Religion has increasingly been recognized as a resource for treating additions, ever since Alcoholics Anonymous introduced its 12-step program – with its recognition of a “higher power” – nearly 71 years ago. AA’s success has inspired a multitude of other 12-step programs (Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous), as well as addiction recovery programs tailored to a wide variety of faiths. The U.S. government has begun funding religious addiction recovery programs as part of its faith-based initiatives. Now scientists are studying why and how religion and spirituality aid recovery.
All this attention has brought new information and new questions. Many scientific studies have confirmed that religion does play an important role in addiction recovery. Thanks to AA’s efforts and scientific research on the brain, the understanding of addiction as a moral failing or character flaw has been largely replaced by the notion of addiction as a chronic, progressive disease of the brain.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health and the Fetzer Institute have both sponsored conferences in the past few years on scientific research on alcoholism and spirituality and are funding numerous studies to examine the role they play in recovery and resistance to drug and alcohol abuse.
Whether the addiction is to alcohol, drugs, gambling or shopping, the biochemical and structural changes that occur in the brain are the same. Meanwhile, scientific studies are exploring a number of questions:
• Will studies provide information about what makes faith-based recovery programs effective and whether they are more or less effective than secular ones? How will this influence government funding?
• Should doctors “prescribe” religious involvement to people with addictions? Numerous studies have shown that people with religious or spiritual involvement are less likely to be addicted to drugs or alcohol. Should the government fund religious treatment programs?
• Should addiction treatment be personalized, and does religion help some people with addictions but not others? Research also shows that successful recovery from addictions occurs with secular approaches. What specific factors make one treatment program more effective than another?
• If religious and spiritual approaches help with addiction, could addiction also be partly a moral problem? Some groups adamantly challenge studies that characterize addiction as a disease rather than a moral failing, believing that an addiction is a symptom of other, underlying problems.
Why it matters
Addiction is prevalent in the United States, at a great cost to society through crime, health care costs and more. More than 1 in 5 Americans were substance-dependent or abused substances, according to 2004 statistics from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Many, if not most, treatment programs use a belief in God or a higher power as a guiding principle, yet it remains somewhat controversial. Science’s embrace of religion and spirituality as a useful tool in healing substance abuse may provide evidence and answers that shape the future of treatment.
Questions for reporters
• How do religion and spirituality shape people’s attitudes about addiction and recovery?
• What accounts for the success of faith-based treatment options?
• What do recovering addicts say about the importance of keeping God in (or out) of their treatment and lasting recovery?
• Talk to addiction treatment providers about their experience using 12-step programs and secular approaches. What are the differences? Does one approach fit one “type” of person?
• Do secular recovery groups address a need for meaning, as spiritual or religious groups do? If not, why not?
• If addiction is a disease, what role does human free will play?
• How are clergy responding to addiction and substance abuse in their congregants? Are there new alliances between secular mental health and addiction treatment centers and religious leaders? How do clergy deal with their own problems with addiction?
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National sources
• A comprehensive primer on addiction and treatment approaches is available from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Contact the NIDA press office, Blair Gately or Michelle Muth Person, 301-443-6245.
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deals with substance abuse and mental health issues together. Its mission is to build resilience and facilitate recovery for people with or at risk for substance abuse and mental illness. It provides more than $1.6 billion to support states’ efforts to build and expand their capacity for substance abuse treatment, to improve treatment systems and to respond to new and emerging substance abuse trends. SAMHSA will oversee President Bush’s Access to Recovery initiative- a new, $100 million state-run voucher program that will let substance abusers choose treatment and recovery support services from a range of qualified community provider organizations, including faith-based ones. SAMHSA has designated September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month and posts a page on faith-based resources. Contact Leah Young at SAMHSA media services, 240-276-2130, leah.young@samhsa.hhs.gov.
• Alcoholics Anonymous is the parent of all 12-step, self-help recovery groups. AA marked its 70th anniversary in June 2005. Founded by the late stockbroker William G. Wilson and physician Robert H. Smith, its principles for recovery from addiction are based on 12 steps, which include the acknowledgment of a “higher power,” meeting attendance and peer sponsorship. AA’s worldwide membership is 2 million. Contact the public information coordinator in New York City, 212-870-3119, publicinfo@aa.org.
• The American Society of Addiction Medicine in Chevy Chase, Md., is an organization of physicians trained in addiction medicine. The organization is focused on increasing access to addiction treatment and improving it. It runs a yearly scientific meeting and certifies physicians in addiction medicine. Contact Alexis Geier-Horan, 301-656-3920 ext. 103, ageier@asam.org.
• The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York City is an interdisciplinary research and educational organization founded in 1992 by Joseph Califano, former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare and drug “czar.” With a staff of 70, its expertise spans addiction and substance abuse, public policy, criminology, psychology, public health, epidemiology and statistics. It runs yearly conferences and publishes reports. Contact Richard Mulieri, director of communications, 212-841-5260, rmulieri@casacolumbia.org.
CHRISTIAN
• Alcoholics Victorious was founded in 1948 as a support group to offer a safe environment where recovering people who recognize Jesus Christ as their “higher power” gather and share their experience, strength and hope. AV meetings use both the 12 steps and the Alcoholics Victorious Creed. Contact 816-471-8020.
• Calix Society is a 12-step fellowship of Catholic alcoholics. AA does not endorce Calix; Calix recommends 12-step AA programs to Calix members. Contact it in St. Paul, Minn., at 651-773-3117, calix@usfamily.net.
• Christians in Recovery in Tequesta, Fla., provides information, referral and resources for anyone who is in recovery or who desires to recover from abuse, family dysfunction, depression, anxiety, grief, stress, obsessive/compulsive behaviors or addictions to alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling or pornography. It is an online community that offers formal and informal support group meetings on the Internet, running regular Christian recovery chats daily. Contact the executive director, Susan B., 714-529-6227, Admin@cir1.org, or CEO Dale Ryan, dryan@christianrecovery.com.
• Mike Hodges is president of Teen Challenge International USA, a Christian drug treatment program based in Springfield, Mo. President Bush has been supportive of Teen Challenge. Teen Challenge has programs throughout the country. Contact 417-862-6969.
• The Inter-Congregational Addictions Program of Education and Intervention in River Forest, Ill., was founded in 1979 by two nuns, Sisters Letitia Close and Mary Gene Kinney, to assist Roman Catholic nuns in recovery from chemical dependency or other addictions and who are in 12-step programs. ICAP provides education for nuns on addiction and recovery and has a database of sisters in recovery to provide them with assistance and support. ICAP runs annual six-day retreats based on 12-step programs and publishes a newsletter. Contact 708-488-9770, mgkinn1@aol.com or close1@core.com.
• Overcomers Outreach in Sylmar, Calif., is a ministry born out of a need of support system for members in evangelical Christian churches. Its support groups use the Bible and the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to minister to individuals affected by alcohol, drugs, sexual addiction, gambling, food and other compulsive behaviors or dependencies. Contact 800-310-3001, info@overcomersoutreach.org.
• Celebrate Recovery is a Christian-based recovery curriculum used by church-based groups throughout the U.S. and abroad. It was developed at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., by Pastor John Baker. Celebrate Recovery uses eight recovery principles drawn from the Beatitudes. These steps parallel AA’s traditional 12 steps. Contact Baker at 949-581-0548 or 651-251-6744, info@quest180.com.
JEWISH
• Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons, and Significant Others is a New York City-based recovery organization led by volunteers who help Jewish alcoholics, chemically dependent people and their families, friends and associates in a nurturing Jewish environment by conducting retreats and other events. It is not affiliated with any particular branch of Judaism and is sponsored by the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. Contact director Randy Anderson or Sharon Hermon, 212-397-4197.
• Rabbi Abraham Twerski is a psychiatrist, Orthodox rabbi and pioneer in the treatment of addiction in the Jewish community. Dr. Twerski is the founder and medical director emeritus of Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The author of several books,he has written extensively and lectured worldwide about chemical dependency in the Jewish community. A branch of Gateway has been established in Israel. Contact 412-421-8524.
• Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky is a Reform rabbi, executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute in New York City and co-author of Twelve Jewish Steps to Recovery (Jewish Lights, 1991). Olitzky has been vocal about the need for the Jewish community to face its problems with addiction. Contact 212-760-1440.
MUSLIM
• Judith K. Muhammad is vice president of Islamic Health & Human Services in Detroit, which provides a full range of social services, primarily for Muslims, and training in Islamic health care for non-Muslim health care providers. Muhammad is also a contributing writer to IslamOnline.net and has presented at many workshops and conferences around the country on topics such as Islamic health care, marriage issues, juvenile justice and substance abuse. Contact 313-961-0678, Smuslim@aol.com.
BUDDHIST
• Kevin Griffin is a meditation teacher in the San Francisco Bay area and former addict who uses meditation, the 12 steps and Buddhist precepts of free will and mindfulness to help addicts recover. He is the author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps (Rodale Press, 2004). Contact kevgriffin2@comcast.net.
• G. Alan Marlatt is a professor of psychology and director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. His major focus in both research and clinical work is addictive behaviors; he has conducted research on Buddhist meditation as a treatment for substance abuse in and out of prisons and has written and spoken about Buddhist philosophy and the treatment of addictive behavior and relapse prevention. Contact 206-685-1395, marlatt@u.washington.edu.
HINDU
• Greesh C. Sharma of Morrisville, Pa., has been a practicing psychologist for 30 years. He works at the Institute of Behavior Modification. Sharma, who was born in India, has written for Hinduism Today magazine on psychotherapy, addictions and Hinduism. Contact 215-295-3099, greesh42@aol.com.
SECULAR
• Save Our Selves, or Secular Organizations for Sobriety, was founded in North Hollywood, Calif., in 1985 as an alternative to AA. The largest secular sobriety group in the world, it has 100,000 members, including believers who want to keep religion separate from recovery as well as atheists, secular humanists and non-Christians. It respects diversity, welcomes skepticism and encourages rational thinking and emotions. It makes sobriety a separate issue from religion and does not oppose 12-step programs. Contact 323-666-4295, SOS@CFIWest.org.
• LifeRing Secular Recovery International in Oakland, Calif., was founded in 1999 as a secular alternative to AA. LifeRing does not subscribe to any particular theory of alcoholism/addiction but is held together by a common commitment to abstinence. Contact 510-763-0779, service@lifering.org.
• Women for Sobriety in Quakertown, Pa., describes itself as the first national self-help program for women alcoholics. It was founded by the late Jean Kirkpatrick in 1975 with the belief that women with addictions had different psychological needs in recovery than men. This notion stemmed from the fact that at that time, men had better recovery success rates. It has 13 affirmations, called the “new life program.” Contact 215-536-8026, newlife@nni.com.
• Rational Recovery in Lotus, Calif., is a program of independent recovery based on abstinence and banishing of self-doubt. It uses the Addictive Voice Recognition Technique, which is taught on the program’s web site in eight 90-minute sessions. RR has no groups, meetings or treatment centers and maintains that its technique is incompatible with AA and other 12-step programs because they foster dependence and discourage self-discovery. RR maintains that it fits well with any religion except 12-step programs. Contact founders Jack and Lois Trimpey, 530-621-2667.
• Self-Management and Recovery Training in Mentor, Ohio, uses rational emotive behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy in a self-help, abstinence-based addiction recovery program. SMART does not accept the disease concept of alcoholism and is not a 12-step program. It was founded in 1992 when it split off from Rational Recovery. Contact 440-951-5357, info@smartrecovery.org.
• The Christopher D. Smithers Foundation in Mill Neck, N.Y., was founded in 1952 to focus on alcoholism education and prevention, based on the conviction that alcoholism is a treatable disease that requires abstinence and that controlled drinking, whether called “moderation management” or “harm reduction,” is not possible with alcoholism. The foundation has worked to reduce the stigma attached to alcoholism and donated $10 million in 1971 to establish the first alcoholism facility that was an integral part of a leading hospital, thus becoming a model for similar units worldwide. Contact 516-676-0067, info@smithersfoundation.org.
• The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in New York City was founded in 1944 by Marty Mann to teach the public that alcoholism is a preventable and treatable disease. The first woman to stay sober in AA, Mann wanted to transform the view of alcoholism from a moral failing into a public health issue. The council’s mission now is to fight the stigma and the disease of alcoholism and other addictions. NCADD produced the first radio and TV ads about alcoholism and to prevent teenage drinking, pioneered employee assistance programs, advocated putting warning labels on all alcoholic beverage containers, established the national HOPE line (800-NCA-CALL). It publishes The Washington Report, a public policy newsletter. Contact 212-269-7797 ext. 16, communications@ncadd.org.
• Moderation Management is a New York City-based behavioral change program and national support network for early-stage problem drinkers. It encourages individuals to accept personal responsibility for choosing and maintaining their own path, whether moderation or abstinence, and offers a choice of behavioral change goals. MM has a nine-step program of moderation and balance with exercises, goal-setting techniques, self-management strategies and support groups. Contact 212-871-0974, mm@moderation.org.
Background
• Get a historical perspective on “Faith-Based Recovery: Its Historical Roots” in a 2005 article in Counselor: The Magazine for Addiction Professionals.
• Read the transcript of a 2005 Religion and Ethics Newsweekly report about using religion to heal addiction. It featured the Set Free Indeed Ministry and Clinic in Baton Rouge, La., and a discussion by two nuns of the efforts to treat their addictions. The conversation pointed out the need for more church-based treatment options.
• Read a WebMD Medical News article, “Alcoholism: AA Best; Experts Unsure Why,” posted by FoxNews.com.
• Read a 2004 article in Science & Theology News about the move among clergy to be more proactive in addressing congregants’ possible alcoholism and substance abuse, and to regard both as “diseases of the spirit.” The article reports on data from a 2001 report from Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, “So Help Me God: Substance Abuse, Religion and Spirituality,” which showed that only one clergy member out of 10 has been trained in seminary to deal with the problem.
• Read a 2004 article in Science & Theology News about the effects of compassionate love, altruism and spirituality in 12-step programs, and their effect on the health of recovering alcoholics.
• Read a 2003 article in the Monitor on Psychology that describes psychologists’ study of spirituality’s role in substance abuse prevention and treatment, using grants by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Fetzer Institute. Monitor on Psychology is a publication of the American Psychological Association.
• Read a 2003 story from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans about faith-based treatment centers and the criticism that they breach the wall between church and state.
• Read a 2002 story in Science & Theology News about science’s new interest in studying spirituality as a basis for treating addiction.
• Read a 2002 article by former drug czar Joseph Califano Jr., “Religion, Science and Substance Abuse,” in the Catholic magazine America. The article discusses the clergy’s lack of training in dealing with congregants’ addictions and the Vatican’s manual for health workers on drug addiction.
• Read a story on IslamOnline.net by Judith Muhammad, a social services director in Detroit, on addiction and Islam.
STUDIES
• Read a 2001 study that showed that among teens and adults, tapping the power of religion and spirituality has great potential for reducing the risk of substance abuse, and when combined with professional treatment, promotes recovery.
• Read about a 2000 study exploring the relation between religious faith, spirituality and mental health. The research found that those in recovery reported high levels of religious faith and affiliation but chose to classify themselves as being more spiritual than religious. Researchers also found that among those in recovery, higher levels of religious faith and spirituality were associated with more optimism, greater perceived social support, better resilience to stress and lower levels of anxiety.
• One study showed that the measure of “importance of religion” was the best predictor in indicating lack of substance abuse. Read about it in the October 2000 issue of Psychiatric Times.
• Professors Gerard J. Connors and Kurt H. Dermen published a study in the quarterly American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (1996, No. 2) that reports positive outcomes for SOS (Secular Organizations for Sobriety, former name of LifeRing Secular Recovery) participants, based on a nationwide survey. This is not a rigorous double-blind study with a control group, but no studies of that kind exist for 12-step groups either.
Regional sources
IN THE NORTHEAST
• Dr. John Knight is the associate director for medical education in the division on addictions at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass., and a leader in pediatric education. He has studied spirituality and alcohol use in adolescents, and treatment and prevention of alcoholism in adolescents. Contact 781-306-8600 or 617-355-5433, john.knight@tch.harvard.edu.
• Howard Shaffer is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the division on addictions. He has written extensively about the treatment of addictive behaviors and the nature of addictions. Contact 781-306-8600.
• Dr. Richard Saitz is a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University’s School of Medicine, associate director of the Youth Alcohol Prevention Center and director of the Clinical Addiction Research and Education program. He is studying the effectiveness of a brief, hospital-based tailored intervention for patients with alcohol problems. Contact 617-414-7399.
IN THE EAST
• Dr. Marc Galanter is director of the division of alcoholism and drug abuse in the department of psychiatry and a professor at the New York University School of Medicine. His books, Spirituality and the Healthy Mind: Science, Therapy and the Need for Personal Meaning (Oxford University Press, 2005) and Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion (Oxford University Press, 1999), deal with issues of spirituality, religion and addiction. Contact 212-263-6960.
• Alexandre Laudet is a social psychologist and the director of the Center for the Study of Addictions and Recovery at the New York City-based National Development and Research Institutes. NDRI, a nongovernmental research agency, works to advance scientific knowledge of substance abuse, mental health, HIV/AIDS and related social and health concerns in order to contribute to their prevention and solution. Laudet is the principal investigator of an upcoming study exploring social supports, spirituality, religiousness, life meaning and 12-step program participation in the recovery process from addiction. She studied more than 300 recovering addicts from New York City, many of whom were inner-city ethnic minorities formerly addicted to crack cocaine or heroine and who had used multiple substances for more than 20 years. Contact 212-845-4400, laudet@ndri.org.
• Christopher D. Ringwald is a journalist in Albany, N.Y., and the author of The Soul of Recovery: Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension in the Treatment of Addictions (Oxford University Press, 2002). Ringwald has studied and written about how the use of spirituality within a wide range of treatment options works. He has also examined the controversies surrounding the faith-based treatment and recovery movement. Contact ringwald@capital.net.
• Ram Cnaan is chairman of the doctoral program in social work at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a scholar of faith-based social services. He has studied religion’s response to addiction. Contact 215-898-5523, cnaan@sp2.upenn.edu.
• Kevin Chen is a professor of addiction psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Piscataway, N.J. He is researching the introduction of Qi gong meditation therapy in treating addictions. Contact 732-235-4345, chenke@umdnj.edu.
• Gerard Connors is director of the Research Institute on Addictions at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has studied Alcoholics Anonymous participation, spirituality and alcohol outcomes. Contact 716-887-2566, Connors@ria.buffalo.edu.
• Margaret Ensminger is a professor and associate chairwoman of the department of health, behavior and society at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. She has studied inner-city youths and families and has done research on the effect of family religiosity on young adults’ alcohol use. Contact 410-955-2308, mensming@jhsph.edu.
IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Rabbi Joel Dinnerstein of Deerfield Beach, Fla., has directed a Jewish 12-step counseling program, Ohr Ki Tov, since 1985. Inspired by Hasidic Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, this organization integrates prayer, song and storytelling with the 12 steps and Jewish learning, values and practice for recovery. Dinnerstein was the first rabbi to become a certified addiction counselor; he also focuses on the family in recovery. Contact 954-480-6230.
• David Whiters is a social worker and the executive director of Recovery Consultants of Atlanta, a faith-based, peer-led recovery community services program. Whiters is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia’s School of Social Work and recently co-authored a historical review of faith-based treatments for addiction in Counselor: The Magazine for Addiction Professionals. Contact 404-370-0123, david@recoveryconsultants.org.
• Dr. Mark Gold is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville. He has conducted groundbreaking research into opiate addiction, its mechanism of action in the brain, and treatments. Contact msgold@psychiatry.ufl.edu.
IN THE SOUTH
• Dr. Mary Holley is a doctor in Arab, Ala., who founded a Christian-based support group called Mothers Against Meth-Amphetamine, or MAMa, in 2002 after her brother died of methamphetamine addiction. She believes that a religious approach to treating addiction is more effective than law enforcement. Holley speaks in schools and jails and has authored a book and tapes. The group now has 75 chapters around the country. Contact 256-498-8901.
• Dr. Peter R. Martin is a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s division of addiction medicine in Nashville, Tenn. The department is involved in research, treatment and teaching. Contact 615-322-3527, peter.martin@vanderbilt.edu.
• Tonja Myles is a former addict and founder of the Set Free Indeed Ministry and Clinic in Baton Rouge, La., a faith-based addiction clinic. Myles was recognized by President Bush at the 2003 State of the Union address. She and her husband, Darren, founded Set Free Indeed 14 years ago. They offer one-on-one counseling for people who are or were incarcerated. Their Indeed Faith-Based Intense Outpatients Clinic offers outpatient treatment services. They work with ex-offenders and offer transportation, transitional housing, job placement and life skills. Tonja received the President’s Call to Service Lifetime Volunteer Award in 2005. Contact 255-924-1910, info@setfreeindeedministry.com.
IN THE MIDWEST
• Elizabeth Robinson is a research professor at the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center’s department of psychiatry in Ann Arbor. She is conducting a five-year study on long-term spiritual changes in alcoholism recovery and has also studied spiritual and religious status of those entering alcohol treatment, ethnic difference in religious coping styles of those entering treatment, and many other related topics. Contact 734-998-7454, earrobin@umich.edu.
• Thomas Johnson is a professor of psychology and associate director at the Center for the Study of Health, Religion & Spirituality at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. His research focuses on the relationship between alcohol use and religiosity/spirituality, and spirituality and motives for drinking and not drinking. Contact pytjohn@isugw.indstate.edu.
• The Rev. Linda Mercadante is a professor of theology at Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio, and the author of Victims & Sinners: Spiritual Roots of Addiction and Recovery (Westminster John Knox, 1996). She cites four basic concepts of Christian theology – God, sin, grace and human nature – and states that misperceptions of these can lead people to addiction or prevent them for taking a spiritual approach to recovery. She believes that addiction is a psychological, social and medical disease, and sometimes also a spiritual disease. Treating a spiritual disease requires a spiritual remedy, she says. Contact 740-362-3442, lmercadante@mtso.edu.
• Kathy Goggin is a professor of psychology at the University of Missouri in Kansas City who has studied the protective role of spirituality in alcohol and HIV risk behaviors. Contact 816-235-1059, goggink@umkc.edu.
IN THE SOUTHWEST
• J. Scott Tonigan is a psychology professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque who has extensive experience studying the effect of religion and spirituality on recovery from addiction. Contact 505-925-2384, jtonigan@unm.edu.
• Michael Winkelman is a professor of anthropology at Arizona State University in Tempe whose research focuses on shamanism and medical anthropology. He has studied contemporary applications of shamanic healing in substance abuse rehabilitation, pioneering the idea of shamanism as humanity’s original neurotheology. Contact 480-965-3087, Michael.Winkelman@asu.edu.
• William Richard Miller is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque who has studied spirituality and addictions. Contact 505-277-2384, wrmiller@unm.edu.
• Paul Spicer is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He has studied American Indian spirituality and alcohol. Contact 303-315-9256, paul.spicer@uchsc.edu.
IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Dr. Barry Solof is a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, Calif., and a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He heads the Kaiser Permanente addiction medicine department in West Covina, Calif., and is a board member of the secular SOS. Contact 323-874-9947 or 626-856-3045, barrysolof@aol.com.
• Dr. Walter Ling is a professor of psychiatry and director of the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at the University of California, Los Angeles. Contact 310-312-0500, lwalter@ixnetcom.com.
• Lee Ann Kaskutas is the director of training at the Alcohol Research Group, National Alcohol Research Center in Berkeley, Calif. She has studied and written about social networks and the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous. Contact 510-642-5208, lkaskutas@arg.org.
• Sarah Zemore is an associate scientist at the Berkeley, Calif.-based Alcohol Research Group who has studied and written about Alcoholics Anonymous and spirituality in recovery. Contact 510-642-5208, szemore@arg.org.
• Thomas G. Plante is a professor of psychology at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., who has studied the role of religious faith and spirituality in substance abuse recovery. Contact 408-554-4471 or 650-326-5930, TPlante@scu.edu.
• Dr. Linda Hyder Ferry is a professor of medicine at Loma Linda University’s School of Medicine and Public Health in Loma Linda, Calif., who is doing research on spirituality and recovery from addictions, specifically from nicotine addiction. Contact LHFerry@aol.com.
• Chris Prentiss is co-founder of Passages in Malibu, Calif., an eclectic, holistic substance abuse treatment center that claims to have a cure rate exceeding 80 percent. Prentiss developed his individually based approach by dealing with his son, who was addicted to heroine, cocaine and alcohol for 10 years. Passages’ program incorporates a spiritual component and treats the causes of addiction, as opposed to AA, which treats addiction as the disease itself. Prentiss recently published The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery (Power Press, 2006). Contact 888-777-8525.
