Does anyone know from personal experience or study why abstinence is a must for starting therapy?
To me this sounds contradiction like you should be sober to become sober. It sounds to me like your cancer has to be in remission to get treatment. I am not assuming here addiction is disease or not just using this as analogy. It is sort of obvious I am quite not educated about this topic.
Even though I do understand the real complications of being state of addiction and lacking the ability to conduct or commit or relate to healing/therapy etc. I still feel the precondition to be state of normalcy (if such a thing) and abstinence is counterintuitive. Maybe this is why therapy often fails for addiction related cause clients are put in opportunities to lie about their real state of mind or may hide if they relapse or feel failure or shame cause the deal is you have to stay sober/abstinence. But if the deal is come as you are, then shame is already being dealt with...I may be simplifying this cause my experience is extremely limited.
My feeling is that a person should be accepted at any state even at their lowest point for treatment and experience the patience in others until they feel differently or emulate or leave treatment altogether but the precondition may communicate not accepting that part (that needs help the most), as long as there is no violence (which I do not believe comes with most addictions anyways).
I am trying to understand how this abstinence at admission has become popular and if anyone with real life experience can help me if this worked for them or they wished different ways or such.
Just looking for insight and ways to relate to others who have addiction in their lives.
Are there treatments that do not ask for this condition of abstinence at admission in US or Canada?
ps. I do not have addiction but I have a lot of family members who do and trying to understand it for myself. I can clarify if I am not making sense here.
Thank you,
To me this sounds contradiction like you should be sober to become sober. It sounds to me like your cancer has to be in remission to get treatment. I am not assuming here addiction is disease or not just using this as analogy. It is sort of obvious I am quite not educated about this topic.
Even though I do understand the real complications of being state of addiction and lacking the ability to conduct or commit or relate to healing/therapy etc. I still feel the precondition to be state of normalcy (if such a thing) and abstinence is counterintuitive. Maybe this is why therapy often fails for addiction related cause clients are put in opportunities to lie about their real state of mind or may hide if they relapse or feel failure or shame cause the deal is you have to stay sober/abstinence. But if the deal is come as you are, then shame is already being dealt with...I may be simplifying this cause my experience is extremely limited.
My feeling is that a person should be accepted at any state even at their lowest point for treatment and experience the patience in others until they feel differently or emulate or leave treatment altogether but the precondition may communicate not accepting that part (that needs help the most), as long as there is no violence (which I do not believe comes with most addictions anyways).
I am trying to understand how this abstinence at admission has become popular and if anyone with real life experience can help me if this worked for them or they wished different ways or such.
Just looking for insight and ways to relate to others who have addiction in their lives.
Are there treatments that do not ask for this condition of abstinence at admission in US or Canada?
ps. I do not have addiction but I have a lot of family members who do and trying to understand it for myself. I can clarify if I am not making sense here.
Thank you,