30. Understanding addiction is a challenge

By Tom O'Connell

It's not easy to understand addiction because addiction is as complicated as the human condition itself. The mystic Yogananda touched on this challenge when he wrote, "This life is a master novel, written by God, and a person would go crazy trying to understand it by reason alone. That is why I tell you to meditate more."

His view is echoed in the Twelve Step programs which use slogans such as "Utilize, don't analyze," "Analysis means paralysis," "My best thinking got me here," and "You can never think your way out of anything." Twelve Step programs for those inclined to be excessive are based on a spiritual approach to recovery using prayer and meditation, which enhances character development and leads to healthier ways of relating.

Does this mean that science is useless? No. Chemistry has its place when suicide is imminent and other threats to life are present. But it's obvious that the pharmaceutical approach to solving life's problems has limitations. After all, trying to solve life's problems chemically is what alcoholics and other drug addicts have done for many centuries.

People turn to chemicals to handle grief, fear, depression, and anxiety. But there are side effects. Also, psychological and spiritual growth are stunted when we entrust our souls to chemicals instead of experiencing the joys and sorrows of life as fully as possible.

What's the solution? Let's look at a definition that respected alcoholism treatment pioneer Dr. Stanley Gitlow formulated: "Addiction is a disease in which any technique for adapting to life is used other than interpersonal relating." Addiction is a symptom of the inability to relate, or adapt. And the word "adapt" comes from the Latin  meaning "to fit." Addicts feel like misfits, so they turn to addiction to "adapt" to life.

Recently, in some psychological literature I read the word "exaptation." I couldn't find it in a number of dictionaries, but it must mean the opposite of "adapting." The prefix "ex" means "outside; out of; away from." And it means "Not; without." So apparently we either adapt or we exapt. We either fit or we don't fit. We're insiders or outsiders.

To find a better fit we need healthy relationships with self, others, and God. If not,  we're outsiders. And I don't believe science will find a pill that will teach us how to relate.  But the Twelve Step approach has helped millions of addicts to adapt and to relate.

Addiction is as irrational and mysterious as the human condition itself. So I think it  makes sense to approach the problem from a viewpoint of spiritual values, standards, principles, convictions, and healthy ways to relate.

I'll repeat Yogananda's quote here: "This life is a master novel, written by God, and a person would go crazy trying to understand it by reason alone. That is why I tell you to meditate more."

Now I'll offer this: "Addiction is a mysterious disease process based on the human condition as it exists in God's world, and a person would go crazy trying to understand it by reason alone, or trying to cure it only by scientific approaches. That is why I recommend to you the Twelve Step approach to recovery. This approach utilizes fellowship with kindred spirits, prayer, and meditation to arrive at closer conscious contact with God, character development through spiritual growth, and a transformed way of life that leads to healthier relationships with self, others, and God."

Why not try it?

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