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Letter to the editorEditor: In Jane Gross’ article, my view that living permanently in a recovery community is self-limiting is counterpoised to Dr. McLellan’s opinion that this may be some people’s best option. I actually agree with Dr. McLellan. Where I especially believe such insularity is unwarranted and does more harm than good is for young people. I think it is harmful to label any young person – certainly any adolescent – a lifelong alcoholic or addict. Ms. Gross actually makes a quite radical point in noting that “Success, for those entrenched addicts, is measured by longer and more productive periods of sobriety and shorter and less damaging periods of substance abuse.” American treatment’s abstinence fixation is inappropriate in these cases. In this way, this recovery community actually resembles the “wet” residence Dan Barry described in “On the Bottle, Off the Streets, Halfway There.” Both are examples of harm reduction, or efforts to limit damage from intractable addictions short of permanent abstinence. Stanton Peele, Ph.D., J.D.
Stanton Peele is an Adjunct Professor in the New School’s Psychology Department and author of a book on preventing youthful addictions. |
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 Copyright © 2007 Stanton Peele. All rights reserved. Stanton Peele cannot provide individual clinical or therapy recommendations for persons consulting this site unless they have specifically retained Stanton for this purpose and he addresses them individually. Consult a licensed therapist or physician regarding the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your problems or medical condition. |