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It was during the late 1980s, having been employed as an ironworker for 25 years, that I began to develop both physical and mental stress. Also, during this period, my parents' poor health declined. I thought retiring would be the answer; the problem was that while I had enough years of service, I did not have the required age. Two years later, under an enormous amount of stress, I finally retired on disability. In the interim, both my parents had passed away.

I started experiencing intense and debilitating physical symptoms. I didn't know why, but what I did know was that I was more nervous than ever. This nervousness brought on difficulty breathing, my stomach was upset and I felt a lot of pain in my side. Were I to go out and be with people, would they notice how I was? This thought only increased my symptoms, so eventually I avoided going out.

My life was changing rapidly. Going to church was an ordeal and traveling on buses, trains and planes, going too far away from home was out of the question.

I began thinking if this was the way I have to live, maybe life wasn't worth living. These thoughts terrified me to no end. How could I end my life when I have a family, a wife and kids; what about them? I felt there was no way out. How would I survive?

Desperate for relief, but undecided about whether to consult a medical doctor or therapist, I scheduled an appointment with both. My family doctor couldn't find anything wrong physically and advised that it was probably my nerves that were causing my symptoms. The psychotherapist confirmed the same thing, recommending therapy sessions and a referral to a psychiatrist, so that medication could be prescribed.

Eventually, I began to feel some relief. Then one day a cousin told me about a self-help organization that she had consulted several years ago when she had started to undergo panic attacks and had difficulties functioning on a daily basis. She asserted, "Of all the doctors I went to and all the medication I took, the one thing that helped me the most was Recovery, Inc."

I decided to try it out. I attended several meetings in my neighborhood and heard people describe similar experiences with nervous symptoms. It was incredible to hear how life had changed so dramatically for them once they found Recovery, Inc. People who once could not leave their homes, who stayed in bed most of the time, who were hospitalized on more than one occasion and had even attempted suicide, had all gotten well. I thought if they could do it, so could I.

Determined that this was the program for me, I continued to attend meetings regularly, studying and learning what was known as the Recovery "method." More important than just knowing the method was to practice it. Of course, when you attempt to do something that you fear and hate to do, you most certainly will be uncomfortable. But the Recovery method taught us that our health improved by the amount of discomfort we were willing to bear. By understanding that our symptoms are distressing, but not dangerous, and that the things we fear and hate to do are the everyday things that the average person does, many of us turned what was once a vicious cycle of helplessness and hopelessness into a vitalizing cycle of self-confidence.

Since, like me, so many individuals first learn of Recovery, Inc. through word-of-mouth, it is surprising to discover that this self-help organization based in Chicago, Illinois, has existed since l937. Approximately 700 free, weekly, community-based group fellowship meetings are administered throughout the United Sates and abroad, including 30 groups right here in New York City.

The founder of Recovery, Inc. and its unique results-oriented method was the late Dr. Abraham A. Low, an accomplished and successful neuropsychiatrist. With psychoanalysis, Dr. Low found that many of his patients improved, but soon thereafter relapsed and were hospitalized. Traditional psychoanalysis proved to be both a time consuming process and a heavy financial burden for many patients.

Frustrated and desiring to do more to help his patients, Dr. Low carefully formulated the simple Recovery method of will training (which employed what was later identified as a cognitive behavioral approach) to achieve emotional and mental health. Realizing that most of his patients routinely suffered distressing symptoms, he taught that they could, in fact, continue to function by accepting their symptoms as merely distressing, but not dangerous.

The language and behavior of the patients changed as they learned to practice disciplined control of their defeatist thinking and undesirable impulses. Diligent application of the Recovery method demonstrated that patients could successfully overcome their difficulties by better managing their fears, tempers and symptoms.

Many of Dr. Low's former patients, who participated in the early stages of the program and improved, urged him to expand the program into the community, so that many others could benefit.

Soon after discovering Recover, Inc. in 1990, my mental health progressed and I began to feel better. I committed to further involvement with the organization, grateful that I had received such invaluable help in restoring my life to peacefulness. I undertook leadership training, volunteering my time to do whatever I could to help all those out there suffering needlessly and quietly as I had been. I have since opened three Recovery groups in Brooklyn and continue to work tirelessly to identify prospective leaders within our groups to open more groups.

As of January 2002, I became the Area Leader for New York City. My goal is to open as many doors as I can to reach out to both consumers and the professional community along with other volunteer, non-profit mental health organizations. As Dr. Low stated in his book, Manage Your Fears, Manage Your Anger, "Mine is a voice crying in the wilderness, except in recovery. And it is unfortunate that it is so, because outside, in the wilderness of cities and towns, I call this an oasis, and the other a wilderness."

Recovery is taking place in your community, even in the heart of your large cities and towns. For information on a group in the New York City area, please call (718) 241-2220 or on the Internet www.recovery-inc.org. Outside of NYC, please call (312) 337-5661.