Education for Twelve Step Facilitation of alcoholics and addicts
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Help set the ghosts of alcoholism free
The concept of spirituality in relation to addiction recovery and general psychiatry.
This chapter is directed at defining the nature of spirituality and its relationship to empirical research and clinical practice.
A preliminary understanding of the spiritual experience can be achieved on the basis of diverse theoretical and empirically grounded sources, which will be delineated: namely, physiology, psychology, and cross-cultural sources.
Furthermore, the impact of spirituality on mental health and addiction in different cultural and clinical settings is explicated regarding both beneficial and compromising outcomes.
Illustrations of its application in addiction and general psychiatry are given: in meditative practices, Alcoholics Anonymous, and treatment programs for addiction singly and comorbid with major mental illness.
Given its prominence in Alcoholics Anonymous and related Twelve-Step groups, spirituality plays an important role in the rehabilitation of many substance-dependent people.
The issue of spirituality, however, is prominent within contemporary culture as well in the form of theistic orientation, as evidenced in a probability sampling of American adults, among whom 95% of respondents reply positively when asked if they believe in “God or a universal spirit.”
Responses to a follow-up on this question suggest that this belief affects the daily lives of the majority (51%) of those sampled, as they indicated that they had talked to someone about God or some aspect of their faith or spirituality within the previous 24 h.
Research report; Galanter M. The concept of spirituality in relation to addiction recovery and general psychiatry. Recent Dev Alcohol. 2008;18:125-40.
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The impact of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) on professional treatment.
Several forces combined in the 1950s to profoundly change the way alcoholism was treated in the United States. Anderson, Bradley, and Hazelden staff combined strategies to revolutionize alcoholism treatment across the spectrum of social rehabilitation services and hospital-based care.
Prevailing psychiatric services, heavily influenced by psychoanalytic practices, were abandoned in favor of an emphasis on patient education, therapeutic group process, peer interaction, and the development of life-long support systems through AA.
The addition of the alcoholism counselors, many of whom were recovering AA members, was a key ingredient in aligning a closely identified professional with the alcoholic to foster integration of Twelve Step principles and practices in everyday life.
Dignity, respect, and hope for recovery became the cornerstone of the Minnesota/Hazelden Model. The resulting treatment model is recognized as an effective, evidence-based approach for alcohol and drug dependence. One of the strongest commendatory statements has come from the staff of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism who, in a report to the U.S. Congress, identified Twelve Step-based professional treatment as effective as other approaches and a model that "…may actually achieve more sustained abstinence" (2000, p. 448).
Clearly, AA’s impact on professional treatment cannot be underestimated. Perhaps Dan Anderson summarized it best: "Without the initial and sustaining impetus of [AA], none of our treatment efforts could have been realized"
Slaymaker VJ, Sheehan T. The impact of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) on professional treatment. Recent Dev Alcohol. 2008;18:59-70.
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Recovery Site Alcohol news
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Evidence-Based Treatment for Alcohol and Drug Abuse: A Practititioner’s Guide to Theory, Methods, and Practice (Practical Clinical Guidebooks Series)