THE 13TH STEP:

Recovery. It Can Be So Addicting (Mark Gauvreau Judge, November 23, 2003, Washington Post)

Now that he's out of rehab and back on the job, there's no shortage of people offering Rush Limbaugh advice on his new life as a recovering drug addict. But I think I can offer the pugnacious radio talk show host some advice he's probably not getting: Listen, Rush. Whatever people tell you, recovery is not endless -- and it should not remain the center of your life.

In 12-step circles, this is heresy. Once you get bounced into what alcoholics call "the rooms" of Alcoholics Anonymous and other groups -- those church basements where the recovering meet -- it's hammered into you that recovery must be the center of your life, every day, for the rest of your life. This is a self-defeating proposition. Admitting powerlessness and asking for help are signs of honesty and maturity. But making a fetish out of a long-ago disorder and engaging in groupthink are not.

As someone once addicted to alcohol, I've logged many hours in the rooms. I've heard lots of self-aggrandizing stories of debauchery, which are common in the recovery culture. In most of these stories, individuals battle addiction to arrive at the truth that the world doesn't revolve around them -- yet often they still manage to make themselves the center of the universe. They spend years of their lives in a stupor of addiction; then, once sober, they spend years of their lives talking about it.

AA and similar programs do remarkable, life-saving work, but Mr. Judge has it precisely right when he says that they've a tendency to leave the addict totally focused on self. The last step really needs to be the recognition that the Universe has a Center, and you aren't it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 22, 2003 4:27 PM