I was reading a website today that talks about a form of addiction treatment that I’ve never heard of before. The website is for the Stone Hawk Drug Rehabilitation program. I’ve never personally dealt with addiction, but the form of drug rehabilitation that I’m familiar with is that of the 12 step programs whose participants attend weekly meetings. At Stone Hawk, however, they believe that weekly meetings are a “crutch” that serve to keep people from fully recovering. I’ve heard from some people who felt this way in meetings, but this certainly seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Another interesting thing about the program at Stone hawk is that they consider their program to be one of social education rather than one of a psychiatric or medical treatment. In other words, they’re teaching addicts skills towards living life without drugs rather than treating it as an illness. The whole idea is just kind of discordant to me… like treating the symptoms without curing the disease. They claim a 70% success rate, so the approach seems to be working for some people. I just worry about the longevity of a type of recovery that treats the surface addiction without seeming to address any of the underlying issues.