Is a Spiritual Solution Necessary?

Dr. Marvin Seppala, Medical Director, CEO
Beyond Addictions

Dramatic advances in the brain sciences have resulted in an increased acceptance of addiction as a disease. New psychotherapies are being promoted for addiction treatment. We know the areas of the brain involved in addiction, the neurotransmitters (especially dopamine) that carry the information from one brain cell to another, and we know the receptor sites that exist for all addicting substances. Pharmaceutical companies are devoting money and resources to finding medications that could help people stay sober. Where does all this new information leave the use of spirituality in addiction treatment?

Throughout his sobriety, Bill Wilson, one of the founders of AA, tried to find new means to help others get into recovery, and it is a necessary pursuit. Neurobiology research has shown that addiction alters the reward center and associated areas of the brain. Current theory suggests that drug or alcohol use becomes the most important drive, limiting the priority given to other human needs, like food, sleep, friendship and family. It is as if addiction alters one’s memory to establish a sort of super-memory of the “high” that can preclude, at end- stage addiction, other human needs. This helps to explain some of the bizarre behaviors that define addiction: lying, cheating, stealing, ignoring family, losing jobs and risking lives. Since the drive to continue to use drugs and alcohol supersedes other rewarding activities, how can people think themselves out of it? Cognitive attempts to address addiction are inadequate if our sub-conscious reward system drives addiction.

The scientists have established that addiction is a brain disease and I believe that it is also a disease of the soul. Life itself is in the balance, and due to the power of addiction our own brain convinces us to risk it all, and compromise everything that is important. It is here that the role of spirituality makes tremendous sense in response to the new information about addiction as a brain disease. We need something even more powerful than the drug in order to successfully address addiction. The AA textbook states, “The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it.” If a new medication resulted in sudden abstinence it would not change the necessity of recovery using a spiritual program. Abstinence is not recovery. Healing, life change and personal growth would still have to occur for the individual to move on and lead a life they can enjoy and be proud of, and I do not know of a more effective and powerful way for this to occur than using a 12 Step program. The 12 Steps are based on spiritual principles that, combined with the fellowship of a 12 Step program, promote healing and establish a new way of life.

Neurobiology and the social sciences support what people in 12 Step recovery have known all along. The spirituality of 12 Step programs provides the opportunity for the individual to look outside themselves, recognize limitations, admit they have a disease, and turn to a power greater than themselves for a solution. We need spirituality in addiction treatment; it can be the foundation of long-term recovery and establishes the ability to change, not just remain abstinent, using the 12 Steps.