Resources

Seven Steps to Taking Responsibility

One of the best ways to stop anger before it starts is to take responsibility for yourself and your behaviour. You can accomplish this by following seven steps:

  1. Make a commitment to change: the first step on the journey is to define the changes you want to make and decide that you’re going to stick with the program and achieve these goals.
  2. Seek relationships and activities that are positive: When you feel good about your life, you will automatically be less negative and angry.
  3. Take care of yourself: Self-care lies at the heart of taking responsibility for yourself. Pay attention to your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.
  4. Broaden your resources and support system: Surround yourself with supportive people who want you to stay sober. Take advantage of the many organized forms of support that are available: individual therapy, group therapy, 12-step programs and so on.
  5. Give yourself permission to say no: Draw clear boundaries, and set limits to protect yourself and your physical, emotional and financial health. Don’t do things just to please others. Otherwise you are likely to feel used, abused, resentful and angry.
  6. Set realistic, reachable goals: Think about what you’ve easily achieved in the past, then set your next goal one step beyond. When you reach this goal, set another one slightly beyond it. Don’t aim for perfection if you haven’t made all the stops along the way. Be sure to pat yourself on the back as soon as you reach each goal.
  7. Let Go: Make peace with yourself concerning situations you can't control, and let them go. This is doubly important if you choose to remain in frustrating situations. Remember that you can only control yourself.

Cage Questionnaire

If you answer yes to two or more of the following questions you may want to seek out further information from Stillwater Treatment Centre.

  1. Have you ever felt the need to cut down on your drug use/drinking?
  2. Have people ever annoyed or criticized you on your drug use/drinking?
  3. Have you ever felt guilty about your drug use/drinking?
  4. Have you ever felt you needed a drug/drinking in the morning to steady your nerves for the day or get rid of a hangover?

The CAGE questionnaire, among other methods, has been extensively validated for use in identifying alcoholism. CAGE is considered a validated screening technique with high levels of sensitivity and specificity. It has been validated via receiver operating characteristic analysis, establishing its ability to screen for problem drinking behaviors.