by Barbara Kelly, M.A., C.A.C., L.P.C.
Center for Addictive Diseases

Scott Peck, M.D., author of The Road Less Traveled, has been an inspiration to me. He was a psychiatrist and spiritualist who treated addictive disease in the 1970's and 80's. Those decades were a time of great exposure, discovery, and growth in the addiction and mental health fields. In 1984, an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer announced Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) as the best place in town to meet people. The shame and stigma of alcoholism were almost eliminated by this generation of clinicians and recovering addicts. As both a clinician and recovering person, I am proud to be part of that movement.

Treatment for addiction involves the whole person. The individual is physically, mentally, behaviorally, spiritually, and socially sick. Each addicted person is said to affect at least five others. Family, friends, and employers are all affected by this disease. Boundaries are often lacking or poorly defined in dysfunctional systems. Members are confused as to roles and responsibilities. Blaming and scapegoating are negative coping skills that keep the addictive system alive. The effective way to treat addiction is in a group format. If one can feel compassion for the person next to him, one can start to feel compassion for oneself. Very few people can get sober and stay sober without help.

 The first stage of recovery involves putting down the substance that one abuses. Once that occurs, the work of treating addictive personality traits can begin. Addiction feeds on isolation, self absorption, and self pity. The addict puts himself above or below others. Shame and guilt, accompanied by false pride, are the death of many addicts. Humility and the healing necessary for permanent, contented sobriety take place in group therapy. The more heterogeneous a group is, the deeper the recovery becomes. The individual learns to maintain his individuality, while being part of the group. Addiction and recovery do not discriminate.

Recovery is a process, and crisis is an opportunity for growth. As a therapist, it is very rewarding to see principles, and beliefs put into practice. Therapy is an art and a science. The art is seeing the strength, courage, and beauty in broken people. The science is being able to use principles for sobriety, growth, and healing.

This morning, in a session with one of my oldest and dearest clients, I was reminded of both the art and science. A woman I have been working with since 1996 came in for a session. She had been continuously sober for five years prior to the fall of 2006, when she became stressed by her life as a mother of three teenagers. She stopped going to AA because "there was not enough time".  She felt that she could never do enough. She began drinking again. She did not want to return to the hell of alcoholism, and sought treatment right away.

We have been working through her issues of isolation and self-sufficiency for a long time. Today she came in and shared her new found peace and happiness. She began attending a meeting regularly again. She found that just being there was enough. She had formally looked for praise and recognition for her hard work. She felt like she worked harder than everyone else. With the help of a group, she now knows that she is just like the next person with successes, failures, and struggles. She has reached a new plateau in her sobriety, with the resulting serenity.

Addicts try to find happiness in seeking more, more, more…
Recovering addicts know that "happiness is a result of finding our right place in the world and doing what we know we need to do."