Changing lifestyles to escape drugs

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 19

Changing lifestyles to escape drugs

Coming Off Drugs. By Jarnos and Joyce Ditzler with Celia Haddon. MacMillan, 1986. 179 pp. $26.95 (paperback).

(Reviewed by

Ralf Unger)

Narcotics Anonymous — or N.A. for short — is a parallel organisation to Alcoholics Anonymous with identical spiritual bases, the principles of breaking one’s life down into bite-size segments, and the absolute imperative of complete abstinence. In fact, in this small manual, alcohol and drugs are made synonymous and the treatment for addiction identical. The term the authors prefer to addiction is “chemical dependence” giving the indication that this is a lifestyle in which only the boost of

chemicals makes the world bearable once the person has fully incorporated them in his or her everyday activities. Drugs distract the user from reality and thus, quite apart from the physical side effects, make him or her prone to everyday dangers. The only way in which the addict will ever stop is because in his own mind he finds using drugs even more painful than stopping. In order to do this he needs to change his feelings, attitudes and lifestyle. This inward and outward change is what protects him against going back on drugs. To do this, help from others is needed — not simply tender loving care, but tough-minded assistance from those who have followed the

same path, according to this book. It may mean living 10 minutes at a time without taking the drug at certain stages. The greatest danger will still be that of relapse. Coming off drugs or drink is simple: staying off them is the real problem. Helping the addict with his outward circumstances before he stops using drugs or drink is a waste of energy and similarly, according to the authors, treating underlying psychological problems while addicts are still using is like trying to play chess with somebody when they are under an anaesthetic.

Right at the end of the book, in the final two and a half pages, the treatment programme of the Ditzlers is described. What it boils down to is a completely conventional timetable and attitude of an AA-oriented setting such as, for example, Mahu Villa, at Sunnyside Hospital in Christchurch, and Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer. This includes group therapy, education programmes, family involvement, exercise and relaxation sessions, and so on.

What is startling is the claim that over a five-year period of follow-up 50 per cent were totally abstinent. A further 25 per cent had had a relapse of short length, but had gone back to abstinence. If these figures are correct then they are revolutionary and amazingly successful compared to other drug and alcohol treatment centres, but in the absence of any more clear-cut information apart from such loose statements, it is hard to make comparisons. If the enthusiasm of the authors is the yardstick then they deserve success, but the book is light on substantial material on either drugs or their ingesters.