My Book - Forward
This book has been a labor of love for almost 35 years. It took me that long to figure out what I wanted to say. At first my plan was to create a detailed story of my life and how I was able to grow and prosper. I wanted to create an example for people to look at and possibly even refer to for help, and to give those who have already given up, hope.
I think I understand what makes a junky tick and how to make him or her healthy again. My story focuses on the relationship between addiction and self-esteem. It is my belief that addiction is a learned response to anxiety, not an innate characteristic and if you can learn it you can unlearn it.
We know what the problem of addiction is and we know how much damage it does to our society. What we don’t know is how to treat it. This memoir will give anyone interested, simple tools to help defeat addiction. It will provide them with real-life situations and teach how to search for options, and how to recognize and build strong self-esteem.
Recently Congress passed a bill to spend eight-billion-dollars on the “opiate” crisis in the United States. The bulk of that money will be spent on live-in-residential drug treatment programs and Alcoholics Anonymous type programs. A substantial amount of that money will be spent on psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors. It’s like using a Band-Aid rather than clamps, or stiches to close the incision of a heart operation. It has little or no lasting value because it’s not coming voluntarily from the addict, and often it can cause psychological damage.
We have lots of empirical data on drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers which should give us reason for pause. Huge recidivist rates in the 90th percentile haunt the industry, but we still throw money at these programs hoping they will have some impact, however small, on drug and alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, the high failure rates help to exacerbate the problems. Imagine if you went to a bank to get funding for a business and your failure rate was in the 90th percentile. Do you think you would get funding?
I’m not suggesting that we stop these somewhat limited attempts at long term cures. I am suggesting that we need new models, that we can build on. New models that will address our failures of the past. Hopefully, this memoir will generate a conversation about what works and what doesn’t work so we can move away from doing business as usual.
My life, my experience, tells me we need to change direction if we want to get a handle on this problem. I suspect there will be an outcry from the professional community about what I suggest. My criticisms will not be taken lightly. But part of treatment is a willingness to keep an open mind and allow the process to work. Don’t judge this memoir without reading it first. I welcome your criticism.
I’ve decided to tell this story like a novel, with vivid examples of the choices we make and the ramifications of those choices. This writing is an example of how we can change the way we think and how we can change the way the world thinks about us. It’s not complicated. I hope to achieve this goal by keeping it simple so we can all understand what I am trying to say.
My purpose in writing this book is to generate hope, simplicity, and inclusion in treatment. I feel very strongly that talking down to people, beating them up mentally and psychologically before you try to help them is humiliating and unnecessary. This is not the right path. You teach by example, by treating people with respect and compassion. It’s amazing how one kind act can dramatically change the world we live in, forever.
