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READ THESE PERSONAL TESTIMONIES FROM DR. BUTKINS' CLIENTS

"Dr. Butkins played an integral part in my recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. He provided me with knowledge about the disease of addiction and taught me how to overcome the triggers that would lead me to go out and use or drink. Dr. Butkins is a very knowledgeable, respectable, and professional counselor. He truly cares for his clients and you can tell from the minute you first meet him that he is a man who has genuine concern for the addict and is willing to do what it takes to help you. I am forever grateful to Dr. Butkins for teaching and giving me the tools necessary to maintain my recovery from alcohol and substance abuse." John - Orlando, FL January 2009

“I met Dr. Butkins when I went to a counseling session with my alcoholic husband about 2.5 years ago. He is a highly skilled professional and is very knowledgeable on the disease of alcoholism and its affect upon the families of alcoholics. When we met, I was sick with worry and fear, angry, and unhappy. Living each day in fear of what awful thing would happen next, both my mental and physical health were beginning to suffer. When my husband went off to a rehabilitation center, I continued to see Dr. Butkins. As he challenged my thinking and attitudes and encouraged me to recognize and deal with my feelings, my mind began to open and allow me to look at life situations and the disease of alcoholism in ways that would never have occurred to me on my own. He sent me to Al-Anon where I found other people affected by a loved one’s alcoholism that were working the 12 Steps and willing to help me in my recovery. Today, there is less worry and fear in my life and more serenity. I know that Dr. Butkins’ skill, wisdom, and compassion guided me to this better way of living. I will be forever grateful.” Karen, Lake Mary, Florida

"Dr. Pete probably saved my life 7 months ago when I came to him in October, 2005. He has a great talent in evaluating problems and making you aware of them. He has helped me turn my life around and helped me see things about myself that I have been able to work on; he also helped me help others. It is the best money I have spent in many years. Thank you for being there for me." Richard A. March, 2006

"Dr. Butkins has been treating me since I was in middle school; later on at 19, (he helped me again) I had to see someone I felt comfortable with. He talks to me like a friend, not a doctor. I choose him over any other (counselor) because I look forward to seeing him; he’s just like one of my own friends. He’s very real, but not in your face;he doesn’t sugarcoat, but he’s very understanding and kind. He will help you make progress through anything and leave you feeling better than when you came in."
Jerry K. April 2006

"Dr. Butkins is the best thing that ever happened to me. I would have been dead a long time ago if it were not for him. I drank way too much and wanted to die. He has brought me through a lot; because of him I can handle anything and I love myself today." Janie D. April, 2006

"Dr. Peter Butkins has provided much needed support and direction during emotional turmoil in my life."
Ken H. - Longwood, FL April, 2006

"Dr. Butkins is an amazing guy. He has helped me so very much. When I first came to him I was ready to give up on life. With his help and guidance I pulled myself up. I’m now accepting a full paid scholarship to Stetson. Dr. Butkins saved my life. Thanks for everything." Ann A. - Orlando, FL April, 2006

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Glossary

Glossary of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse/Addiction Terms

There are 225 entries in this glossary.

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Term	Definition
Drunkalogue	Drunkalogue is an oft-repeated presentation of one’s drinking career. Such presentations are known for their rote delivery and for the grandiosity they often contain. While drunkalogues seem to serve a recovery maintenance function for some individuals, the negative aspects of the drunkalogue (wallowing in the “what we were like” phase of one’s story) have led groups (e.g., LifeRing Secular Recovery) to promote “soberlogues” as an alternative: a presentation that focuses on one’s current life in sobriety rather than in the past (Handbook of Secular Recovery, 1999, p. 31). It is important, however, not to underestimate the therapeutic functions (problem acceptance, identity affirmation, recommitment) that such periodic recounting serves for some individuals in recovery.
Dry Drunk	Dry Drunk refers to a period of self-imposed abstinence that, minus a broader recovery process, magnifies all of the alcoholic’s character defects, e.g., intolerance, resentment, grandiosity, jealousy, etc. (see Emotional Sobriety, Wellbriety). Dual Recovery (see Serial Recovery)
Eleventh Step Groups	Eleventh Step Groups are organized groups that help A.A. members who share a religious/spiritual commitment pursue continued work on Step Eleven: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Two of the oldest Eleventh Step groups are the Calix Society and Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent People and Significant Others (JACS). Eleventh Step groups exist within A.A., and also exist as adjuncts to A.A. participation (White, 1998). The latter provide an arena to work on the Eleventh Step with others who share one’s religious faith. Emancipation/emancipated (See Freedom from Slavery)
Emotional Sobriety	Emotional Sobriety is a phrase coined by A.A. co-founder Bill Wilson (1958) to describe a state of emotional health that far exceeded simply the achievement of not drinking. Wilson defined emotional sobriety as “real maturity . . . in our relations with ourselves, with our fellows and with God” (see Wellbriety).
Empowerment	Empowerment is the experience of having some power and control over one’s own destiny. Within the recovery context, there are two quite different relationships to power. Among the culturally empowered (those to whom value is ascribed as a birthright), addiction-related erosion of competence is often countered by increased grandiosity and preoccupation with power and control. It should not be surprising then that transformative breakthrough of recovery is marked by a deep experience of surrender and an acceptance of powerlessness. In contrast, the culturally disempowered (those for whom this value has been systematically withheld) are often attracted to psychoactive drugs in their quest for power, only to discover over time that their power has been further diminished. Under these conditions, the initiation of recovery is often marked by the assumption of power and control rather than an abdication or surrender of such power. This point is wellillustrated by the first statement of Women for Sobriety (“I have a life-threatening problem that once had me”), and the “first act of resistance” of the Afrocentric model of recovery pioneered by Rev. Cecil Williams in San Francisco (“I will gain control over my life”). In Williams’ words, “a black person hears the call to powerlessness as one more command to lie down and take it” (1992, p. 9). Similar sentiments can be found in Native adaptations of the Twelve Steps, e.g., Step Two: “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could help us regain control” (Coyhis, 1999). Empowerment is inspiring, horizon-raising, energizing, and galvanizing. The concept of empowerment applies to communities as well as individuals. It posits that the only solution to the problem of addiction in disempowered communities lies within those very communities. Empowerment occurs, in part, when people impacted by addiction cast aside their victimhood and become active players in the healing of themselves, their families and their community (see Hope-based Interventions and Resistance).
Enabling	Enabling in the addiction treatment/recovery arena, the act of “enabling” has come to mean any intervention that, with the intention of helping the alcoholic/addict, inadvertently results in harm to the enabled and the enabler. It is thought that actions that protect the person not yet in recovery from the consequences of his or her drinking/drugging increase the likelihood of continued addiction. The concept led family members and counselors alike to fear accusations that they were “enabling” or had become “enablers.” That fear escalated even further in the late 1980s. At the peak popularity of “codependency,” the most basic acts of human kindness toward others were framed not as evidence of compassion but of psychopathology.
Enmeshed Style	Enmeshed Style (of recovery) refers to the initiation and maintenance of recovery while almost completely sequestered within the culture of recovery. Such enmeshment serves to isolate individuals from the culture of addiction and can also, at least for a time, isolate them from the larger “civilian” (non-addicted, non-recovering) culture.
Evidence-based Practices (EBP)	Evidence-based Practices (EBP) are clinical and service practices that have scientific support for their efficacy (work under ideal conditions) and effectiveness (work under real conditions). Advocacy of evidence-based practice is a commitment to use those approaches that have the best scientific support, and, in areas where research is lacking, a commitment to measure and use outcomes to promote those practices that have the greatest impact on the quality of life of individuals, families and communities. One reviewer offered the observation that the growing preoccupation with EBP marks a shift in focus from subjective experience to objective outcome, raising the possibility that important dimensions of recovery could be lost if healers are transformed into procedural technicians. The concern expressed here is that there may be important aspects of the recovery experience that are not measurable.
Ex-Addict	Ex-Addict is a term that was commonly used in the therapeutic communities of the 1960s and 1970s to refer to those individuals who had successfully recovered from addiction to drugs (usually narcotics). The term is noteworthy in its depiction of the status (identity) of addict in the past tense–something one was but no longer is—in contrast to the ritual selfintroduction in NA, “My name is____ and I’m an addict.” This distinction hinges on the question, “Once addicted, does one ever cease being an addict?” There are recovery frameworks that answer this question very differently (see Recovered/Recovering, Disengaged Recovery, Styles of Recovery).
Excessive Behavior	Excessive Behavior refers to the propensity of those recovering from severe alcohol and other drug problems to experience problems with other excessive behavior, particularly during their early recovery years. Such behaviors include excessive relationships with secondary drugs, work, money, sex, food, risk (e.g., gambling), and religion. Working through this propensity for excessive behavior (even excessive work on recovery) is a normal part of the recovery process, and underscores the importance of such values as harmony and balance in the transition from the early to the middle stages of recovery (White, 1996). Excessiveness may even be an ally in the early recovery process (see Preferred Defense Structure).
Expectancy Factors	Expectancy Factors are one’s view of the future with or without drugs—views that change dramatically in the transition from addiction to recovery. Recovery is marked by changes in addiction expectancies and recovery expectancies. Opportunities for recovery increase when the expected pleasure of drug use diminishes and the perception of the likelihood of incapacitating consequences shifts from a remote possibility to likely and imminent. Recovery opportunities also increase when recovery rewards are seen as significant and immediate (Fiorentine and Hillhouse, 2000; Burman, 1997).
Faith-based Recovery	Faith-based Recovery is the resolution of alcohol and other drug problems within the framework of religious experience, beliefs, and rituals and within the mutual support of a faith community. Faith-based recovery frameworks may serve as adjuncts to traditional recovery support programs or serve as alternatives to such programs.
Family	Family is the inner social network that surrounds the individual experiencing alcohol or other drug problems. In most recovery circles, family is defined more by function than by blood.
Family Illness	Family Illness refers to the way in which all members of the family and the family unit as a whole are wounded by the addiction of one of its members.
Family Recovery	Family Recovery has three dimensions: the healing of individual family members, the healing of family subsystems (adult intimacy needs, parent-child relationships, and sibling relationships), and achieving recovery-conducive boundary transactions with people and institutions outside the family. While the order in which these subsystems heal can vary, family research (Brown and Lewis, 1999) suggests that individual recovery of family members must precede the recovery of the family as a unit (see Trauma of Recovery). Beginning with the founding of Al-Anon in 1951, many recovery mutual aid societies have developed parallel societies to facilitate the recovery of family members impacted by addiction to alcohol and other drugs.