don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

There is a 12-step program for whatever ails you, but the self-management perspective I favor is to avoid them all! Why? Because 12-step recovery programs foster dependence upon the programs, tend to keep people in a disease mode, and constantly try to convince participants of their woeful inadequacy without the support of the group, the 12 steps, and/or a vague higher power. Besides, who can keep track of twelve steps? If you're interested in this kind of thing, I have a one step program that will probably do you more good. But, first let me go on a bit about my reservations about traditional 12-step programs.

The messages of these recovery from or, more accurately, adaptation to addiction programs, do not strike me as being consistent with a mindset of personal responsibility. I have examined such programs over the years, and have noted little attention to or promotion of the basic elements of a healthy lifestyle, such as strenuous daily exercise, sound nutrition, and the development of other knowledge, attitude, and behavior changes in the skill areas listed in the three self-management domains of well-being (physical, mental and meaning/purpose).

Of course, I am not the first person to question these programs that millions have sworn by and credited with their salvation from ruination, self-destruction, and disaster. I don't doubt that AA and other such programs have helped a vast number of people, and one or more of them may be just the thing for you or a loved one, friend, or colleague. However, I have a suspicion that most if not all who benefited from the dependency-fostering recovery programs would do as well or better with self-management approaches, absent all those steps and other features that I don't favor (such as those fostering dependency and reliance on a group). Further, I believe that many of the large numbers who failed to benefit from these programs might well have done better with an alternative approach of a wellness nature that promoted self-responsibility, self-efficacy, and healthy lifestyles.

I recently reviewed a book by Stanton Peele that offers a history of the 12-step movement and the disease theories they promote. Peele describes the negative consequences of such programs for law, morality, and social and individual health. In this book, The Diseasing of America: How We Allowed Recovery Zealots and the Treatment Industry to Convince Us We Are Out of Control, Peale suggests that widely accepted ideas about alcoholism and other addictions are almost entirely without scientific basis. He believes, as I do, that there are more than enough diseases without inventing new ones to relieve sufferers of moral responsibility. He favors, instead, self-management strategies to encourage the addicted to deal affirmatively with the complexity of their conditions.

And now, without further ado, I'm ready to offer for your consideration and that of millions of persons suffering from one addiction or another (or several, in most cases) my one step alternative to the 12-steps they have been struggling to follow all these years.

I have only one caveat to mention before doing so, and it is akin to the little disclaimer Dennis Miller always adds at the end of his rants, namely, I could be wrong about this! But, I don't think so, therefore, here is my one step alternative to all recovery programs.

Step One (and only!): Choose a wellness lifestyle. Learn about it here at SeekWellness.com, experiment with it, shape a lifestyle based on your unique circumstances, capabilities, issues, qualities, and interests, and remind yourself every day in every way possible that you are the sovereign for your own well-being, responsible for the choices you make and the satisfactions you obtain from daily life.

If you can make the one step program work, you will transcend normalcy and moderation! You will fill your days with exciting challenges and opportunities. You will experience a good and healthy, examined and exciting life that is meaningful and within your control. You will take back your destiny and free yourself of negative labels. This is a rational alternative to dependency, cult-like adoration of celebrity experts and victimization models of helplessness. This wellness model is built around your choosing competency, independence, personal accountability and free will, joy, and attention to lifestyles of excellence and passion.

Don't you think my one step is an improvement over their twelve? Comments, as always, are welcomed and appreciated.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of mental health. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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