PART XII: Recovery Becomes A Completely Self-help Method
 |
If you do not have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
to access the PDF on the left, |
PHIL: It occurred to me, Treasure, that instead of discussing the volunteers in Recovery (as we announced in the last issue) we ought to talk about the vitally important fact that Dr. Low constructed the completely self-help panel in 1952 as separate from the book Mental Health Through Will Training.
TREASURE: You meant to say, "Dr. Low constructed the self-help panel completely separate from the book", didn't you, Phil?
PHIL: No! That's exactly the point I wish to make. The word "completely" belongs in front of the words "self-help". Until 1952, all of the panel discussions were supervised by Dr. Low - both in Chicago and in the out of town branches.
TREASURE: Yes, I see what you mean now. Even the so-called "home groups" here in Chicago, which Dr. Low did not attend, were supervised by him and therefore not completely self-help.
PHIL: That's it, Treasure. As you know most of the members were Dr. Low's patients. All of the leaders were personally selected by Dr. Low and authorized by him. The leaders reported regularly to Dr. Low and he reserved the right to attend the meetings anytime, although he did not do this.
TREASURE: This was true also in our branch group in Michigan. We patterned our only group after the "home groups" in Chicago and perhaps my experience, as a leader, being supervised by Dr. Low, will illustrate what took place even in a group almost 300 miles from Chicago. Of course, most of the reporting that I did was by phone or by letter. But I should start by saying that nearly all of the Michigan members traveled to Chicago to see Dr. Low in his office. Then he would write or phone me about them and instruct me about them. I saved all of his letters to me, beginning in June of 1947. His last letter to me was dictated from his hospital bed shortly before he passed away in 1954.
PHIL: These letters from him certainly would show how he carried out some supervision of the members in the groups.
TREASURE: Let me quote from one letter: (about a woman from Brighton) he said: "With her the main problem is to stop her from self-diagnosing . This is the predominate factor which keeps her from relaxing." Needless to say, at the meetings I tried to emphasize this point with her in her examples. But, Phil, as you well remember, the examples at that time were not nearly as well structured as they became in 1952 when Dr. Low finally settled on the four steps, which he published at that time. We often had just rambling discussions about Recovery principles.
PHIL: That's right. In reading Mental Health Through Will Training this becomes apparent. Some of the examples don't really follow the four steps. But can you give another quote or two from Dr. Low's letters?
TREASURE: Well, another member I had written about had some symptoms which seemed different to me. Dr. Low wrote back that I should ask him to be examined by a physician since the symptoms could be neurological. Here's another quote which was interesting: "I hope to have results with ___________ but it is decidedly an uphill affair. I think you will be in a better position to get results than I am." He believed very strongly in the self-help system that was emerging, Phil. Of course, even though we are writing in this issue about the completely self-help panel being created separately from the book, Dr. Low did stress the literature in his letters to me. Do you think he did this because it was the main link between him and the patients so far away seeking help? Did it provide information that they could get in only this way?
PHIL: No, I don't, Treasure. He often stressed the importance of the book, and other literature, in Chicago too. And I hope we are not giving the impression that I want to de-emphasize the importance of Dr. Low's writings. The literature is a written exposition of the Recovery principles but is NOT the panel. It was after he had developed the panel which required no professional supervision that he was able to relinquish his control of Recovery.
TREASURE: That certainly is true. Since the self-help panel came into being, instead of leaders having to be selected by a professional (Dr. Low), all leaders have been selected by other leaders and authorized by our Board of Directors, all of these people being former patients themselves and definitely not professionals! Going back to those letters from Dr. Low to me in Michigan, it was about 1953 that he began to stress the importance of the panels at Headquarters. He called them "Phil's classes" or "Phil's training course". He would urge me to have certain members who were having a lot of difficulty to come to Chicago to attend those meetings every afternoon at headquarters. It was not for leadership training in this case. He had seen the excellent results that were being obtained by patients who had the advantage of the completely self-help training.
PHIL: I remember some of your Michigan people being in Chicago from time to time.
TREASURE: Well, Dr. Low was careful not to play down what they received in Michigan in the way of help, but he did stress the Chicago panels. He said, in one letter, "Generally speaking the patients seem to have derived a great deal of benefit from your training but I have no doubt that attendance at Phil's training course is invaluable for any patients coming for consultation." And in another letter: "Remember: Patients should be made to realize that the Chicago training courses are of the utmost importance! It should be a two week period whenever possible." He made many references like his in his letters, Phil, but he showed the most satisfaction with the completely self-help feature when he was in the hospital and not able to be at Headquarters at all. In his last letter to me he said: "Here in Chicago the patients don't by any means fall by the wayside (because of Dr. Low's illness) instead they cling more tenaciously to the panel meetings. This has, of course, been a source of great satisfaction to me.
PHIL: Yes, Dr. Low was extremely pleased when he saw that Recovery could continue without his personal supervision. But we also know that he began to relinquish control of Recovery with the express understanding that the self-help procedures he had developed and refined in 1952 would be followed by all those who would be authorized by Recovery, Inc. to start groups. He naturally would not want the organization he founded to take responsibility for procedures he had not included in his self-help aftercare system.
TREASURE: We have always been aware of this in Recovery, Phil, but perhaps never more than we are at present. Recovery is getting an unprecedented amount of professional acceptance and cooperation, which means we are now dealing with many more patients in the first stages of after-care. Many of them are brought to our community groups before they are released from the hospital. Leaders in Recovery everywhere must make absolutely sure they are following self-help procedures established by Dr. Low. With this in mind we are placing leadership training in a first priority capacity. We will put more emphasis on this than ever before in our history.
PHIL: Which is all very gratifying to me. And it brings us right back to our topic for this article. The book and other literature written by Dr Low are very important because they contain information about the Recovery principles. But many of those attending Recovery may still be too preoccupied to read more than a few sentences a week. As long as they make some sort of effort to read and to practice Recovery, then they should be able to take part in our panels. And it becomes especially important for leaders to ask questions in order to bring out the four steps of the example and the simplicity of Recovery. In the spotting, the leader must not allow different members to just recite long phrases from the book, because the book cannot be the guide to all members practicing self-help. The PANEL is a demonstration of what to do and how to do it in a given example. The FOUR STEPS ARE THE RECOVERY METHOD. In other words the book, as important as it undoubtedly is, is still not the living example of what to do and how to do it. The panel is!
TREASURE: Does this mean that you are saying, Phil, that you don't approve of members quoting from the book and other literature?
PHIL: It's not really a matter of approving or not approving, Treasure. Of course, members will quote from the book, or a tape perhaps. And there is no question about it, if they quote accurately then they are Dr. Low's own words and therefore good Recovery. But if the leader doesn't make sure that the simplicity of the Method is brought out in each example, then it becomes simply an exercise in showing how much the members can recite from memorized phrases. By the time six or more panel members have brought out six or more principles, there will be too much for the new member and especially the severely preoccupied member to digest.
TREASURE: Out leadership program is concentrating then, Phil, on bringing Dr. Low's procedures for the completely self-help panel to every group Recovery authorizes. Much of this will be done through the leaders, of course, but I hope in our series we can also let the members of the Recovery groups know what those procedures are.
PHIL: This will be a great benefit to everyone, I'm sure, because it definitely is the way to learn about SELF-leadership 24 hours a day. See you next issue.
