Our WHY

Beliefs

We believe that chemical and behavioral addictions are used as a solution to underlying brokenness. Becoming sober exposes this brokenness. The addict must be willing to work on this underlying brokenness or risk returning to a substance-based solution.

Addiction is a disease of the brain that corrupts the normal pleasure response. The pleasure response is at the heart of love relationships, enjoyment of food, adoption of habits, and a myriad other common and healthy behaviors. Whether by stimulation of the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste), or by direct manipulation with medications and drugs, we can get a pleasure response. The brain is wired to pursue pleasure and resist pain. So, the unconscious mind wants to repeat pleasure and thus presents cravings. Addiction is the state where the cravings overrule conscious and sensible thinking in order to repeat the pleasure – even to the extent of disregard to personal safety, self-preservation, or harm to loved ones.

We each know from personal experience that it is fairly easy to form “bad” habits – those certain repeated behaviors that are unhealthy or socially unacceptable. As much as it is physically possible that anyone can, not everyone does form an addition – the compulsively repeated and dysfunctional pursuit of certain behaviors. Science may show that there is a predisposition for addiction for those with a particular genetic makeup. But, the more tangible risk is when there is brokenness in mind, body, or spirit which the individual is trying to ignore or deny. This brokenness can cause pain in many forms (e.g. physical pain, depression, anxiety, isolation, etc.). Because pleasure can alleviate or mask pain, the willingness of the individual to engage in pleasure-seeking actions (e.g. alcohol, drugs, prescription medications, thrill seeking, gambling, overeating, etc.) can be a risk factor to their affinity to addiction.

Clearly, recovery from an addiction starts with getting sober – the prolonged abstinence from the addicting substance or behavior. But the individual may still be experiencing pain from the brokenness once sober. The brain remembers what alleviates pain by bringing it pleasure and the addict will be drawn with powerful cravings, back to the addiction without something intervening. Thus, it is imperative to remedy these underlying problems found in the mind, body, and spirit of the addict.

We believe that the 12 Steps program of Alcoholics Anonymous (and the many other organizations modeled on AA) give the addict a program for identifying and processing this underlying brokenness. This program has proven to be very effective in delivering long-held sobriety – in part because it recognizes that the addiction is the unwanted consequence of a flawed solution to brokenness.

Brokenness can be defined as a weakness or injury to mind, body, and/or spirit. It may include one or more of character defects, emotional harm, physical disability, relationship disorders, traumatic stress, moral injury, and others. These are problems that our society is not well equipped to acknowledge or deal with. While we are expected to be strong and self-reliant, there is little instruction or models for how to be this way, if indeed these standards are achievable.

Without recovery, the individual is put off the path of growth. Recovery is the natural response to brokenness and must be done to heal the injury or remediate the weakness. But, misconceptions and social pressures tangle recovery with thoughts of failure or defeat. So, rather than engage in recovery, the individual engages in self-medication to mask and ignore the brokenness. Masking and medicating is a flawed solution for recovery and the individual is stunted.

Those successful in sustaining sobriety for many years have made the 12 Steps and the AA program a part of their regular life. Beyond attending group meetings, they find themselves repeating the 12 Steps when brokenness is uncovered that challenges their sobriety and hold them back.

Dallas Sober Living Solutions believes in the 12 Steps and the Alcoholics Anonymous model of recovery. We believe that in order to achieve lasting sobriety, an addict must identify and remedy underlying brokenness to their mind, body, and spirit. We believe that remedying this brokenness with a Christian approach and exposing the recovering addict to the opportunities for growth delivers on the promise of a life beyond belief.