0740.5472/87 $3.00 + .OO Copyright 0 1987 Pergamon Journals Ltd

Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Vol. 4, pp. 49-50, 1987 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.

CLASSICS REVISITED INTRODUCTION

Addiction: The Human Condition Writ Large

WILLIAM C. SARGENT, M.DIV. AND SUSAN RICE SARGENT, M.DIV.

The North Charles Institute for the Addictions, Department of Psychiatry, The Cambridge Hospital

OVER THE YEARS that we have worked with people suffering from alcoholism or other addictive disorders we have come to characterize their situation as the human condition writ large. That is to say, the behav- iors which they exhibit and the pain which they give themselves and others is not different in kind but in quantity. It is, if you will, an exaggeration of our faults and foibles to the point that they become almost impossible to hide.

This gives rise to difficulties both for the treatment provider and for the client. One of these mutual dif- ficulties is guilt. We live in a society that is comfort- able with scientific and medical explanations and treatments. We are not nearly so comfortable with matters of morals. It is easy to talk of detoxification

protocols and barbiturate loading tests and the com- parative success rates of differing treatment modali- ties. It is not easy to talk about existential guilt, either our clients’ or our own. One of the reasons for this difficulty is that we have a medical and scientific lan-

guage which we speak and with which we are comfort- able; conversely, we do not share a language with which we can speak of such matters as “sin” or “grace.” When human beings are uncomfortable with a subject or when they feel ignorant in a field, they have a tendency to avoid it. This is a very normal reaction and therapists and treatment providers who commonly observe such discomfort often consider the tendency to avoid it as resistance. We need to become literate and conversant with existential and moral issues, if not for ourselves then for our clients.

The reason for cultivating this literacy is that one of the components which all of our clients share in their “human condition writ large” is guilt and remorse. In the classic sermon that follows, Paul Til-

Requests for reprints should be sent to William C. Sargent, North Charles Institute for the Addictions, 260 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA 02143.

lich gives us a framework within which to talk of sin and grace that breaks the often small and usually con- fining notions conveyed by those words today.

In all probability Tillich did not have people with additions in mind when he wrote this sermon. He did, however, have the human condition uppermost in his mind and it was a condition uiith which he was on inti- mate terms. We cannot fail to be struck by how this piece speaks to those with addictive disorders as they experience the three types of separation: separation of

the self from the self, the self from others, and the self from the Ground of all Being. Treatment providers see their clients struggle with these forms of alienation as they go through the recovery process. It is our belief that these issues need to be addressed in some

manner for recovery to be facilitated. We are not advocating theological training for all

treatment providers. We do, however, believe that issues of separation, guilt, and remorse inevitably arise in dealing with addicted populations. Therefore, it is

helpful for care-givers to be able to discuss these issues with some confidence. Consequently, the thoughts of one of the great theologians of this century are pertinent.

It is also not necessary that treatment providers be

believers in a Transcendant Being. Matters of sin and guilt arise within any philosophical or theological belief system. What is necessary is that treatment providers be willing to take these issues seriously and see that Tillich’s view is another way to map reality.

Another beauty of Tillich’s sermon is that it uses a language which is not specialized and, therefore, is understandable to an audience untrained in theologi- cal terminology. As he points out in the preface to this collection of sermon:

A large part of the congregation at the Sunday services came from outside the Christian circle in the most radical sense of the phrase. For them, a sermon in traditional Biblical terms would have had no meaning. Therefore, I was obliged

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50 W.C. Sargent and S.R. Sargent

to seek a language which expresses in other terms the human experience to which the Biblical and ecclesiastical terminol- ogy point. (Tillich, 1948)

As Milton Burglass (1984) has pointed out, the more “languages” we speak the more people we can reach. It is our hope that his sermon will be of help in

learning a new way to speak. In closing, we would like to urge readers to put

aside Tillich’s sermon to re-read from time to time in order to discover the richness contained within it. We

are tempted to increase the length of this introduction by pointing out and highlighting Tillich’s ideas but his words speak more eloquently than any explanation we can provide. We are confident that the time taken will be well rewarded.

REFERENCES

Burglass, M.E. (1984). Personal communication.

Tillich, P. (1948). The shaking of the foundations. New York:

Charles Scribner’s Sons.