idealawg

Disease model of alcoholism and AA not always accurate or helpful

Many years ago, a client asked me to find an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and their intervention process for a BigLaw partner who was drinking too much. She knew it was not a fit for him. I began to do the research and entered a labyrinth of poorly-proven assertions about AA and of its stakeholders wrongly saying those 12 steps are the only way - a BIG industry.

I was reminded of that long-ago project by two recent articles: "High-Functioning Alcoholic Lawyers May Defy Stereotypes" (ABA Journal) and "High-Functioning Alcoholics: Lawyers Are Not Above The “Bar” (The Conplete Lawyer). Both seem to accept the disease model which my research did not validate.

Through my client, this partner was put in touch with a non-disease-model therapist Dr. Chad Emrick. The result was excellent. In my investigation, I learned of the work of Dr. Stanton Peel. Our culture tells us that AA is the only answer. Definitely not true. Read what Peel has to say.

"I am just trying to save the world": How would you identify a toxic mediator?

I am writing an article on the legal profession's version of the helper syndrome. This syndrome results in a person helping others in order to ease his or her own pain or to ignore his or her own problems. Because of the lack of clarity or self-awareness on the part of the "helper," the results of the helping intervention can often be worse than nothing at all. The service professions frequently attract people who exhibit the helper syndrome. Even for the mentally healthy, the service relationship can be tricky.

A major consideration, and one that should be held steadfastly in the back of every professional's mind, is that the helping relationship is typically asymmetric: people are not on equal footing. Asymmetric relationships bring with them many potential problems, including dependence, resentment, and suspicion. A key antidote to those perils is the client or helpee maintaining autonomy and self-determination in as large a measure as appropriate and possible.

Another key is well-placed trust in the professional. Gerard Lulofs* writes:

[T]he professions are separate from other vocations because they require a relatively high level of systematic theoretical knowledge. This brings with it a market imbalance, because the information at the disposal of the exchange partners is asymmetrically distributed. . . . As a rule, it is the supplier who determines the needs of the recipient, whereas the latter is seldom in a position to assess the quality of the services provided. The most prominent characteristic, therefore, of the professional services market lies in the element of trust contained in the exchange relationship between provider and recipient.

Still another key to effective service relationships, perhaps the most essential, is the professional's mental