I worked for a paralyzed man who taught me how quickly freedom could be taken away. If only my addiction had been willing to listen. 

Relapses don’t start when you pick up. They begin long before, when your mind leads you to a place where you can’t do anything but drink.

In my early twenties, I discovered speed. The affair was short but not at all sweet—unless you count all the Caramello bars.

You've made the decision to go to rehab. You're a mess. Then you realize you need to pack for 28 days. A rehab veteran guides you through the process.

Now that you're sober, it's time to sleep around, shop, guzzle on sugar and find other harmful ways to soothe your psyche. Or you could meditate and get a massage. Meet the good, the bad and the fugly of sober fixes.

Sentenced to 30 days of community service in Los Angeles, Amy Dresner recounts facing up to the consequences of her actions.

Walking away from that two legged dope—how sex addiction rattled my early sobriety.

Finally making a year sober AGAIN after 20 years of relapsing, I wake up to an article telling me I didn't need to be abstinent after all. Not so helpful. A rebuttal from somebody who's been abstinent with and without AA.

I appreciate that this guy died as a result of alcoholism, but only at an AA memorial do people harp on WHY the person died.

I don't care who you are—if you're an addict and you relapse, you deserve our compassion, not our judgement.

Amy Dresner hits the 5th annual Experience, Strength and Hope Awards. Corn nuts, hugs, cheese and sobriety ensue.

Forty years after beginning his work in sex addiction, Dr. Patrick Carnes gave the keynote speech at a Sexual Compulsives Anonymous Convention. The Fix reports.

How am I supposed to find recovery when the meetings themselves trigger me?

One of the dangers of AA is its open door policy. But is rape really a bigger threat in the rooms than it is anywhere else?

People in 12-step communities refer to outsiders as "normies." I dated one. It didn't go so well, but I'm all the stronger for it.

Author Diana Gould shares her inspirations for Coldwater, a story about a detective show writer struggling with alcoholism who gets wrapped up in her own real-life mystery.

Gay rights have come a long way, but sober representation at the recent Gay Pride in LA left something to be desired.

With 20 years of sobriety, comedian Ian Harvie looks back on coming out as a lesbian, then as an alcoholic and then as transitioning into a male body in The Fix Q&A.

My fear was that I would spray this stuff under my tongue and 20 minutes later I’d be listening to The Grateful Dead . . .