Steve
Timmer’s Addiction & Recovery Theory
I.
What is addiction, alcoholism, chemical or substance
dependency?
Addiction (Substance dependency) and alcoholism is a
disease of the brain. It is a disease
because it meets the criteria for all diseases:
1.
It is Primary – not the result of another
disease or other factors.
2. It is Chronic – may progress slowly and
subtlety, is constant and lasts for a long period of time.
Other chronic diseases include diabetes, heart disease, emphysema and
arthritis.
3. It is Progressive – left unchecked and
untreated, the dependent person moves from an early stage where the substance
appears helpful and seductive to an uncontrollable craving. Over time, the person’s condition becomes
more severe and mental, physical, emotional and spiritual problems occur.
4. It is eventually Fatal – if the dependent person
continues to abuse her or her substance, the addiction will eventually lead to
a shorter life span. Death may occur due to the following:
a.
Liver, heart,
kidney, pancreas, lung or other organ failure.
b.
Overdose.
c.
Suicide.
d.
Auto, fire, water
or other kind of accident.
II.
What is the cause of addiction or alcoholism?
There is no known specific cause why some people
become addicted and others due not.
However, the vast majority of people have one or most the four basic
reasons for becoming chemically dependent:
1.
Chemical
imbalances in the brain or body,
2.
Past, unresolved
trauma.
3.
Poor coping
skills.
4.
Perceptions and
beliefs that cause the person discomfort, sadness, anger or pain.
Factors such as a family history of alcoholism or
addiction, family dynamics, environmental factors, and head trauma also have a
high correlation with susceptibility to chemical dependence.
III.
What is the cure?
This causes and conditions can be very complex and
subtle. The cure is what has been
driving pharmaceutical companies, medical schools, treatment centers,
psychiatrists, psychologists, addiction physicians, addiction researchers and
therapists for decades. By far, the 12
Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and other 12 step programs
have been the most successful in the treatment of alcoholism and
addiction. Other therapies have also
been shown to be effective, including cognitive behavioral therapies, secular
and religious programs that seek to adjust perceptions and coping skills while
addressing trauma, and some medical therapies.
In an interviewed study, Anne Fletcher, in Sober for Good (Houghton Mifflin,
2001) examined 222 people who had “alcohol problems” and who have abstained
from alcohol for over 20 years. The
following was how each one did it:
Recovery Method
|
No. of People
|
Traditional 12 Steps
|
97
|
Nontraditional Recovery Methods
|
125
|
Sober on their own
|
25
|
Multiple Paths
|
25
|
Secular Organization for Sobriety
(SOS)
|
18
|
Women for Sobriety
|
15
|
SMART Recovery
|
13
|
Went to AA, but quit after some
years
|
12
|
Treatment Center, then on their
own
|
5
|
Religion
|
4
|
Rational Recovery
|
4
|
Psychological Counseling
|
3
|
Moderation Management
|
1
|
As a treatment provider, I look to the
bio-psycho-social assessment and other evidence-based diagnostic tools to create
treatment plans and to help determine the best course of treatment. However, since this paper is my theory of
addiction treatment, I will share with you my fundamental belief on each
individual’s recovery – you do it yourself.
Somehow, some way, you hear the right words or experience the right
experience to find the motivation or to perceive a new way of thinking or
envisioning your world.
I have an aunt who wrote a book called By Monomoy Light, in which she
describes her experience living alone on an island for several months:
Living simple and in solitude is difficult,
admittedly, since it strips you of distraction and defense. You find out the gravest danger you face –
always – is yourself, and that you are your own way out of trouble, the doorway
to your own hard-sought freedom. These
are truths not everyone wants to know.
But they can stay at home.
As for me, I plan to remember Monomoy and face the
really scary business of day-to-day living with purpose and a sense of my own necessity,
as the birds and animals do.
With me I can a page torn out of Crossing Antarctica,
the journal of Will Steger, the leader of a six-man international team that
crossed the vast southern continent on skis and dogsleds – and faced dangers
more tangible and extreme than I probably will ever know. In the long polar night, in the midst of his
expedition of hardships, he recalled the earlier difficult and rewarding times: ‘During the struggle to raise money to go to
the North Pole,’ he writes, ‘we had an ardent supporter in Duluth, Minn., an 85
year old woman named Julia Marshall, whose family owned a hardware story. At a time when we were desperate for cash, I
remember getting a check in the mail from her for $5,000. Accompanying the check was a nearly illegible
note, which took me four or five readings to decipher. It said simply “WE NEED ADVENTURE NOW.”’
And we can have it.
Of course, adventure, like everything else worth
having has its price: I’ve had the discomfort of poison ivy for weeks; I know
what it means to be cold, drenched to the skin, and squirrelly from cabin
fever. But a little risk has its
undeniable payoffs, too; being awakened at midnight by the eerie, lone cry of a
great horned owl; being stopped dead in one’s tracks by a doe diving through
bay berry for cover; finding all vital hungers filled.
Talk about fear.
You could move without love, forget how it feels to live. You could think you were safe – and never
know the danger of deep joy, the pitfalls of beauty, and the passion of being
free. – North Cairn.
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