Alcoholism and other drug addictions meet every disease criteria that exists....

Addiction Beyond Borders
March 1st, 2006 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Addiction to alcohol and other drugs is, of course, not limited to the United States, or to North America. It’s a disease that does not respect national boundaries. It’s everywhere. At the Betty Ford Center, we’ve served patients and their families from more than 50 countries world-wide since we opened our doors in 1982. The International Society of Addiction Medicine was actually born at the Betty Ford Center, in 1999, when a prestigious group of physicians specializing in addiction medicine from around the world were hosted by Mrs. Ford. The American Society of Addiction...

Passing of the Torch
December 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Last May, Betty Ford, co-founder and chairman of the Betty Ford Center, announced that she planned to “pass the chairmanship torch” to her daughter, Susan Ford Bales, in January, 2005. That historic moment occurred at a Betty Ford Center Board of Directors meeting on January 25, 2005. Does Mrs. Ford plan to fade quietly into the night? Absolutely not! She remains an active board member and, with her new title of Founding Chairman, she’ll continue to be an advocate for every alcoholic and addict in the world. She’ll also continue to be a frequent visitor to our Rancho Mirage,...

Obesity Outweighs Addiction Concern
September 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Quick. What now is America’s #1 health priority, according to the polls? Cancer? Guess again. Heart disease? Guess again. Alcohol/drug addiction? Hah. Obesity is now America’s #1 health concern. Given that 31 percent of U.S. adults are obese (30 or more pounds over a healthy weight) – the numbers are up from 23 percent in the late 1980s and 15 percent in the late 1970s – and that considerable media attention has been directed at this phenomenon, it’s perhaps understandable that obesity claims the #1 health-concern spot. You also have to consider that the percentage of...

Betty Ford Center Works With Native Canadians
June 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Shortly after Patrick Haggerson became a counselor at the Betty Ford Center in 1998, he made a phone call to British Columbia’s Alkali Lake Indian Band, to get information about a video he wanted to order, called “The Honor of All: The Alkali Story.” The hour-long documentary told how that community of native peoples achieved significant levels of sobriety. The sobriety movement in Alkali Lake began in 1971, when an eight-year-old girl refused to go home with her parents because of their drinking. This led her mom, Phyllis, to seek help for her alcoholism through AA. This act...

Treatment: Why Bother?
June 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
For those of us who work in the treatment field, the very question is offensive. For others, though, it’s a question they often struggle with. For example, we’ve long known that fewer than 30 percent of primary care physicians screen their patients for health problems related to their use of alcohol and/or other drugs. And this lack of widespread screening has meant that alcoholism (in particular) is treated more often as an acute illness than a chronic disease. Now the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has released a study that answers a...

Underage Drinkers Hypocrisy
June 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
The facts are deadly. Underage drinkers, joined by adults who regularly drink excessive amounts of alcohol, account for half of all the alcohol consumed in this country. That devastating finding is supported by many research studies, including a recent one in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Another alarming statistic is that nearly 20 percent of all the beer, wine and hard liquor consumed in this country goes down the throats of children and teenagers. These facts have profound implications for parents and their children, for public policy, and for the alcohol...

Betty Ford Center Works with Drug Endangered Children Organization
March 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
On a Thursday morning in mid-May, Jenny Gomez of the Betty Ford Center Children’s Program in Dallas went to work especially early, at 4:30 a.m. Jenny joined 80 law enforcement officers from four different agencies as they gathered for a briefing prior to serving arrest warrants on 40 individuals suspected of operating methamphetamine labs. The 80 officers split into 10 groups. Jenny went with a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) team, because the location they were targeting was known to have children living on the premises. Jenny watched from a safe distance as the agents, dressed in...

BFC Children’s Program Evaluated in First-Ever Scientific Study
December 1st, 2004 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Results have been released of the first-ever scientific examination of prevention/education programs in the U.S. aimed at children who live in a family environment in which the disease of addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs is present. The study surveyed 149 young people, age seven to 13, who participated in the Betty Ford Center Children’s Program in Rancho Mirage, California, between October 2002 and October 2003. The study was designed and conducted by Dr. Jeannette Johnson, Professor and Director of the Research Center on Children and Youth at the University at Buffalo/SUNY....

Larry and Betty: A Marvelous Media Marriage
December 1st, 2004 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
On December 19, 2003, Betty Ford and I appeared on Larry King Live on CNN. (The show was repeated twice during the holidays.) This is the fourth time over the past six years that we have been guests. We agree to appear on Larry King Live because it is our hope that by doing so we can deliver a vital message to men and women and families whose lives are impacted by the devastating disease of alcoholism and/or addiction to other drugs. We hope that by discussing the disease in a public forum, we can provide the incentive for a family member or loved one – or even the alcoholic/addict...

It’s All About Fairness
September 1st, 2004 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
When it comes to health insurance, persons with the disease of addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs are often – make that usually – treated as second-class citizens in this country. Talk about a bad news/bad news scenario. Persons with the disease of addiction either discover that their health insurance policy simply doesn’t cover their primary disease at all – or is blatantly discriminatory vis-à-vis what it does cover. Some insurance companies and the policies they write talk a decent game. But they don’t deliver. When you read the fine print, lo and behold, you discover...

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