Recovery Plus: save time, save lives
How the death of his brother and the role of
addiction shaped the US president ~ and how
he is a mirror for understanding untreated
family members of alcoholics and addicts.
sincerity and vulnerability in his voice – before
quickly veering into another rage-filled talking
point. It hit me: this man belongs in Al-Anon.
At 12-Step meetings, members are asked to
avoid discussing “outside issues” such as politics,
or religion and instead focus on their recovery.
But, in the aftermath of the election, every
meeting I attended began and ended with
someone compulsively venting about how
the election had affected them personally. It
was clear the president-elect had invaded the
psyche of us all, maybe none more so than
those who share his hidden pain. Privately, I
began pointing out to a few friends in recovery
that they have something specific in common
with the new president: he doesn’t drink or
do drugs, and he watched a beloved family
member slowly kill himself through addiction.
The unfolding displays of horrific disbelief were
followed by reluctant empathy.
“When I heard he was a teetotaler, I thought
‘Of course’,” said Dr Greg Cason, a behavioural
psychologist. He pointed to research showing
that both alcoholics and defiant straight edges
often exhibit the same personality disorders
stemming from trauma. “They typically had
abusive, authoritarian parents,” Cason added.
“Whether or not they attempted to treat that
with substance, the root symptoms remain the
same.” While one brother turned to drinking and
the other abstained in response, they were both
taking extreme measures to avoid dealing with
underlying issues.
Cason's argument is built round what he calls
deep psychological wounds that have hit
middle-aged, lower-income, white men without
college degrees in recent years, creating a
connective tissue between them and the
billionaire real estate mogul. “I looked at a
map showing where the most severe trends of
addiction and suicide rates were spiking across
the country. They were all Trump states.”
Cason says new research argues that people
like Trump weren’t necessarily born that
way. Instead, it’s possible their emotional
development was stunted after a traumatic,
your library’s essential reference May/June 2017 49