I've been in and around professional addiction and recovery circles for more than 30 years. In that time, I've spent a lot of time in rooms where empirical knowledge was a suffocating force. It determined what and who was valued, heard, and respected in ways that did not lead us any closer to truth or … Continue reading Lived experience and empirical knowledge: domination or integration?
Tag: Spirituality
Revisiting the Work of William White: The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling (2004)
“What the addiction counselor knows that other service professionals do not is the very soul of the addicted—their terrifying fear of insanity, the shame of their wretchedness, their guilt over drug-induced sins of omission and commission, their desperate struggle to sustain their personhood, their need to avoid the psychological and social taint of addiction, and … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White: The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling (2004)
Spirituality – steer away or steer towards?
We can no more do without spirituality than we can do without food, shelter or clothing – Bruce Lipton Despite the fact that there are plenty of us about, we don’t have as much information as we would like on people in long term recovery. In one study[1], Mark Galanter and colleagues took the opportunity … Continue reading Spirituality – steer away or steer towards?
God and recovery
Churchill famously said that the US and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. Arguably TV and movies may have bridged the divide a bit, but nuances of language and spelling are not the only things that differentiate us; something I was aware of when reading Marc Galanter & colleagues' paper on … Continue reading God and recovery
The internal combustion engine of AA
Service to others. Bill White posted earlier this week about the evidence base for the benefits of alcoholics helping other alcoholics. Now, National Geographic has posted an article about research into AA that covers some of the same territory: Lee Ann Kaskutas, a scientist with the Alcohol Research Group, has faced skepticism … Continue reading The internal combustion engine of AA
The spirituality of addiction treatment
I was listening to On Being this morning and was struck by this one quote. I think this could be paraphrased into something that fits perfectly with why we have such great staff who put so much ourselves into our work here: For me, thinking about living in a city like Chicago where you just … Continue reading The spirituality of addiction treatment
Recovery Review 