Connecting the dots: The Bible and Psychology in Recovery
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Perhaps the single most significant experience in my clinical training came early on when as part of my internship I was assigned to the Alcohol Treatment Unit at the VA hospital. Having been raised in a Seventh-day Adventist environment, I had had no direct exposure to addictions. As a Clinical Psychology graduate student, I had had very limited course work on the subject. There my life was, at the intersection of three fields (addictions, psychology and religion) that have seldom seen each other eye to eye. I still remember walking to the smoke-filled room occupied by the VA Substance Abuse Counselors and taking a seat to learn from them that I was the first “normie” who had set foot in that office. I quickly learned of their distrust for the mental health professions: “talking to an addict one on one, you are always outnumbered”, they advised; “talk is cheap, especially if you haven’t walked the walk”. Being a witness to the meetings and participating in groups was profoundly moving as I could see the transformation before my eyes of men (there were no females at the time) who walked off the street running from something, now embracing honesty and responsibility.
After almost three decades of clinical work since my time at the VA, there is virtually not a day that goes by where the lessons learned at the Alcohol Treatment Unit are not informative and for which I remain deeply grateful. Shortly after the VA, I graduated and got my first job at Patton State Hospital, a large forensic hospital that housed individuals with severe mental illness remanded by the courts of the State of California following the commission of a crime. A majority of the admissions either had a concurrent substance problem to a major psychiatric condition or had a substance induced psychiatric state. For this population (often referred as having a dual diagnosis), the fairly confrontational approach I had learned at the VA did not work.
The assumptions of the pure addictionologists were simply incorrect for this population, as were the assumptions of the pure scientists who at the time questioned the value of the 12 Steps. Being that Patton State Hospital was a government facility, the explicit use of religious language or beliefs were forbidden, thus, it could not be incorporated into active treatment. Things have since changed as there is a culturally more receptive environment to diversity in general, and to generic spirituality in particular. Furthermore, there is an increasing openness to the reality that people with addiction conditions also face emotional problems (depression, anxiety and trauma to name a few) that need to be properly addressed.
In some ways, the worlds of addiction and Clinical Psychology had connected in my professional life, but the world of faith was in the periphery.
I consistently encouraged the clients I was seeing in my outpatient practice to attend 12 Step groups if they struggled with an addiction, and in that way, spirituality became a part of their care. But I was not using the “principles of God’s Word” in my clinical work as stated in ARMin’s Mission and Vision. Over the last decade I have, and this is what it looks like:
Ellen White states that, “the true principles of Psychology are found in the Bible”. A principle is a foundational idea, and organizing set of concepts upon which interventions can be developed. This is one scriptural principle (among others) that I found helpful in working with addictions: spirituality is an indivisible and inseparable component of being human.
This means that all humanity is created to worship God, and that regardless of cultural experience, we all seek something of someone to worship, which sometimes has a religious content. I find Jesus’ statement in John 7:37 to provide the concepts to understand this principle from a Christian perspective on the spiritual life. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” I believe Christian spirituality then has three components: One, human spiritual thirst is universal and found in all cultures. Second, the thirst is quenched by connecting with Christ. Third, believing in him leads to continue drinking the “living water” which satisfies the deepest thirst (John 4:7-15).
Each component, I suggest, responds to distinct but integrated neurobiological and psychological systems (for a summary of the research supporting this assumption, please see my chapter in the 2011 book “A Christian Worldview and Mental Health: Seventh-day Adventist Perspective” published by Andrews University Press). When the Bible speaks of spiritual thirst or hunger, it uses a compelling language, akin to what is experienced when the neurobiology of the Seeking System is turned on. Others refer to this system as the “reward circuitry”, which is an essential engine for addictive disorders. The Psalmist uses the analogy of the “deer longs for stream of living water, so my soul longs for your oh Lord” (42:1). Augustine of Hippo makes a similar statement that may resonate more closely for those in recovery: “restless is the soul until it finds rest in Thee”.
The second component, the coming to Christ, I believe speaks about the nature of the relationship with the Lord: “love the Lord with all your mind” (Matthew 27:37) can only be experienced in the context of feeling safe with him. The professional literature refers to this as the Attachment System. The third component found in John 7 is believing in him – not necessarily believing in a doctrinal corpus, but having a clear idea about who God is. The research on the Theory of Mind informs us as to how human develop beliefs about what is on the mind of another. In summary, human restlessness, longings and addictive tendencies can find deep satisfaction in a close and intimate relationship with Christ as we come to know him as he is. The ministry to those in recovery can then seamlessly be grounded on principles found in the Word of God, guided by a Christian spirituality that opens new vistas to integrate current neurobiological and psychological knowledge, and develop specific interventions that “promote healing and freedom.
Dr Carlos Fayard, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Chair of the Program in Psychiatry and Religion, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and the Assistant Director for Mental Health Affairs, Health Ministries Department, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.