Narrative Means to Sober Ends: Treating Addiction and Its Aftermath

431 Pages·2002·1.93 MB·English

by  Jonathan Diamond

THE GUILFORD FAMILY THERAPY SERIES
Michael P. Nichols, Series Editor
Recent Volumes
Narrative Means to Sober Ends: Treating Addiction
and Its Aftermath
Jonathan Diamond
Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families:
From Old Problems to New Futures
William C. Madsen
Couple Therapy for Infertility Ronny Diamond, David Kezur, Mimi Meyers,
Constance N. Scharf, and Margot Weinshel
Short-Term Couple Therapy
James M. Donovan, Editor
Treating the Tough Adolescent: A Family-Based,
Step-by-Step Guide
Scott P. Sells
Strengthening Family Resilience Froma Walsh
The Adolescent in Family Therapy: Breaking the Cycle
of Conflict and Control
Joseph A. Micucci
Working with Families of the Poor Patricia Minuchin, Jorge Colapinto, and
Salvador Minuchin Latino Families in Therapy: A Guide to Multicultural
Practice Celia Jaes Falicov
Essential Skills in Family Therapy: From the First Interview
to Termination
JoEllen Patterson, Lee Williams, Claudia Grauf-Grounds,
and Larry Chamow
Narrative Means to Sober Ends
Treating Addiction and Its Aftermath
JONATHAN DIAMOND
Foreword by David Treadway
THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London
Epub Edition ISBN: 9781462506071
© 2000 Jonathan Diamond
Paperback edition 2002
Published by The Guilford Press A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.
72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
www.guilford.com

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher.

Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Diamond, Jonathan, Ph.D.
Narrative means to sober ends : treating addiction and its aftermath/
Jonathan Diamond.
p. cm.—(The Guilford family therapy series) Includes bibliographical references and
index.
ISBN 1-57230-566-5 (hc.) ISBN 1-57230-835-4 (pbk.) 1. Substance abuse—Patients—
Rehabilitation. 2. Letter writing— Therapeutic use. 3. Substance abuse—Treatment. I.
Title. II. Series.
RC564.D535 2000
616.86’ 06—dc21 00-026074

All of the stories and voices in this book are derived from the author’s clinical experience
in private practice and in various hospitals, clinics, and treatment programs. Names,
places, and other details contained in these materials have been altered to protect the
privacy and anonymity of the individuals to whom they refer. Therefore, any client or
story found in this book that corresponds to an actual person living or dead is
inadvertent and purely coincidental.
In memory of my father,
Malcolm L. Diamond;
and my aunt,
Susan Reingold Oshins
About the Author
Jonathan Diamond, PhD, received his doctorate from Smith College School of
Social Work, his MSW from the University of Connecticut, and his postgraduate
training in marital and family therapy at the Brattleboro Family Institute in
Brattelboro, Vermont. His previous experience includes establishing and
directing outpatient substance abuse and inpatient dual diagnosis treatment
programs for children, adolescents, adults, and their families. Dr. Diamond has
been teaching and training in the fields of addiction and psychotherapy for the
past 15 years. He is currently in private practice in Northampton and Greenfield,
Massachusetts.
Contents
Cover
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
About the Author
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Introduction:Remembering Addiction
PART I. WRITING FOR OUR LIVES
Chapter 1. A Sobriety of Literary Merit
Chapter 2. Letters of Invitation and Dismissal
Chapter 3. Bargaining: Controlled Drinking and Other Negotiated
Settlements
Chapter 4. Telegrams from God: Reauthoring Spirituality
Chapter 5. Epilogues: Letting Go
PART II. DETOXING THE THEORY
Chapter 6. Becoming 12-Step Literate
PART III. STORIES FOR OUR TIMES
Chapter 7. Trauma and Recovery
Chapter 8. Reality Bytes: Narrating Food Addictions
Chapter 9. Writing Home: Applications to Family Therapy
Chapter 10. Sobering Up Ophelia: Therapy with Children and Adolescents
Chapter 11. Narrating Our Own Stories: Therapists in Recovery
PART IV. NO CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 12. A Less Convenient Fiction
Postscript: Muddling Through
Notes
References and Selected Bibliography
Index
About Guilford Publications
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Foreword
Dear Jon,
It’s 6 A.M. I’m sitting in my backyard as a murky humid dawn unfolds. The
traffic noise is beginning to drown out the birds. I just finished your book. Your
last sentence made me laugh out loud.
In another hour I will be in the chair again, privileged to be bearing witness
to the rich mix of misery, courage, and mystery that my clients bring to me every
day. Having just read your work, I feel renewed and ready. Undoubtedly, it will
seem like a very good idea to suggest letter writing to most of the folks I see
today. Then I thought I would start by writing to you.
As you may have already surmised, this is a somewhat unconventional
foreword, but Narrative Means to Sober Ends is no ordinary book. From the first
few pages, I knew I was reading something special. I could tell you were a
creative and courageous therapist, and that you’d written a book that truly
reflects your exciting ideas, clinical acumen, and passionate commitment.
Narrative Means to Sober Ends is about stories—yours and your clients’.
Through being completely present to each of your clients in the therapeutic
moment and then in your telling of it, you convey the elusive essence of therapy
in full flight. In story after story, you reveal the complexity of integrating
psychodynamic and addictions theory on the one hand, and narrative and family
system therapy on the other, while maintaining the precious individuality of each
client and each therapy relationship. Your book reveals the art and mystery of
therapy. It captures the bird on the wing.
Job well done.
It’s been odd reading your final draft this week because while you have
written luminously about the magic of therapy and the healing power of
recovery, I’ve been slogging through one of those times when it seems like all my
substance-abusing clients are referrals from what some Alcoholic Anonymous
folks call “the shoe department” (i.e., the loafers, sneakers, slippers, and heels).
There’s Sam, who after doing great for months, has landed in jail for drinking
while driving. Ellen is sneaking sips of cooking sherry while claiming to be
completely sober. One of my Georges was once again slipping while staving off
his wife with lame promises about maybe starting to attend AA meetings in the
fall. Then my other George is also back to drinking and told his furious wife
yesterday, “Sometimes a guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do.”
It’s been one of those weeks when my 30 years of work in the addictions
field feels like 29 too many.
On the other hand, reading Narrative Means to Sober Ends has been like
going to an AA gathering. In any meeting, amid the telling of bottle stories and
drunkalogues, there’s always a renewal of hope and possibility—stories of people
whose lives have been shattered but who somehow pick up the pieces and start
over. Your book is similarly inspiring. On page after page, your belief in your
clients shows through, and your willingness to go the extra mile or two or three
comes through, too.
I believe, as you do, that addicts are folks looking for a spiritual home who
have shown up at the wrong address. For us therapists, treating addicted people
can often feel as though we practice at the wrong address, only to discover we’ve
found our spiritual home. Addictions therapy is truly a spiritual practice. Your
book reminds me that our work is an act of faith.
Good stories beget good stories. I thought I would share with you and your
readers one of the stories that I draw on when I’m having one of those bad weeks
with the folks from the shoe department. As this book does throughout, the story
of Sister Mary Catherine and the Johnson family reminds me to hang in there
and keep on keeping on.
Leroy Johnson sat huddled up in the chair with his head hanging down
toward his chest as if it were too heavy to hold up straight. His body seemed frail
and shrunken underneath his black and gold New Orleans Saints warm-up jacket
and his baggy khaki pants. He looked like a man of 80, even though the chart in
my lap said he was 42. He had been let out of the hospital to come to this
interview. He was flanked by his son, Jamal, and his daughter, Jamalya. The chart
said she was 13 and he was 11. They sat protectively close to their father. Jamal
held his left hand, and Jamalya held his right. It looked like they were holding on