re: Just made my first psychiatric appointment

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3 to 4 fifths a week

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You could save money if you bought handles

Hey man. You know you have a problem. Now you can work on it. Good luck brother.

Prayers man

Congrats on making a great life decision. I respect the heck out of you. Good luck to you!

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As a person who has dealt with substance abuse issues with over 6 years clean now, I'd have to agree with some of the other posters here. I believe instead of calling a psychiatrist first, you should contact an inpatient rehab, or an intensive outpatient (IOP) facility first. The inpatient would mainly be if you need to detox or need a higher level of care and just need to get away from everything for a little bit. The IOP is close to inpatient, as far as groups and stuff would go, but it's usually for people who don't need to detox or for people to continue a high level of care when they get out of inpatient.

Once you get into one of those places, they will usually have their own psychiatrist on staff for you to see, or will evaluate you to see if you even need one. Some psychiatrist also deal with addiction, as often times with addiction, there will be a dual diagnosis (addiction and mental health). The only issue is, most psychiatrist will usually just put you on meds instead of really getting to the root of the problem, or at least as successfully as the other places will be able to. And I'm not saying you won't have a good psychiatrist, but it's often a factor of time and needing a greater level of care.

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I have worked in mental health /substance abuse for over 25 years. You really should pay attention to what was said in this post because it is exactly correct

Good Luck Ill say a prayer for you.

I was a heavy smoker many years ago ( I know not the same but still an addiction) and I decided to quit cold turkey. The day I decided to quit I had a brand new pack with me. I tool a sharpie and wrote on that pack 10/01/2012 this will kill you one day if you stop. I still have that pack, never opened it


Another thing I did was I got an empty water bottle and put $10 in it every day ( what I was paying for smokes). and after 2 years of not smoking and getting into better shape I took the money out and went to Hawaii for 2 weeks. Youre spending at least $100 a week on booze. Pay yourself and use it as a reward when you feel like you have a control of your addiction. Make it a bucket list item

My last drink was in August 2003. My life got much better once I quit.

Best of luck in your journey ahead. It will be challenging but worth the the effort. Don't be afraid to lean on your faith during this process.