In today’s episode of “Healing From With your host Sheryl Glick author
of Life Is No Coincidence and The Living Spirit which shares stories of
spiritual awakening communication healing energies miracles and ways to
develop and utilize your intuitive wisdom. Today I welcome Marc Treitler
author of Alcohol Drugs and You which his daughter Lianna worked with
him on in order to share their personal journey of success in dealing
with alcoholism and learning the actual facts to help young people deal
with challenges in their own lives and to make good choices to avoid
spiraling into a lifetime of addiction and suffering.
Sheryl directs listeners to the radio link of her website September 2018
www.sherylglick.com to listen to Marc discuss his first book Alcoholism
Is A Disease Let’s Treat It!
Listeners of “Healing From Within” have come to expect over the years
that Sheryl and her guests share intimate experiences along with facts
and insights to help us focus on both our energetic presence and
physical life so we may begin to recognize Who We Are? and How Best to
create a purposeful healthy human and spiritual life journey working our
way past illness pain and suffering to health positivity and a
prosperous life with love and healthy interactions with family.
In today’s episode of “Healing From Within” Marc Treitler a successful
corporate attorney loving husband and father and a recovering alcoholic
shares his total growing awareness of the effect alcoholism had on his
life until his recovery initiated by his daughter Lianna, along with
statistics and information the public needs to know about alcoholism as
a disease. Marc and his daughter Lianna are on a mission to reach kids
before they become statistics by learning the facts on the abuse issues
associated with alcohol and other substances.
When asked to think back to his childhood and remember a person place
event dream or thought that was important to them Marc tells us of his
first therapist who helped him understand how to deal with alcoholism
and gave him a ring telling him it was no coincidence they were here
together implying that a certain higher force was at work to support and
help Marc move past his own dependence on alcohol so he could help
others do the same. Perhaps he had to suffer to understand the
seriousness of the disease so he could have a calling and passion to
help others. Sheryl who believes nothing in our life is random is
delighted Marc realized the synchronicity of that first counselor as a
gift from those above.
Marc also tells us about growing up in a family with a history of
addiction, Marc Treitler succumbed to alcoholism while in college.
Despite a successful corporate career Marc continued to drink until an
off- hand comment by his daughter woke him up to the damage his drinking
was doing to him and to the relationship he cherished. While in
recovery, Marc realized the power of information. It was while teaching
his children what he had learned in rehab that the idea for Marc and
Lianna’s book took hold. Today through books, speaking and their
“Rosebud Foundation” the Treitlers work to help young people stay
alcohol and substance free.
Marc tells us something of the pressures that lead him to drink
excessively and also the fact that if alcoholism is in the family a
child is susceptible to activating the disease even from taking that
first drink. Marc suggests this book is for the person who decides to
read it as they are moving towards independence and an understanding of
their choices, challenges and the destructiveness of substance abuse
they may see around them, so they can equip themselves with what it
takes to avoid falling into its trap. In most families alcohol is a
normal part of entertaining. Many of us see our parents serve drinks to
their friends and observe their parents have a glass of wine or beer
before dinner. For many of us that is just a part of regular life, and
we are lead to believe we must follow this pattern. But for kids to
reach adolescence without having some exposure to adults drinking
alcohol is nearly impossible.
What you may not realize is the potential for these substances to take
over your life and make you dependent on them forever.
Sheryl tells Marc that she just looked at an issue of US magazine and
opened to a page showing everyone holding a glass of wine or alcohol and
the caption was “Wine-Down Time” The media and advertisers have been
promoting a culture of abuse of all kinds: verbal sexual addiction and a
lack of respect for family values for a long time. The thought,
“Anything goes” which of course is not true, has become the mainstay of
our personal attitudes and behaviors. It must change for the many ills
of our cultural decline to improve.
Despite the volume of accumulated medical knowledge about alcoholism
many still think it is a choice. When does drinking stop being a choice?
Marc tells us drinking or any addiction stops being a choice when you do
not have the knowledge that might have stopped you from activating a
disease which once activated needs to be controlled for the rest of
one’s life. If our children are taught some of the following ideas we
might prevent many from becoming alcoholics.
By the age of 13 most kids are exposed to an opportunity to use alcohol
or other addictive substances and many fall prey to them. Some just want
to seem to be cool and be accepted by their friends and some want to
follow the example of someone they like or admire.
More families have members with alcohol-abuse problems than we might
think. In fact more than 30 percent of Americans have dealt with Alcohol
Abuse Disorder.
It is estimated that one in twelve Americans has a substance abuse
problem requiring treatment.
Half of all children of addicts become addicts themselves following in
the steps of their addicted parents even though they have seen the
misery that comes with the disease.
You may not know if you have this disease hiding in your genes. Remember
that like blue eye color this disease can skip generation so even if
your parents are not alcoholics your great grandfather may have been and
passed the alcoholic gene to you.
One thing is apparent many addicts have not been about the downside of
addiction or the disease hiding in their genes. Marc’s family genetic
tree included dozens of addicts and alcoholics which means that he had
addiction in his genes.
We go on to define an alcoholic. According to the dictionary a alcoholic
is someone who uses alcohol to excess and becomes addicted to it to the
detriment of their health and well-being.
Marc writes, “Doctors politicians teachers and addiction specialists
have been talking about drug and alcohol addictions for the last hundred
years –even at one point legally banning alcohol—and yet the epidemic is
getting worse. From one generation to the next, the cycle of addiction
worsens.”
An addict is a person who has a disease that makes it almost impossible
to stop using drugs or drinking alcohol on his or her own. If your
father drinks beer every night, he might have the disease of alcoholism
which is also a type of addiction. Experts say that addicts, while
unlike non-addicts are “allergic” to drugs and alcohol. This allergy
makes it almost impossible to stop drinking or using drugs once he or
she have started. While you are more susceptible to becoming an addict
if there is addiction in your family the truth is anyone can develop an
addiction. The addicts brain reacts differently to certain substances
than a non-addicts brain does. It’s like if a person has a peanut
allergy and begins to swell up after eating a single peanut while
another person has no reaction at all. The addict’s brain says, “Have
another drink.” While the non- addict’s brain says, “ Let’s go home.”
Remember we’re talking about a disease.
Children of an alcoholic are up to eight times more lightly to become
alcoholics than are the children of a non-alcoholic.
Sheryl goes on to say that we are at the present time seeing people
addicted to all kinds of stimuli: social media, food binging, shopping,
gambling as well as alcoholism excessive exercise practices, drugs pills
etc. All are symptoms of an unhappy state within a person and an
inability to recognize in some cases that they are using any repetitive
form of behavior as an escape.
Sheryl says , “Addiction unhappiness suicides and a general social
decline is at an all time high worldwide. The real problem begins with
not teaching our children an awareness of Universal Laws of Energy and a
metaphysical approach to understanding our spiritual as well as our
physical life needs. Sheryl goes on to share that our culture promotes
violence, abuse, and the theme that we are entitled to everything we
desire or immediate gratification. We are encouraged to believe this as
we see this on television, in the movies, in our music, and social media
and it is an unrealistic approach to finding happiness as it implies the
outside world is what brings happiness and the truth is happiness comes
from within with a greater love for Self and Life and workable
sustainable values.
There are only two emotions in life and everything else falls into one
of the two categories…Fear and Love. Encouraging people to assess their
choices by seeing which side of the equation they are in at the moment,
as the body soul and mind are in a continual state always moving from
fear or unhappiness to love and happiness. Awareness and consciousness
of what is truly good for us as souls is what is needed more than ever
during these challenging changing times.
The media is busy now talking about Toxic Masculinity and looking to
blame an entire group or half of the world population for the problems
we are experiencing now. But that is a truly unrealistic way to correct
what really is destroying our society…Economic and social injustice and
not learning tolerance of all people as they are, not as we expect them
to be. Looking to use labels to find answers to problems is ineffective.
We cannot simply talk about these problems but must discover and find
our way to wholeness, pass addiction, hatred, judgment and negativity.
KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH ARE THE WAY.
Let think about the differences of similarities between alcohol and drug
use and abuse. We refer to both addiction and alcoholism which in
reality are the same thing. The disease of addiction uses both drugs and
alcohol to hook people. So, when we say either drugs or alcohol we mean
both. That includes illegal substances such as heroin and legal
substances you see advertised such as beer.
The brain of an addict does not care whether drugs or alcohol are
entering the addicts system. To your brain alcohol is a drug and drugs
are alcohol. For addiction, are drugs different than alcohol and the
answer is NO! An alcoholic dad is not different from a drug addict
living on the street. A woman hiding bottles of vodka is no different
than a man concealing his cocaine. For years Marc justified his
alcoholism by saying he never did drugs, yet he ended up in the same
rehab as heroin addicts. Whether a person’s drug of choice is heroine or
beer, anyone who is unable to stop using the substance is an addict.
Marc writes, “I know addicts who take only pills prescribed by doctor
and never drank alcohol, and has known addicts who only smoke marijuana
: they avoid beer. Yet they all ended up in the same place. An alcoholic
can easily transfer his addition to heroin because his brain treats both
substances the same way. To your brain, alcohol is a drug and drugs are
alcohol. So if your mom is taking too many pain pills, or your dad is
drinking too many beers, they might both be addicted.
Marc tells us that when we think of alcoholics or addicts we tend to
think of people whose lives are unproductive people who live on the
edges of society yet many alcoholics and addicts are talented
intelligent people and can still be successful while drinking yet still
they pay a price for diminishing their energy and often not feeling
their optimum best. It is indeed very common and often people work and
socialize with others having the same addictive issues, so it is denied,
overlooked, rationalized, and people function on the fringe of well
being not fully present happy or living their full potential for a well
balanced joyful life experience. It may be managed like many diseases,
but never truly understood or allowing for full disclosure.
It must be know that some people have a genetic predisposition to
substance abuse and others don’t. How and when do we know we have that
gene and what should be done in that case? Even without being tested for
the gene if you are in a family with a mother father sister uncle aunt
grandparent who has had an addictive lifestyle, it would be wise to
think you could have the predisposition or gene and simply never start
with any abusive substance including marijuana, cocaine, opiates,
heroin, beer, wine, liquor, crack, Benzoes, valium, or crystal meth,
bath salts, or other synthetic drugs It’s all poison
So if your mother father aunt uncle grandparent or great grandparents is
or was an alcoholic or drug addict you most likely carry the same
predispositions for the disease.
This means you have two choices:
use drugs or alcohol and potentially become an addict or
never use alcohol or drugs and keep the disease away
I guess there is no specific age but you could start talking about it
before a party or an occasion where people are drinking. Children are
very observant and might notice how loud or unpleasant a person who is
drinking becomes. Marc says after going through a 28 day program at
rehab, I wish I had known about this when I was young. What if during my
college years I’d been told that I had a fatal disease and couldn’t
drink alcohol like a normal college student. What if I had known that
this disease was easy to avoid? And what about the rest of my family?
What if my sister and cousins had been informed that youthful
experimentation with drugs or alcohol would lead them to a lifetime
struggle with addiction.
Sheryl goes on to tell Marc that she has heard President Trump on
several occasions say that he has never had an alcoholic drink. It seems
his older brother died from addiction alcoholism and other mitigating
factors and he told Donald never ever take a drink. Perhaps he
understood the disease and that there was a genetic predisposition to
becoming an alcoholic. President Trump may drink Diet Coke but not
alcohol.
It may get easier to get kids to communicate with parents by doing
certain activities together. Perhaps watching television or a movie that
shows a family struggling with addiction divorce financial problems can
open up a pathway for some healthy talk. Listening to your children’s
concerns and observing when they are challenged or struggling with
understanding daily events or even tragic events.
Sheryl says, Recently there were two young fathers in my daughter’s
community that committed suicide. A sad time indeed for the families and
community, but also a good time for an open truthful talk of the
conditions affecting us all in these changing challenging times. A way
to teach your children that they can and must ask for help…Everyone can
find help for their problems.
It bears repeating : non-addicts can drink alcohol and not become
alcoholics. People with alcoholism in their genes do not have this
luxury. One drink too many in high school or college could turn you into
an alcoholic forever. But your predisposition genetically may not turn
into a full blown disease. You have the control and now you have the
knowledge.
There are signs for kids or parents to see a problem at home. Lianna
writes “During the years of my dad’s drinking my parents would often
fight. The words they would scream at each other would replay for hours
in my head and the sounds would echo in my mind until I fell asleep. I
would often pray that my parents would find happiness and that God would
blanket our house with His care and make the fighting stop.”
Sheryl says other signs to take note of would be to see how many bottles
were accumulating or disappearing, or if your parents seemed more tired
and unable to do their normal activities. Sleeping more, less care in
taking care of themselves, or the house, not paying attention to the
responsibilities they have, or attending important family or work events
are all signs that something is amiss.
Some of the ways you may tell if a member of your family is an addicted
to alcohol or drugs.
Do your parents fight about the amount of alcohol or drugs one or both
of them use.
Does either of your parents drink or use drugs every day?
Has either of your parents been arrested for driving under the influence
also called a DUI?
Has your mom or dad lost a job because of drug or alcohol use?
Does your parent’s drinking or drug use result in odd or bizarre
behavior.
Identifying an addict in your family tree will help you understand the
disease you may face.
We are watching now as marijuana is being legalized in many states. Marc
and Sheryl are truly disturbed by how politicians are fueling and
pushing laws to legalize recreational use of this drug. Marc tells us
that only today a new study shows that marijuana diminishes cognitive
function and a loss of intellect or IQ points in our young people whose
brains are still maturing until the age of twenty five.
Marc addressed this situation by saying our country is in the midst of a
troubling trend of legalizing marijuana and on January 1, 2018
California became the latest state to make recreational use or marijuana
legal along with Oregon Washington Colorado and Nevada and virtually to
use this drug in the same way as alcohol is used. Sheryl says, ”I am
seriously disheartened to see the way local states are using this to
provide money. It is obvious they have no understanding of easy it is
for our children to become addicts and how these substances act
differently in the brains of one predisposed to becoming an addict.
Marijuana will only serve to be a gateway drug to other addictive
substances.
Marc agrees with Sheryl that making marijuana legal is a horrifying idea
for our children and non productive for our nation, and in the end will
continue to cost us more to combat the opiod and drug crisis. There is a
massive amount of power and wealth behind this legalization effort, but
like other attempts to control populations this effort is consistently
incompatible with the well-being of our society. According to Arcview
Market Research’s 2017 report legal sales of marijuana are expected to
surpass $22 billion by 2020..suntan production in 2016 was only 1.6
billion…The increase in profits is all that matters here.
Here are a few legitimate statistics to bear in mind:
In Colorado the Colorado Children’s Hospital saw a 400% increase in
marijuana intoxicated teenagers after legalization
The US Government via its National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2013
found that people addicted to marijuana are 300 % more likely to become
addicted to heroin than those not addicted to marijuana
Yale researchers found that individuals who used marijuana in the past
were 250% more likely to abuse prescription pills than those who had not
used marijuana
There are many more examples of statistics showing the damaging effects
of marijuana
Marijuana has a few similarities to alcohol one being that tolerance are
built up over time for heavy users. The alcoholic and marijuana addicts
must use more and more of the substance to achieve the same results over
time.
Marijuana is absolutely addictive and is the “ambition killer” in
people. In a socialized society like the Far Left Radical political left
is pushing for a disengaged and dying population would make perfect
sense. Getting high and chilling out is actually the death of creation
and positive life styles. We cannot allow government corporate interests
or the stagnant status quo leadership try to guide us to more control
over all areas of our life in the pursuit of making more profits. We
need an alert and educated population to protect our Republic and
democratic way of life.
It is clear to anyone who has a love of life our country and young
people that this push for the legalization of marijuana gambling or any
dysfunctional activity is making money for the rich and a detriment to
middle class society. It must be stopped.
Parents must work to create an environment where competition and
parental expectations do not overwhelm their children and help our
children explore what they need to create happiness self esteem and self
confidence.
Sheryl writes in her book The Living Spirit “When asked, “How can I find
peace and happiness in my life? This is the answer I give them: Before
there can be peace and happiness in a person’s life and in the world,
every person must be responsible to do their own work about
acknowledging what needs to change within their attitudes or actions so
that they may better relate to the outer world. Finding true happiness
and joy is the natural outcome of self-investigation. There are no
shortcuts. No one can make you happy or unhappy unless you give them the
power to do that by surrendering or giving your own power away.” Marc
tells Sheryl that thought is a strong message of AA and any rehab
program..
Marc and his daughter Lianna suggest some tools or practices for raising
an emotionally healthy child. Have them engage in healthy activities:
sports, clubs, reading, family events, working for charities. And simply
talking to you and you asking them personal open ended questions…Really
listen beyond the words while watching body language and what makes them
change moods. Respect their opinions and if you can suggest other ways
of doing or perceiving events discuss that but don’t diminish their
feelings. Setting a good example by your own behavior is a must and
getting professional help if you see your child or any member of your
family or friends is running into trouble. Be very aware of limiting
time on social media and pay attention to theirr friends and the
families where they spend time. You probably don’t want them with people
who you know are alcoholics or show other addictive problematic
behaviors.
According to the CDC our children are starting to abuse alcohol as early
as age 8 and the stats on young driver alcohol related deaths are
staggering. So why knowing this, is the country now set on a course to
make marijuana for recreational use legal. Sheryl says she has actually
spoken to many parents who feel it’s better than alcohol for their
children. They are so unaware of the consequences and problems. They are
just being feed talking points by the media and or political pendants.
Once there is an addiction problem the best solution is to begin
discussions and find a rehab program and counselor. Marc says in his
research he has discovered that addict families are less likely to
discuss serious issues than non-addict families are. Addict families
tend to bottle up emotions and often treat family issues with a “better
off not spoken” about attitude. But the reality is with drugs and
alcohol as available as they are these days and with so many
dysfunctional families, a conversation about the dangers inherent in
them is absolutely necessary. The average American child begins drinking
in middle school The conversation should start before that.
Marc would want readers to take away with them after reading your new
book Alcohol Drugs and You-A Young Person’s Guide to Avoiding Addiction
that there are four stages of alcoholism and other addictions. Addiction
is a progressive disease In other words over time it gets worse not
better. Alcoholics do not grow out of it.
The stages are:
Experimentation/Adaptive Stage This often begins in the teenage years
Dependence People feel a physical and mental need to drink or use drugs.
They plan their social events around drugs/alcohol
Progression People lose control of their urges drinking more and more
frequently. Parents may neglect their children and make excuses In this
stage it is very common for a person to lose their job get arrested or
get divorced.
Final Stage People who have not had help always end up going to jail,
living in a mental institution or dying. They cannot function without
the daily consumption of their drug of choice. People in this stage
often suffer permanent damage to parts of their body such as their liver
stomachs lungs and brains.
Sheryl thanks Marc and Lianna Treitler for working to help others to
avoid falling into a lifetime trap of alcoholism or any other addiction
by beginning to recognize the behaviors and lifestyle that foster such
action. We learn that everyone is constantly moving from the negative
feelings of fear anxiety pain to the positive spectrum of life joy
happiness and positivity and every interaction and event lead us to be
part of that dynamic. When in pain and negative emotional states a
person is susceptible to finding relief and that is how an addiction is
born. A more open minded and open hearted approach to loving your
children and life are the ways for better communication and
understanding of individual needs which must be observed and then
respected.
In summarizing today’s episode of “Healing from Within” we have touched
on a very serious concern in modern day American Society. In a world
where materialism and success is measured in monetary and socially
accepted ways to relate to the world, our children are losing bits and
pieces of their innate energetic or soul essence which naturally knows
that, life is good, and individual development of our personal needs is
necessary to bring joy positivity and success on a multi-dimensional
level, spiritual and physical world realty. We say we want our children
to be happy, but then expose them to conditions, rules, and our
expectations for choosing friends, hobbies, work situations, and even
how they spend their quiet free time. In other words our children are
either living with parents who monitor their every action, and control
their very thoughts, or living with parents who have their own societal
and emotional distresses, and are not present at all. It is in helping
all our citizens understand the nature of Life, and how to create a
better life by becoming aware of their thoughts actions and behaviors,
that we may begin to understand how our emotional well being is the key
to avoiding or conquering addictive behavior. It all begins with
education and our values, including an acceptance of people,and allowing
each of us to find our own path forward without so much judgment and
restriction.
Marc Lianna and I would hope you know that no matter how challenging
your situation or problem may be, the first step on the road to knowing
yourself and loving life begins with asking questions, observing
patterns, building self-confidence, self-love, and asking for help when
needed. Before you know it, life improves and there is a way past the
darkness to light.
Today’s Guest