AA has been the go-to model of recovery in the courts, the field of medicine, psychiatry, addiction science and the popular consciousness at-large for more than seven decades. But this is slowly changing—more options for recovery are popping up. Since the Internet can now put these options on blast, many would-be twelve-steppers are choosing other alternatives to stay clean and sober. One such burgeoning trend is Buddhist recovery.
Taking a Hike Up the Middle Path
Mary Stancavage was sober 19 years in Alcoholics Anonymous, but she was never super stoked to be a member of the group. Like me, the God talk really turned her off.
“The word ‘God’ made my skin crawl,” Stancavage told GOOD. “I had absolutely no use for it.”
But wanting to be sober, she hung in there, worked the steps over and over, until finally, nearly 20 years down the line, disillusionment hit her so hard she took a hike.
“[AA] took me to this certain point. Then I didn’t get any further,” she said. “The admonition in the program [in that situation is]to do your steps again … but it just wasn’t working.”
So she chose to peace out of Alcoholics Anonymous and join a Buddhist recovery group—not a 12-step group for Buddhists—but a separate organization entirely.
It Is What It Is
Sarah Bowen, an assistant professor of psychology at University of Washington and clinical psychologist, facilitates sessions in Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), a program started out of the University of Washington’s department of psychology. She believes the key difference between the 12-step approach and the Buddhist approach is that Buddhism teaches we already possess the tools to beat addiction. We don’t need to rely on a Higher Power.
“The assumption in this model is that we already have the wisdom [to recover],” said Bowen. “It’s just clouded. We don’t need to look outside ourselves. We need to look inside ourselves and learn how to pay more attention to what we already know and our patterns of behavior. I think it’s very different [from the traditional 12-step program]in that way.”
Many people consider Buddhism to be more or less atheistic. It is absolutely nontheistic (give it a few years and non-theist will most likely replace the word atheist, since they essentially mean the same thing and atheism often gets an unwarranted bad rap). In Buddhism you don’t bow before a God or supreme being, or ask for God’s will or assume some power is out there to make your life more comfortable. The power of enlightenment comes from simply getting quiet, getting mindful and detaching from people, places, things, desires and yes, cravings.
Another big difference between Buddhist recovery programs and 12-step programs is that relapse is not considered a horrible thing in the former approach. Rather, it’s looked upon as a stepping stone in the journey of recovery, which is the same way SMART Recovery approaches relapse.
Of course, relapses can sometimes result in some heavy consequences, so they aren’t always to be taken lightly. I’ve experienced this when, in about four hours, I managed to lose my job, car and apartment (circa 2009). But I’ll admit when I “went out” I felt so shitty for losing all my sober time—after just one sip—that I proceeded to drink myself silly to punish myself for being such a fuck-up.
It’s possible that in these Buddhist programs, or any non-12-step program, where racking up sober time isn’t likened to achieving military honors or an Academy Award, it’s easier to bounce back from a slip. In fact, my Buddhist boyfriend always found it puzzling that I kept track of my sober time when I was in AA. “Why not just move forward?” he’d ask. “Why do you even think about it?”
Easy Does It
I personally find Buddhist (and Taoist) principles to be extraordinarily grounding, freeing and refreshing. They don’t stress me out like the 12 steps or my stint in fundamentalist Christianity when I was an adolescent. Buddhism isn’t pushing you to be anything other than where you are right now. The path basically says “You’re cool.” No matter what, you’re cool. You don’t need to work at anything, or take on another commitment, or do another inventory.
Just be still and don’t drink.
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