PART XIII: Basic Recovery and the 35th Anniversary of Recovery, Inc.
 |
If you do not have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
to access the PDF on the left, |
TREASURE: It won't be long, Phil, until we'll be celebrating Recovery's 35th Anniversary and YOU will be the guest of honor!
PHIL: It will be a very meaningful occasion for me. When we all gather at The Palmer House we will see how widespread Recovery has become. We expect a large turnout.
TREASURE: Not only have we grown in size - we have also grown in stature as a respected institution in our own right giving responsible service within our self-help status. But getting back to that guest of honor business - it's about time we really officially told you what you have meant to all of us. You have contributed inspiration, encouragement and continuing good demonstration of Recovery practice to every single area in the country.
PHIL: Well, it has been an inspiring occupation for me.
TREASURE: It has obviously been good for you, Phil. I believe you are even more full of life and energy than when we first met 25 years ago. Do you feel that the work in our organization has been a help in improving your mental health?
PHIL: Yes. This job has provided me daily contact with other Recoveryites in learning the application of the Recovery Method and it has given me a golden opportunity to meet and deal with all kinds of situations that have developed my own self-leadership. As a former mental patient I feel this has all been of great help in improving and maintaining my mental health.
TREASURE: I've had the same experience. My own efforts in the organization work have helped me in the same way. I suppose as we happily celebrate our 35th birthday as an organization it would be good for us to keep in mind the seriousness of our purpose...mental health...that's what Recovery is all about.
PHIL: It may sound trite, but I agree...it is a good time to get back to basic Recovery.
TREASURE: Basic Recovery...those are good words! I am reminded of an article published in Volume I of Selections from Dr. Low's Works, entitled "The Philosophy of Recovery, Inc., Order, Beliefs and Convictions". On Page 56 (Ed. Note: of the original volume), he states: "Strange as it may sound, the philosophy of Recovery is based unqualifiedly and unreservedly on this matter of belief. All its techniques have for their aim the intention to plant in the patient's mind the correct beliefs (about nervous health) offered by the physician and to purge it of the false beliefs held by himself. The reason for our almost fanatical preoccupation with the subject of beliefs is that it is they, which either order or disorder the lives of human beings. With us in Recovery it is an axiom that while a nervous ailment is not necessarily caused by distorted believes, nevertheless, if it persists beyond a reasonable time, its continuance, stubbornness and "resistance" are produced by continuing, stubborn and "resisting" beliefs."
It seems to me Dr. Low capsules a great deal in that one statement and makes a strong statement from which we all can profit. This is basic Recovery.
PHIL: As you know, Treasure, Dr. Low said we suffer from our beliefs.
TREASURE: Ask any Recoveryite, at least early in his training and he will tell you he suffers from symptoms, not beliefs.
PHIL: Well, of course, we have the discomfort (which Dr. Low often called torture) of symptoms but it's what we believe about that discomfort that spells the difference. Our own self-diagnosing beliefs that our symptoms are dangerous as opposed to the physician's diagnosis of a harmless imbalance is what is hard to give up. We cling to the beliefs that we can't stand it, that we will never get well, etc. Distressing but not dangerous.
TREASURE: We've heard it so often in Recovery it sounds very simple, almost trite.
PHIL: Nevertheless, I think the 35th Anniversary is a great time to renew this old but ever new basic philosophy of Recovery. Dr. Low never ceased to emphasize this matter of beliefs, along with temper -- both the fearful and angry. Self-diagnosing and temper -- they will always be basic to Recovery and they were included in the four steps of the example as constructed by Dr. Low in 1952.
TREASURE: Temper always brings us back to beliefs . . . the belief that someone has to be right or wrong in the trivialities of daily life, or that we are wrong to have a nervous condition. Dr. Low brings out in the article mentioned the fact that we form convictions as well...not only beliefs.
PHIL: Our conversation about the organization's 35th Anniversary has led us along a path that deals with the Method. You just can't separate the organization from the Method and our purpose.
TREASURE: As we approach our 35th birthday a rededication to the basic philosophy of Recovery is a good idea. See you next issue, Phil.
