Article review 1 spring 2024
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COUN-561
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Medicine
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by sopchak66
The article
Using Prayer as an Intervention with Clients Who Are Substance Abusing and Addicted and Who Self-Identify Personal Faith in God and Prayer as Recovery Resources
maintains that spirituality, faith, and prayer are essential tools when counseling addicts and alcoholics. The article’s authors explain that a plethora of recent evidence supports this hypothesis. However, this is not a new concept to the members in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. In 1937, a hospital administrator wrote, “
When my head doctor, Silkworth, began to tell me of the idea of helping drunks by spirituality, I thought it was crackpot stuff, but I have changed my mind. One day, this bunch of ex-drunks of yours will fill Madison Square Garden.”
(W, 1953)
In the article, Juhnke et al. (2009) describe a method for integrating faith and prayer into counseling sessions with addicts and alcoholics who identify as spiritual. By developing a four-question assessment tool, the researchers determine whether clients would be interested in utilizing faith and prayer within their sessions. If a respondent answers yes to the assessment inquiries, the counselor may discuss the four methods in which prayer could be used in therapy.
In 2009, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Other Related Education Programs (CACREP) started to require students to understand the role of spirituality and faith within the programs used for addictions (Junke et al., 2009). Even the ACA code of ethics notes that a client’s religious beliefs should not be discriminated against and should be considered in their care (Junke et al., 2009). The four methods the researchers decided to incorporate in therapy were praying to identify treatment goals, praying at the start of a session, praying for the client during the session, and ending the session with prayer.
Most 12-step meetings begin with the preamble and the AA acceptance prayer. At the closing of the meetings, many homegroups end with either the Lord’s prayer or the Serenity prayer. Just as Galanter et al. (2016) found that AA member's prayer was associated with a relative reduction in self-reported craving and increased attention in managing emotions, Junke et al. 2009, found that participants who used
prayer in their counseling sessions found it helpful and made therapy more productive.
Members of the 12-step groups are not required to recite these prayers, just as the researchers caution that
prayer is not appropriate for all clients and should only be used when clinically appropriate (Junke et al., 2009). There is no inherent contradiction within the research by Junke et al. 2009. However, it is important to note that different individuals have varying interpretations and experiences with prayer both in counseling and 12-step settings. Some clients and members may adhere strictly to the principle of personal belief in a higher power, while others may interpret or apply it differently. Additionally, external factors of differing perspectives among recovering addicts and alcoholics may lead to contrasting viewpoints and practices. Overall, the principle of spirituality and self-defined higherpower remains not only central to 12-step groups, but also too clinical practices for persons in recovery.
Interaction
As a recovering heroin addict of over ten years, this article sparked my interest. I attended both AA and NA meetings at the beginning of my recovery; however, I stopped attending after my two-year celebration. The concept of these groups is to encourage the addict or alcoholic to interact with positive role models, achieve abstinence, encourage self-efficacy and coping skills, and help prevent relapse. Sadly, the majority of meetings I attended lacked many of the core concepts of recovery and achieving abstinence.
Spirituality and faith, although touched on frequently in the literature and step-work, were never considered religious. The idea of a Higher Power in 12-step meetings is any power greater than oneself. For many, this is the Christian God. For others, it is nature, the connection with other addicts; even a doorknob could be someone's higher power. The word “God” to many in recovery is a paradox. He is mentioned in the serenity prayer and in four of the twelve steps. Yet, the 12-step program allows the members to define their own concept of a higher power unlike traditional dogmas. The recovering addict or alcoholic is expected to follow their belief and concept of a higher power, just as long as respect their concept.
For centuries, alcoholism and addiction was viewed as a moral problem; a lack of willpower and control.
The 1930’s brought about the acceptance of hospitalization and humane treatment of the addict/alcoholic, rather than the demonizing mentality. In 1956, The American Medical Association noted that alcoholism was officially considered a disease (İşbilen & Mehmedoğlu, 2022). The Disease Concept of Alcoholism was published in 1960 by E.M. Jellinek, led to the acceptance of the disease classification, and the addicted began to be explained physiologically (İşbilen & Mehmedoğlu, 2022). Having a medical classification was a huge win for the medical community, yet many cases showed that medical treatment alone was insufficient. Numerous treatment models, group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, self-
help groups and therapeutic communities began to emerge in order to help the addict and alcoholic continue their sobriety.
Interestingly enough, as early as 1906, Dr. Elwood Worcester formed the Emmanuel Movement, a multidisciplinary treatment concept that addressed medical, psychological, and religious treatment for addicts and alcoholics (İşbilen & Mehmedoğlu, 2022). This was the first time in America, that alcoholics received both inpatient and outpatient treatment combining the three schools of thought. Unfortunately the paradigm dissolved when the founders of the movement retired. The doctors and psychologists that followed could not find the benefit of combining the three concepts, until Bill W, one of the founders of AA made spirituality visible in the treatment of alcoholics (İşbilen & Mehmedoğlu, 2022).
The Role of Spirituality and Prayer in Addiction Treatment: Bridging Clinical and 12-Step Approaches
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