Who Needs More Than Medicine and Recovery?
Imagine if you will someone with diabetes whose diabetes progresses to the point where they have their foot amputated or become blind. Now imagine that someone comes along with a treatment that gets their diabetes under control. We won’t expect them to re-grow the foot or regain the sight just because the biology of the disease is under control. So it is with addiction as well. Once you’re open to the idea that most people with addiction have the biology from birth, it becomes easy to understand that the biology of addiction has a profound effect on the personality of the person as they grow. They will make accommodations for the illness just as anyone else would. When the biology and the symptoms come under control, it takes time to learn to live without them.
That might sound strange but there is an old vaudeville joke that illustrates the point. A man breaks his hand and goes to the doctor to get a cast. The man says, “Hey Doc, when this hand heals will I be able to play violin?” “Sure,” says the doctor, “No problem.” “That’s great,” says the man, “’cause I never could before.”
While anybody can see that someone who couldn’t play the violin isn’t going to be able to play simply because they get some medical treatment, we don’t apply it to things we take for granted like forming relationships, being honest, and trusting the universe to provide. We figure everyone should be able to do those things without any learning, but it’s not really so. The disease actively blocked a lot of learning about how life really works, and that learning has to happen even after the biological symptoms of the disease are suppressed. A lot of this learning takes place over time in a 12-step programme, but several studies have shown that the addition of professional treatment improves the outcome. Read more…
