Who, why and how of effective Christian treatment of ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG ABUSE (AODA)

While attending a conference for addiction treatment professionals, I heard a former priest extol the virtues of inclusion in treatment while shaming the “exclusivity” of specific faith-based treatment modalities. Just a few months earlier, he was at a “Christian Counselors” meeting referring to Alcoholics Anonymous as a cult where a “doorknob” might be the higher power that helped keep a drunk on track sober while citing the Humanist Manifestos agenda to replace Christianity with the “science of mind” religion. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, many psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers have attempted to blame the organized religions of Western civilizations for much of the neurosis and dysfunction found in many families and individuals. These extreme, myopic and ill-informed views provide the backdrop for a much misunderstood group of consumers. The needs of this group and effective approaches to meeting those needs will be briefly discussed in this introductory article.

GROUPS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Question of confidence

Mary is a 43-year-old divorced and remarried mother of two sons from her first marriage of six years and a daughter from her second marriage of nine years. Mary herself reports being beaten and “cheated” by her first husband, the high school sweetheart she met at church camp. Her mother was an alcoholic and Mary claims that one of her mother’s boyfriends abused her while “Mom” passed out drunk. Mary is presented as well-bred and well-groomed with a forced smile and apparent dark circles (masks of depression) around her eyes. Mary describes losing temporary custody of her first two children, during her first marriage, when she followed the warning of her church elders to return to stay with her husband despite her drunkenness and violence. Her neighbors had called Child Protective Services and the local Municipal Police during a particularly loud and violent episode. Mary and her first husband were ordered to attend court-ordered parenting and anger management classes. Later, Mary was referred to a psychiatrist, prescribed Valium and Prozac, transferred to a battered women’s shelter, and divorced from her first husband. Her church leadership blamed secular counseling and the courts for Mary’s divorce, she claimed. Maria changed church denominations and church membership. Mary met her second husband at a church “divorce recovery” workshop a year after joining the new church body. Meanwhile, Mary’s Valium use had increased from “5 mg as needed, not to exceed 10 mg per day,” to “10 mg three times daily and 15 mg each night before bed.” Mary had also started having wine with dinner after her first divorce. She now consumes between eight and ten bottles of “mini-vodka” a day. Mary’s husband blames secular psychology for Mary’s increased anxiety and addictions to Valium and alcohol. Mary and her second husband are looking for an effective “substance abuse/dual diagnosis” treatment center.

This short vignette alludes to many facets of fundamentalist Christian fears of our postmodern secular humanist approaches to the vagaries of life. Mary has “special needs” as a potential consumer of AODA treatment. Would this client benefit from entering a “typical” AODA or dual diagnosis treatment center? Would she, or her husband, consider placing her in such an environment? If “trust” is the door that opens the bond with her counselors and peers in a treatment setting, what are MARYS’ needs to establish trust? While it would be easy for a “new-ager” to judge Mary’s religiousness, isn’t this the same kind of judgment these new-agers profess to oppose? Would an “enlightened” new ageer suggest that an adult Black client “just give her a chance to work” if she applied to be sent to a primarily Black staffed treatment center that specializes in “African American” acculturation issues INSTEAD of being admitted to the local “one size fits all” local “New-Age-4-U” treatment center with all Caucasian staff?
Clinically Sound: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There are a wide variety of AODA treatment centers, claiming to be Bible-based or faith-based. With Teen Challenge, The Salvation Army, Transformation House, Uncle-Bobs-God House (ideal), how do clinicians and potential clients refer to know the difference?

In many “Christian Treatment Centers”, excessive guilt, shame and obsession with the concepts of “sin” try to manipulate change by creating spiritual and volitional discomfort at the very idea of ​​relapsing into patterns of substance use/abuse. These methodologies abort any attempt to understand the motives, desires, and needs that clients may be trying to satisfy through addictive lifestyles. Clinically sound modalities, Christian based or not, understand that humans perform behaviors for a given set of motives or goals! Conversely, ignoring “sin” or similar concepts prevents clients from confronting their immoral/amoral behaviors and its effects. All healthy treatment ideology includes “inventorying” negative behaviors, their effects, motives, expressions of regret/remorse, and corrective thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and appropriate restitution.

The “automaton” syndrome is another worrying set of weaknesses. Recovering FROM addictions and RECOVERING yourself requires more “personality” than just quoting or paraphrasing a book, no matter how sacred and inspired that text may be. Christ’s admonition to,
“Matthew 22:37-40

37 And he answered him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). [Deut 6:5.] 38 This is the great (main, main) and first commandment. 39 And the second is similar: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. [Lev 19:18.] 40 These two commandments are summarized and all the Law and the Prophets depend on them.

make it clear; we must develop, understand and be aware of our TRUE being. Clinically poor “Christian” programs are likely to overlook this point and settle for creating religious automata. Understanding and being able to quote and apply scriptural precepts is an important part of Christian dealings. Obsession with sin and the Bible does not equate to recovery.

Another area of ​​controversy for “Christian” programs and counselors is the documentation and measurement of results. One of the ten “Counselor Certification” agencies recognized by California State Department of Alcohol and Drug programs has resisted any requirements related to documentation of treatment practices, client progress, and outcome measures. Clinically sound, Bible-based treatment understands the Biblical basis for accountability. Scientific methods are NOT enemies of sound, Bible-based clinical therapies. This topic is too extensive to cover in this article.

Many Christian consumers fear the potential “faith-undermining” theories, techniques, rationales, beliefs, and practices of secular or humane-based treatment programs. Effective and clinically sound “faith-based” programs can and do exist. They are a must from a niche marketing perspective and a human compassion standpoint. Many Christians “in need” feel hopeless. They are left with the options of being spiritually abused “toward recovery” or being treated in programs that do not understand their unique needs. Fortunately, several clinically sound Christian programs have become available. The previous criterion differentiates us.

HUMANIST MANIFESTO

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Humanist manifesto is the title of three manifestos that present a humanist worldview. They are the original Humanist Manifesto (1933, often referred to as Humanist Manifesto I), Humanist Manifesto II (1973), and Humanism and Its Aspirations (2003, also known as Humanist Manifesto III). The Manifesto originally arose from religious humanism, although it was also signed by secular humanists.
The central theme of all three is the elaboration of a philosophy and value system, which does not necessarily include belief in any personal deity or “higher power”, although all three differ considerably in tone, form, and ambition. Each has been signed off on release by a number of leading academics and others who are in general agreement with its tenets.

For more information, contact Rev. Matthew Weyuker MA, CADC II at Transformation House (WomensChristianRecovery.com) 1-877-900-7326
Or the Pacific Hills treatment center.
Blazer, Lisa, and Ryan, “Psychology Debunked” (Creation House Press, 2002) pp. 1-241
Bluckley, Ed, “Why Christians Can’t Trust Psychology” (Harvest House, 1993), pp. 47-258
Ellis, Albert, “The Case Against Religion: A Psychotherapist’s View” (New York: Institute for Rational Living, 1971)
Ellis, Albert, “There Is No Place for the Concept of Sin in Psychotherapy,” Journal of Counseling Psychology 7 (1960): pp. 188-192
Lowinson, Ruiz, Millman, & Langrod, “Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, Fourth Edition” (Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2005): pp. 587-598, 653-670, 723-732, 763-771, 1286-1299
Schaeffer, Francis A., “The Collected Works of Francis A Schaeffer: A Christian View of the World: Volume 5: A Christian View of the West”, (Crossway Books, 1982), pp. 417-501
Yalom, Irvin D. with Leszcz, Molyn, “The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy: 5th Edition” (2005: Basic Books): pp. 77-108