22. The spiritual approach enhances recovery

By Tom O'Connell

A key concept that came from psychologist Carl Jung was the notion that addiction is a disease of the spirit, and such diseases need to be healed by spiritual means. Millions recovering in AA and other 12 step programs have proved that  assertion.

At conferences sponsored by Boston's North Conway Institute, an interfaith organization headed by Rev. David Works and dedicated to addiction education, I have had the good fortune to hear many respected researchers, clinicians and religious leaders from around the U.S. present their insights. I share some of these thoughts with you--

*Opinion researcher George Gallup, Princeton, NJ: "Ninety percent of recoveries are spiritual."

*Karst Besteman, Institute of Behavior Resources, Washington, DC: "The pursuit of pleasure leads us into addiction and spirituality leads us out."

*Rev. John Sell, director, Interfaith Network, North Carolina: "The illness of addiction is essentially a spiritual illness, so there must be a spiritual recovery."

*Psychotherapist Arville Stephen, LICSW, Chestnut Hill, MA: "The psychiatric community is still very uncomfortable with the word 'God.' First, I came to learn that addiction was a disease process. Then I was led to the realization that addiction is a disease of the soul as well as body and mind. Addiction is a search for God through escape from present reality. Our society breeds addiction. There's an addictive trinity of possessions, power, and relationships."

*Oliver Morgan, SJ, Department of Human Resources, University of Scranton, on his research into the lives of alcoholics with more than 10 years of sobriety: "In their stories, the subjects of my study first described a degraded self; said they received a gift from a Higher Power; and indicated that they were radically changed by the event...Spirituality and recovery became the same thing."

*Rev. John Soleau of Concord, former chairman, Department of Pastoral Theology, Virginia Theological Seminary: "The turnaround into recovery from the bondage of addiction has a gift-like quality that appears as a type of total conversion. The key element in addiction recovery is the opening up of the human spirit. In modern society there is a split in understanding what it is to be a human being, a split between the material and the spiritual. To be fully human is to be in a state of unity. The power of the addiction recovery movement is its discovery that the Spirit connection has been lost in a broken world, and that connection is essential. People have to learn how to lead a whole life amidst the brokenness. Nobody needs an addiction but everybody needs the recovery."

*Rev. David Hancock, president, Prevention of Alcohol Problems, Minneapolis, MN: "To help people find sobriety, healing and health, we must travel into the realm of life and living, of meanings and values, of goals and ideals."

Summing up these gems of wisdom, it's apparent that spiritually based addiction recovery programs work where more traditional approaches falter because diseases of the spirit require treatment that goes beyond the natural into the supernatural. It's quite natural for an alcoholic to drink, and for an overeater to overeat. It's beyond the natural, i.e. supernatural or spiritual, to be released from the addiction and find emotional balance.

- Back -