Counselor Magazine - August 2015

THE RESILIENT WOMAN’S GUIDE

BY PATRICIA O’GORMAN, PHD

NATIONAL DIRECTORY TREATMENT CENTERS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

SPECIAL

WOMEN’S ISSUE

MIDLIFE EATING DISORDERS Women in CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES PREGNANT AND ABUSING SUBSTANCES GENDER-SPECIFIC TREATMENT: Dr. Stephanie Covington

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CONTENTS Letter from the Editor

38

y Robert J. Ackerman, PhD B Editor

Women with Eating Disorders at Midlife and Beyond: Assessment and Treatment Challenges

CCAPP A Counselor’s Perspective: Dual Diagnosis

NACOA ACOA Moms

By Cristin D. Runfola, PhD

Incarcerated from Within: Working with Female Clients in a Criminal Justice Setting Discusses the difference between trauma-informed and trauma-specific treatment, explains the OMC Program, and provides a list of tools for counselors working with this population.

By Kristina Padilla, MA, LAADC, ICAADC

Presents a case study, provides information on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and describers effective methods of treatment.

By Hendrée E. Jones, PhD, and the UNC Horizons Leadership Team

12

By Sis Wenger

44

Making a Difference in the Lives of Pregnant, SubstanceAbusing Women

10

By David Skonezny, CADC-II, ICADC

Explains how eating disorders can develop in midlife, provides a list of triggers and barriers to recognition, and provides information on treatment and prevention.

50

8

Cultural Trends Playing the Whitney Houston Blame Game

14

By Maxim W. Furek, MA, CADC, ICADC

Opinion Women for Sobriety: An Alternative Recovery Choice

18

By Rebecca M. Fenner & Mary H. Gifford, MA

From Leo’s Desk Spirituality vs. Religious Extremism, Part I

22

By Rev. Leo Booth

Wellness Healing from Nature Deficit Disorder, Part I

24

By John Newport, PhD

Vibrant at Any Age

26

Topics in Behavioral Health Care

28

The Integrative Piece

By Sheri Laine, LAc, Dipl. Ac

Financial Issues, Part I: Behavioral Health Disorders

By Dennis Daley, PhD

www.counselormagazine.com 3

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CONTENTS Research to Practice Incentive Sensitization

30

By Michael J. Taleff, PhD, CSAC, MAC

Counselor Concerns What’s Wrong with Our View of Substance Use Disorders?

32

By Gerald Shulman, MA, MAC, FACATA

Substance Abuse in Teens Maternal Substance Abuse and its Impact on Adolescent Daughters

34 36

By Toni Galardi, PhD

Treatment Center Directory

Special Focus on Programs for Women and Girls

Inside Books

The Girly Thoughts 10-Day Detox Plan

Gender-Specific Addiction Treatment and Recovery Support: An Interview with Stephanie Covington, PhD, LCSW Discusses Dr. Stephanie Covington’s impact on genderspecific treatment for women, women in correctional facilities, and the future of addiction treatment.

By William L. White, MA

By Fred J. Dyer, MA, CADC

Ask the LifeQuake Doctor

56

From the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

Personal Networks of Women in Residential and Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment

78

Presents information pertaining to a study titled the “Women’s Network Project” and provides an analysis of relevant findings.

By Meeyoung O. Min, PhD, Elizabeth M. Tracy, PhD, and Hyunyong Park, MSSW

88

By Patricia O’Gorman, PhD Reviewed by Leah Honarbakhsh

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Ad Index

84

Referral Directory

85

CE Quiz

86

72 Becoming TraumaInformed: A Core Element in Women’s Treatment Examines the gender differences in relation to trauma and describes several curricula for use with traumatized women.

By Stephanie Covington, PhD, LCSW

6 Counselor · August 2015

66

SPECIAL FOCUS ON

Gabor Maté, MD

Patrick Carnes, PhD

Joan Borysehnko, PhD

Alex Katehakis, MFT, CSAT-S

John Briere, PhD

Ralph Carson, PhD

Terry Real, LiCSW

Tian Dayton, PhD

Pat Love, EdD

Jon Caldwell, DO, PhD

• Neuroscience of Resilience • Trauma Treatment • Food and Mood • Heart Connection • Attachment Disorders • Storytelling—Mindfulness • Family Treatment • Relationships in 21st Century MARIJUANA— The Good, Bad, and Ugly Expert Panel Debate

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

When Do the Good Times Start?

Change, therapy, treatment, counseling, recovery, inpatient, outpatient, group therapy, meditation, self-actualization, meetings, neuroscience, mindfulness, and my favorite, a personal growth experience; when do the good times start? Many people work so hard at all of these that they forget why they are doing them. I think they are obsessed with the process and not the outcome.

The driving motivation seems to be perfectionism—that is, a belief that if you just perfect the process of change then all will be well. I often ask an audience, “Is anyone a recovering perfectionist?” Usually a few hands go up and I then ask, “Are you doing it better than everyone else?”

It reminds me of when I ask someone, “How are you doing?” and the reply is “I go to meetings.”

“Well, I know what you are doing with your time, but I still don’t know how you are doing!”

Regardless of your goals in counseling, one of the outcomes should be to enjoy your life.

Let’s not make this complicated.

The goals of a recovering person should include learning how to make decisions and choices, behaving in new ways socially, establishing positive relationships, following a treatment plan, and, dare I say it, self-actualizing.

All of this work leads to change and should prepare you to enjoy your new life. Recovery should lead to more than just change. Happiness and joy are not required, but they sure are optional.

It is not recovery per se that allows people to change, but rather the spirit of recovery. Keeping the spirit alive is what makes change and recovery worth all the effort. Enjoying yourself along the way is actually a good indicator that 8 Counselor · August 2015

your change, growth, and recovery are on their way.

I hope that you enjoy this special issue of Counselor about women. The featured articles are authored by women who have made great contributions to helping women overcome and recover from issues ranging from addiction to process addictions to behavioral disorders. Additionally, don’t miss the interview with Stephanie Covington by William White. Stephanie has been one of the true leaders in the field and her work has helped thousands of women.

On a personal note, this is my last “Letter from the Editor.” After two years I am stepping down as the editor of Counselor. I have enjoyed being editor and I want to thank all the staff at Health Communications for their great work. I especially want to thank Leah Honarbakhsh for her counsel and great editorial assistance. I am pleased to announce, however, that I will not be totally leaving Counselor. I am assuming the role as chair of the new Advisory Board for the magazine.

What am I going to do with the rest of my time? Well, I will continue with speaking engagements and writing books, and oh yes, I’ll work on enjoying myself.

Thank all of you for a great two years.

Robert J. Ackerman, PhD

Editor Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction & Behavioral Health Professionals, A Health Communications, Inc. Publication

Special FocuS on: John Briere, PhD

Pat Love, EdD

Fred Hanna, PhD

Gregory Boothroyd, PhD

Margaret Wehrenberg, PsyD

Robert Ackerman, PhD

John B. Arden, PhD

Cardwell C. Nuckols, PhD

Ralph Carson, PhD

Pat DeChello, PhD

• Family and addictions • Trauma Treatment • Men, Women, intimacy and Relationships • anxiety and Depression • Brain Science and Therapy • advances in co-occurring Disorders

CCAPP

A Counselor’s Perspective: Dual Diagnosis David Skonezny, CADC-II, ICADC

W

e’ve all either performed or reviewed client initial screenings, biopsychosocial assessments, and doctor’s coordination of care notes.

And we see it too—clients show up for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and frequently report mental health disorders (both real and imagined!) and often symptoms are observable in the milieu.

Sure, coming down from drugs can make anyone 10 Counselor · August 2015

anxious and depressed, the two disorders seemingly most often reported, and of course there’s the drive to combat these disorders with substances. In early treatment it looks sort of like the chicken or the egg scenario. Hopefully we’re mindful and certainly we ought to be connecting our clients to services to treat both the mental health and the chemical dependency issues they present with.

At my facility every client is connected with a psychiatrist in the very early stages of treatment, regardless of whether they admit through the residential or outpatient sides of the facility. Not only do we believe this is good case management and appropriate care, we see the client experiencing a marked improvement in both engagement and retention in the event a mental health component is diagnosed and managed effectively.

Now, you may be thinking this is all pretty elementary stuff, and on the surface I’d agree with you with two caveats. The first is this: if it is all so elementary, why isn’t every single facility, without exception, connecting every client to mental health services for evaluation and treatment? Of the facilities I’ve worked for, my current one is the only facility that makes this effort with every client we see. This leads to the second caveat: why is

CCAPP it that for such a pervasive condition, 92.3 percent of dually diagnosed adults are not getting treatment for both disorders (SAMHSA, 2012)?

I thought I knew a little something about the subject, however when I was asked to write this article and began to do some background research, I was shocked at what I found. As a solutionsbased field it’s important for us to take a look at the problem. However, it’s even more important to make a decision to do something about it. Let’s take a look at the problem first.

According to SAMHSA, and using 2010 numbers, 20.3 million adults had a SUD and of those 9.2 million (just over 45 percent) also had a mental health disorder (2012). Think about that for a minute. In 2010 there were just over nine million adults in our country walking around with concurrent disorders and the accompanying potentially dire consequences.

Now, it would be nice to think that each of these folks will encounter services at some point. Unfortunately that’s far from true; significant barriers to help still remain.

Only 7.7 percent of dually diagnosed clients received treatment for both their SUD and mental health disorders and 55.6 percent received no treatment whatsoever (SAMHSA, 2012). Finally, 33.6 percent of dually diagnosed adults only receive mental health treatment, which means 89.2 percent of dually diagnosed adults don’t receive the chemical dependency treatment they vitally need. And we get asked why relapse is so common.

So what’s the solution? I say the solution is well rooted in our responsibility to our clients. If you’re reading this, you’re probably essential to that solution. Remember, just less than half the people in treatment facilities have both a SUD and mental health disorder. If a corresponding number of clients are not receiving focused mental health care in addition to the chemical dependency services the facilities provide, failure is looming large.

Unfortunately for our clients, failure is potentially fatal.

Whatever role I play for my facility, in my heart I am a drug and alcohol counselor.

I know how difficult case management is, I am all too familiar with client resistance, and managing time effectively is something I think we all struggle with.

I get that it’s harder to coordinate care with referral sources, and I understand that managing two aspects of the same case—along with all the other collateral damage the client has created for themselves—is a tremendous

drain on resources. Still, we need to look at why we got into this field in the first place.

happy to help and your clients will benefit greatly for your efforts. c

As chemical dependency professionals we have pledged ourselves to work diligently to create and support change in our clients; change that is consistent with living a happy, healthy, and productive life. Why on earth would we do half a job in the process? Wouldn’t that be wasting our time in addition to doing the client a huge disservice? We signed up for “this,” and by “this” I mean all of it. It’s our responsibility to turn over every stone, to pull out every stop, and to exhaust every resource in the course of serving our clients.

David Skonezny, CADC-II, ICADC, came to the field of recovery with extensive business and marketing experience both domestically and internationally.

He has worked as a counselor and case manager for two of Orange County’s most highly regarded treatment facilities before crossing paths with Simple Recovery. He joined the Simple Recovery team initially as a case manager before advancing to his current position as COO.

If you’re not sure how to go about doing this, please seek supervision in your facility. If your supervisor is not sure, please reach out further.

CCAPP would be a great resource, and SAMHSA is another. Additionally, take it upon yourself to reach out to mental health professionals in your area. They will be

References Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2012). Results from the 2010 national survey on drug use and health: Mental health findings.

Retrieved from http://archive. samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k10MH_ Findings/2k10MHResults.htm !

www.counselormagazine.com 11

NACOA

ACOA Moms Sis Wenger

T

his issue of Counselor is focused on women. NACoA has a special concern for the difficult intimate relationships and parenting struggles of many moms who are adult children of alcoholics (ACoAs). We interviewed Tian Dayton, PhD, who is no stranger to readers of Counselor, on ACoA moms.

Tian: It does. Kids whose fight or flight response is activated over and over again by the confusing and disturbing dynamics that surround addiction may become traumatized by that experience.

That trauma can surface years or even decades later in a posttraumatic stress reaction. Adult children of alcoholics (ACoAs) can experience a form of PTSD from growing up with addiction.

Sis: How does that unresolved pain show up in ACoA moms?

Tian: It can show up in the same way that a car backfiring triggers soldiers because it reminds them of gunfire.

The dependency and vulnerability of intimacy can also act as triggers for ACoA moms. When CoAs grow up and attempt to create families of their own, the emotional dynamics of close, dependent partner and parent relationships act as primers for what is stored in their memory systems on the subject of “familying.”

Sis: Why is this ACoA problem so hidden?

Tian Dayton, PhD

Sis: I find that people still don’t realize the extent to which addiction impacts family members, especially the kids NACoA was founded to serve.

Tian: I find the same thing, Sis, and it still surprises me. The thing we’re still wrapping our minds around is that childhood development is seriously impacted by growing up around the confusion and pain engendering dynamics that surround addiction.

Sis: And that trauma stays with them and affects their parenting?

12 Counselor · August 2015

Tian: ACoAs are oftentimes high achievers; they have been managing on their own for years, so on the surface they can be quite functional and successful.

However, their hypervigilance and woundedness can remain hidden underneath defenses that have been in place since childhood.

Sis: How does this old pain get passed down when ACoAs parent?

Tian: We used to talk about addiction skipping a generation, but I think it’s the trauma that is key. Traumatized people tend to have a certain hypervigilance.

They “don’t know what normal is” so they don’t know what to worry about or what to let go of.

Children who grow up watching a parent slowly disappear into a bottle or a drug experience deep pain, loss, and confusion. This fear around losing what you love gets passed along.

ACoA moms can be big worriers. They pass along a certain anxiety and they often have a hard time with boundaries.

In addition, there is this loss of selfregulation that is part of the trauma response, so ACoAs may alternate between emotional and behavioral extremes.

Sis: I notice that ACoAs, especially ACoA moms, often overprotect their children.

Tian: Oftentimes kids who grow up surrounded by addiction feel abandoned emotionally. This can cause them to be overly involved and overly protective of their children. There is of course an upside as well; ACoA moms are very much aware of what it feels like to be scared and alone so they can become very committed to being conscientious parents. The problem is that if they don’t heal their deep, hidden pain, it passes down through the quality of closeness, through the emotional fabric of the relationship.

Sis: And so these children become parentified?

Tian: Yes, exactly, ACoAs are oftentimes little caretakers of their parents and younger siblings; the roles get reversed.

They put drunk parents to bed, comfort the other parent, keep the house tidy, and fix dinners and school lunches.

They don’t do this because a parent is organizing everyone to pitch in, they do it to fill the gap dysfunctional adults are leaving in the home. They do it carrying pain and anxiety. Many kids who are parentified gain a sense of their own stability, power, and place in the family

NACOA by caretaking, and they may continue to live out their caretaking patterns from childhood in their own parenting.

Sis: Can you give some specific examples of this?

Tian: For example, if the ACoA mom is anxious, but blocking that feeling, she may assume her child is anxious and try to attend to that in the child. Or, if the ACoA mom is rejection sensitive, she will overattend to her children if they are being rejected by a friend. They blow up over existing problems or even create new ones. They don’t know how to right size their own emotional reactions; they overrespond or they underrespond.

Sis: And this is done without awareness?

Tian: Generally, yes. ACoAs often don’t know that they don’t know. The childhood defenses against experiencing too much emotional pain can be very strong. As kids we rewrite, repress, “forget” or dissociate from the pain that we can do nothing about. It’s the nature of trauma. Kids who are feeling overwhelmed by the chaos around them “check out”—they dissociate and they freeze their feelings because it’s the only way they can get any sense of personal control. After all, they are small and dependent on their parents; they are trapped by the vulnerability of their age and size. Besides this, they make sense of their parent’s erratic behavior with the developmental equipment they have at that time, and that sense can be very young and magical.

When they grow up and become adults, they just don’t have a mature sense of what happened and how it affected them. They are mature and functioning adults with wounded little kids hunched down in silence deep inside of them.

Sis: So this wounded inner child inside of ACoAs gets triggered when they have their own kids?

Tian: Exactly. There is a grief reaction called “an age correspondence reaction” that I find particularly interesting when it comes to ACoAs. Essentially this means that when our own children reach an age that was previously painful for us, we overreact to them at that age. We mix up our own unresolved hurt that our own inner child carries with our children’s.

We layer the unresolved pain that the child inside of us carries onto our kids.

We then set about fixing in them what really needs fixing in us.

I put a list in my book The ACoA Trauma Syndrome that presents some of the issues that ACoA parents might struggle with (see text box).

Sis: Why don’t ACoAs recognize this and try to get help?

Tian: Because the pain is unconscious and surfaces unconsciously through triggers and memory primers. The trap is that because ACoAs often have the capacity to understand what happened to them, they mistake understanding for emotional processing; their pain remains untouched and unprocessed. They can refer to it, but not feel it, process it, and let it go or at least transform into another stage. They block it in a thousand clever ways.

Sis: Is this the whole story?

Tian: There is some great research by the positive psychology people on the

trauma “rate of growth.” The good news is that for many of us, trauma closes one door and opens another, causing life-altering growth. If ACoA moms can embrace recovery they are in a brilliant position to be great parents because they know what not to do. They know what felt great, and they know what hurt. Once they process their own pain they can marshal this deep knowledge and awareness that they gained through traumatic experiences and use it towards good. They can become highly motivated to contribute in positive and powerful ways to the lives of their children and subsequent generations. They can make a difference.

Sis: Thanks, Tian. As always, your insights and sensitivity to the pain of growing up in families hurt by addiction are so clarifying. c Sis Wenger is NACoA’s president and CEO.

ACoA Parents . . .

• Have trouble tolerating their children’s intense feelings because they have trouble tolerating their own • Have trouble tolerating their children being rejected by anyone • Have problems with their own self-regulation that impact how they deal with their children’s ups and downs • May violate their children’s boundaries by being unnecessarily intrusive and overly curious about their children’s affairs • Either read too much into situations that bother their children or block them • Overprotect their children even when it is not in their children’s best interest • Do not know what normal is and consequently have trouble understanding which behaviors to accept or foster as normal in their children and which behaviors to discourage • Have trouble having relaxed and easy fun with their children • Have impulsive features that they act out in their parenting • Feel somewhat different from other families • Attempt to overcontrol family life and the lives of their children • Have trouble establishing healthy boundaries with their children, positioning themselves either too close or too far • Do not think they need help; they see themselves as “helpers” Source: Dayton, T. (2012). The ACoA trauma syndrome. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications.

www.counselormagazine.com 13

CULTURAL TRENDS

Playing the Whitney Houston Blame Game Maxim W. Furek, MA, CADC, ICADC

I

t’s called the “blame game,” an age-old strategy that vilifies and scapegoats anyone haplessly in the wrong place at the right time. The blame game condemns innocent suspects with a display of ugly finger-pointing and “gotcha’s.” After the death of Whitney Houston, plenty of finger-pointing, scapegoating, and “gotcha’s” were making the rounds.

Whitney Houston had it all—great looks, youthful personality, and a voice that was beyond compare. She was one of the greats. In 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time (“Biography of,” 2015). As of 2010, her list of awards included two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, thirty Billboard Music Awards, and twentytwo American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards.

Unchallenged, the pop diva ruled the charts from the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, but, like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and many other successful entertainers, Houston discovered that the price for fortune and fame was far too costly. Sadly, her regal image and majestic voice were ravaged by a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, erratic behavior, and the kiss of the crack pipe.

The Oprah Interview In 2009, a brutally honest Whitney Houston consented to be interviewed

by Oprah Winfrey. It would be one of her final in-depth interviews. Houston spoke in a small, vulnerable voice. She admitted use of cocaine, alcohol, and prescription pills. She called her drug of choice “weed combined with rock cocaine.” The singer told of emotional and physical abuse from Brown, an abusive alcoholic.

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In the two-part appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Houston revealed that her drug use became “heavy… because I knew then we were trying to hide pain. I was trying to hide the pain” (“Whitney Houston tells,” 2009).

She attempted a few comebacks in the 2000s, but continued to be the subject of many tabloid stories suggesting drug binges and anorexia.

She died February 11, 2012, drowning in her bathtub due to heart disease and cocaine abuse. As the world struggled to make sense of this, and before she was properly eulogized and buried,

Whitney Houston’s memory was sullied in another round of the blame game.

The Blame Game The blame game is a variation of scapegoating, a hostile socialpsychological discrediting tactic by which people move blame and responsibility away from themselves and towards a target person or group.

It is a practice where angry feelings and feelings of hostility are projected, via inappropriate accusation, towards others. The target feels wrongly

CULTURAL TRENDS persecuted and receives misplaced vilification, blame, and criticism.

As a result, the target is likely to suffer rejection from those whom the perpetrator seeks to influence. Simon Crosby, founder of The Scapegoat Society, described scapegoating as “a projective defense used by both individuals and societies where responsibility is transferred from the perpetrator onto the target” (2003).

develop a victim mentality with feelings of hopelessness, despondency, and anger (Namka, 2003).

Scapegoating allows the discharge of aggression, frees the perpetrator from self-dissatisfaction, and provides some narcissistic gratification. It may also relieve the perpetrator’s feelings of guilt and shame.

On the Dr. Drew Pinsky Show, Leolah Brown, Bobby Brown’s sister, accused Ray J, Whitney Houston’s boyfriend, of providing the singer with cocaine and being responsible for Houston’s death.

Researcher Lynne Namka further argued that the practice of scapegoating causes anxiety and misery for the target group who experience exclusion, ostracism, and even expulsion within their society. The target, viewed as weak and vulnerable, feels insecure and begins to

Ray J Targeted and under attack were members of Houston’s entourage. Rather than blame the one who ultimately took her own life, it was easier to scapegoat the music industry, Bobby Brown, and Ray J.

After the interview was televised, Pinsky and CNN reconsidered, explaining that Leolah Brown’s account could not be confirmed. “I immediately noted that we could not verify the accuracy of her claims,” Pinsky said (“Dr. Drew,” 2012). Pinsky explained that after the interview aired, “We were later

contacted by representatives for Ray J, whose real name is Willie Ray Norwood, Jr., who told us none of it was true. We pulled the interview until we could learn more.” After Ray J offered a statement claiming Brown has been “out of contact with Whitney for more than a year and was nowhere near the scene on the day of her death,” Dr. Drew and Headline News decided to pull the interview (“Dr. Drew,” 2012).

Ray J was featured on a TV reality show called For The Love of Ray J, and a smitten Whitney Houston fell for Ray J’s well-practiced delivery and bad-boy appeal. The Whitney Houston-Ray J relationship was high profile and defined by its on-again/off-again drama—much like Houston’s relationship with Bobby Brown. And, as in all celebrity-watcher scenerios, the more intense the drama, the more intense the paparazzi scrutiny.

On February 3, 2012, the tabloids reported a sighting of the pair at Le Petit Four on Sunset Boulevard, prophetically draped in celebrity romance and finality. Whitney Houston died eightdays after this dinner engagement. Ray J was initially reported to have been in Houston’s room and the one who discovered the accident, but he strongly denied those accounts.

Chaka Khan Many mourned the singer’s death, while others, espousing anger and intolerance, criticized Houston and those surrounding her. Few were spared from the rage.

Houston’s supporters were livid after singer Chaka Khan, calling herself a recovering addict, revealed to Piers Morgan that one of her fondest moments was when Khan, Bobby, and Whitney “got high” in Florida (Kurtz, 2012).

Many questioned Khan’s need to break confidences and disclose revelations of drug use during a time of grieving.

Khan’s disclosure soon exploded into a no-holds-barred rant, castigating Clive Davis and the “demonic” industry that made him among the wealthiest producers in music. Referring to Houston as her “little sister,” Khan said the troubled singer’s death could have www.counselormagazine.com 15

CULTURAL TRENDS

been prevented if someone would have kept Houston away from the drugs.

Bobby Brown It was easy to paint Bobby Brown as the scapegoat. Brown was vilified and viewed in the same hateful gaze as other high profile relationships such as the violent Ike Turner and his demeaning relationship with wife Tina, and “Wall of Sound” music producer Phil Spector, whose relationship with wife Veronica “Ronnie” Spector was more akin to jailer and prisoner.

Bobby Brown forged a reputation as dark, edgy, and criminal. A former member of New Edition, Brown’s credentials included a lengthy rap sheet and numerous DUIs. Sentenced to three years’ probation in Los Angeles County jail, Brown pleaded “no contest” to 16 Counselor · August 2015

misdemeanor driving while under the influence. His arrest came four days after the Los Angeles County coroner’s office released the results of the autopsy of Brown’s ex-wife.

On the 2005 Bravo TV reality show Being Bobby Brown, a troubled relationship began to publicly unravel. The tenepisode reality series presented family conflict and substance abuse as bloodsport entertainment. It was equally pathetic and painful to watch, as the once lovely Whitney Houston, layer by layer, was dissected—her vulnerable and troubled self splayed open in a vulgar display. America watched an individual defining addiction in stark, personal terms.

Un d e r n e a t h t h e ch a o s a n d argumentation, Brown and Houston presented a veiled cry for help. During

a face-to-face interview on NBC’s Today Show, Brown confided to Matt Lauer that the show was a wake-up call about the couple’s acknowledged drug use that should have been heeded. Brown says it was the family’s short-lived time in front of the cameras that showed the negative impact drugs had had on their marriage (Stanhope, 2012).

Some blamed Brown for Houston’s death, claiming he introduced her to hard drugs. But Bobby Brown, tired of being used as everyone’s “whipping boy,” refused to take the fall. Brown told Lauer that he wasn’t to blame for Houston’s drug addiction and after their divorce “didn’t know she was struggling with it still” (Stanhope, 2012).

Brown attempted to downplay his past recreational drug use. He said, “I didn’t get high before I met Whitney. I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn’t

CULTURAL TRENDS

The Fix

released any information regarding the cause of the near drowning. Speculations have included attempted murder, suicide, and drug use (“Godfather of,” 2015).

Writing in his Daily Telegraph blog about the death of Whitney Houston, Damian Thompson noted that crack cocaine addiction destroyed her career.

Thompson felt it was unlikely that she would have been able to recover from this addiction. Thompson wrote,

She was on a respirator and placed in a medically induced coma before the accusations started. Fingers were pointed at Bobbi’s boyfriend, Nick Gordon, alleging drug use and a possible cover-up to remove evidence from the crime scene.

My argument is that millions of ordinary people, not just celebrities, drunks or junkies, feel the need to “fix” their moods in response to a deadly combination of accelerating work pressure and accelerating temptation.

The world around us is actually changing our brain (McCann, 2012).

It is happening all over again—the anger, accusations and one more round of the blame game. Same game.

Different face. c

the one that got Whitney on drugs at all.”

Brown told Lauer that Houston had been using drugs before the two had met.

Thompson, author of The Fix, a book about the spread of addiction in society, warned not to judge the singer too quickly. He stated, I don’t believe that addiction is a “disease” in the true sense of the word.

But make no mistake about it: the chemistry of Whitney’s brain will have been profoundly changed by years of smoking crack. The “wanting” pathway in her reward circuitry will have been stimulated in a way that our bodies are not built to withstand. She will have experienced an intensity of temptation that only fellow crack addicts will understand. For any experienced user of crack or crystal meth (the most deadly dopamine stimulant of all), it’s not a question of just saying no: there’s no “just” about it. A crack-addicted brain has been physically changed: it sends out a screaming loud message to its owner that it needs a hit. Bear that in mind before you rush to judgment about Whitney Houston (McCann, 2012).

Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney Houston’s daughter and greatest love was also her biggest heartbreak.

Bobbi, about to turn twenty-two, was found face-down and unresponsive in a bathtub on January 31, 2015.

Police are investigating the incident as a criminal case, but so far have not

Daw, R. (2012). Bobby Brown’s ‘Today’ interview with Matt Lauer about Whitney Houston.

Retrieved from http://www.idolator.com/6425131/ bobby-brown-today-matt-lauer-whitney-houston-part-2 “Dr. Drew, CNN regret airing Leolah Brown interview.”

(2012). Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/ dr-drew-cnn-regret-airing-leolah-brown-interview “Godfather of Bobbi Kristina Brown: ‘We believe in miracles.’” (2015). Retrieved from http:// www.inquisitr.com/1960754/godfather-of-bobbikristina-brown-we-believe-in-miracles/ Kurtz, J. (2012). Chaka Khan on Clive Davis’ party in the wake of Whitney Houston’s passing: “I don’t understand how that party went on.” CNN. Retrieved from http:// piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/13/chaka-khanon-clive-davis-party-in-the-wake-of-whitney-houstonspassing-i-dont-understand-how-that-party-went-on/ McCann, D. (2012). Damian Thompson – the fix. Retrieved from http://www.castlecraig. co.uk/blog/02/2012/damian-thompson-fix Namka, L. (2003). Scapegoating - An insidious family pattern of blame and shame on one family member.

Retrieved at http://www.angriesout.com/grown19.htm

Maxim W. Furek, MA, CADC, ICADC, is director of Garden Walk Recovery and a researcher of new drug trends. His book, The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin, is being used in classrooms at Penn State University and College Misericordia. His rich background includes aspects of psychology, mental health, addictions and music journalism. His forthcoming book, Celebrity Blood Voyeurism, is a work in progress. He can be reached at jungle@epix.net.

Stanhope, K. (2012). Bobby Brown: I wasn’t the one who turned Whitney Houston onto drugs.

Retrieved from http://www.tvguide.com/news/ bobby-brown-whitney-houston-drugs-1046791/ “Whitney Houston died in Beverly Hills hotel room.”

(2012). Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ whitney-houston-died-in-beverly-hills-hotel-room/ “Whitney Houston tells all.” (2009). Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/ Oprahs-Exclusive-Interview-with-Whitney-Houston

References “Biography of Whitney Houston.” (2015).

Retrieved from http://www.africansuccess.org/ visuFicheCoeur.php?id=1050&lang=en Crosby, S. (2003). Scapegoating research & remedies.

Retrieved from http://www.scapegoat.demon.co.uk/

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OPINION

Women for Sobriety: An Alternative Recovery Choice Rebecca M. Fenner & Mary H. Gifford, MA

W

omen for Sobriety (W FS) i s a n abstinence-based, secular recovery organization for women founded in 1975.

WFS and its program were created as an alternative recovery strategy in contrast to the well known Twelve Step approach. As a nonprofessional, self- and mutual-help organization, WFS has no physical treatment facilities. It offers the WFS New Life program, face-to-face group meetings, online message boards and chat meetings, and an annual conference as well as other support materials to help women pursue a positive recovery.

because they drink for different reasons—gender-based reasons—and therefore require different treatment strategies.

Feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, both as an individual and as a woman, are also key reasons for drinking.

They drink to counter feelings of guilt and shame and to boost their self-confidence.

A fundamental part of the WFS philosophy is that women have different needs in recovery from their male counterparts

Dr. Kirkpatrick concluded that the concept of “one size fits all” should no longer apply to recovery efforts and that women’s

18 Counselor · August 2015

Notice that all of the above reasons suggest an underlying feeling of inadequacy; that is, the lack of self-esteem that the WFS founder, Dr. Jean Kirkpatrick, posited was at the heart of women’s relationship with alcohol. Because of low self-esteem, women start drinking and the result becomes a downward spiral of alcoholism, even more negative feelings, and consequences.

OPINION needs not only vary by individual, but also differ greatly from men’s recovery needs. Therefore, she reasoned, there are many women for whom a Twelve Step approach was simply not the right fit, for various reasons, and these women may be more successful using a different, women-only strategy for their personal recovery.

The WFS New Life Program Any woman with a sincere desire to achieve lasting recovery and who is willing to try using the WFS program is welcome.

There is no membership fee to join. The program is designed especially for women who are addicted to or who abuse alcohol and/or drugs. It is cognitive-behaviorally-based, emphasizing that women can draw on their inner strength to change their thinking and use the power of their minds to likewise change their habits and their lives. The vehicle Dr. Kirkpatrick uses for accomplishing change is the power of positive thinking. This approach teaches women how to put into practice a positive, active, growth process of selfdiscovery; during this process women acquire coping skills and tools to deal with life and its underlying issues, past and present, without resorting to the mind crutch of addiction.

The WFS program emphasizes empowerment: assuming responsibility for one’s choices, one’s actions, and one’s life. Another fundamental component of the program is that negative thoughts are at the root of women’s drinking and drugging—WFS holds that women start drinking in reaction to “faulty thinking,” which underlies destructive behavior.

WFS teaches that women have the power to change their way of thinking—that their own mental images, either negative or positive, shape their actions accordingly. Thus recovery is predicated on a change in outlook at the most basic level: the inner self.

WFS Statements of Acceptance Central to the WFS program are thirteen affirmations called the “Statements of Acceptance.” These statements emphasize positive thinking, personal responsibility, and personal growth; they are the tools with which women can learn to establish a secure, self-confident base from which to move forward in their recovery.

1. I have a life-threatening problem that once had me. I now take charge of my life and my disease. I accept the responsibility.

2. Negative thoughts destroy only myself. My first conscious sober act must be to remove negativity from my life.

3. Happiness is a habit I will develop.

Happiness is created, not waited for.

4. Problems bother me only to the degree I permit them to. I now better understand my problems and do not permit problems to overwhelm me.

5. I am what I think. I am a capable, competent, caring, compassionate woman.

6. Life can be ordinary or it can be great.

Greatness is mine by a conscious effort.

7. Love can change the course of my world.

Caring becomes all important.

8. The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth. Daily I put my life into a proper order, knowing which are the priorities.

9. The past is gone forever. No longer will I be victimized by the past. I am a new person.

10. All love given returns. I will learn to know that others love me.

11. Enthusiasm is my daily exercise. I treasure all moments of my new life.

12. I am a competent woman and have much to give life. This is what I am and I shall know it always.

13. I am responsible for myself and for my actions. I am in charge of my mind, my thoughts, and my life.

The statements are not steps. Therefore, after the starting point of the program and acceptance of statement number one, the affirmations can be used in any order or combination that a woman chooses. This flexibility permits each woman to customize these program components to meet her specific needs in pursuit of her recovery.

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OPINION discover how to eliminate their negative habits associated with drinking and to introduce new habits through which they think, behave, and respond to life in new, healthier, and more positive ways.

WFS face-to-face meetings are held weekly; they are closed meetings, not open to the public, and only women pursuing recovery may attend. The meeting process begins with brief introductions during which participants identify themselves by saying, “My name is Jean and I am a competent woman.” Then the affirmation statements are read.

Thereafter, each woman may share a positive action (how they have handled a situation differently) or a feeling (how they were able to identify and respond differently) and relate their experience to one of the affirmation statements. All participants are offered this opportunity to speak, but no one is compelled to do so.

As part of their ongoing recovery efforts, women are directed to practice the affirmation statements daily, preferably just after awakening, in a period of personal meditation and introspection and to actively apply the statements to the situations they encounter in the course of everyday living.

Then, through diligence, determination, repetition, and practical application of the program’s affirmations, and by using the power of her own mind, a woman can break the hold of her addiction herself.

Although both organizations have the same objectives (i.e., abstinence and the achievement of lasting recovery), WFS clarifies that it is not affiliated with Twelve Step programs because of the significant difference in the two approaches to accomplish those objectives. However, WFS does not discourage participation in AA. In keeping with its belief that each woman’s personal preference should decide her choice of recovery alternatives, WFS encourages women to choose and pursue whatever recovery approach or combination of approaches best suits their needs.

WFS Meetings Consistent with the WFS program and its affirmations, group meetings reflect the concepts of cognitive behavior modification, as group members literally learn to change their thoughts from negative to positive. Further, participants 20 Counselor · August 2015

Next, the discussion topic for the meeting is introduced. Certified group moderators prepare a topic for each week, but if the need arises, a different, more immediate topic can be substituted.

As a result, the meeting format is rather like a focused conversation; questions, feedback, and discussion are encouraged without the artifice of taking turns. At some point during the meeting, a voluntary donation earmarked for the WFS organization is requested; however, this contribution is entirely free will.