Three days ago I posted a link to an article by a Dr. Lance Dodes on Salon.com that my AA, NA, and non-addict friends
might find interesting. Dr, Dodes has some misconceptions about AA and how most of
us employ the Twelve Steps and I don't doubt his sincerity. I’m trying to find some stats on the success of Dr.’s
therapy based recovery and couldn’t find any online; so, I’m looking for stats
on the success of non-Twelve Step and therapy based recovery programs. Though I
haven’t found any yet, the Dr. in the article I posted the other day stated AA
has about a five to ten percent success rate. I can add that Dr. Dodes has a book he hawks on 7 steps of his treatment: "The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry." By Dr. Lance Dodes, M.D., and Zachary Dodes. Copywrite 2014, Beacon Press.
I can say first that I have no beef
at all with non-Twelve Step therapy based programs. It is an industry and industry functions best in a competitive atmosphere. Whatever floats your boat
is my attitude, based on my experience, and that is the attitude expressed in all 12-Step literature from its very beginning: the Dr. implies otherwise because he confuses rehab institutions with recovery programs. Besides that, his
chief objection seems to be that AA is a religion based program with dismal if
not unscientific and questionable, results. Secondly he objects to the first three steps that
demands surrender to helplessness over drugs and alcohol of the acolyte and that
he/she be convinced of having an incurable disease: thus, the only remedy would be treatment
in the Fellowship, conscious contact with a Higher Power and proselytizing for
the organization. These points alone would suppose that the good Dr. has a cure
and that the cure he proposes has garnered as good or better results than
programs that employ a Twelve Step approach. I, for one, would like it to be so
but I doubt it. He speaks of a cure in his treatment of a mythical Dominic.
One objection of the Dr. is in the
opening statement of Chapter Five, in the Big Book, that boasts: “Rarely have
we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.” He says that this
puts the blame for failure on the individual and not the disease the Dr. ironically
says the person doesn’t have. Clarifying this issue further on the paragraph,
but not well enough for the Dr., the Big Book excuses: “There are such unfortunates,
they seem to have been born that way.”
Personally, I wish it would read; “like
alcoholism, these people are not at fault any more than a patient is
responsible for the ravages of one’s cancer. But we are responsible for
following treatment.” This is to me as far as it ought to go. We do not fail if
we slip.
The Dr. also objects to the Twelfth
Step itself in that he believes it is a commandment to go out and spread the
word. Having no grasp of the Twelve Traditions that parallel the Eleventh Tradition
that states; “Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than
promotion; we need to always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press,
radio and films.” The Dr.’s error here is an understandable misconception because
so many celebrities don’t get it either and there is also much confusion about
what is AA and what is a Recovery Program… some of which loosely apply Twelve
Step principles.
Lastly, I would like to point out
that most of the objections to AA are usually based on a cursory understanding
of what the Twelve Steps are supposed to accomplish and how recidivism of the
addict isn’t necessarily a failure in the long run. No one likes to admit the
importance of hitting bottom and, from the outside it is hard to understand
what that means. Complete incomprehensible demoralization turns out to be the
fulcrum that applies the lever of willingness that lifts the burden of our
disease from our backs. Many of us are encouraged to, and have sought, healthy therapy to bolster the positive aspects of recovery. Dr, Dodes seems to believe that his medical solution excludes a spiritual one and doesn't grasp the fact that often the medical model of recovery is most compatible with 12-sStep ones.
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