THE SLUGGERS  PATH

Knowing Addiction and Doing Recovery

INTRODUCTION:       

It seems that the greatest challenge facing the addiction treatment/recovery field is overcoming ignorance and stigma.  Most people lack a basic understanding and possess negative perceptions in these matters.  We need a far-reaching campaign to educate the populace in a simple, meaningful, and memorable fashion.  For a few decades, treatment professionals and other recovery advocates have had a solid notion regarding what works and are very aware that recovery is a process available to those who seek it.  What we have not accomplished is presenting this knowledge in a way that demands attention and recall. Some public relations and advocacy campaigns have been attempted without success.  The Society of Americans for Recovery (SOAR) is a recent example of a failed effort in this regard.  SOAR was enthusiastically organized and ambitiously employed; yet folded after a couple of years without much impact.  We need to continue to pursue public education and acceptance of addiction and recovery for the sake of the millions still suffering in their illness and denial.  Saving lives is still a noble goal, one that we will continue to pursue.

I have developed an educational presentation primarily for the purpose of orienting patients in a treatment center that I think has merit as an application to the issue of relating to the public and providing education.  This talk was designed with visual and auditory cues, with memory/retention as essential considerations.  It is entitled “Addiction and Recovery: The Sluggers Path.”

Keeping it simple, there are five things an addict needs to know about addiction and five things an addict needs to do to achieve recovery.  First, addiction is about being sick.  This is not a moral issue.  Addictive illness has symptoms, marked progression and is fatal.  Good medical research shows that addiction is a brain-based disease that no one chooses and has much to do with heredity and/or trauma.  Second, the addict is quite lonely.  There are secrets, isolation, and a sense of separation and rejection that are increasingly prevalent as the disease progresses.  Third, the addict is unable to resolve this situation, in spite of much effort and individual application of willpower.  This often is referred to as being powerless.  Fourth, know that there is much guilt that is felt as the addict increasingly fails at performing responsibly in life due to the mental, emotional, and physical effects of their illness.  The fifth part is knowledge of shame, as the addict continuously is judged and judges self harshly in a destructive/pervasive manner.  Ultimately thoughts of self-destruction result.  So in summary, an addict is sick, lonely, unable, guilt-ridden and shame-filled (remembered as s.l.u.g.s.).  This can be thought of as a lower state of consciousness, a downward spiral of life.

How to attain the solution, and recovery of self, into a higher state of living is simply about following a path as clearly laid out as the basepath.  Picture yourself up to bat in the biggest game of your life.  You look down and see the letter “S” on homeplate representing your starting point and your goal.  That “S” stands for Sobriety, the beginning of the recovery process and our first commitment.  My next value/activity/commitment, as I prepare to round the bases, is Love.  What is necessary is accepting the care/love offered by others, loving myself enough to stay in treatment, and extending love/support to others as able.  Then, the third value, represented at second base, is Unity.  Those who make it join up with other addicts for mutual support in 12 Step fellowship and/or other groups.  Next, Growth is an essential element to full recovery.  That usually includes working the Steps, getting therapy, and doing other self-improvement activities.  Finally, back home it is Spirituality that is practiced with prayer and meditation.  A life of peace and renewal is achieved when Sobriety, Love, Unity, Growth, and Spirituality are pursued honestly and vigorously.  SLUGS, not drugs, are the answer.  Be a Slugger, hit a homerun and win at life.  You are a winner when you know the truth about addiction and do life according to “the big five” values of recovery.