Beyond one’s personal recovery, what could the general idea of recovery be good for?
To explore what the idea of recovery could be good for, I would like to separate the word “recovery” from its normal use (about people making personal changes in the face of addiction illness), and highlight some other benefits that could be found in the idea of what recovery is.
In this article I would like to turn from recovery as a personal matter and look at some other uses of the word and of the idea of recovery.
About three years ago it started to seem to me that the word “recovery” in its use as a technical term in clinical, research, public health, and policy circles had lost its window of opportunity, was no longer viable, and had probably become outmoded.
Why?
We were seeing so much public criticism from academics, professional clinicians, and various advocates aimed against:
that I had reached an internal tipping point.
A Well-Known Name
The area of depth psychology I have drawn from for this article has an especially well-known name. That very well-known name is so well known, that the name could easily get in the way of some readers taking in my idea. So, I’ll share that name later in the article. For me, until the most recent few years, the name would serve as a major block and if I saw it I would probably stop reading. That’s how strict my education and training were, and how I was taught to think.
For now I will say that this area of depth psychology has been described as a larger meta-topic than it is commonly known to be. And in that way, it is said to be comprised of four separate, but interdependent, endeavors. It is further said that each of those four endeavors is really a separate discipline, or field of study – each in their own right.
Many people who are aware of this area of depth psychology because of its well known name are unaware of its separate application in these four areas.
To me, these four areas also apply to the idea of recovery. And to me these four areas show us some additional potential of the idea of recovery – beyond its application to one’s own personal change.
A Four-Part Framework
I suggest that we can also consider Recovery a meta-topic that comprises the same four areas, and we can borrow the same four-part framework. Each area could serve as a target of study or as a lens through which one conducts their work.
What are the four areas we would borrow?
With very little effort we can transfer those four areas of interest from depth psychology and apply them as four parallel areas of potential content and value within the construct of Recovery.
Four Potential Areas of Study
First of all, Addiction Recovery can be thought of as a Personality theory
What could the world gain from a full inquiry into the character and personality of Recovery?
Second, we can consider Addiction Recovery as informing the topography and components of the mind: the Study of Cognition and Metacognition
What could the world gain from a full inquiry into the mind of, and that is, Recovery?
Third, we can consider Recovery as a Method of therapy
For clarity I will say that evidence-based counseling methods like Twelve Step Facilitation and Motivational Interviewing are excluded from what I am aiming at here. Rather, I mean to focus on recovery itself (recovery that is modeled, caught, and practiced) as the therapeutic agent.
What could the world gain from a full inquiry into Recovery as the therapy?
Fourth, we can apply Recovery as a Research method
What could the world gain from a full inquiry using Recovery as a research method, not just a research target?
A word too common to understand?
What was the area within depth psychology whose name might have gotten in the way if I had revealed it? That word is Psychoanalysis. Within its complete scope, psychoanalysis as a field of study is properly understood to function separately and together as a:
To me, Recovery is like that, and also has potential in those same four areas.
Like “psychoanalysis” (when understood within its complete scope) “Recovery” could be considered to include a theory of personality, a way of understanding the mind, a method of therapy, and a tool of research.
Thus, Recovery could be understood to include far more than only the personal matter of one’s wellbeing that the word “recovery” commonly conveys.
My Wish List
Personality.
Do we have a text examining the domains and function of human character and personality – through the lens of recovery? What is the collective and potential constellation of the personality of recovery?
Mind.
Do we have a text describing the topography and function of the mind as seated in recovery?
Therapy
Do we have a text describing the arrangements before and during the provision or transmission of healing found in recovery?
Research
Do we have a text informing us of recovery itself as a research method?
A Recurring Worry
In spite of the latent potential in these four areas/methods of inquiry, I remain uncertain as to the future of the word Recovery.