The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Addiction Recovery
Lilian C. J. Wong, Geoffrey R. Thompson, and Paul T. P. Wong (Eds.)
Diverse viewpoints converge on the idea
that addiction recovery is more than mere abstinence.
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About this book
Papers by leading authorities on addiction recovery, including Alan Marlatt, George Vaillant, Stanton Peele, Jaak Panksepp, and Scott Tonigan. Each represents a different theoretical perspective on addiction and recovery.
The chapters come primarily from the invited addresses at the Fourth Biennial International Conference on Personal Meaning, held in 2006 on the theme Addiction, Meaning, & Spirituality, with later contributions added. The existential dilemmas of meaninglessness, boredom, and anxiety often trigger cravings for substance abuse. Geoffrey Thompson and Paul T. P. Wong argue that only a personally meaningful life is powerful enough to overcome addictive cravings and satisfy the deep-seated human yearnings for happiness and meaning. Ken Hart connects the spiritual underpinnings of Alcoholics Anonymous to the New Thought movement and transpersonal psychology.
The volume offers practical resources not only for addiction counselors and treatment centers, but also for college and university professors who teach addiction studies. Rather than stopping at coping skills and cognitive-behavioral strategies, the approach here is holistic, emphasizing the human needs for well-being, meaningful living, and self-transcendence.
“The high that those with addictions find in the experience of intoxication is ephemeral and doomed. Only the real high—the authentic happiness of overcoming life’s challenges and achieving dreams—is potent enough to overcome the drug experience.”Preface, p. xi
From the book
Geoffrey R. Thompson, from the Dedication to G. Alan Marlatt:
What endeared [Marlatt] to INPM was his conviction that those suffering from addictions should be treated with compassion and dignity. Addicts were not different than other people; indeed, his work showed that the same ideas and strategies applied to others who suffered could be applied to those with addictions. One of his most important books, though among his least famous, was Harm Reduction. In a society that heralded abstinence as the defining feature of recovery, Marlatt described a European approach that did not consider drug use as either the defining feature of addiction or recovery. Marlatt believed that we should help even those who decline abstinence, meet them where they are at.p. vii
Paul T. P. Wong, from “A Meaning-Centered Approach to Addiction and Recovery”:
According to Frankl, “The feeling of meaninglessness… underlies the mass neurotic triad of today, i.e., depression-addiction-aggression.” Effective treatment must help people rise above their circumstances, overcome what was inhibiting the defiant human spirit, and discover a clear sense of meaning and purpose.
The treatment goal of [a meaning-centered approach] is not complete abstinence but complete restoration of the total person to wholeness. Complete abstinence is likely the outcome of complete restoration, but it is not necessary for this restoration. The primary focus is therefore not on substance avoidance, but rather on helping clients discover purpose, embrace the joy of living, and obtain the freedom needed to pursue newfound passions.p. 185
Stanton Peele, from “Higher Goals and Leaving Addiction: Finding Meaning in Life”:
People are not sufficiently motivated to give up an addiction or a habit simply because it’s bad for them or because others want them to stop. But when a habit or an addiction interferes with accomplishing a goal that people want to attain, or something larger that they are committed to, then they’re likely to quit.
There are four kinds of meaning beyond oneself that help people to overcome addiction: family, community, accomplishing a goal, and the greater good. Love, intimate relationships, and families are an awfully strong motivation for people to overcome addiction. People smoke, they get married, their spouse doesn’t like their smoking, there’s some kind of conflict, and eventually they quit—it happens all the time.… A second way that people get meaning beyond themselves is by having goals—they want to achieve something in life. Again it happens all the time. An ex-heroin addict will say, “I just looked around, I was 25 years old, and what did I have? My friends had jobs and were accomplishing things, and I wanted to as well. So I quit.” A third thing is that when people are part of a community, they are much more likely to give up an addiction. They feel that they are part of a family or a culture or a town or some kind of group where they feel their behavior is reflecting negatively on that group, and they want to make some contribution to that group, and they recognize that they’re not because of the addiction. Finally, there’s the greater good—some kind of mission that people have in life. They just feel that they want to make some contribution to history, or to society, or to the universe.p. 35
Endorsements
This is perhaps one of the most important additions in years in the literature on the intersection between existential and positive psychology, and its application for substance abuse disorders. The book will be invaluable to experienced practitioners and researchers wishing to update their knowledge of this important area. In brief, yet another excellent work from the pen of Paul Wong and his collaborators.
Prof. Dr. Alexander BatthyányViktor Frankl Chair, International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein; Cognitive Science Research Group, University of Vienna; Viktor Frankl Institute, Vienna; principal editor, Collected Works of Viktor Frankl
This bracing volume offers an open-minded and open-hearted exploration of many key issues touching addiction and its treatment, from grief and loss to meaning and spirituality. It ranges far beyond the narrow and limiting confines of the usual reductionist perspectives.
Gabor Maté, M.D.Author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts
A thorough, succinct, and comprehensive review of diverse and currently used approaches in the treatment of addictions.… This fascinating and innovative approach is entirely consistent with the writings of Viktor E. Frankl. It is written with insight, wisdom and compassion.
Edward Marshall, Ph.D., and Maria Marshall, Ph.D.Founders, the Canadian Institute of Logotherapy, Ottawa
It includes both quasi-philosophic approaches and rigorous quantitative approaches.… Its chapter authors include some who are among the most distinguished contributors to this field. Readers are likely to find much of value here that is unavailable elsewhere.
Eric KlingerProfessor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Morris
Addiction keeps you from developing beyond your past and makes your present miserable. In this new book, we learn how meaning can pull us forward toward a life free of substances and compulsions.
Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D.Research Director, Clifton Strengths Institute; Senior Scientist, Gallup; Professor of the Practice, University of Kansas School of Business
The meaning-centered approach provides the way to restore one to wholeness by focusing on the person, not the drug. This book is transformative, renewing a sense of aliveness and community from the deadness of addiction.
Brent Potter, Ph.D.Author of Elements of Self-Destruction
All have a stake in this emerging field of interest and each brings his or her own brand of positive psychology to bear on understanding addiction and the path to recovery from addictive behavior.
Peter M. Monti, Ph.D.Donald G. Millar Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Addiction Studies; Director, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University
Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- About the Editors
- About the Contributors
- 1Addiction Prevention and Recovery: From Harm Reduction to Relapse PreventionG. Alan Marlatt
- 2Mindfulness Meditation in the Treatment of Addictive BehaviorsG. Alan Marlatt
- 3Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?George Vaillant
- 4Higher Goals and Leaving Addiction: Finding Meaning in LifeStanton Peele
- 5The Affective Basis of Drug and Social AddictionJaak Panksepp
- 6The Many Faces of SpiritualityJ. Scott Tonigan
- 7Thinking AddictionFrancis F. Seeburger
- 8Transforming the Addicted Person’s Counterfeit Quest for Wholeness Using Wilber’s Transpersonal Spectrum of Development: A Clinical PerspectiveGary Nixon
- 9Beyond the Spiritual Wading Pool: A New Approach to Religion and Spirituality in the Healing of AddictionsLinda Mercadante
- 10Grief and AddictionsNancy Reeves
- 11The Importance of Assessing Meaning in a Clinical PopulationKimberly A. Miller and Darrell L. Butler
- 12Addiction: Theory and PracticeGeoffrey R. Thompson
- 13A Meaning-Centered Approach to Addiction and RecoveryPaul T. P. Wong
- 14A Meaning-Centered Therapy for AddictionsGeoffrey R. Thompson
- 15Interpreting the 12 Steps of AA from the Perspectives of Ecumenical Christianity and Transpersonal PsychologyKenneth E. Hart
- 16A Meaning-Centered 12-Step Program for Addiction RecoveryPaul T. P. Wong, Jessica J. Nee, and Lilian C. J. Wong
Contributors
Editors 3 editors
- Lilian C. J. Wong, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D. received her Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia. She served as psychoeducational consultant and school psychologist for several school boards in Ontario and British Columbia. She was Associate Professor and Clinical Coordinator for School Counselling of the Graduate Program in Counselling Psychology at Trinity Western University, and Associate Professor of Psychology at Tyndale University College. She is coeditor of the Handbook in Multicultural Perspectives on Stress and Coping (2006) and The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Spirituality (2007). She is President of the Meaning-Centered Counselling Institute and cochair of the Supervision and Training Section of the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17) of the American Psychological Association.
- Geoffrey R. Thompson, M.A., Ph.D. (Candidate) is currently completing his dissertation at Saybrook University. He is the program director of Sunshine Coast Health Center, a drug rehabilitation center in Powell River, BC. He has an extensive background in both residential and outpatient addiction treatment. Before working at Sunshine Coast, Geoff spent several years as a clinical addictions counsellor at Maple Ridge Treatment Centre, as well as managing two provincial government nonresidential treatment programs. He volunteered his time as Executive Director of the International Network on Personal Meaning (INPM) and was managing editor of the International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy from 2004 to 2008. In 2006, he was program director of one of the largest scholarly addictions conferences ever held in North America, organized by INPM, the theme of which was Addiction, Meaning, & Spirituality. He is the author of A Long Night’s Journey into Day, an in-depth look at cutting-edge treatment, as well as dozens of articles on recovery.
- Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D., C. Psych. Professor Emeritus, Trent University, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He has held professorial positions at various universities, including Trent University, the University of Toronto, and Trinity Western University. He is a registered clinical psychologist in Ontario. His Meaning-Centered Counselling and Therapy has gained increasing recognition. Dr. Wong is the president of INPM and editor of the International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy. He has published extensively on the subject of meaning of life and meaning of death. Recently, he was the guest editor of the special issue on death acceptance in Death Studies and the “Positive Psychology Section” in Canadian Psychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association.
Contributors 13 contributors
- Darrell Butler, Ph.D. received his B.S. from the University of California and his Ph.D. from Indiana University. He joined the faculty at Ball State University in 1981 and was honored with the Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. During his 30+ years as a faculty member, cognitive psychology and technology have been noteworthy in his teaching, research, and service. He served as president of the Society for Computers in Psychology; as a reviewer for a number of journals and grant agencies, a consultant to technology companies; as an associate editor of Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers as well as the Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied; and as a fellow at the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement at Ball State University.
- Kenneth E. Hart, Ph.D. Associate Professor at the University of Windsor, is an interdisciplinary scholar who works at the interface of clinical-health psychology and positive psychology and who specializes in understanding and promoting change in health-destructive “addictive” behaviors. Theoretically, he draws from the fields of social-cognitive psychology and positive psychology. His research on addictions seeks to apply theory and research on “posttraumatic growth” to understanding and facilitating “post-abstinence flourishing.” His chapters “Application of Social Psychology to Clinical Psychology” and “Applications of Social Psychology to Positive Mental Health” in Schneider et al. (2012) Applications of Social Psychology are examples of his applied orientation and his interdisciplinary interests.
- G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D. the late Professor of Psychology and Director of Addictive Behaviors Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University in 1968. After serving on the faculties of the University of British Columbia (1968–1969) and the University of Wisconsin (1969–1972), he joined the University of Washington faculty in the fall of 1972 until his death in 2011. His major focus in both research and clinical work was in the field of addictive behaviors. He was awarded numerous accolades and awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Network on Personal Meaning.
- Linda Mercadante, Ph.D. Professor of Theology, B. Robert Straker Chair, The Methodist Theological School in Ohio, has had a life quest of “faith seeking understanding,” and she has a passion to explore the intersection of belief and culture. Since earning her Ph.D. from Princeton and becoming ordained (Presbyterian Church, USA) more than two decades ago, she has helped persons discern meaning and vocation. Key areas of specialization include addiction recovery, victimization, gender issues, immigration, and popular culture. The author of Victims & Sinners: Spiritual Roots of Addiction and Recovery, she explores how addiction has become an umbrella term to cover many aspects of human dysfunction. Her spiritual narrative, Bloomfield Avenue: A Jewish-Catholic Jersey Girl’s Spiritual Journey was published in 2006 by Cowley. Dr. Mercadante has served as Visiting Scholar in Media and Theology at The University of Edinburgh (Scotland), a consultant for the federal government on addiction and spirituality, and is active in the American Academy of Religion. She is a member of the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton and of The Ecumenical Institute, St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN.
- Kimberly A. Miller, Ph.D. is Cherokee, a licensed psychologist and an organizational consultant based in Colorado. She specializes in strength-based leadership. She has received several national and international awards. In addition to her academic credentials, Dr. Miller has significant experience in consulting, leadership, and mentoring with over 20 years of supervision. Clinically, Dr. Miller has worked with diverse clients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Her areas of expertise include: assessment, substance abuse, eating disorders, meaning in life, and depression. She has received four grants for her research (two from The National Institute on Drug Abuse), which focused on the development and cross-cultural validation of a strength-based measure of psychological well-being. Dr. Miller’s research interests include strength-based psychology and resiliency, culturally sensitive measurement development, and the epidemiology and treatment of substance use and eating disorders in ethnic minorities.
- Jessica J. Nee holds a B.Sc. (Honors) from Queen’s University in psychology and biology, and an M.A. in counselling psychology from Trinity Western University. She works as a counselor with university and seminary students at Tyndale Counselling Services in Toronto. She also works as an assistant for the International Network on Personal Meaning and the Meaning-Centered Counselling Institute. Her research interests include spiritual development and the intersection of faith and psychology in developing models of healing.
- Gary Nixon, LLB (Law), Ph.D. (Counseling Psychology) Professor in Addictions Counseling, University of Lethbridge, experienced a profound existential crisis in his early twenties at the end of law school, after which he embraced his true passion in life and embarked on a quest for wholeness involving the emerging field of transpersonal psychology. Gary joined the addictions counseling faculty in 1998 at the University of Lethbridge. Since then, Gary has been teaching and researching in the area of addictions counseling, including the process of long-term recovery, the spectrum of development, transpersonal psychology paths to wholeness, and more recently, in the emerging field of nondual psychology. He currently serves as the editor of Paradoxica: The Journal of Nondual Psychology. As well, Gary maintains a small private practice in transpersonal psychology. His research interests include transpersonal psychology, nondual psychology, and long-term recovery from addictions.
- Jaak Panksepp, Ph.D. Baily Endowed Chair of Animal Well-Being Science, the Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, Washington State University, is an Estonian-born American psychologist, a psychobiologist, and a neuroscientist. He has authored over 200 scientific articles dealing with the physiological mechanisms that underlie motivated behavior. He authored two books, Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions (1998), and The Archaeology of Mind, Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotion (2010). He is editor of A Textbook of Biological Psychiatry (2004), and serves as editor of the series Advances in Biological Psychiatry. He also coedited many books, such as Handbook of the Hypothalamus and Emotions and Psychopathology. He earned the NIMH Research Scientist Development Award for his work in hypothalamic mechanisms of energy balance. Presently, at Bowling Green State University, Dr. Panksepp serves as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology. Bowling Green honored him with the title of “Distinguished Research Professor.”
- Stanton Peele, J.D., Ph.D. Adjunct Professor, School of Social Work, New York University, is a psychologist and attorney in New Jersey. He has written and worked in the addiction field for 30 years, beginning with his publication of Love and Addiction in 1975. Dr. Peele has also written The Meaning of Addiction, Diseasing of America, The Truth About Addiction and Recovery, and 7 Tools to Beat Addiction. His most recent publications include Addiction-Proof Your Child and The Life Process Program. He was considered to be one of 10 most influential addiction experts in America, 2011, by The Fix online recovery magazine. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from the International Network on Personal Meaning. Since 2002, he has served as Associate Editor of Addiction Research.
- Nancy Reeves, Ph.D. is a registered psychologist, spiritual director, and best-selling author, who has specialized in the area of healing and transformation with adults and children since 1978. She also conducts workshops and retreats in the area of spirituality. She is internationally respected as a workshop facilitator, psychotherapist, author, and poet. In her clinical practice she works with individuals, families, groups, and in trauma recovery sessions after community disasters. She was the recipient of Greater Victoria YM/YWCA Woman of Distinction Award Health and Wellness in 2002, and the C-FAX 1070 Citation Rose Award for Community Disaster Response in 2001. She has published numerous books related to spirituality, grief, and loss, such as Gifts of the Eucharist (2009), Spirituality for Extroverts (2008), Found Through Loss: Healing Stories from Scripture and Everyday Sacredness (2003), and A Path Through Loss: A Guide to Writing Your Healing and Growth (2001).
- Francis F. Seeburger, Ph.D. Philosophy Department Chair, University of Denver, is the author of numerous articles on contemporary continental European philosophy and the author of three books, including one on the philosophy of addiction, Addiction and Responsibility: An Inquiry into the Addictive Mind (Crossroads Press, 1995). He is currently chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Denver, and Director of the Joint University of Denver-Iliff School of Theology Ph.D. Program in Religious and Theological Studies.
- J. Scott Tonigan, Ph.D. Research Professor, Psychology, University of New Mexico, is Research Professor of Psychology and Codirector of the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions at the University of New Mexico. He has served on the Review Panel of NIH, NIAAA, and NIHR. He is the principal investigator of several major research projects on addiction, including the 10-year follow-up of MATCH on spirituality and AA Practices. He is especially interested in behavioral change in mutual-help programs. His current research activities include: longitudinal relationships between AA attendance, commitment to AA-related practices, and outcome; the role of AA-specific and nonspecific behavior change mechanisms in explaining outcome; distinctions between abstinence and sobriety in AA; and the role of psychopathology in mediating AA-related practices and outcome.
- George E. Vaillant, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, has spent his research career charting adult development and the recovery process of schizophrenia, heroin addiction, alcoholism, and personality disorders. He has spent the last 30 years as director of the Study of Adult Development at the Harvard University Health Service. His published works include Adaptation to Life (1977), The Wisdom of the Ego (1993), and The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited (1995). His summaries of the lives of men and women from adolescence to age 80 are entitled Aging Well (2008) and Triumphs of Experience (2012). His research on spirituality neuroscience was published in Spiritual Evolution: How We are Wired for Faith, Hope and Love (2009). Dr. Vaillant has received the Prize for Research in Psychiatry from the American Psychiatric Association, the Strecker Award from the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, the Burlingame Award from The Institute for Living, and the Jellinek Memorial Award for research in alcoholism. More recently, he received the research prize of the International Psychogeriatric Society, a Templeton Foundation Fellowship in positive psychology research, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Network on Personal Meaning.
The International Network on Personal Meaning
The International Network on Personal Meaning (INPM) is dedicated to advancing health, spirituality, peace, and human fulfillment with a focus on the universal human quest for meaning and purpose. We pursue this objective primarily through biennial International Meaning Conferences, our websites (meaning.ca and existentialpsychology.org), and the International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy. Founded to expand the vision of Dr. Viktor Frankl, INPM is a unique voice of existential positive psychology which affirms hope and meaning in the midst of despair, suffering, and death.
The companion volume
The Positive Psychology of Meaning and Spirituality
Paul T. P. Wong, Lilian C. J. Wong, Marvin J. McDonald, and Derrick W. Klaassen2012