Secular Recovery Resources

Why recovering from addiction without religion is so important.

Not everyone who is addicted to drugs, alcohol or whatever is religious. And this turns out to be a problem because the most common addiction program is faith based.  The other kind of rather important problem with AA formatted faith based groups is that they don’t really work.

It turns out they are faith based, not science based. This isn't to say that people don’t get sober after joining these groups, they do. It’s just that the efficacy of this groups hasn't been proven. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16856072?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum) 

No treatment seems to be as effective as treatment.  According to Harvard – lots of people just “get over it” and stop being addicted – or self treat. (see: http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-effectiveness.html - for a run down of all this research).  The real problem is that people who go through AA are more likely to binge drink when they fall off the wagon – and the rate they do so is higher than people who have no treatment at all, which means, these faith based programs aren't just not effective, they are counterproductive.

So, what’s a good science minded addict to do? Self treat?  Well, sure, you can and most people do – successfully. But if you are looking for help – go with Rational Behavior Therapy – or RBT for short.  It has better outcomes than no treatment.

Here are some secular RBT type recovery groups to choose from. This list is taken from:  http://www.addictionrecoveryguide.org/resources/recovery/rational_and_secular

• ·         Addiction Alternatives  (www.addictionalternatives.com)
• ·         Exposure Response Prevention  (www.killthecraving.com)
• ·         LifeRing Secular Recovery  (http://unhooked.com)
• ·         Rational Recovery  (http://rational.org)
• ·         Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS)  (http://secularsobriety.org)
• ·         SMART Recovery (Self Management and Recovery Training)  (http://smartrecovery.org)
• ·         Sober24  (http://sober24.com)

Old habits are hard to break

Sometimes I drive on autopilot

The other day I was driving my son home from the local splash playground. We had intended to go to a fast food restaurant on the way home (don’t judge, we all do it). Unfortunately, instead of heading to the restaurant, I headed home. At several points, I reminded myself at the next intersection to turn around but I didn’t. I still headed home. Only after returning home was I able to reset my brain to drive to the restaurant.

I’m sure this has happened to you before. It happens to everyone. Even though you are aware and paying attention, you are still, to a certain extent, working on autopilot. This is the power of habits. The road I was on is a road I’ve only ever driven to go home. Every stimulus I encountered told me to continue on my course to home. My strong desire to override this habitual programming wasn’t sufficient to override my instincts.

We humans like to think we are in control of our behavior all the time. The reality is, our ability to control our behavior is limited especially when it comes to habitualized behavior. It can be very hard to override our established programming. 

So be patient with yourself and others whenever you do stupid things. Sometimes you just need to go home before your instinctual brain will allow your conscious brain to take over.   And sometimes, you may need professional help. 

Image: "High Speed Motion" by siraphat FreeDigitalPhotos.net