The Soul of Recovery: Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension in the Treatment of Addictions

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Summary: San Francisco Chronicle review
Review: ...In his recent book, "The Soul of Recovery: Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension in the Treatment of Addictions," journalist Christopher Ringwald takes a sober and well-documented look at some of the unquestioned claims of the burgeoning recovery movement.

Many recovering addicts say they felt a "spiritual emptiness" or a "God- sized hole" in their souls and tried to fill it with alcohol or other drugs.

"The drug distorts clear thought and often makes the person feel ecstatic, invulnerable, godlike," Ringwald writes. "Then, in the final throes of an addiction, counselors and addicts report, life condenses to a self-centered round of getting, using, and recuperating before starting over."

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What makes "The Soul of Recovery" (Oxford University Press, 2002) stand out from the pack is the way Ringwald approaches the recovery movement as a journalist, not as an evangelist or protagonist. He understands the power of spirituality in treating substance abuse, yet still asks some hard questions about the wisdom handed down from "Bill W." and "Dr. Bob."

Ringwald, who covers legal issues for Newsday, devotes a chapter to another treatment philosophy called "harm reduction," which, unlike AA, does not see total abstinence as the only way.

Counselors in this faction say that "abstinence for many merely increases the luster of the forbidden fruit."

"When certain alcoholics relapse even slightly, their remorse can be so severe -- thanks to the lessons about 'one drink will get you drunk' -- that they go on a tear to blot out the shame."

Ringwald cites studies showing that many nonabstinent alcoholics can reduce their consumption substantially by being taught how to moderate their behavior,

or by alternating between periods of abstention and drinking.

This kind of thinking challenges the medical model of the for-profit recovery industry, where total abstinence is seen as a kind of First Commandment.

"Harm reduction challenges the most basic of substance abuse treatment assumptions: the disease concept," Ringwald writes. "Whether advocates say so or not, their emphasis on resolving conditions -- poverty, housing or other illness -- first, rather than halting the drug abuse, argues for alcoholism or addiction having some origins outside the person."

In the end, Ringwald notes that the two camps really want the same thing -- to create a social environment where addicts have more to live for than the next fix. Both treatment styles seek to change addicts' spirit by connecting them with something larger than themselves.

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Summary: The real deal on Addiction Recovery
Review: As a recovering alcoholic and addict for 19 years and a professional worker in the field for 16 years, this book was so refreshing to read. Most people who work with addicts will tell you that until they achieve some sort of "spiritual experience" often through a faith based program such as AA, NA, etc. they never achieve long-term contented abstinence. Even though the author is outside the field of addiction and is primarily a journalist, he does an astonishing job of surfacing the issues that are the "elephant in the living room" of addiction treatment and recovery. With all due respect to the medical and psychological research and literature, none of it speaks as clearly as this book about what "causes" recovery from addiction.