At 03:12 PM 5/14/2008, John Thornton wrote:
>Can anyone offer any suggested reading for a decent critique of 12 step
>recovery programs?
>I went to a few within the last two weeks and was really freaked out.
>I have a hard time imagining such a program being helpful to someone.
>I'm really confused how one can be powerless over their addiction and
>yet still held completely responsible for making bad choices.
>Doesn't powerlessness imply an inability to choose? When I think of
>things over which I am powerless I cannot choose to make them different.
>The constant going on about powerlessness and giving over to a higher
>power (either a deity or the group of addicts themselves) really gave me
>a bad vibe.
>I'd heard from some people there was a cult-like atmosphere to NA and AA
>meetings but never knew much about such programs.
>The meetings I attended were at a medical rehab clinic and they struck
>me as deeply weird and very unhealthy. They were very cult-like to me
>but my experiences with cults is zero. I've read very little about cults
>since the subject hasn't ever really interested me.
>The clinicians tell the addicts they are powerless to control their own
>addiction and then treat them with Suboxone, a powerfully addictive
>partial opioid agonist.
>You're then faced with either compliance with their program to continue
>taking their addictive agent, going cold turkey and risking relapse, or
>trying to taper yourself off whatever opioids were taken.
>Putting large numbers of addicts together seems to me to widen their
>circle of known abusers and offer additional opportunities for drug
>purchasing by increasing contacts.
>One-on-one counseling rather than group counseling would on the surface
>of it seem more helpful.
>Listening to the various addicts "war stories" you could see many in the
>room absolutely jonesing. How could that be helpful?
>Firsthand knowledge of rehab centers is also welcome.
>
>John Thornton
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