A Cure

At my meeting tonight, a big topic was relapsing. Several of the more prominent recovered members, who take on sort of teacher roles, talked about there being no such thing as a "relapse": that it's a catch phrase from the past twenty years or so, and that the word used before that was "slip".

Their point was that there ought to be no insinuation that something was lost (sobriety), because something was never gained (recovery). It really inspired me, and I immediately began to contemplate what sobriety really is. In the program, we believe that there is only one solution to alcoholism, and that is connecting with God through the Steps. In other words, the cure is spiritualism, and the premise is that if we follow the clear set of instructions as outlined in the book Alcoholics Anonymous, we will recover from this seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. We will not "relapse".

About two hours later, on a completely unrelated note (but God is in the details), I was speaking with a teacher who was talking about a student who was having trouble with his assignments, and with three weeks left of the year, she was putting pressure on the parents to help out. She said how this student has severe problems, and I asked if the school psychiatrist does not have the tools to help him. The child cannot be helped for various reasons, one being that the school can only intercede so far without direct parental consent, to which they will not give.

I asked, was he schizophrenic, and she said no. In my ignorance I asked, what is worse than schizophrenia, and she looked away thoughtfully and paused. She lowered her brows and said slowly and quietly, that she thought he might be an actual psychopath.

I remember reading once online that the word "psychopath" was coined by a doctor in the late nineteenth century to diagnose an alcoholic, and that the term actually morphed into "sociopath", to denote the damage that was done on society. While I have been having trouble cross-referencing this, I did stumble upon a pioneer of psychotherapy, Hervey Cleckley, who is attributed for coming up with the most influential research in psychopathy in his book published in 1941, just two years after Alcoholics Anonymous was published in 1939.

One thing that he noted, was that the psychopath can seem normal and engaging. This is exactly, and I mean exactly, what we read tonight in one of the stories in the book. A man named "Jim", who seemed "normal so far as we could see, except for a nervous disposition...In a few years (after he began drinking at thirty-five) he became so violent when intoxicated that he had to be committed". (35).  It's actually eerie.

This teacher who I mentioned is so smart and compassionate. This child is so ill that he actually frightens the other teachers, but not this one. But to see that even the best don't have an explanation, this is when we start using the word "hopeless". This is the history of alcoholism, and why today A.A. is such a massive organization, even internationally, with its book translated in about every language, being read in about every culture.  It is the only antidote.

There was no solution, and so sufferers were locked away in asylums reserved nearly exclusively for alcoholics. But somehow, through a lineage of people and deliverance ministries, we now have a remedy, eighty years later. To think how this fellowship has exploded, just a few generations ago, with today there being millions upon millions of members worldwide, with every meeting following the same format. So one meeting in North America is the same in Europe or the Middle East or Russia: we can go anywhere, and we are brethren. It is incredible, it has saved lives, families, and communities. Truly, we all take it for granted. 

And I now wonder, is it possible, is it entirely possible that someone so deranged, so vicious, so seemingly soulless, could have a daily reprieve, as well?

So much of our program is about the grace of God; it's tempting to make decisions on who can be healed, and who can't, and it's easy to ignore problems, until the moment they arise. But even the demons will rise again on the day of the resurrection (2 Peter 2.4). How far can God's grace go, and do we really have the ability to choose it, or to decide who is capable of receiving it.