drug treatment – Drug Addiction and Spirituality

several years I was a volunteer at a faith based homeless shelter. My heart wants me to see the good in people, but I understand that the world is quite tainted. I met a man (I’ll call him Joe) who was deeply religious and continued to do well for months in the program at the Mission. Joe had gotten a job, and seemed to be ready to go back out into the “world.”

A few months after he completed the program, I was driving in the city and while at a red light I saw a man to my right, leaning on a fence trying to walk up the sidewalk. He looked me right in my eyes and I instantly recognized him as, “Joe” He looked very sick and I knew he had previously been a heroin addict. He didn’t even recognize me, and all I said was “Are you okay?” and he said, “yes, ” in a slurred voice and he gave me a creepy looking smile that I will never forget. I still wonder sometimes though, what happens? What would make a person chose drugs over faith? Or was it a choice? In a 2007 survey, 729,000 Pennsylvania residents admitted to current drug use.

There are so many people do so well and then fail to stay clean after leaving drug rehabilitation. There are years and years wasted of their precious life. This could be due to the inability for such programs to teach an addicted person how to rebuild a drug-free lifestyle. I know that drug addicts are in an immense amount of emotional pain. Which brought me to the question of spirituality and how helpful it really is, and why they don’t incorporate into all drug treatment programs.

I know there are non-believers. But with statistics of an estimated 53,000 of the individuals with an illicit addiction being 12-17 years old, being those who used over a one year period. I can’t imagine how we haven’t been able to cure this awful disease by 2010. How sad it is to see a young person turns to drugs and alcohol to cope with the pains of their life. In the treatment of addiction, results of a number of studies suggest that perceived comfort and support from spiritual or religious beliefs are positively associated with recovery.

However, there are few manual-guided spirituality-focused interventions that have been developed. This allows us to be introduced to the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path in a manner that is extended upon their own faith. So, for example, if you are a Christian they will apply these principles to the Christian faith to suit the patient.

The Eightfold Path is traditionally organized around three trainings: Mastery of the Mind, Morality, and Wisdom. The researchers who did this study reported that this was their most successful therapy offered in 15 years. Could you actually help someone sooner than they wanted help? Growing up I knew a man in rehab for alcoholism over 25 times in his life. My question is now, where does God step in? Why are some people saved and other let go…there seems to be an answer for everything.

So, is it appropriate to choose? Is there a choice? I suppose that once the addiction is dead, it’d dead. It just seems increasingly disturbing that we can’t help people to make the decision sooner? NA programs are indeed free. Correct? It’s free to go. Yet people choose not to go. What works for these people who do take advantage again seems to be a spiritual awakening.

As the questions I asked in the beginning I do not know the answer. Maybe addiction is not even a problem? After all the studies that I read, and the more information I read, it continues to remain a mystery.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nelly_Ulima

Related Post