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Newsletter, November 2018

Conference on problems of dependence

Below are papers read at the conference on Theological Understanding of the Addiction Problem:
Orthodox and Catholic Approaches
October 1-2, 2018, Sankt Petersburg (continuation)

Analysis of the concept of passion in Christian anthropology and of addiction in modern psychology

Archpriest Sergiy Belkov, head of the drug abuse rehabilitation centers network of the ROC diocese of Vyborg

At present, considering the success of rehabilitation programs implemented by the Russian Orthodox Church or patronized by its organizations working under spiritually oriented programs based on the Orthodox outlook, the question about the role and place of the Church in social service for rehabilitation and re-socialization of those who suffer from various forms of dependency has been raised on rarer occasions, while more recently recognition has been given only to the Church's certain work with those liable to deviant behaviours through spiritual and moral talks, sermons, etc. which presupposes only prevention. The Church was categorically denied (especially by the narcological community) the right to carry out concrete work with those who suffer from various addictions, such as the use of psychoactive substances (PAS).

In our paper, we will expound an analysis of the notion of passion in Christian anthropology and addiction in modern psychology in order to figure out if there are essential contradictions between them.

Evidently, there are certain parallels between the understanding of passion in Christian anthropology and the problem of addiction in modern psychology. It gives grounds for comparing the experience of Orthodox rehabilitation and approaches developed in addictology. Let us consider first the definition of addiction and some peculiarities of the approach made to the problems of addiction in psychology.

An addiction is a dependency, a pernicious habit, predilection. For a long time, dependency was perceived only through a link to the use of a PAS - alcohol or drugs, and the primary aim was to remove this symptom. With time, it was discovered that pathological dependencies are related to personality disorders of those dependent, and the list of possible causes of addiction was considerably broadened. "It has turned out that it is possible to single out the common principles of addictive behaviour with a broad range of behavioural pathological deviations related to a dependent one's desire to seek and escape from reality by artificially changing his or her mental state" [1].

An addictive behaviour, including one related to the use of drugs and other PASs, is also conditioned by one's desire to escape from real life by changing the state of one's consciousness. It is always characterized by a person's losing the freedom of will and acquiring pernicious stereotypes of behaviour and destructive vital or, which is the same, addictive attitudes.

An addictive attitude is expressed "in one's developing a predominant emotional attitude to the object of addiction; one's thoughts and talks about the object begin to prevail; one develops a mechanism of intellectual justification of the addiction and becomes less critical to the negative consequences of the addictive behaviour and addictive company while developing mistrust towards those who do not belong to this company, including specialists" [2]. Overall, the changes in one's mentality are as follows: subjection of one's consciousness to the object of one's dependency, denial of the very fact of dependency, loss of self-control.

In Orthodox anthropology, it is the notion of passion that can be regarded as an analogy of the notion of addiction. In psychological literature, the notion of passion is defined as "a strong and lasting feeling that, once taking root in a person, comes to capture and possess him. A passion is always expressed in continuative attention, concentration of thoughts and energies and their direction towards a single goal" [3]. Holy fathers, too, write about a similar development of a passion: "a passion is an inclination and action that, nesting in the soul for a long time and becoming a habit, turns into as it were its nature. One comes to this state willingly and gladly, and then the thought, consolidated through one's oft-address to it and co-life with it and warmed and cultivated in the heart and turned into a habit, continuously stirs up and excites one by passionate suggestions put into by the enemy" (St. Nilus of Sora) [4].

It is important to note that the description of the "symptoms" of passion and the development of a passionate state strikingly coincides with that of addiction and addictive behavior.

The common features of addiction and passions are as follows:

  • a view of the development of an addition and passion as a result of a complex disorder that not only "captures and defines the motivation sphere of a personality" [5] but also affects other levels of the human personality;
  • the damage (captivity) of one's will;
  • persistence;
  • cyclic behavior.

Discernable as parts of a passion are: cordial disposition (addictive attitude) and habitual sinful actions satisfying a passion (cyclic addictive behavior).

Completing the analysis of the notions of addiction and passion, a conclusion can be made that they can be identified but with a certain reservation. The notion of passion is somewhat broader because of its close relation to the notion of sin. The sin does not lie in its meaning as an already established vicious passion but in a rarely committed sinful action being as it were the germ of a developing passion.

Despite the indisputable affirmation that "in his very first commitment of sin, man already lays the foundation of a habit, one who once committed a sin would easily repeat it in the future <…>, a person, in removing by repentance the consequences of single sinful actions, which could grow into a habit, takes preventive measures to preclude the development of a sinful passion" [6] (G.I. Grigoriev, Sin as an addictive behavior: theological grounds and medical-psychological method of study (in Russian). This fact is an advantage of the Orthodox approach to the problem of addiction as it allows of correcting the personality at an early stage when its destruction is not yet pronounced.

These conclusions confirm that the notions of addiction in addictology, passion in general psychology and passion in Christian anthropology are identical in their meaning and have common features, which gives the Church the right to help people to overcome dependency (passion) according to its own programs along with medical and other special programs of rehabilitation of those dependent on psychoactive substances. This justifies the right of the Church to carry out this work and offer her services for social rehabilitation and re-socialization of those who use PAS for non-medical reasons and to do it according her own programs.

References

  1. Belkov S. N. Orthodox approach to the problem of addiction. Practical experience in the rehabilitation of drug addicts in the center of Sapernoe. - Acta Eruditorum. RCAH, 2015, no. 18, p. 65.
  2. Belkov S. Practical aspects of the rehabilitation of drug addicts: Orthodox approach to the problem of addiction. - Kursk, 2015.
  3. Rubinstein S.L. Basics of general psychology. - M., 1989.
  4. St Neil Sorsky. Charter of the skete life in the by of Bishop Justin. M. 1892.
  5. Belorusov S. A. Psychopathological systematics of personality disorders and the doctrine of "passions" in the ascetic Orthodox tradition. - Moscow Psychotherapeutic Journal, 2009, No. 3, p. 154.
  6. Grigoriev G.I. Sin as addictive behavior: theological foundations and medical and psychological research method, St. Petersburg, 2014.

Theology and addiction: some basics of a curricula for theological schools

Hegumen Iona (Zaimovskiy), head of the Orthodox rehabilitation centre Metanoia

In my presentation, I would like to suggest three ideas that, I am convinced, can become a foundation for a course for theological schools. First of all, however, it is necessary to say how I have come to these ideas.

In November 2017, at the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute for Post-Graduate Studies, I defended my dissertation on "A Search for a Holistic Approach to Chemical Dependency: Dialogue between Science, Church and Social Movements for Temperance". As a result, a monograph was written "Theology and Dependency: Some Theses on a Holistic Approach to Alcoholism and Drug Addiction" and sent to print. In this work, I study achievements made by Western addictology and the theological reflection on the problem by Christian authors, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. A study of the experience of the Roman Catholic Church became an important part of my work. In particular, I addressed the study of Rev. Kirill Gorbunov made under the guidance of Archbishop Paul Pezzi and familiarized myself with such an interesting community as "Calyx" as well as studied, together with Ye. N. Protsenko, the work of Polish Catholic rehabilitation centers. For us, the experience of the Catholic Church is interesting and relevant.

All the ideas formulated in the study have been tested in practice. First, the Metanoia prevention program has been run at the St. Daniel monastery for 14 years. This program realizes cooperation between the Orthodox Church and medical psychology institutions. At present, there are four functioning standing groups, a hotline, a chapel (unique one, as it is open in an outpatient establishment), in which the common Eucharist is celebrated on a regular basis with a people's choir singing.

Secondly, an important role has been played by the training course for Moscow clergy at the Novospassky monastery. For 7 years, over 600 students have been trained. The course has helped to make sure of the basic theses of my study. For instance, after a discussion on the principle of delegation, an ordained student admitted, "You have lifted a burden off my shoulders. I thought before that as a pastor I had to work miracles, such as helping my parishioners recover from alcoholism and drug addiction. But it hardly worked, and it seemed to me that I had poor faith. You have explained to me that it is precisely what a priest should do when he encounters the problem of chemical dependency".

All my work in practice and research convinces me that it is only through the joint efforts of all Christians and reliance on the achievements of medical and psychological science and with the use of the holistic experience of temperance movements (and in the first place, the experience of the Anonymous Alcoholics) that effective help can be given to suffering people. It is on this basis that a course for future priests should be built.

So, here are the three ideas for a future course:

1) The Christian understanding of dependency is above all a holistic understanding of dependency. A purely materialistic understanding that involved are not the spirit, soul and body but the body alone is alien to us. Any illness, the more so a dependency illness, has a spiritual basis. As Metropolitan Anthony puts it, remembering one of the church fathers, "When we speak of carnal sins, we do not speak of our flesh being sinful but of the sins which our soul commits against our flesh" (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, Body, Spirit, Soul: Integrity of Human Personality, in Russian). Medics often disagree with this axiom of church life, stating that there exists a magic pill against alcoholism. That is why the Church is against coding, hypnosis and other manipulative practices.

On the other hand, it should be admitted that the whole modern addictology sees the problem of dependency holistically. The spiritual aspect is not at all ignored but is rather made the corner stone. Science seeks to examine spirituality in an objective way. Thus, addictologist Sandra Schneiders regards spirituality as aspiration for the ultimate value that can be revealed in the life of every person at any stage of his or her life. It is suggested that the phenomenon of spirituality needs the work with the help of scientific notions and instruments.

Scientific objectivity in assessing the phenomenon of spirituality however may lead and leads to the robbing an individual of his or her individuality. This kind of allegedly objective spirituality, obscure and counter-traditional, tends to be converted into various syncretic teachings in the spirit of New Age. Many rehabilitation systems propagate this understanding of spirituality that is far from Christianity. In the future course for clergy, it is necessary to expose precisely Christian sources of the phenomena of self-help groups, to show the dynamic nature of spirituality in the 12 Steps program.

There is another danger that should be mentioned. In the church environment, dependency is still often treated purely spiritualistically. It is believed by default that an alcoholic is not sufficiently engulfed in the life of the Church, and it is his principle problem. It is suggested to him that he should recover by following the traditional ascetic armory. Unfortunately, this hardly works. The biological, psychological and social aspects of the problem should not be ignored in any circumstances.

2) A future pastor should master the principle of delegation. Essentially, it is a principle of humility. For instance, a good mother, when she does not know what to do, would look for a specialist for her child, whereas a not very healthy mother tends to solve all the problems only on her own. Delegation is a healthy approach to the dependency problem in a church community. We should be ready to let a dependent person go, to put him in the hands of a specialist (certainly not a random one!), to give him continuous support on his path of therapy and help him find his place in a community after a rehabilitation course. Any good and lively parish involves various specialists for its various needs, such as lawyers, psychologists, medical doctors. Delegation is an attitude of a priest aware of the limits of his competence and of place to where a dependent one and his relatives can be sent. This is also something to be learnt. I believe this principle is expounded best of all in the book by Greek Orthodox priest Dimitrios Moraitis "Returning the Lost Sheep" (published in the USA in 2013). The book is devoted to the development of an optimal church approach in the service for chemically dependent people and their families. Father Dimitrios states that help to alcoholics and other dependent people is a hard and thankless service, as a priest has to do with breakdowns, denial of the dependency, his own frustration caused by resistance and lack of faith in victory. Add to this the ethnic-cultural difficulty, since many peoples tend to stick to an atmosphere of secrecy about their dependency. Since the priest plays the key role in an Orthodox community, he is often one to whom people turn for help in a helpless situation. The priest is thus proves to be on "the front line" and for this reason, contrary to all the difficulties, should be ready to offer this service (Ibid. p. 6). The principle substantial point in the book of Father Dimitrios is a discussion on a certain significant document (adopted by the specialized commission of the US Health Department in 2003-2004). It offers general recommendations to clergy and members of religious communities who serve dependent people. Let us consider all the twelve points of this document.

The priest is given the following recommendations:

"1. Be aware of the generally accepted definition of alcohol and other drug dependence, societal stigma attached to alcohol and other drug dependence

2. Be knowledgeable about the signs of alcohol and other drug dependence, characteristics of withdrawal, effects on the individual and the family, and characteristics of the stages of recovery

3. Be aware that possible indicators of the disease may include, among others: marital conflict, family violence (physical, emotional, and verbal), suicide, hospitalization, or encounters with the criminal justice system

4. Understand that addiction erodes and blocks religious and spiritual development; and be able to effectively communicate the importance of spirituality and the practice of religion in recovery, using the scripture, traditions, and rituals of the safe community

5. Be aware of the potential benefits of early intervention to the addicted person, family system and affected children

6. Be aware of appropriate pastoral interactions with the addicted person, family system and affected children

7. Be able to communicate and sustain an appropriate level of concern and messages of hope and caring

8. Be familiar with and utilize available community resources to ensure a continuum of care for the addicted person, family system and affected children

9. Have a general knowledge of and, where possible, exposure to the 12-step programs - AA, NA, Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, Alateen, A.C.O.A., etc., and other groups

10. Be able to acknowledge and address values, issues, and attitudes regarding alcohol and other drug use and dependence in oneself and one's own family

11. Be able to shape, form, and educate a caring congregation that welcomes and supports persons and families affected by alcohol and other drug dependence

12. Be aware of how prevention strategies can benefit the larger community" [Ibid. pp. 44-45].

This document I believe could become a basis for pastoral education in our theological schools.

3) The third idea is formulated in the Gospel's saying: Physician, heal thyself. The experience of the course for priests shows that quite a few clergymen have serious problems related to the illness of dependency or co-dependency. Due to corporative ethical norms however, it is difficult for them to confide in secular specialists, the more so in support groups. A priest's robe becomes as it were his skin. For a seminarian though, it is much easier to become aware of the problem and begin working over it in his student's days. A dependency course will remain dead if a person strongly denies his problem. A separate subject of the course is how to help a seminarian or a priest if he needs such help? We can take as an example the Polish rehabilitation center in Gniezno, where among the patients there are many priests suffering from alcoholism and a drug addiction. These patients attend common meetings and, at the same time, there is individual work with them, touching on the in-depth level of the problem because it is perfectly clear that a priest's feeling of guilt and shame is much stronger than that of a man who practices a different profession. It is difficult for a priest addicted to drink to admit his addiction but if he does admit it, he may undergo a crisis when he will find it difficult to carry out his priestly ministry: he says, well, I am an alcoholic but I am not worthy of the priest's rank and ministry.

In an another Polish rehabilitation center for priests, in the village of Kowalew, patients are obliged to attend divine services, to celebrate the liturgy, to take confessions and to deliver sermons. The awareness that parishioners respect and love them and that they are seen not as renegades but rather full-fledged priests who can be ill but do recover becomes for them a powerful impetus to recovery.

The new course in a theological school should be directed in the first place to the a student himself so that he may, as deep as possible, accept himself, his fate, his relationships with God and begin building them on a more conscious level.

***

It is my profound conviction that in the near future a course on these subjects will appear in theological schools. Perhaps, the Education Committee will oblige specialists to develop such a course. It is important that such a course should be ecclesial from the very beginning, sensible and of high quality so that it could represent the ideas reflecting reality, to be more precise, a holistic approach, the principle of delegation and the principle of self-awareness from the perspective of the Church of Christ.

Psychological and spiritual symptoms of addiction as passion

Prof. L. Shekhovtsova, PhD, Saint Petersburg Theological Academy

There is very much in common in the description of passion and dependency. In this connection, the question arises: is it possible to equate passion and dependency? To answer it let us analyse their symptoms.

Prof. S. Zarin, SPTA, writes, 'On the basis of data from patristic ascetic psychology, any passion can be generally defined as a strong and lasting desire and desire, in its turn, as a conscious need ascertained and determined through former experiences of its gratification' [1].

It is important to emphasize here that a passion is a strong and lasting desire, a conscious need that has a previous experience of gratification. An addiction is an obsession accompanied with a changed consciousness and demanding a certain behaviour.

The cause of a passion and addiction is a strong desire based on an already existing experience of positive emotions received from the gratification of this desire. A pleasure received from gratification is reinforced by an affect close in its intensity and endurance to a delusion. On the psycho-physiological level, the affect leaves a trace in the form of a dominant that compels a person to repeat and imprint his behavioural patterns.

In its nature, the soul was created passionless. St. Isaac the Syrian wrote that as a result of the fall, Adam's entire inner sense disintegrated into two senses: the sense of pleasure and the sense of suffering [2]. The first sense becomes the beginning of all human passions that give pleasure and carry along in its fall another power of the soul - the will, while the second sense, the sense of suffering, became the substrate of anger, sadness, melancholy, if a person failed to gratify his desire.

It can be noticed from the description of passion that it is quite a complex condition as its components also include emotions - the anticipation of pleasure and the urge to achieve pleasure, and the urge to meet its need, which represents already volitional components of the soul. Thus, it can be said that a passion is an emotional and volitional tension. In psychology, the 'alloy' of emotions and will acts as the motive, motivation, force that drives our behaviour.

In psychological literature, S. Rubinstein defines a passion as "a strong, enduring, lasting feeling that, once striking root in a person, captures him and comes to possess him… A passion is always expressed in continuative attention, concentration of thoughts and resources and their direction to a single goal" [3].

In a passion, there is a pronounced expression of the volitional moment of striving. Though a passion represents a unity of emotional and volitional moments, striving prevails over sensation in it.

A passion is a passive-active condition, S. Runistein writes: a passion captivates a person to make him as if a suffering passive creature ridden by some power, but this power, which possesses him, at the same time emanates from him [3].

A person can manifest a great activity and overcome numerous obstacles to gratify his passion, but at the same time, he feels dependent and controlled from outside. This psychological dependence can be presented as an image, a symbol of metaphorical nature. As researches show, it is an image of a person's double or a monster with red eyes, hooves, and thick hair.

In S. Zarin's theological definition of passion as a strong desire and desire as a conscious need, we see a striking and expressed similarity with the psychological understanding of passion given by S. Rubinstien. An important point in the understanding of passion is the question of relationships between emotions and needs. In psychology, the 'alloy' of emotion and will is often called motivation, but if passion is considered as emotional-volitional tension, the drive to realise a certain motive, then this idea can be regarded as common for psychology and ascetics.

The signs of an addiction, a dependency include an obsessional need that a dependent one cannot get rid of and that demands a certain behaviour for its gratification; sticking to a certain activity to achieve intensive emotions; a changed consciousness and escape from reality.

The stages of the formation of an addiction:

  • frequent use;
  • unvaried rhythm of use; habituation;
  • domination of the need;
  • modulation of the need by behavior, formation of a habit;
  • a single unvaried reaction to obstacles;
  • changed consciousness;
  • escape from reality;
  • The stages of the development of a passion:
  • an experience of gratification;
  • remembrance of positive feelings in gratifying a passion (intention);
  • development of the need to experience positive feelings in gratifying a passion (combination or motivation);
  • domination of the value of hedonism (addition);
  • reflection on ways of gratifying the passion (addition);
  • behavior, activity aimed to gratify the passion (captivity, loss of freedom).

We can see that the stages in the development of a passion and formation of an addiction are quite similar.

It is a known sequence of conditions and actions described by holy fathers :

  • prilog [contribution - tr.] - it is a thought, an image, a feeling, a remembrance of a previous pleasure that came to one's mind. Prilog is called sinless because it does not depend on us but comes from outside;
  • combination - interlocution with an occurred intention, agreement with it and voluntary allowance for the intentions to stay with us. If we do not copy with intentions and accept them then this condition is no longer sinless but it is important here to try to oppose bad thoughts with good thoughts;
  • addition - the name given by holy fathers to the benevolent acceptance of an intentions by one's heart;
  • captivity - it is a state of the soul that seeks the occurred intention, it is enslavement by a passion, continuous concession to it.

Captivity by a passion begins with an intention, an image of the anticipated pleasure, prirazhenie [approach- tr.]. Since the initial emergence of a sinful intention, as holy fathers testify, comes from outside, it is not one's inner inclination as one's personality does not participate; there is no consent from it. However, an intention moves into the mood of one's soul now with the participation of the will of the captive himself. The inner struggle of an intention with moral taboos ends, as a rule, in a concession to evil and then to the submission to the passion.

In Christian anthropology, there is the following classification of passions: physical, mental and spiritual. The pleasure to be received from the gratification of a desire can be received from a substance (food - the passion of gluttony; material valuables - the passion of greed; a drug, alcohol, tobacco - addiction) and from a psychic, mental factor (the passion of pride - 'I am the best of all', vanity - 'I am the center of attention', or computer, television, video game dependencies).

Thus, a psychological dependency as a person's overwhelming drive for a certain positive emotional state by some means (drugs, food, computer, domination, etc.) that has enslaved one's will is very similar to a person's passionate condition, vicious, sinful state in which a person becomes bound.

It is still possible to state that there are certain differences between the state of addiction and passion, and it is probably linked with the intensity of 'enslavement, captivity' as in the state of passion there is no considerable distortion of the state of consciousness and, accordingly, no 'escape from reality' so characteristic for addiction.

Holy fathers accumulated a vast experience of defeating passions in the inner process of invisible struggle. Today we can use this two thousand years' experience for treating addiction if the states of addiction and passion have so many common symptoms.

Let us give a brief description of 'the algorithm' for overcoming a passion, which has been handed over to us by holy fathers. Before committing a sin, each person would wage a mental struggle that will end in either victory or defeat. This inner struggle can stop the development of a passion on its various stages [4]:

  • prilog - holy fathers advise to discern it as early as possible and to pray;
  • combination - if you begin to remember your previous pleasures, it is very important that you should realize that you are already in danger and think about the negative consequences of alcoholic or drug intoxication and ask God for help;
  • addition - that is, agreement with the intention when the desire grows, its negative influence is forgotten and you try to justify yourself, promising to yourself that it is 'for the last time'. It is already very difficult to stop here but if you remember the suffering you bring to your loved ones, it is still possible to pray and ask for God's help and to resist. If you do not cope, you should try to make another attempt;
  • captivity or enslavement; passion.

The passion becomes an ingrained habit. An inclination that has turned into a habitual condition can also be described as passion. In this state, a very rapid move takes place from the first stage, prilog, to the next stages - addition and combination as 'skipping' due to 'the reflex of sin' uncontrolled up to becoming 'automatic'. The habituation behaviour is consolidated. Certainly, this condition requires repentance. Prayer and repentance are proportionate to guilt.

Thus, as we see, the struggle with a passion begins with the struggle with intention through prayer against thoughts, through argument against them and, finally, through their depreciation and rejection. It is very important for one to be able to see a sinful intent when it is only approaching and to cut it off by prayer and not to enter in an interlocution with it.

Holy fathers say that it is possible if one has the virtues of vigilance and sobering.

Safeguard, vigil, vigilance, sobering - these are ways of smart doing that can be based on the concentration of random attention. Described in psychology is a great deal of ways of training the qualities of attention: concentration, stability, continuative attention.

Sobering as a way of keeping your heart pure by overcoming distractibility of attention and by vigilance as the ability of self-observance and self-control requires the development of self-awareness and ability of reflection [5]. The ability of attention to be trained and the development of self-control and self-observance are methods that can also be used for overcoming an addiction, which can be drawn from patristic ascetics.

References

  1. Zarin S.M. Asceticism according to Orthodox Christian doctrine. - M., 1996.
  2. St Isaac the Syrian. Ascetical Homilies. - M., 1993.
  3. Rubinstein S.L. Basics of general psychology. - M., 1989.
  4. Overcoming passion by ascetic and psychological methods. Ed. Shekhovtsova L.F. - M., 2014.
  5. Shekhovtsova L.F., Zenko Yu.M. Elements of Orthodox psychology. - M., 2012.

Other papers read by participants in the conference will be published in the next issues of the Newsletter

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