Drug Rehab Center

By Geoff Thompson, MC, CCC
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

By Geoff Thompson, MA, CCC
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

When we ask clients what an addiction is, they provide any number of answers: “It’s a disease”; “It’s not a disease, I just made bad choices”; “It’s a bad habit”; “I was irresponsible”; and so on. Everyone, it seems, is a bit baffled. Of course, the experts are just as baffled. William R. Miller, a world-renowned addiction expert, told us in 2006, “Addiction is not well understood.”

In previous blog articles, we’ve provided lots of different interpretations of addiction. Here are three we’ve looked at:
• Psychologist Jeff Singer says addiction is a response some people use when they really don’t know who they are or how they fit in the world.
• Neuroscientist Nora Volkow says addiction is a “brain disease.”
• Nobel-Prize winning economist Gary Becker says addiction can be understood in terms of rational economic theory.

In a sense, all of them are right. It depends on what perspective you take. For example, if you believe that everything about you can be reduced to chemicals interacting in your brain, then you would likely agree with Nora Volkow. But if you believe that you are more than chemicals interacting in your brain, then you might think that addiction is something other than a disease.

If you adhere to the philosophy of the 12-step program, then you likely think that addiction is a “spiritual disease.” Bill W., the driving force behind Alcoholics Anonymous, said that this spiritual disease had caused alcoholics to become disconnected with themselves, with others, and with a higher power.

At Sunshine Coast Health Center we interpret addiction in line with the great psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, who said that addiction is a response to living a life that has little personal meaning. In real life, this means that those at risk for addiction are the people who find daily life dull, boring, lonely, uncomfortable and perhaps feel that they are different or don’t fit in. And once the addiction sets in, then, as Narcotics Anonymous says, life becomes “meaningless, monotonous, and boring.”

All this is important because, generally, people with addictions will do things for their recovery based on what they think their addiction was caused by and how it affected them. Those who follow a 12-step program for their recovery (at least as Bill W. had interpreted the problem) see addiction as a spiritual problem; therefore, recovery demands a spiritual solution. Those who interpret addiction as only a matter of excessive use of substances often focus on relapse prevention techniques. Those who interpret addiction as a disease follow any program (usually a 12-step program) that will help them keep away from the drug; since there is no cure, they need to learn to live with the problem and get support to do it.

(There are some clients who really don’t care what the addiction is; all they know is that they’ve got a problem with substances and they just want to know how to get over it. This is also a good tactic. After all, in real life, who really cares where it came from? The key is to get over it. But even if you don’t care what caused it, you still have to figure out a way to overcome it.)

But we know this because we often talk to alumni on how well their recovery is going. A lot of the alumni give us reports that they’re beginning to live the life they wanted to live. There may have been a few surprises when they left Sunshine Coast, cleaning up some of the wreckage of the past, but they are doing well.

Others tell us that they are struggling. It’s interesting that most of the fellows who are struggling have told us that life in recovery surprised them. They were taken off guard that the way they thought recovery would go didn’t actually work out that way.

In this blog article we’ll look at some of the surprises that those alumni who have been struggling have told us about. People in recovery can learn a lot by what didn’t work for others.

Comment #1: ‘Just Say No’

At any given time at Sunshine Coast, we find several clients have decided that their recovery will consist of just saying no to the drink or drug. Some of the ways the clients say: “Drinking is just not an option for me” or “I know that I can use anymore” or “If I just don’t use coke, I’ll be fine.” This seems like a good idea; after all, former first lady Nancy Reagan told us that the solution to addiction was “Just say no.”

For these fellows, addiction equals using drugs or alcohol; therefore the solution to addiction is abstinence. It seems reasonable; this is certainly how most family members and the public interpret addiction. But we have experience seeing what happens to those who believe this, and lots of research to confirm what we see. The idea that recovery means putting a cork in the bottle or just saying no seems to be a recipe for relapse. In fact, clients who follow this as their main strategy for recovery seem to be the ones who relapse quickly. Thankfully, most of the clients at Sunshine Coast who believe this change their minds in a week or two of being here.

When someone says, “Drinking is just not an option for me,” it often quickly becomes an option. So, what happened? Was this person lying to us? We don’t think so. Most of the fellows seem genuinely honest; they don’t want to use anymore. Usually, drinking becomes an option for the alumnus because he doesn’t actually understand his addiction. He blames the using, forgetting to look at what it is about himself that makes intoxication appealing.

So, this is a good lesson. If your strategy for recovery is to just say no, then you’ll likely be very surprised when you discover it isn’t enough.

Comment #2: ‘I Just Have To Go To Meetings’

It is one of the more baffling things in recovery that many people in 12-step programs think that recovery consists only of going to meetings. Clients attending Sunshine Coast are taught that, while going to meetings is important and a good place to build social connection, according to 12-step programs, the real key to recovery is doing the steps.

In fact, research has shown that those who only attend meetings don’t do all that well in staying away from the booze or drugs. Researchers have concluded that “involvement” in the 12-step program is the key. If the person is actively involved—has a sponsor, does the steps, focuses on the speakers at meetings, does 12-step volunteer work, spends time socializing before and after the meeting—then he succeeds.

If you think about it, how can going to meetings help addicts and alcoholics achieve what Bill W. and the Big Book said are essential for recovery? Can going to meetings give you “an entire psychic change”? How often does going to a meeting help you achieve a “spiritual awakening”? How does going to a meeting promote the idea of “To thine own self be true”?

Some experts have suggested that those who only attend meetings—and don’t do the steps—let themselves off easy. If all people do is attend meetings, then they don’t have to take any real action, such as making amends or challenging themselves to change behaviors or taking risks to be true to themselves.

Comment #3: ‘I Just Have to Keep from Being Stressed Out’

Here’s a common comment we hear from an alumnus who has had a slip: “I had a lousy week, and I was so stressed that I just had to have a drink.”

Thinking that the key to recovery is to protect oneself from getting stressed out is always a bad strategy — simply because the odds are overwhelming that there’s inevitably going to be a bad day or bad week or bad month somewhere down the line. If recovery depends on lack of stress, then addicts are pretty much doomed.

During treatment, clients at Sunshine Coast are given a test to see how stressed out they are. During the test, all the items that apply are marked off and then added up to determine the level of stress. But we pointed out that lots of people who are happy in recovery face many things that are stressful. A marriage may end, they may have contracted a serious disease, they may have lost a job, they may have been in a car accident, they may have trouble with their family. But they don’t need the drug to deal with these stressors.

So why does the alumnus who tells us he “just had to have a drink,” when other alumni didn’t seem to need it? Usually, it’s because the life he is living in recovery is missing something. To borrow an idea from Alcoholics Anonymous, he isn’t being true to himself. Those in recovery who have a slip because of some stressful event are usually living lives that are primed for relapse. The stressful time is often just the last straw.

It’s interesting that when we talk to those in recovery who decided to get loaded that the actual drug use was the last thing on the road to relapse. All sorts of things were going on for them days and even weeks before the actual drug use. Although everyone is unique, the common theme is that what they were doing in recovery did not make them feel alive and vital and energized. Some typical things we hear from these alumni are “I was putting in a lot of hours at work” or “I was bored with everything” or “my family was on my back all the time” or “I just sat on the couch all day.”

Comment #4: ‘Life Sucks’

Here’s a common story we hear from alumni: “I don’t get it. I haven’t used. My family is thrilled that I’m clean and sober. My boss is thrilled that I haven’t missed work. My parents tell me they’re so proud of me for kicking the drugs. Everyone seems happy about my recovery … except me. I think my life sucks.”

Although everyone who tells us this is unique, there is a common theme we find in these sorts of stories. We often find that they are not being true to themselves. You know that on the AA chip it says, “To thine own self be true.” We generally discover that the alumni who tell us that their life sucks have not paid attention to themselves, have not been true to themselves. They have usually been doing what other people tell them to do.

This really isn’t a big surprise. We have discovered from listening to various life stories of clients at Sunshine Coast, few have insight into themselves. If they don’t know who they are, then how can they be true to themselves? This is why we use Viktor Frankl’s eulogy exercise at Sunshine Coast. It’s a good way for clients to learn what is really important. (The eulogy exercise is the one where you pretend that you’ve lived a good life and then passed away. The exercise is to write down what you want someone to say about you at the funeral service.)

This is why we incorporated mindfulness meditation into the program. It is a proven way of helping clients to be self-aware — what’s going on for them right now. And this is why we ask clients what they are feeling; how aware are they of their feelings at that moment. Most clients are so dissociated from themselves that they have lost this sort of self-awareness. It takes practice to get it back. (Watch infants. They have no problem letting you know how they are feeling right now.)

We don’t expect clients to discover who they are at Sunshine Coast, but we hope that they will begin the process of discovering it.

By Geoff Thompson, MA, CCC
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

Geoff highlights a presentation by Dr. Alex Batthyany at the 10th Biennial International Conference on Personal Meaning. The main message of Dr. Batthyany’s presentation was that those who live life with the sole purpose of being happy will find that their goal remains elusive. However, those who join in with life discover that the byproduct of such a pursuit is a sense of belonging and happiness. Dr. Batthyany is an expert on logotherapy developed by the late Dr. Viktor Frankl.

By Geoff Thompson, MA
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

In August, 2010, Sunshine Coast Health Center sponsored an international psychology conference that focused on existential psychology, positive psychology, and logotherapy. Dr. Alex Pattakos, aka Dr. Meaning, was one of the presenters. Dr. Pattakos summarized what we can learn from the life of famed Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl.

A Bad Attitude Doesn't Explain Why Addicts Struggle With Showing Up on Time

By Geoff Thompson, MA
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

Introduction

Weird as it may sound, researchers are beginning to take a long look at how people with addictions interpret time.

One reason for this interest is to better understand a very common phenomenon that all addiction counsellors face. Anyone who has ever worked or been a client at a treatment center knows that it’s almost impossible to get everyone together at a workshop at 9am or have people consistently show up to appointments on time.

Mainstream addiction counsellors often pull their hair out with the lateness and the missed appointments. Interestingly, they make sense of this situation by blaming the addict as irresponsible or, perhaps, passive-aggressive. They think that the self-centered addict is so wrapped up in his own life that he doesn’t care about another person’s schedule. Or they say that addicts’ lives are chaotic (which is why the need a structured program). Or they make sense of the lateness as a typical symptom of those who are trying to assert control over their lives — an unspoken statement that sends the message “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Most addiction treatment programs create structures that leave little opportunity for choice. The argument is that addicts need structure to deal with their chaotic life. Of course, since it’s difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time, the usual tactic to deal with lateness and missed appointments is, at least in residential treatment programs, to threaten clients: “If you don’t show up on time for programming, then we will discharge you.” But making sense of lateness by suggesting that addicts’ lives are chaotic may not be all that accurate. A growing number of addiction experts tell us that lateness may be more a factor of how addicts make sense of time.

When you think about it, time is actually weird. Of course, we all know that a minute is a minute. It’s 60 seconds regardless of whether it is a minute in the middle of the night or middle of the afternoon, whether it’s a minute in Hong Kong or a minute in Vancouver. (Of course, Albert Einstein said this isn’t true, but for everyday purposes, it’s the same.)

Regardless of this factual knowledge of time, people usually have a different perception of it. For example, you know that time slows down when you are bored. On the other hand, time speeds up when you are absorbed in some activity. Younger people often complain that time moves too slowly; older people often complain that time moves too quickly.

Add to this that we are a very time-oriented society. Almost everyone wears a watch and owns a calendar. It is considered rude to be late for appointments, suppers, and so on. People complain that someone might be “wasting my time.” And there’s the old saying, “Time is money.” It’s almost as if time can be good, bad, or neutral. In fact, we say that we had a “good time” or “bad time.” And “Time management” is very important in our society.

For the nonaddict, time flows from the past to the present and then into the future. But for the addict, only present time is truly important. The present, the now, has the priority. In this month’s online program, we’ll look at the way those in active addiction and those in recovery look at time. Surprising as this may seem, it actually will help you in your recovery. Research is showing that how the recovering person interprets time is linked closely to how well they do in recovery.

Part One – Addicts Want Things NOW

Ryan Kemp, a researcher in the UK, who is interested in how addicts interpret time quotes a passage from the famous artist, Jean Cocteau:
Everything one does in life, even love,
Occurs in an express train racing towards death,
To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving

Time, for most people in active addiction, is ‘present’ time. What is important is ‘right now’, this moment. “Drugs,” says Kemp, “call out to the addict to be used, and to be used now!” Drugs have no future. How many times have you bought more of the substance that you planned to use—to save some for the future—only to use it all up as soon as possible. Kemp talks about the desire that addicts have to have “now” linger on. They want the present state of being high to linger.

On the other hand, the addict thinks that any state of discomfort will go on forever. If they have to wait to get high, then this is an unendurable wait and seems to go on forever. Drugs can end that miserable state of not being high. The waiting feels like a vacuum—what Sunshine Coast clients have described as feeling a “void” or “hollow.”

Studies on addicts have shown that they will choose a small reward right now, rather than delay gratification for a larger reward later. This is, in part, why many addiction experts say that addicts are impulsive. Similarly, almost everyone in active addiction grabs the immediate reward of using the drug, even though they know it will cause them problems in the future. Getting drunk the night before having to work, getting loaded before having to write a school test, using before the big family supper, getting money out of the bank for the drug even though they know they will have to answer to the family later, and so on are typical behaviours.

The past is not very meaningful for addicts—other than as a source of good stories about how they got away with something or some dumb, but funny, thing they did. For many in active addiction the past is filled with guilt, so they actively work to avoid thinking about it. In any case, it’s not useful for using drugs right now to spend time thinking about the past.

Similarly, the future has little meaning for addicts. Any competent addict knows that it would be useless to think about the future if they wanted to use drugs right now. If they started thinking about the future, then they would think about consequences of their actions, the withdrawal, the guilt, the money spent, and so on.

Part Two — The Problem of the Future for Addicts

Problems with the future give the addict more pressure to live in the present, in the now.

The first problem with the future is that if you live for the future, then you have to have some goal or mission. To really pay attention to the future, you have to be doing something, achieving something, working toward some goal. For example, if you want to learn how to play the guitar—a goal for the future—you have to put in all those hours and months of practice to achieve more competence. Or if you want to get a degree in forestry, you have to put in all those years of study. Addicts have little interest in working to achieve a future goal. They want a state of feeling that is immediate. Now.

Another problem with the future for those in active addiction is that it is not guaranteed. Things may not happen as the addict wants them to happen. The future is uncertain. And one thing that people in active addiction do not like is uncertainty. That’s why we say (affectionately, of course) at Sunshine Coast that all addicts are control freaks. They want to control life, but it’s impossible to control the future. Given that, there is little reason for paying attention to the future.

Part Three — Therapies that Do Not Help with Recovery

There are many types of therapy that are used to help people recover. Every few years, William Miller, a world-renowned addiction expert, ranks how well about 50 official therapies work for addicts in recovery. You may have heard of some of them: solution-focused therapy, motivational therapy (this is Miller’s), cognitive-behavioral therapy, community reinforcement therapy, relapse prevention therapy, and so on.

We have a good idea of types of therapies that just don’t seem to work for addicts. One of the most famous examples of a therapy that does not work is psychoanalysis, the type of therapy developed by Sigmund Freud. This therapy analyzes the person’s childhood experiences to help them understand that their problems are actually rooted in the past.

There’s a lesson here. Therapies that focus on the addict’s past have little success helping the person to recovery. At first, this may seem very odd. It seems reasonable that if the addict could figure out his past and how it left him with poor coping skills or whatever, then this would be useful for recovery. Add to this that these therapies often work well with people other than addicts.

But research is showing that the addict’s perception of time screws up the process. The past is really not the addict’s focus, so focusing on it is likely not that useful. And we’re discovering that any therapy that focuses on the past is not very successful: psychoanalysis, family of origin therapies, and so on.

Part Four — Therapies that Improve Recovery

So we mentioned that any therapy that focuses on the addict’s past will likely not help him very much. Research is showing that therapies that focus on the future are likely to offer much better help.

One of the most famous therapies in the addiction field is motivational therapy, developed mainly by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick. This therapy deals with the present but has a big focus on the future. It helps clients figure out what they truly want out of life and then supports them in achieving their goals.

Another successful program is the 12-step program. If you take a close look at the steps you will notice that they are aimed at the present and the future. This makes sense. Bill W., the driving force behind the 12-step program wanted you to go on and live a great life. He wanted you to feel alive right now, today, the present. The steps that deal with the past are merely there because you need to overcome jealousy and guilt and anything else that would be a barrier to feeling alive each day. But he also reminded you of the future. That’s one of the reasons why the last three steps are called the “maintenance” steps. He knew that you had a life to be lived.

Part Five — Live in the Present but Keep an Eye on the Future

It is interesting that everything we’ve been talking about this month says that recovery demands that the addict make sense of time in a new way.

In active addiction, the addict is concerned only with present time, the now. The past and future have no positive meaning. The past is mainly a source of guilt, and, in any case, it does not help him get and use drugs. Living with an eye on the future demands that the addict accomplish something, follow a plan, live for some future goal. This is not a useful strategy for addicts to keep using drugs. Perhaps worse, the future is unpredictable, and so it can be dangerous. What if things don’t work out? There are no guarantees with the future.

In recovery, on the other hand, the addict needs to live in the now, but be oriented toward the future. For example, he has to work through cravings, which means giving up immediate relief for the goal of abstinence. He might have to put off some immediate reward by going back to school for training, for the goal of getting a new job. He might have to work to take risks and be uncomfortable in the moment, for the goal of meeting someone to love.

If you remember some of the wise people we have talked about in other online blog articles, you’ll recognize how important it is for recovery to keep an eye on the future. The great psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said that each of us has some mission to fulfill, some goal or goals to accomplish in this life. If the person does not achieve this mission or this goal, then they suffer. Joseph Campbell, the famous expert on mythology, said that the recipe for the good life is to “Follow your bliss.” There is a future that awaits you. And, of course, the AA chip says on one side: “To thine own self be true.” You have some life that awaits you if you follow what you truly want out of being alive.

But to find the good life means that you have to live more than in just the moment. You have to keep an eye on the future. This is very difficult for most people in early recovery (and pretty much impossible for anyone in active addiction). But it offers hope. It all depends on whether you choose to pay attention to the future.

What is meaning? For many of us, it can be a feeling as something that’s missing. Alex Pattakos tells us that by reading ”Man’s Search for Meaning” or ”Prisoner of Our Thoughts” and then practicing these principles, we can embark on a new path of living with meaning and purpose.

Alex Pattakos was interviewed on the Vancouver-based Fanny Kiefer Show in August, 2010, while in town for the 6th Biennial International Conference on Personal Meaning. For more information on Alex Pattakos visit his website, Prisoner of Our Thoughts. For more information on the INPM Conference visit the meaning.ca website.

By Geoff Thompson, MA, CCC
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

The 2010 INPM conference with the theme of “Creating a Psychologically Healthy Workplace” turned out very well for all involved. It was great to hear from some of the leading experts about how well-being depends on meaning and purpose in life. And there were several experts in the addiction field talking, such as Ken Hart and Alan Marlatt. And many of the speakers talked about research on the treatment of addiction.

Most of the speakers geared their talks to the workplace but what they said applies to all aspects of life. A big topic was the difference between “happiness” and “meaning.” As you know from looking at the self-help section of bookstores, finding “happiness” is very big today. But the conference speakers did not have much faith that this would lead to a better life. The problem of making the goal of life to “be happy” is that human beings suffer. And some suffer terribly. If your goal is to be happy, then what happens when you’re having a bad day? What happens if your teenage son acts out or crashes the car? What happens if work is causing you grief? If your goal is to be happy, you’re going to fail a great deal of the time.

But if your goal is to find meaning, then you don’t expect to be “happy” all the time. One of the things the speakers pointed out is that to be human is to suffer. It is as natural to life as a heart beat. At Sunshine Coast, all of our clients have suffered because of addiction. But those with good recovery actually tell us that they are “thankful” they were addicts. They are thankful for suffering because it helped them discover a more satisfying way of living. That’s a truism of human nature. We grow by overcoming our problems. Without problems, how would we grow? On the other hand, if your goal is to be happy, you certainly wouldn’t be thankful for suffering. You’d see that as a total failure.

Another problem that many of the conference presenters pointed out about trying to be “happy” is that it is self-centered. If your goal is happiness, then you have to walk about the universe asking yourself, “Am I happy?” Think about that. If your concern is your own happiness, how much attention will you pay to others? And if you don’t pay attention to others you’ll be lonely and isolated.

There were lots of interesting speakers at the conference, and in this article we’ll talk about four, whose talks are relevant to addiction and recovery.

Part One—Todd Kashdan

Dr. Todd Kashdan is a remarkable research psychologist. He’s only 35, and he’s published 100 articles and book chapters, all about meaning and purpose. And he’s written a book, “Curious.” At the conference he talked about one study he did with alcoholics, which should be of great help to understanding addiction and recovery.

The research projected asked drinkers to carry around a beeper. When the beeper went off, they wrote down what they were feeling. And there were also specific times that he asked the drinkers to write down their feelings, such as just before they were going to drink.

The results were fascinating. It turns out that all the participants had intense feelings. Some were happy, some sad, some mad. But there was no link between the intensity of the feeling and the amount of alcohol they drank. This seems to contradict much of our belief about why people drink. Clients at Sunshine Coast often claim they get loaded because of an angry outburst with their partner or bad feelings at work or because they felt good and wanted to feel better.

According to Dr. Kashdan’s study, however, the real link with drinking was whether the person could describe his or her feelings. For example, if the participant wrote, “I feel bad,” then he would likely drink a lot. “Feeling bad” is not very descriptive. No detail. The person really couldn’t make sense of what he or she was feeling. But those who wrote, ‘I was feeling guilty because I raised my voice to a friend, and that’s not who I am’ would not drink that much. In other words, if the person could make sense of his emotions, he would drink significantly less.

So the link between emotions and drinking is not the intensity of the emotion; rather, it depends on whether he or she could name and detail what they were feeling. In other words, the key was whether the person could find meaning in the emotions. This ability is a big part of finding meaning and purpose in life.

Part Two—Alex Pattakos

Dr. Alex Pattakos is known as “Dr. Meaning.” The Fanny Kiefer show in Vancouver learned he was speaking at the conference and interviewed him, just to give you a sense of Dr. Pattakos’ reputation. He’s written a famous book called, “Prisoners of our Thoughts.”

Pattakos basically takes Viktor Frankl’s theories and boils them down to make them understandable for everyone.

In past articles I have mentioned Frankl’s belief that each of us is free to choose the attitude we take toward something or someone. An example here is addiction. Most clients at Sunshine Coast are angry at their addiction. It has caused them lots of suffering. Later, in recovery, many people change their attitude toward the addiction. Some people even say that they are “thankful” for their addiction. The key to a good attitude is if it works for you. If being angry at your addiction is helpful, then it’s a good idea to stay angry at it. But if your attitude toward your addiction is that you really miss alcohol and drugs because you love to get high, then this likely won’t work out well for your recovery. But the point is that you have the freedom to change your attitude.

Pattakos also talks about Frankl’s idea of “de-reflection.” Basically, de-reflection means changing your focus on some matter. He uses the example of “complaining.” Complaining is a common pastime for those with addiction problems. But the problem with complaining is that it does not solve anything; in fact, it usually reinforces a belief of being a victim. In his book, Pattakos relates the story of where he used to work. The staff complained so much about conditions that they went on strike. Pattakos’ boss said, “Good for them! However, the show must go on, so let’s see what we can do without them.” His boss used de-reflection, switching the focus from dwelling on all the problems due to the strike to dwelling on solutions.

Frankl also stressed the need for action. Pattakos provides exercises at the end of each chapter for the reader to consider. Although the topics are different, the key question is ‘What did you actually do about the problem’. It’s not enough in life to simply think about things you don’t like or wish for something better for yourself. You actually have to DO something to change your life. This is a common problem for those in recovery. Clients often have a good intellectual knowledge of what they have to do and still suffer. The key is to act, not merely think about it.

A third example in Pattakos’ book is that people often work against themselves. This is very true for those in recovery. They may know that they have to make new clean and sober friends, yet they keep in touch only with their using buddies. They may be trying to recover but refuse to give up going to the bar for their social life (they try to get away with drinking soda water). They may want a better relationship with their spouse, but they are always ready for an argument. In each of these cases, the person is working against himself.

Part Three—Paul Wong

Dr. Paul Wong, whose ideas form the basis for the new program at Sunshine Coast, gave a talk on meaning-centered therapy.

To help the audience understand this therapy, he volunteered a psychiatrist to show how a psychiatrist works with patients, and Geoff to show how a meaning-centered therapist conducts therapy. When Dr. Wong asked the audience what differences they saw between the psychiatrist and Geoff, they observed that a meaning-centered approach treated the client as a human being first. The psychiatrist was more interested in keying on the patient’s problem.

At Sunshine Coast, we see the client as a unique human being, who happens to have an addiction. We see the human being first, rather than some patient that needs to be diagnosed and fixed.

After this little demonstration, Dr. Wong talked about “basic human needs.” These needs, according to his research, are: meaning (vs emptiness), virtue (vs destructive way of life), resilience (vs. giving up), relationships (vs. loneliness and alienation), hope (vs despair and depression), faith (vs. fear), and well-being (vs. boredom, brokenness).

If a therapist sees a client as a human being, then the therapist is interested in these basic needs. The problem is that each client has to find his own way of satisfying these needs; if he doesn’t, he will suffer unnecessarily. This is why, at Sunshine Coast, therapists never tell clients what to do or how to live their lives or what they should think. No therapist can provide the answer to a client’s basic needs. That’s their job. It’s just not possible for a therapist to give a client well-being if they are bored. It’s not possible for a therapist to give a client a relationship, if they are lonely. No therapist can ‘fix’ a client.

Part Four—Alexander Batthyany

Dr. Alexander Batthyany is head of the science and research department at the Viktor Frankl Institute in Vienna. He is also a professor of psychology at the University of Vienna.

Needless to say, he’s one of the world’s leading experts on Frankl. In his talk, he spoke about how Viktor Frankl interpreted what it means to live a good life. Clients at Sunshine Coast are told the story of Frankl’s experiences in the Nazi death camps. From these experiences, he developed the idea that human beings can choose how to live their lives. Even though the prison guards controlled their bodies, Frankl said that prisoners could still choose to control their minds.

Dr. Batthyany said that if someone punches you, and you are angry about it, you still get to choose how you will react. If, out of anger, you punch him back, then you choose to be aggressive. On the other hand, you can choose not to punch him back and find another way of dealing with it. So you have choices, or, as Dr. Batthyany put it, “There are lots of potential selves” you can choose from; which you choose dictates who you are. This is also what Frankl called “freedom.” You are free to choose your life.

In other words, it is not the circumstances that dictate your life, but how you react to the circumstances.

Dr. Batthyany also said it was a waste of time to pursue happiness, and anyone whose goal is “to be happy” will soon discover that this is not a good approach. Batthyany said that people whose goal is happiness ask themselves two questions: “Did I get what I want?” and “Am I feeling good.” Since it’s impossible always to get what you want and it’s impossible always to feel good, then these people are doomed.

Geoff Thompson, Program Director for the Sunshine Coast Health Centre, concludes his four part series on the link between meaningful work, happiness and recovery. One of the things that Geoff has noticed with clients is that most (but not all) who have found happiness also have work that they find to be fulfilling.

Geoff Thompson, MA, CCC

Geoff Thompson, Program Director for the Sunshine Coast Health Centre, discusses Martin Buber’s key to good relationships and the “I-thou” idea.

By Geoff Thompson – MA, CCC
Program Director
Sunshine Coast Health Center

Recently, I had a discussion with the clients at our residential treatment center about work. Some fellows said they were at work only because it gave them a paycheque. They didn’t like the job, but they had kids to put through school and a mortgage to pay. Others said that they were near retirement and were just counting down the years: “I’ve got seven years left to retirement, so I just have to suck it up and hang in for a few years more.” Others said they were unhappy at their jobs and so just quit.

Many of the clients who spoke seemed to think they were doomed, victims of their jobs. Many seemed resigned to the “fact” that they just had to suck it up and survive. But making sense of work like this is not very helpful in recovery—or in life, for that matter. There are ways to make work more interesting and satisfying, if you decide to take action.

Sunshine Coast Health Center is sponsoring a major international conference this month in Vancouver on finding meaning in the workplace. The official title of the conference is “Creating a Psychologically Healthy Workplace: Meaning, Spirituality and Engagement in the 21st Century” (visit www.meaning.ca for more information). What this means is that we now have very good research on how to turn a dull job into an interesting one.

Some of the world’s foremost experts will be letting us in on the secrets of transforming your working life, and, if you are a manager, how to create a workplace that will inspire your employees. It’s especially important right now because many people are simply surviving at work. There seems to be a general feeling that we are just hanging in because of layoffs and the downturn in the economy. And lots of our alumni tell us that they are working at jobs simply because of the paycheque and not because they are excited about work.

At Sunshine Coast Health Center, we stress the importance of working at a fulfilling job or of doing something that will allow our clients to reach this job, such as getting training. Each of us spends an enormous amount of time at work, so it’s important that it be a major source of fulfillment and significance.

Why all this is important for your recovery is obvious. Alcoholics Anonymous says that a key to recovery is “To thine own self be true.” And Viktor Frankl, the guru of leading a meaningful life, said that addiction is one response for those whose lives are unfulfilling and unsatisfying, including their working lives.

In this article we’ll take a look at some of the ways to make work more meaningful. As always, remember that you are the author of your life, so finding meaning at work is your job.

Part One – The Job as Meaningful vs Intense

Some clients tell us that they love their job. They go to work everyday, happy to be there. But when we talk to these clients, we discover some very interesting things about this job they love.

A common example is a job that is filled with pressure, such as managing a multimillion dollar project. Or perhaps it is in the financial world, where the client invests millions of dollars each day. Or perhaps it’s a job in at some remote industrial plant where the client has to do some welding while tethered to a safety harness 100 meters above the ground. Or perhaps it’s a job that changes every day and has no real routine.

When we ask our clients what the appeal of the job is, they often tell us, “It’s a rush.” Exciting. Risky. High stakes. Or, as we phrase it at Sunshine Coast, it’s filled with intensity. And addicts love intensity. Counsellors find it interesting that the job itself is often not that appealing—it’s the rush, not the job itself, the client likes. As one client said, who flies around the world first-class on business trips and gets invited to all the best parties, “I could care less whether I’m doing what I do now or whether I’m selling eggs. As long as I get to be a rock star!”

If you recall from previous articles, I talk a lot about the appeal of intensity for addicts. Our main point is that addicts substitute living intensely for living meaningfully. This is one of the most important dynamics to understand addiction. But the key to recovery is to live a life that fills you up, that matches what you truly want out of life. The intense jobs don’t seem to accomplish this goal; but they are intense.

Psychologist Mike Csikszentmihalyi studied people who thrived at work and discovered that the key factor was they loved the work itself (not the paycheque or perks, but the work). This was true of artists and scientists and business people. Pursuing a job because one loves the job itself is a key to finding fulfillment in work. Many artists are content holding down a minimum-wage job so as to ensure they have enough time to work on their craft. Many people donate time in the community to help out organizations or to help their company become a good corporate citizen.

Part Two – The Job as Part of Life, Not the Whole

A few years back, ABC News featured a documentary on the addicted actor Daniel Baldwin. This is the one where ABC News follows Baldwin during his stay at a residential treatment center in California.

In one segment, his psychologist suggests that being a Hollywood actor may not be the best job for Baldwin because it is a life through which Baldwin has used drugs regularly. The ABC interviewer asks Baldwin if he would be willing to change careers, and he replied, without hesitating, that he would never even entertain the idea.

It is interesting that he refused to spend even five seconds thinking about it a career change. Why? The documentary makes it clear that Daniel Baldwin may have no life without his acting. Perhaps the reason Baldwin cannot conceive of having another career is that any sense of who he is hinges on the career. He talks in that segment that he could be a lawyer or real estate agent if he wanted to (which is very true), but it seems obvious that these jobs would be far too dull for him. No limelight. No excitement. No showing up at the Academy Awards. Being successful according to his own standards of wealth and fame is how he judges a job. He does not talk about being a lawyer because he loves the law and wants to help people. He does not talk about being a real estate agent because the job has intrinsic meaning. He is only interested in winning cases or in making money.

One wonders what would happen to Baldwin if he suffered the same fate as the actor Christopher Reeve, who had to give up acting after breaking his spine. Could Baldwin gain success as Reeve did? Who is Baldwin if he were not famous or wealthy or the life of the party? Perhaps it is the job that allows him to survive, that provides him with his identity, with a sense of who he is as a person. Not a very balanced life.

Part Three – Changing Jobs

According to some research, most heart attacks happen on Monday morning, right after the days off and just before going back to the grind. This should give you some idea of how important work is for your health.

O, Oprah’s magazine, often contains articles on how people transformed their lives by changing jobs. Of course changing jobs is not realistic for everyone. But the articles in Oprah’s magazine are about those who are capable of changing jobs. The only think that prevented them was fear.

One woman wrote about her experience of overcoming fear. She and her husband made six-figure salaries, and both were regarded at work and in their communities as very successful. But what they truly wanted to do was to get out of the business world, buy a sailboat, and sail around the world. No more worries about appointments and the high pace.

But to do this obviously meant quitting their jobs. It meant selling their house to pay for a sailboat. It meant giving up their upper middle-class lifestyle. Their neighbors and colleagues at work thought they were a bit nuts. But sailing around the world was what they truly wanted.

The woman said that it was scary, but she said it was the best thing they had ever done. They realized they didn’t need six-figure salaries to be happy. They didn’t need a big, expensive house to be happy. All they needed to be happy was to be true to themselves (and realistic, of course).

Their willingness to act in spite of fear is a good lesson for those in recovery. Remember that Bill W. and AA tell you, “To thine own self be true.” And, of course, Viktor Frankl would not be the least bit surprised to learn that the couple were much happier sailing about the world.

Part Four — Examples of Meaningful Work

In this article we’ve been examining the ideas of finding meaningful (not intense) work, not allowing work to become your identity, and facing fear of changing careers. Eric Clapton’s autobiography provides a good example of someone who transformed his work into something that provided meaning and purpose. He didn’t change jobs, but he did transform his job into something personally meaningful.

As you know, Clapton suffered from addiction. In active addiction, he became a famous and highly respected musician. He describes this time of his life in his book. There was the joy of music, but equally there was the distraction of drugs, party girls, soap opera life, photographs and television, audiences of screaming fans, hanging out with other famous rock stars, money, and so on. And he describes it as a rather narrow life and also that despite the fact that he was surrounded by people, he didn’t feel all that close to others.

Then, after two stays at a residential treatment center, he found recovery. He now has his work in perspective. It is there, but his family and friends are equally important. What is really remarkable is the way he describes his work (music). Now, clean and sober, he describes the power of his music is to heal those who are suffering. This is a long way from the rock musician in active addiction.

Bill W. offers an example of a different route. He did change jobs. In active addiction, he was a business man. In recovery, he spent his time getting AA on its feet. He was the coach, guru, diplomat, and promoter of AA. He turned from a self-centered alcoholic businessman to a man who followed his passion to help other suffering alcoholics and their families.

In both cases, there are several common factors. Each had to take action. Each had to be creative. Each had to follow his bliss, that is, be true to himself. Each had to look at work as something of substance, rather than as simply a way to money (or in Clapton’s case, fame).