“Who are you?” – Lyrics, The Who
Alcoholics Anonymous addresses THE DISEASE OF ALCOHOLISM (or addiction) and outlines the most successful approach to recovery – twelve steps - an elegant little formula to take responsibility for one’s actions, stop blaming, and begin to make oneself useful, while also aligning oneself with the Divine Forces, AKA God’s will or fate. This is summarized as, “Clean house. Trust God. Help others.” The AA recovery community embraces the newcomer with the slogan “let us love you until you love yourself.” It is understood that the alcoholic is dealing with a chronic condition, requiring ongoing treatment and support – provided by lifelong AA membership. Some alcoholics achieve sobriety and begin a new life as they follow the suggested twelve-step program. So far, so good.
An estimated 85% of addicts suffer from CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS – having survived emotional trauma in childhood, such as neglect, abandonment, death, sexual and emotional abuse, and/or violence. They never had the chance to develop an integrated sense of self – forever looking on the outside to fix them. Also, about 85% of addicts experience personality disorders, depression, consistent anxiety, PTSD, or other overwhelming emotional states or intrusive thought processes, struggle with an anger problem or other difficulties with relationships – AND THIS IS WHY many addicts relapse in spite of their best efforts, finding it impossible to maintain sobriety with AA alone.
EARLY RECOVERY can be stressful when the addict becomes overwhelmed with troubling thought content and high-intensity desires and aversions. Flooded by feelings he doesn’t understand, he may try to self-medicate. This can trigger a regression, a return to fragmentation, and he would lose interest in getting better - and shift to process addictions, such as sex & love addiction, eating disorders, thrill seeking, gambling, shopping, or relapse with substances (street drugs or prescription) etc. A survivor of child abuse typically lacks self-love and self-care and proceeds to re-traumatize himself during a life-style of suffering and agitation. It’s just what he knows.
This is where INPATIENT TREATMENT comes in. Peer support, psychotherapy, counseling, guidance, psycho-education, and safety within a stabilizing structured environment for 90 days minimum is a known time frame for change of habitual behavior patterns. In residential treatment the addict is protected from himself and his own self-destructive behaviors. On a practical level it is about establishing and practicing new habits, while also developing endurance – a solid foundation for ongoing recovery.
PSYCHOTHERAPY is about developing a sense of self and discovering one’s truth in the presence of another person who kindly “holds up a mirror.” The therapist provides a “safe holding environment” for a “corrective emotional experience” to take place. The relationship itself is the main aspect for healing to occur – a kind of re-parenting, where trust, continuity, and accountability are established. The patient gets to be seen, heard, and understood, knowing that his thoughts and feelings do matter. It’s about becoming known and learning to trust within the therapeutic alliance. Dysfunctional thought patterns are gradually replaced by insight and good judgment. The patient develops impulse control, while new neuronal connections are established in the brain – it’s a process of mental transformation. Evidently, such processes take time. If the patient is ready and the therapeutic relationship sustainable, emotional injuries can be processed and the psyche can (eventually) become whole.
A GOOD THERAPIST becomes irreplaceable, just like a friend or family member (although one eventually outgrows the therapist). Such a therapist has the function of a healer, confidant, priest, rabbi, or shaman. He carries hope that healing is possible, that the patient is not fundamentally broken, in spite of everything that happened, in spite of guilt and shame over unspeakable experiences and actions – and that the patient deserves to stand up for himself and set boundaries when necessary. While the time frame in residential treatment is necessarily limited and solution-focused, psychotherapy can make the metamorphosis possible. Otherwise, some addicts turn around, back into the swamp. It happens.
“We must work through our story, before the unresolved elements of our story kill us" -
quote, Jeff Brown
Jasmin Rogg at www.voiceofrecovery.blogspot.com