This is Frank when he was young and fresh out of boot. Not a bad picture. Here's Frank a few years later on the all-army boxing team.
Frank the Tank was one of the strongest and steadiest guys around. When he got out of the service, Frank used his strength to help others. Building homes for fellow vets, serving as a scout leader, and being a rock-solid husband, father, and later, grandfather.
But while Frank is always strong on the outside, Lately, he hasn't been feeling so strong on the inside. His aches and pains and trips to the doctors have been adding up. He's down on his life and decisions he's made. To help get by, he's turned to drinking more often and has picked up smoking weed more too. At work, Frank hasn't been focused.
After showing up late three times last week, his foreman let him go. Feeling hopeless, Frank went straight to that dive on Wilson Ave. The final round.
Over the next week, with nowhere to be, he drank his thoughts and days away. Frank's wife, Ruth, was worried. She asked him to cut back, but no dice. Frank's been spending more time with old granddad than being a granddad. At his annual checkup, old Dr. Stevens, the former Navy doc, right away saw that Frank wasn't himself.
Frank told him about work. and drinking to take his mind off things. Dr. Stevens said he was concerned and helped Frank see he needed to turn things around. He told Frank about a proven treatment called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, for substance use disorders that's helped many people like Frank. It's based on years of research that shows that substance use problems are related to negative or extreme thoughts people have about themselves or situations.
They're also related... to certain behaviors. Many people turn to alcohol or other drugs to help them cope with difficult thoughts and feelings. CBT for substance use disorders addresses these issues head-on. First, it teaches skills for managing urges to use alcohol or other drugs.
In treatment, people identify and manage triggers like people, places, or thoughts that make them want to use. Second, it teaches skills for refusing substances. And third, It teaches skills for addressing problems related to substance use, like managing negative emotions, solving problems, and improving social support.
And it works in about 12 sessions. Frank never thought talking about his problems would help, but this sounded different. He liked that CBT has helped other vets, and that it focuses not just on not using, but on skills for tackling the problems leading him to use in the first place. He told old Doc Stevens, He'd meet with a therapist to learn more. Find out more about CBT for substance use disorders and see how things turned out for Frank in treatment at treatmentworksforvets.org.