The purpose of Self Design Recovery is to provide game-changing information and components for the alcoholic/addict to create an individualized addiction recovery program.
Cassius:
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves.
–Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Addiction Recovery is not a Twelve-Step Monopoly
This section will explore the principles of existing addiction recovery programs highlighting their benefits and liabilities. Far and away, twelve-step programs (AA, NA, CA, etc.) are the most popular and well known. There are others, too, such as LifeRing, SMART Recovery, Rational Recovery, Refuge Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, and more. We’ll take a look at all of them. Eventually.
Let go and let Google. –Midpeninsula Alano Club
We’re going to take a close look at AA. Straight away, AA has a lot of collective experience and success (if you define success broadly) but it also has produced a lot of disillusioned alcoholics; nine out of ten pass through after a brief stay and leave. It is, however, the program most readers of this website will be familiar with, so regardless of whether you like or hate it, it deserves an objective examination that points out what works and what doesn’t.
One thing we’re doing in this section is exploring the twelve principles that correspond to the twelve steps – whether or not you are a 12-stepper at least some of the following principles are potentially useful: Honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, brotherly love, self-discipline, perseverance, unity of all life, service. Some of these principles also apply to other sections (integrity also applies to maturity, etc.) but those principles will also live here.
If you love AA we’re going to offend you. If you hate AA, We’re going to offend you, too. In fact, playing it safe is less than useless. We’re here to serve as the opposite of an echo chamber. Angering no one means we’re not doing our job.
Addiction Treatment and Twelve-Step Groups Are Statistically Ineffective
Contrary to popular belief, addiction “treatment” followed by twelve-step group participation is often no more effective than a self-directed approach seeking support through a variety of social networks and professionals. Such successful strategies include family, friends, traditional religious organizations, medical professionals, and therapy. The vast majority of people have given up addictions without treatment and/or twelve-step groups; the number of “self-cures” is at least triple the number of successful treatment or twelve-step cases.
Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step groups can be effective for certain individuals who respond well to authoritative religiously oriented group rituals. But the best that can be said is that AA works very well for a relatively small number of people. To many, this news is surprising. It seemingly makes no sense, because on the surface AA has so much going for it. How could this be? Is it possible that what was once effective is no longer effective? If that’s the case, why?
It turns out there are a whole plethora of reasons, some of which are liabilities associated with the disease concept of addiction. However, the lion’s share have to do with massive changes to Western society, lifestyle and values, the rise of narcissistic culture, and associated decline of maturity. AA itself has become a microcosm of society-at-large, a reflection of its problems. Society’s rate of change has become blindingly fast. In fact, this site has a entire section devoted to Society and it is our hope is that one of the consequences of our approach is to develop addiction recovery that is not static but dynamic.
First Know Thyself, Then Know Others
No matter how things have changed, the blueprint of human beings has not. To understand contemporary life means understanding ourselves and how we arrived here. So on this site, we’ll be talking about philosophical topics related to the human condition. In this section, we’ll also be discussing some alcoholic history and weighing in on mainstream recovery topics such as the disease model of addiction and many others. Hang on to your hats.