Conference on problems of dependence

Below are papers read at the conference on Theological Understanding of the Addiction Problem:
Orthodox and Catholic Approaches
October 1-2, 2019, Sankt Petersburg (continuation)

Recovery as an Ascetic Struggle

Archpriest George Aquaro, MDiv., Orthodox Church of Antioch, Potlatch, Idaho, USA

In my previous paper on senses and addiction, I attempted to draw attention to the role of the senses in human awareness and addiction. Drawing from the writings found in the Philokalia, I came to believe that addiction is more of a sensory disorder than a psychological one.

Given that I drew this conclusion from one of the Church's primary texts on asceticism, it is natural to assume that asceticism would play some role in the healing of a sensory disorder. In fact, asceticism is the primary means, after Baptism and reception of the Holy Sacraments, that the human person is healed of his afflictions.

To recap: addiction is a sensory experience which overwhelms the addict's intellectual will and compels him to choose against the guidance of his conscience or intellect.

One of the most detailed and accurate depictions of this process may be found in Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story, "The Gambler". In this masterpiece of literature, the author describes how he is drawn into addictive behavior despite his rational processes telling him to flee from the casino. All addicts know about that inner struggle in which the higher mind is conquered by the irresistible urges of the body and its physical experiences in the lower brain.

The Holy Fathers speak of 'guarding the senses' because their input and the feelings they engender can draw the monk away from God. Asceticism is the struggle to prepare the heart for God's presence through the healing of the passions. The passions manifest in thoughts and the senses. And, while the Fathers counsel monks and Christians to dismiss random thoughts, they understand that only the most purified monks may do likewise with the senses.

"The task of moral judgment is always to prompt the soul's incensive power to engage in inner warfare and to make us self-critical. The task of wisdom is to prompt the intelligence to strict watchfulness, constancy, and spiritual contemplation. The task of righteousness is to direct the appetitive aspect of the soul towards holiness and towards God. Fortitude's task is to govern the five senses and to keep them always under control, so that through them neither our inner self, the heart, nor our outer self, the body, is defiled" [1].

Of course, most sensory experiences are entirely natural: sugar always tastes sweet, and salt tastes bitter. Humans have no choice but to experience these tastes as they are, and no amount of therapy or counseling can change these realities. You may learn that your diabetes will get worse with sugar, but that does not change the experience of eating it. With pleasure can come destruction if the pleasure comes at the wrong time.

Neither food nor alcohol are in and of themselves evil, but when abused they can destroy us. This is why, by nature, we experience them as good, but our senses do not necessarily change when our circumstances do. The senses are not governed by reason, but rather by instinct.

Distortions of the senses are a further complication. Just as some men are born blind and others born with vision problems, sensory impairment leads to bad decisions, just as a blind man can never fully comprehend the world.

The senses are naturally connected to certain physical reactions. A distortion of the senses often is a matter of 'volume': some experiences are intense, while others are mild. Some people experience cold with overwhelming discomfort, while others are bothered little by it.

The physical experiences of fear and pain vary from person to person, and a person whom we would consider 'neurotic' might very well simply have such an overwhelming sense of torment when experiencing fear that he cannot have 'normal' experiences of it, while all of the person's mental processes are otherwise normal. Therefore, exposure therapy may be called for, so that the sufferer may learn to become tolerant of his over-sensitivity.

The ultimate manifestation of the senses comes with emotions, which are the 'decision' of the mind to act based on sensory information. Emotions shut down the thinking and perceiving phase of human awareness, and set the body and intellect to action. This is why when an emotion comes, we cannot easily talk ourselves out of it. The emotion is designed to stop deliberation.

Given that the senses cannot be relied upon, they must play a secondary role in making decisions, while primary reliance must be on the teachings of the Church and the advice of others who 'see' more clearly. Asceticism is this process, where the Christian struggles against erroneous sensory experiences, following the advice and instructions of elders, and the denial of appetites that interfere in one's spiritual development.

A powerful parable about the deception of the sense is found in the writings of St Neilos the Ascetic:

"The story of Ish-bosheth also teaches us not to be over-anxious about bodily things, and not to rely on the senses to protect us. He was a king who went to rest in his chamber, leaving a woman as door-keeper. When the men of Rechab came, they found her dozing off as she was winnowing wheat; so, escaping her notice, they slipped in and slew Ish-bosheth while he was asleep (cf. 2 Sam. 4:5-8). Now when bodily concerns predominate, everything in man is asleep: the intellect, the soul and the senses. For the woman at the door winnowing wheat indicates the state of one whose reason is closely absorbed in physical things and trying with persistent efforts to purify them. It is clear that this story in Scripture should not be taken literally. For how could a king have a woman as doorkeeper, when he ought properly to be guarded by a troop of soldiers, and to have round him a large body of attendants? Or how could he be so poor as to use her to winnow the wheat? But improbable details are often included in a story because of the deeper truth they signify. Thus the intellect in each of us resides within like a king, while the reason acts as doorkeeper of the senses. When the reason occupies itself with bodily things - and to winnow wheat is something bodily - the enemy without difficulty slips past unnoticed and slays the intellect. This is why Abraham did not entrust the guarding of the door to a woman, knowing that the senses are easily deceived; for they take pleasure in the sight of sensory things, and so divide the intellect and persuade it to share in sensual delights, although this is clearly dangerous. But Abraham himself sat by the door (cf. Gen. 18:1), allowing free entry to divine thoughts, while barring the way to worldly cares" [2].

The Holy Fathers connect physical experiences to the appetites within the person. And, we all have natural appetites, but we can also develop 'un-natural' ones through exposure of the senses. The Philokalia counsels monks not to be curious for new experiences, lest the monk develop a yearning for these new things. Fear of not having these new things creates a passion, and the sensing of that which is desired leads to emotions which cannot be fought.

Once an unnatural appetite is awakened, it is virtually impossible to close, especially if the sufferer continues to open his senses to the thing which the appetite hungers for. This is an aspect of the development of addiction, where an appetite is awakened through a euphoric sensory experience.

When the addict experiences a euphoric episode from consuming alcohol or some other addictive substance, this appetite is awakened. In order to become sober, the addict must be utterly abstinent, since this experience ingrained in the addict cannot be 'talked out' of this powerful sensory-emotional reaction.

Tolerance and dependence develop as the appetite develops through repeat sensory engagement. After all, part of the physical experience of this euphoria, or 'allergy' as it is defined in Alcoholics Anonymous, is dopamine, which is released in abundance during an addictive experience. However, dopamine is closely related to new experiences, and so the addict soon requires newer experiences, or greater quantities, in order to attain the craved-for euphoria.

The deception of the senses tells the person he is receiving some benefit from this experience, but it is not true. Euphoria can be experienced at the expense of the body, yet this euphoria blocks the person from being aware of this damage.

This blocking of awareness can become a serious problem for the person who is already experiencing another sensory event: pain. The addict often uses this euphoric distraction to 'treat' one's pain.

For the Orthodox Christian, pain is synonymous with the Cross, and it is central to human development. When the conscience comes into awareness, it encounters suffering, since pain and suffering tell us that we must grow further into our nature, that we may come into awareness of God and experience His joy. Death is the opposite of joy, not pain. Numbness is next to non-existence.

Yet, our fallen senses often tell us that when we encounter pain, we should flee from it rather than endure through it until we 'grow' and experience joy on the other side. Christ exemplifies this by enduring the pain and suffering of the Cross to be resurrected and to share this joy with us.

When we flee from the Cross, it is back towards death, in a state of denial and numbness. Our senses tell us this 'feels good,' like when we have an abscessed tooth and the dentist gives us a shot of anesthetic. We experience the relief as a kind of good feeling, when it is no feeling at all.

Appetites then create anxieties and passions when fear of their not being met develops. There is a difference between being hungry and the fear of hunger. Starvation survivors often develop PTSD regarding food, and while this is understandable, carrying around this fear of an unmet appetite will ultimately lead to bad decisions and sin, simply because it has nothing to do with the present reality.

Asceticism is NOT numbness, but rather a battle to endure the appetites on the one hand and transcend fear on the other. The ascetic seeks to endure his cross (pain and suffering) to ascend towards God. He is not fearless, for there is no victory where there is no struggle. The hero is not the invincible warrior, but the warrior who endures to the end and never surrenders.

The cross each of us bears is transcended through repentance, which is man's appropriate response to God's love, rather than excuses. Adam and Eve did not repent but blamed, hence man's problem is revealed in their story.

Recovery is about the same thing. The addict must come to understand that his senses can lead him astray (just as his thoughts can). The power of the AA group, for example, is not in its 'talk therapy,' but in the members perceiving their sensory distortions together. By sharing their struggles, they can see in one another themselves and how they 'miss the picture.' This is also a component of the monastic community, where monks share their common struggles and learn to see themselves and their 'blindness' in the lives of their fellow monastics.

Addicts must learn that, just as much as their 'logismoi' cannot be followed, neither can their 'feelings' and strong emotions, which often emanate from their sensory experiences and passionate desires and drive them into disaster, whether they are 'willing' or not.

The addict must change his food, music, clothing, personal hygiene, often avoiding familiar places. These become 'triggers' for the addict without any real thought or contemplation, but merely a physical experience linked to the passion.

"What commandments are directed at the intelligence? 'I tell you, never swear an oath... but simply say "Yes" and "No"' (Matt. 5:34, 37); and: 'He who does not renounce everything and follow Me is not worthy of Me' (cf. Matt. 10:37-38); and: 'Enter through the narrow gate' (Matt. 7:13). These are instructions to the intelligence. Again, the enemy - wanting to overpower the intelligence, a skilled commander - first addles its wits with gluttonous and promiscuous thoughts, treating it derisively and dismissing it from its command as though it were a drunken general; then he uses anger and desire as servants of his own will. Free in this way from the control of the intelligence, these powers-the desiring and the incensive powers-use the five senses as aids in sinning openly. And these are the sins into which we then fall: our eyes become inquisitive, not having the intellect controlling them from within; our ears love to hear frivolous things; our sense of smell becomes effeminate and our tongue unbridled, and our hands touch what they ought not to touch. With this goes injustice instead of justice, folly instead of moral judgment, licentiousness instead of self-restraint, slavishness instead of courage. For these four principal virtues - justice, moral judgment, self-restraint and courage-govern the three aspects of the soul. When these aspects are properly guided, they keep the senses away from degrading things. Then the intellect, tranquil, its powers with God's help under control and tractable, fights the noetic battle readily and bravely. But if, being inattentive, it is defeated by the devil's provocations and its powers, are thrown into confusion, it breaks the divine commandments. Such violation, if not followed by the appropriate degree of repentance, will certainly lead to chastisement in the future. The intellect, consequently, should always be watchful. In this way it maintains its natural state and is a true guardian of the divine commandments" [3].

Along with prayer, fasting, service to others, talk therapy when necessary, and ignoring logismoi, guarding the senses against those things connected to distorted and unnatural appetites is critical not only for monastics, but laymen as well.

While addicts are not called to take up the veil (i.e. the symbolic guarding of the senses from the world) and practice the rigors of a monastic life, they have what could be considered a 'riskier' path. The addict remains in the world and has greater chances each day of being exposed to triggering sensory events.

The monk may be allowed to let his distorted passions to lie dormant, but the addict in the world runs a more profound risk of these passionate desires to quiet down. Here, I would say the Lord's Prayer is key when it says "Lead us not into temptation."

In conclusion, this comparison between monastic struggle and the asceticism necessary for sobriety is not intended to inspire active addicts to seek sobriety. I can understand how this message can scare the newly-sober. However, I think it is important for us who work with addicts and alcoholics to recognize the realities of the senses as they pertain to human awareness, and find ways to teach the newly sober how to understand themselves and protect themselves from unnecessary temptation.

References:

1. St Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness. Philokalia.
2. St Neilos the Ascetic, Ascetic Discourse, Philokalia.
3. St Philotheos of Sinai, Forty Texts on Watchfulness. Chapter 18. Philokalia.

Virtues attainment as a path to addiction recovery

Shekhovtsova L.F., PhD in Psychology, Professor

If we consider dependence, addiction as passion, since these states have common symptoms (loss of freedom due to the dominance of a hedonistic need that defines and subordinates the entire life activity and behavior of an addicted person to the pursuit of pleasure), hence spiritual healing, as attainment of virtues, can be one of the ways for recovery of addicted believers.

The foundation of spiritual healing can be the thousand-year experience of the ascetic struggle with passions, captured in the patristic heritage. There are two main directions in the ascetic practice: the first is the struggle against passions, the second is the attainment of virtues. It is not enough to cope with anger in one or other case, it is much more important and appropriate to obtain freedom from anger - the virtue of meekness (a short time anger that tends to disappear).

According to the Holy Fathers, every passion has a virtue opposed to it.

There is a plenty of addictions today - it is not only food, alcohol, tobacco or drugs, but also gambling addictions, Internet addiction; but still the basis for the formation of passion is the same: a person puts pleasure before all else, submits his life to the principle of hedonism, which becomes the philosophy of life and its meaning.

It is only the motivation for abstinence, for self-restraint, that can resist the principle of pleasure. The psychotherapeutic practice has many methods that help the patient to find such motive; but he needs to accomplish hard internal work to make motive grow into motivation, wish into aspiration, and aspiration - into action.

St. Theophan the Recluse says that in order to attain the virtue of abstinence, to overcome one's passion, one must work hard on the inner plane of soul inspiration. I would like to highlight several stages in the process of this INTERNAL WORK for attaining virtues.

One must accept (make a choice, make up his mind) his intension, convert it into desire (give it strength, energy, bodily reinforcement), then turn his desire into aspiration, aspiration - into action (targeted regulation), reinforce the action by willpower and proceed to immediate implementation, so then the desire for virtue becomes real.

Let us consider this "algorithm" as proposed by St. Theophan the Recluse using the example of attaining the virtue of abstinence from psychoactive substances.

At stage 1, one should imagine the advantage of victory over the passion (think about how good it would be for you and your family if you would stop using psychoactive substances and showing aggression on people close to you).

At stage 2, one should stop protecting and justifying his passions (think how much pleasure you get from using psychoactive substances, does it give you something good in your life, so that you justify your addiction to this substance).

At stage 3, one should analyze the consequences of the development of the addiction passion (think about what can happen if you would regularly allow putting yourself into a state of altered consciousness, and be aggressive towards people around you).

At stage 4, one must remember the synergy - theandric action, mobilize the will, begin to ask for God's help earnestly, because the Lord says: "apart from me you can do nothing" (John. 15:5) (a person should ask himself, prove himself whether he really wants to get rid of his addiction, whether he decides firmly not to hurt his loved ones).

At stage 5, one must make a decision and take responsibility for this decision (if he is firmly convinced in the idea to overcome his addiction, mobilize all his will and ask God for help).

Psychologist, psychotherapist can help a person to go through the maze of passions. But a man must go on by his own. God will help him and give him strength to go, but a man must ask Him about it, God does not violate the freedom that He has granted to him.

Psychotherapeutic work in an existential direction can lead a person to realizing the need of rethinking his values and lifestyle, determining changes in his behavior. The therapist can help him to find other new meanings of life, solve the existential questions of being, understand the need to develop the virtues of self-restraint and self-control, humility, abstinence, obedience, in order to support a person on this long and difficult path. As a result of this kind of transformation of the inner world, the addict can change his life principle of hedonism to a sense of joy of being.

The practice of Orthodox asceticism offers a person means of inner work with passionate states and help in virtues attaining. The practice of asceticism is, first of all, a change of "oneself" both tactically (overcoming situational passion) and strategically (attaining opposite virtue).

Psychology, psychotherapy, medicine, and asceticism offer their own methods of recovering addiction that complement each other, and all together, they help a person to achieve victory in the fight against passion-addiction.

Incorrect theoretical ideas about human nature - ignoring one's transcendental essence - lead to reducing the effectiveness of solving the practical problems of psychotherapy, narcology and medicine. The Christian approach to existential therapy takes a person to the vertical - it helps to understand his deep and "peak" problems. Orthodox asceticism helps to solve these conscious deep-seated problems, "spiritual healing" is a climbing to the top along the steps of the spiritual "ladder".

It is very important to support a suffering person in his work on himself - to state the first successes as something obvious, expected, to encourage, to draw his attention to his loved ones' response to changes in his behavior. The results of the patient's work of solving his problem are largely determined by the attitude of his family to him.

To some extent, a person can help himself, trusting in God's help.

I can recommend a Christian suffering person this REMINDER FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT to be used for inner work:

• Do not think that it's too late to start improving yourself.
• Do not try to comprehend everything at once, think it over without haste, do not make excuses, do not build a consistent logical conclusion, do not rush to conclusions and do not defend yourself.
• Do not think that you will be unsuccessful in this, but do not be afraid of "falls" and temporary failures. Reasons why we cannot be successful: apathy, laziness, weak will, pessimism, lack of faith.
• Try to perceive yourself as an Image of God, respect your human dignity, remembering Christ's sacrifice on the Cross - His death for you.
• Love yourself and prepare for eternal life: understand that longing for salvation means truly loving yourself.
• Do not justify yourself, try to understand and see the cause of your sin.
• Monitor your condition carefully, track your thoughts, stages of development of a passionate state.
• Discern the source of your thoughts without self-justification.
• Abstain from "explanatory" clich?s and stereotypes (do not label, trust your inner voice).
• Resist the passionate thoughts by prayer, call on God and the saints for help.
• Be patient and tolerant to yourself, forgive yourself for failures.
• Do not demand too much from yourself (zeal above the mind), so as not to be disappointed and not to lose faith in your strength.
• Accept help from your neighbor and listen to his opinion.
• Try to understand God plan about yourself, look for the meaning of your life and your vocation.
• Remember that self-improvement, the way to God, likening to God is infinite.

References:

1. St. Theophan the Recluse, "What is spiritual life and how to tune in it", [Chto est' dukhovnaya zhizn' i kak na nejo nastroitsa], M. Blagovest, 2001.
2. Shekhovtsova L.F., "Christian Worldview as the Basis of Psychological Counseling and Psychotherapy" [Khristianskoe mirovozzrenie kak osnova psikhologicheskogo konsul'tirovaniya i psikhoterapii], St. Petersburg, Society of Orthodox Psychologists of St. Petersburg, 2009.