First, an explanation of the Duffy. The Duffy is the name given to the Counter Conditioning Treatment used here at Schick Shadel and is given to you every other day you are here. You aren't allowed to eat anything 6 hours prior to the Duffy and you must drink at least 2 liters of water, 2 hours prior to the Duffy. During your initial interview process they ask you your drink(s) of preference when you were drinking -- this will be used during the Duffy.
At your appointed time, you are called up to the nurses station and your treatment nurse takes you into the treatment room, which looks like a mini-bar with a wide assortment of alcohol. The nurse sits you in a seat with a large basin in front of you and a big mirror. The nurse then gives you a shot in the arm of some kind of drug to simulate sweating/fever and then gives you a glass of what is basically Ipecac and salt water to drink. After 10mins or so as you wait for the drugs to kick in; you are then given a shot of your drink of choice and instructed to smell it, then drink it. After a few drinks, the typical person starts throwing up like crazy into the basin in front of you, which does not drain. You are then instructed to look at yourself in the mirror as you continue to drink and throw up. After the given number of drinks for the treatment (increases with every duffy: 4 shots, 8 shots, 12 shots, 15 shots, then 20 shots), you are taken back to your room and put in your bed with a towel soaked in alcohol placed by your head. You are then instructed to think about what your alcohol use has caused and to remain in bed, continuing to feel nauseous from the smell of the alcohol soaked rag and ipecac, and throw up in a plastic tub they leave with you. You are required to stay in bed for 3 hours, at which point the ipecac wears off.
That's the Duffy. I will report back on my experience later tonight after I complete it and recover.
This morning was filled mostly with group classes: 3 in total. Of specific interest to me was a small class called Mind Mapping. The main point of this class is the exercise Mind Mapping. For this exercise, you define the main good things you got out of drinking alcohol, then you highlight the top 3. Mine were:
- An escape;
- Relief of stress/anxiety;
- Makes me feel more social in a social environment.
I spent a great deal of time using alcohol as an escape. In fact, this was far and away the primary benefit, or use, I was getting out of alcohol. I thought I was escaping from the pressures of work, stresses in my life, and misc. problems in my life. Something I intend to ask during my sedation treatment tomorrow (The Sleepy) is what I'm trying to escape from. I'll report back what I found out after the treatment.
We then took these three benefits and asked ourselves how we would satisfy these benefits without the use of alcohol. As I looked at using alcohol as an escape and thought about it, I realized that prior to starting to drink alcohol in my early to mid-30s, I did a lot more with my time than I'm doing now. I would do projects around the house, exercise more, do activities with my family, and just kept myself busy. As that point in my life I wasn't drinking at all, but I was doing these things that made me feel good and essentially gave me an escape from the stresses in my job and other problems in my life.
Perhaps tomorrow I will find out something by asking my subconscious mind, during the Sleepy, what I'm trying to escape from. Either way, going forward, I need to develop a game plan for getting back to healthy behaviors that give me that sense of escape from daily life stress and problem.
They definitely give you a lot to think about here during your downtime between treatments.
So; as I wait and prepare for my Duffy this afternoon, I will continue to reflect and pray about these things.
All for now.
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