Marian Gayed

PPSY 511
Addiction Assessment and Interventions
2-18-16

Addiction and Grace Paper

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Addiction and Grace Paper Addiction and Grace by Dr. Gerald May, was an extremely insightful and helpful resource in understanding those who struggle with addiction, the nature of addiction itself and the healing process. I realized through my reading that addiction is a broader issue that involves a range of behaviors far beyond alcohol and drugs to include work, sex, performance, responsibility, and intimacy. According to Dr. May (1991), “We are all addicts in every sense of the word” (p.4). As a future therapist this opened my eyes to how addiction is a universal problem and how forces of attachment to anything can bring suffering and agony. Reading Addiction and Grace had helped me understand addicts and their behavior better; I am more knowledgeable of the psychological, neurological and physiological nature of addiction, as well as learning about the important elements in the healing process. I had little knowledge previous to reading this book about what addicts are really like. Especially going into this field of therapy, I had little perception about addicts’ personality, behavior and mind. One interesting thought I learned about addicts is that chemical addictions do not occur due to preexisting personality defects and that addictive personality is a myth.
According to Dr. May, “symptoms of addictive personality were caused by addiction, not the cause of it “(p.55). This explains that some addicts could have had normally functioning personalities before their addiction, and that developing anxiety, depression, loss of self-control, low self-esteem, shame and guilt, is only an effect of the addiction and not the cause of it.

Dr. May (1991) characterizes addicts with five marks: tolerance, which means needing more, withdrawal and the stress or rebound reactions when addicts decide to quite, self-deception and the minds tricks, loss of will power and lack of freedom or control, and distortion of attention or not being fully present. Dr. May in his book talks about five mind tricks which I found to be fascinating in understanding how addicts think. Addicts’ minds don’t function like normal minds, they will work out tricks in every way to keep their addiction going. According to Dr. May (1991) self-deception, denial and repression, rationalization, hiding, delaying tactics, break down, and collision, are all examples of how the mind of addicts are so powerful in rationalizing and keeping certain knowledge in the unconscious to keep the addiction going. I learned that addicts will do almost anything to avoid being present to one self, as this experience triggers a real fear of nothing to do, a phobia of boredom, dread of being alone with nothing to occupy one’s attention (May, 1991 p.44). I learned that awareness, self-reflection and meditation can be a very hard process for addicts to do, because it requires them to be present to oneself.
Dr. May (1991) also defines addiction as “a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desires” (p.14). It is the experience of “always wanting or a perception of needing more of the addictive behavior or object of attachment in order to feel satisfied (May 1991, p.26). But what drives one to go in such a cycle? Through reading this book, I learned about the psychological nature of addiction. Dr. May (1991) believes that addiction starts with learning, where s specific behavior becomes associates with a feeling of pleasure or relief of pain (p.57). Then this learned behavior becomes a habit, due to the pleasure associated with the experience, and then it becomes a struggle when there is uneasiness when the behavior is not performed (May, 1991). This explains how addiction is really a form of attachment to a desire, which give us a false sense of joy or pleasure that only God can save us from through his grace.
In addition, there are neurological and physiological aspects that also affects the process of addiction. According to Dr. May (1991), our brain will always seek equilibrium, where overstimulation is mitigated (p.72). When a synapse is constantly flooded with a neurotransmitter, over time the neuro receptors first become desensitized and then start to increase in numbers. This leads to physical tolerance to a specific line of neural firing associated with a particular substance, behavior or ideation (May 1991, p. 69). Thus this explains the nature of the addiction process, it is not merely a behavior or addiction that is formed through attachment, learning and habituation, but it’s one where the physiological and chemical component of the brain are being altered, thus also leading to dependency and addiction. Dr. May (1991) talks about the multisystem involvement and how each of our addictions do not only consist of addiction itself but it also includes involvement of multiple systems (p.85). Addiction is never a single problem. Moreover, addiction has a permanent effect on the brain. According to Dr. May (1991), the brain never completely forgets what it’s learned. Because of the deep and pervasive physical power of strong attachments, their potentials can exist forever in an addict’s life (p.89). This explains why people in AA call themselves “recovering alcoholics, rather than recovered alcoholics, because staying away from addictive behavior is an ongoing process (May 1991, p.90). After major addictions has been conquered, the smallest association, the tiniest taste, can fire old cellular patterns once again, because the brain never forgets (May 1991, p.90).
After learning how addiction has great impact on us psychologically and physiologically, my perception of the healing process is now very different. I do agree with Dr. May that we need something more powerful than us to help us in the healing process. According to Dr. May, “God’s grace is our only hope for dealing with addiction, the only power that can vanquish its destructiveness (p.18). God created us to love and be free and because addiction is an assault on our given right of freedom, therefore only God can replace this enslavement with freedom. Overcoming any addiction is not about will power, because addiction has power on impairing one’s sense of control. However, overcoming addiction is more likely to happen when one becomes honest with himself about the suffering his addiction has caused him. Dr. May discusses the importance of honesty, and acknowledging that an addiction exits, and how this addiction formed a strong attachment that made us idolatrous, and the importance of meditation, contemplative prayer and even journaling to raise one’s self-awareness (May 1991, p165) . Dr. May also talks about dignity, and the importance of realizing our worth in God’s eyes. “Dignity always says we are worth far more that we can ever give ourselves credit for, that were are meant for greater things (May 1991, p.171). Addicts need to realize that hope exists because there were meant to enjoy great things in life. Finally, comes the important role of the community in the healing process. Dr. May (1991) talks about how the perspective of others helps us confront personnel mind games, stay true to our commitment to recovery and be empowered through the grace found within the support group. Also because “any struggle to reform addictive behavior will surely lead us into a desert , depriving oneself of that which life and day to day existence depends can be a very scary and lonely struggle without the power of a support group (May 1991, p.147).
Addiction and Grace is a fascinating book that helped me gain deep better understanding of addicts, nature of addiction and the healing process. I came to believe that addiction is a self-defeating force that abuses our freedom, but grace through God can save and restore us. Only God can fill this space inside of us and aide our healing.

Bibliography
May, Gerald, Addiction NS Grace : Love and spirituality in the Healings of Addiction (1991)