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Molecular Neurobiology of Recovery with the Twelve Steps

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Molecular Neurobiology of Addiction Recovery

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Neuroscience ((BRIEFSNEUROSCI))

Abstract

At the outset, it may be helpful to point out that to fully understand how AA works, it must be taken in, and on its own terms. Moreover, AA’s ideology of “alcoholism” is subtly different from the clinical interpretation of “addiction.” Understanding this distinction, and especially AA’s interpretation, is crucial to the task of unpacking its twelve steps. Indeed, there is no official definition of alcoholism in AA literature. Rather, it is thought of as an illness that only a spiritual experience can conquer. The “powerlessness” that “we admitted” is a personal matter that cannot be reduced to the nature of “addiction” per se, but rather, to the nature of the “alcoholic”—hence, “we admitted.” This description is akin to William James’ 1902 description of the “sick souled” individual in The Varieties of Religious Experiences. This is significant because it leaves one’s status as an alcoholic up to the interpretation of one’s own experience with alcohol. In other words, it is a process of identifying with the description of being alcoholic, rather than the definition of alcoholism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, McKnight Brain Institute, Suite L4-100, 1149 South Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Kenneth Blum

  2. Meadows Edge Recovery Center, Rod Road 580 10, North Kingstown, RI, 02852, USA

    John Femino

  3. Department of Holistic Medicine, G&G Holistic Health Care Services, LLC, Northeast 162nd Street, North Miami Beach, FL, 33162, USA

    Kenneth Blum & John Giordano

  4. Neurology, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02130, USA

    Marlene Oscar-Berman

  5. Department of Addiction Research and Therapy, Malibu Beach Recovery Center, Malibu Beach, CA, 90265, USA

    Kenneth Blum

  6. Dominion Diagnostics, Inc, North Kingstown, RI, 02852, USA

    Kenneth Blum

  7. Department of Clinical Neurology, PATH Foundation NY, New York, NY, 10010, USA

    Kenneth Blum

  8. Global Integrated Services Unit University of Vermont Center for Clinical & Translational Science, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Kenneth Blum

  9. Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Box 100183, Gainesville, FL, 32610-0183, USA

    Kenneth Blum

  10. Florida Recovery Center, University of Florida, Room 523, 4001 SW 13th Street, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA

    Scott Teitelbaum

  11. Department of Psychiatry, McKnight Brain Institute, Suite L4-100, 1149 South Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Mark Gold

Authors
  1. Kenneth Blum
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  2. John Femino
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  3. Scott Teitelbaum
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  4. John Giordano
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  5. Marlene Oscar-Berman
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  6. Mark Gold
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Correspondence to Kenneth Blum .

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Blum, K., Femino, J., Teitelbaum, S., Giordano, J., Oscar-Berman, M., Gold, M. (2013). Molecular Neurobiology of Recovery with the Twelve Steps. In: Molecular Neurobiology of Addiction Recovery. SpringerBriefs in Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7230-8_2

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