Is Addiction Incurable?

A piece in the N.Y. Times , June 9, 2013 discusses Dr. Drew Pinsky, a television personality and doctor who treats addicts and helps in rehab. (See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/fashion/dr-drew-pinsky-physician-and-media-star.html) Here is what he says: addiction is not a curable condition. It is one of those endearing syllogisms that say, since I cannot cure it, it must be incurable. Therefore I don’t have to try. I just control it as best I can. And of course he has had some suicides among his rehab group. He says he wishes he could blame himself but alas it is not true. He is not to blame. He did his best. Sadly, that best is not good enough and derives from the notion that it is all in our heads, and if we can change our attitudes we can conquer it. Not cure it, mind you, just conquer it.

Of course he had suicides. His therapy was incomplete and ignored the crucial few months of life where deep depression gets its start. And therefore, yes, addiction can be cured…if we take away its generating sources. If we go deep into the brain and the unconscious. That is what cure means, tying symptoms to origins. Otherwise, we can never speak of cure. So long as we ignore the deep-lying causes there is no cure, and that is the inadvertent crime of Dr. Pinsky. No origins,6 never a cure. What are we curing? The causes. No more, no less. Otherwise, no matter what the therapeutic approach they are never curing.

It is strange to see in print that something cannot be cured; that means that they have the last word in theory and technique and it cannot be improved upon. He does not say, maybe there is someone around who knows how to cure but I don’t. For that he needs to survey the literature. We don’t keep our therapy hidden. It is published in books and scientific papers. He has to take the time and interest to search for answers. He does not say, maybe one day we can cure it. No. It cannot be cured.

The problem is that he and others who mean well have a slight arrogance about them to indicate that they know it cannot be cured. What a disservice to addicts in the country who need help and need to know there is a cure. Can he put himself and his therapy in question? Can he have a bit of self-doubt? Can he imagine anyone in the world doing something better than him? Evidently not. Is that arrogance? I think so. It is an arrogance that leaves those who suffer no way out. This is what rehab centers do, as well. No science, just a potpourri of unproved approaches with a hope for the best. But isn’t that arrogance on our part to think we know better? I don’t think so since I did put myself and my therapy in question years ago and decided to change. Also we do get down to origins and we do cure and we never make statements about not curing anyone.

Clearly, we don’t cure everyone but I believe that our therapy provides the platform for cure, something we have been honing for many decades with thousands of patients. Dr. Pinsky says he hopes he could take responsibility for the suicide of his rehab patients. I can help you doctor. You are responsible. Your lack of searching, even by inadvertence makes you able to claim responsibility. And you should because that is the first step toward cure-----toward finding a cure for yourself and your patients.