Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit" - used in therapeutic group as a reminder of what not to do.

Jefferson Airplane: “White Rabbit”                                     (1)

Lyrics:

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all

Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

(Source: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/White-Rabbit-lyrics-Jefferson-Airplane/7109AE560A05F54748256BF40008120A)

Drug & Alcohol Music - Once Used in Therapeutic Recovery Group 'A.B...Z of Making Changes'

Rolling Stones – Sister Morphine                                             (4)

Lyrics

Here I lie in my hospital bed
Tell me, sister morphine, when are you coming round again?
Oh, I don't think I can wait that long
Oh, you see that Im not that strong

The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ears
Tell me, sister morphine, how long have I been lying here?
What am I doing in this place?
Why does the doctor have no face?

Oh, I can't crawl across the floor
Ah, can't you see, sister morphine, Im trying to score

Well it just goes to show
Things are not what they seem
Please, sister morphine, turn my nightmares into dreams
Oh, can't you see Im fading fast?
And that this shot will be my last

Sweet cousin cocaine, lay your cool cool hand on my head
Ah, come on, sister morphine, you better make up my bed
Cause you know and I know in the morning I'll be dead
Yeah, and you can sit around, yeah and you can watch all the
Clean white sheets stained red.

(Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rollingstones/sistermorphine.html)

Drug & Alcohol Music - Once Used in Therapeutic Recovery Group 'A.B...Z of Making Changes'

(Album – When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold)

(Atmosphere)

[27]           Lyrics – “Your Glasshouse”

Woke up to that familiar feeling,
Starin' at an unfamiliar ceiling.
Still got your jeans on, but you're topless,
Headache and the stomach feels nauseous.
Grab your shirt off the bedroom floor,
Recollect the night before.
How'd ya get from the bar to this matress,
And when ya got here then what happened?
And where's the who that lives here,
In this house wanna figure out how'd ya get here
But the though got cut by nature,
Find the bathroom the gut got anger
Here it comes can't avoid it,
Ain't the first time throwin up in this strange toilet.
Anyone else would leave,
But you, you crawled back to the bed and fell back asleep.

[Chorus]
All we need is "because"!
Come and party with us!
Take care of you when your passed out,
Right there with you in your glass house.

All we need is "because"!
Come and party with us!
Take care of you when your passed out,
Right there with you in your glass house.


Woke up all alone with no friends,
But you had to throw up again.
Choke up the tears and the spit,
Grab some tissue to wipe off your lips.
And everything still spins,
And then the chills begin and then the
"God, please kill me, right now" hits,
And you still don't know whos house this is.
In between left over dry-heaves,
Your trying to check out your time piece
And you should call your job
But first gotta turn this hangover off
You dream that it's just a dream,
Until the phone in your pocket starts to scream
Shut it down, don't wanna hear a sound,
Heavy as the head that wears that crown now.

[Chorus]
All we need is "because"!
Come and party with us!
Take care of you when your passed out,
Right there with you in your glass house.

All we need is "because"!
Come and party with us!
Take care of you when your passed out,
Right there with you in your glass house.

Hangover ain't a strong enough word,
It don't describe what just occurred.
Lookin' at a phone full of missed calls,
Probably all the people that you pissed off.
Everything seems so sour,
So you forced yourself into the shower.
Standin' up brings out the stars,
And the whole bathroom smells just like a dive bar.
Can't do it, better sit,
And let the tub be the catchers mitt.
Lay down face down,
Thank god whoever lives here ain't around.
Now what you need is silence,
And you don't want no one to see you like this.
Maybe you don't recognize it,
But this is your home this is where your life lives.

[Chorus]
All we need is "because"!
Come and party with us!
Take care of you when your passed out,
Right there with you in your glass house.

All we need is "because"!
Come and party with us!
Take care of you when your passed out,
Right there with you in your glass house.

(Source: http://www.metrolyrics.com/your-glasshouse-lyrics-atmosphere.html)

Gabor Mate - The Hungry Ghost - The Biopsychosocial Perspective of Addic...

Dr Gabor Mate - as a Medical practitioner is it brilliant to hear him acknowledge the role of Western medicine and believes and outlines the broader realms of what can in the human being facilitate an addiction. He is not stuck in the medical model and explores and acknowledges the other realms of the human psyche to the development of addiction.

“Post-Traumatic Growth” — Three Words Every Depressed Person Should Hear | Leveraging Adversity

An interesting article on how we can react depressively to traumatic events within our lives in the initial stages but through trauma we can attain new meaning(s) in life. However, be assured it may not be experienced or feel that way during the dark time of the trauma - it may seem like the opposite - hell and no light at the end of the tunnel. 



Whilst the definition of trauma used in the article is, "anything that either causes a person to fear for his/her life, or the life of anyone else, or anything that causes a person to become emotionally overwhelmed" (Claire Dorotik-Nana). However, trauma is not necessarily generic and each individual experiences trauma differently. The loss of a relationship, the loss of employment or such events that causes a person to become emotionally overwhelmed. 



One of the terms used in the article, "illusory growth" - 'everything is great when the reality is different' -  is a strong defence mechanism I experience in working with men in coming to terms with trauma in their lives. Examples are, "she'll be right", "it's all good" are not uncommon responses in their therapeutic process. Whilst the defence mechanism is necessary it may and can serve to prevent positive self development as defined by Tedeshi and Calhoun. 



Learning to process trauma is important to our psychological growth and self efficacy. To sight the quote from Dorotik-Nana; According to Richard Tedeshi and Lawrence Calhoun, authors of, The Handbook of Post-Traumatic Growth: Research and Practice, “The struggle to find new meaning in the aftermath of the trauma is crucial to positive psychological growth, as well as the acceptance that personal distress and growth can co-exist, and often do, while these new meanings are crafted” (Tedeshi &Calhoun, 2004).



Whilst working through trauma is extremely painful and all of our defense mechanism want to kick in to protect us - Dorotik-Nana suggests the five positive realms of post traumatic growth being. To quote: 



- "A greater appreciation for life;

- An openness to new possibilities;

- A greater sense of personal strength;

- A deepening of relationships;

- A deepening of spirituality"

As we drag ourselves out of the darkness and pain of trauma - life does present itself with renewed possibilities or perhaps we are more open to attract such possibilities and deepening of relationships with ourselves and other



“Post-Traumatic Growth” — Three Words Every Depressed Person Should Hear | Leveraging Adversity

Why We Justify Regrettable Actions: A Psychological Perspective | Healing Together for Couples

An interesting article on why we appear to have a need to self justify even when the evidence highlights clearly the error. The process is defined as cognitive dissonance - how we move past it is in accepting our mistakes and use them as tools for self growth. The need to self justify can be a significant trait to help us maintain some self efficacy - however how authentic is this self efficacy? The shame of a mistake in thought, deed or action - is meeting some inner need - being authentic to that need - will mitigate the ongoing need to self justify.





Why We Justify Regrettable Actions: A Psychological Perspective | Healing Together for Couples