Memo to Self: Protecting Sobriety with the Science of Safety

This video follows “pleasure unwoven” which is another excellent film putting to rest the old ideas about addiction being a moral problem vs a disease. Memo to self builds on his first film with risk management as a paradigm shift away ideas such as failures of will power or punishment as explanations and responses to addiction. A must see for anyone who struggles with relapse or loves someone who is.

I did not think it was possible to top "Pleasure Unwoven." But Dr. McCauley and his team have definitely done so with "Memo to Self"! Before purchasing the DVD, I was a little concerned that it might just be a repeat of Pleasure Unwoven. I am happy to report that it picks up where that DVD left off and gets into the meat of the journey of recovery. I especially appreciate Dr. McCauley's frankness about his own addiction and the path he traveled (with multiple relapses) to his own recovery.There is something about the beautiful scenery and Dr. McCauley's frank and sometimes humorous approach that really resonates with me. Watching this DVD has given me additional resolve to continue "trudging the road of happy destiny" to finally reach the promised land of HAPPY recovery. It just seems to make all the "work" of recovery more "worth it."I cannot say enough good things about this approach to our illness and totally recommend it for anyone who is addicted or anyone who knows and/or loves someone else who is addicted and cannot understand our strange behavior ("Why don't they JUST QUIT?"). Thank you so much, Dr. McCauley, for this magnificent update and source of solid information and hope!

I have been watching Memo to Self by Dr. Kevin McCauley, and found the following very interesting:For the past 40 years both the Navy and Commercial Airlines found that offering a punishment free and self reporting program for pilots to recover from alcohol addiction led to a 92% abstinence rate during the monitoring period and an 85% lifelong abstinence rate. These numbers are much higher than programs involving punishment. Pilots struggling with addiction were temporarily removed from flying until they established a strong recovery plan. They returned to the air with careful monitoring, and then were free to continue flying without any damage to their career. This program came from the Navy and Commercial airlines choosing to reject a zero tolerance worldview of addiction in favor of seeing addiction as a systemic safety issue. These programs use the pilots' passion for flying as a motivator instead of punishment. Creating a culture of safety acknowledges that there is vulnerability in recovery for both the addict and loved ones. However, without vulnerability and risk management recovery cannot happen.

In "Pleasure Unwoven", Dr. McCauley settles once & for all the question of whether addiction is a disease by medical definition... IT IS!(My ab-fave point was his revelation of the Periodic Table of Addictive Elements, which he apparently created!!)In this incredible sequel, he shares his personal experience with addiction more fully, tells us of a 50-year-long addiction treatment program that can boast an incredible 85-95% success rate for getting addicted pilots, doctors & college students through 5 years of abstinence-- which is now known to be that Golden Point on the addiction timeline, where their likelihood for life-long sobriety is all but assured.Most importantly, Dr. McCauley spells out clearly the 10 elements required for a personal addiction recovery plan which is all but GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOUR ADDICTION AT BAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!!

While this film is impressive, as far as the insight in addiction and recovery goes, it only touches very briefly on the discrepancy of availability of support in recovery. Mr McCauley admits that he has shown high income cases (that includes college /university students!), but the real issue of a profit-oriented health "system" that bars a vast number of addicts from proper long-term treatment is not mentioned, at all. Yes, recovery is possible, and it is absolutely amazing how thousands and thousands of the less privileged addicts are demonstrating that in AA and NA, but the numbers could be much higher if the professional support and treatment were affordable for all.I work as a Peer Recovery Specialist, in a detox unit, and we just are forced to cut our capacity from 16 beds to eight beds, because of funding problems. Recovery Houses are popping up everywhere, which is great for those who can afford it.As long as the $ rules the health system, addicts will keep on dying, unnecessarily. I am glad that a beginning has been made to get away from the insane and pointless "war on drugs", but this, so far, is still only the beginning to step away from 100 years of stubborn failure.

For those who have recovered or who are attempting to recover from addictions, Kevin McCauley offers his own life learnings on how to learn and succeed. He explains what is happening in our brains and how to build defense mechanisms against potential relapse.Kevin is also very honest and human. He relates his personal experience in overcoming addiction and lets us know that he was not perfect when he tried to get clean either.What he shares that is most important is that through persistent, organized effort, we can move beyond addiction into a better life. Then we may have insights that can assist others who are still struggling.