2. If you have been to drug treatment two or more
times you may have been tagged with the label,
"chronic relapser." Perhaps you have lost hope at
ever finding a solution and your family and friends
have given up on you. With each stint in drug
treatment you feel more and more like a complete
failure. But what if I told you that your relapses
may not be your fault? What if I told you that drug
treatment is the problem, not the solution? And
what if I told you that what you learned in drug
treatment was designed to keep you stuck, not
help you to overcome your problems and move on
with your life?

3. The term relapse itself is problematic. It implies
that a person is chronically ill and that their
illness goes into dormancy but is likely to recur.
At each drug treatment program you've learned
what I call the Drug Treatment dogma:

4. 1.That you are suffering from a progressive, incurable, lifelong
disease called addiction (which is actually a theory with no
scientific backing whatsoever.)
2.That your only hope is to accept that you are powerless over
your disease, that you are powerless over drugs and/or alcohol
and ultimately that you are powerless over many other areas of
your life as well; such as relationships, circumstances, your
health/disease, etc. (This is called having an external locus of
control which has been linked to clinical depression.)

5. 3.That you must attend daily meetings everyday for the rest of your
life if you are to have any hope of remaining sober and drug free
(although those who attend meetings have an estimated 5% rate
of success.)
4.That relapse is an expected part of the lifelong recovery process.
5.And in most cases, that you must seek God's help and "turn your
will and your life" over to Him. (Many will not say this directly, but
will instead mandate 12 Step meetings which are centered on
the belief, adoration and complete reliance on a Christian God.)

6. Much of what you've learned in drug treatment has
been focused on your past problems and
behaviors and discouraged you from planning for
a future filled with success. You were told to take
it, "one day at a time" and to "let go and let God."
Slogans, daily Christian affirmations, meetings
and therapy are the only solutions you have been
given and when you have found yourself
struggling once again with substance use you
literally learned to be helpless.

7. If you have been labeled a chronic relapser by the
addiction treatment establishment, then by them
you would be considered a success story. You
have lived up to the full potential of what drug
treatment taught you. You have accepted that you
are powerless;and you have fully incorporated
into your life that you have an incurable disease;
and you have accepted that you will struggle with
your disease forever which you have done. As you
can clearly see, learned helplessness is the exact
goal of drug treatment.
Thankfully, addiction is not a disease; it is a learned
behavior and a choice. People do overcome their
substance use problems everyday and the vast
majority of people do this without setting foot in a
drug treatment program. The key to overcoming
addiction starts with the belief that you can; not
with admitting and accepting that you can't.

8. Want help? Check my sources:
http://www.benchmarkcenter.com/the_truth_behind_chronic_relapse/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Drug-Treatment-and-Chronic-Relapse&id=6333318