By Stephen Mitchell Penguin Press, 2009, $25.95 Adapted from two anthologies of Chinese wisdom compiled probably between 300 and 100 B.C.E. (the Chuang Tzu by Master Chuang, and the Chung Yung, ascribed to Tzu Ssu, the grandson of Confucius), The Second Book of the Tao is a sprightly complement to the Tao Te Ching, thought to…
by George DuWors,MSW, LICSW, BCD At least three books (Alexander, 1997) (Ash, 1993) (Griffin, 2004) document the integration of Buddhism and 12-step recovery. Another (Fields, 2008) refers to the compatibility of mindfulness and 12-step recovery. The AA Big Book (Anonymous, 2008) and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (Anonymous, 1981), on the other hand, urge…
by Samuel G. Freedman Three floors above a Manhattan street of loading docks and coffee shops, in a functional room of folding chairs and linoleum tile, a man who introduced himself as Vic began to speak. “Today is my 35th anniversary,” he said. The dozen people seated around him applauded, and several even whooped in…
BY ANDREW M. SEAMANNEW YORK Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:03pm EDT (Reuters Health) – A treatment program incorporating mindfulness meditation is better over the long term than traditional approaches at preventing relapses of drug and alcohol abuse, according to a new study. One year after treatment for substance abuse, far fewer participants who got relapse-prevention…
By John Newport Ph.D. Counselor Magazine2014/Jan-Feb. Faith in a beneficent higher power, a power greater than all of us, is a basic cornerstone of all Twelve Step recovery programs. Indeed, faith and its application is an explicit theme running throughout the Twelve Steps of AA, NA, and other programs. Specifically, Step Two states that we…
Introduction In many twelve-step programs newcomers are either consoled or chastened by being told that it can take three to five years to “get out of the woods.” It’s a way of saying that recovery takes time. Later, at about the five-year mark, after attending a considerable number of meetings and working the steps and…
Last week, Radio Boston featured an interview with Dr. Lance Dodes, author of “The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry.” Here, two Harvard Medical School professors of psychiatry respond, arguing that Dr. Dodes misrepresents the evidence and that 12-step programs have among the strongest scientific underpinnings of any…
By Michelle ConwayMorningside Recovery Alcohol is one of the most popular recreational drugs available in the United States. Alcoholism and alcohol abuse occur when an individual drinks excessive amounts on a regular basis. Several factors play a role in the development of alcohol dependency, including one’s genetics, social environment, emotional health, and early childhood discipline.…
By John M. Majer, Ph.D., Leonard A. Jason, Ph.D., & Joe Ferrari, Ph.D. There has been increased interest among social scientists in understanding Twelve Step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) in the past two decades. It seems as though things took off in the mid-1980’s shortly after Edward I, Khantzian,…
If summer, for you, means the chance to find a beach and lose yourself, for once, in a piece of writing longer than an email, never fear — we’ve done the hard work for you and checked out a whole bunch of this year’s hottest reads. It just so happens that in one way or…