When can I expect the cravings to go away? When would an addict start actually feeling relief or I guess when does it become less of a struggle and more about living life? How long does that take.

Charlene: I think that’s different for every person. Unfortunately I would love to be able to wave a magic wand and say 30 days or 60 days but it’s a different answer for every person. My belief in my experience in working with a lot of these addicts is that the ones that really throw themselves in, really engage, come to therapy, go to a support group, do the homework assignments that are given, really put recovering as a priority very quickly get relief.

Basically you’re taking the addiction out. You’re taking the sex out. You’re taking the fantasy, whatever it is that they’re doing, out but you’re substituting it with all this other stuff. With therapy. With 12-step. With love. With compassion. It’s almost like you come into treatment and we talk about what are the things that you’re going to abstain from and you’re left, I’ll use the example of a doughnut, with a hole inside.

Then I start giving you some tools and you start getting some tools when you go to 12-step support groups and just different areas and you start putting all these tools in that hole and you start feeling better so you don’t really experience as much craving.