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Freedom Model Addiction Solution

The misuse and abuse of prescription drugs, street drugs and alcohol have had a devastating effect on the health and well-being of millions of individuals and their families.

Medical epidemiological studies have demonstrated that in any 12 month period, 14% of the population have an alcohol use disorder (AUD). During their lifetime, 29% of the population demonstrate alcohol use disorder.[1]

The conventional recovery and rehabilitation model for substance abuse claims that alcohol abuse and drug abuse is an “illness” which must be medically treated. In many cases, pharmaceutical drugs are substituted for alcohol and abused drugs. Individuals with substance abuse are commonly pressured to go to treatment centers, undergo psychological counseling, or join Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

The Freedom Model, which was developed beginning in 1989 by Mark Scheeren, founder of St. Jude Retreat, presents a healthy alternative which challenges the conventional medical and societal beliefs about substance abuse, addiction, and recovery.

The so-called recovery industry has turned substance abusers into helpless individuals, whose behavior is seen as compulsory and involuntary, they are seen as individuals who need treatment, counseling, therapy, group meetings, and pharmaceutical drugs for the rest of their lives. They must fight their addiction daily to keep themselves from relapsing. These “addicted” individuals become cash cows for the recovery industry’s drug treatment centers and for the pharmaceutical companies. This is the same conventional medical system that I have been fighting my entire career.

The recovery treatment providers have developed the concept of “addiction” which implies that the substance abuser’s behavior is involuntary. Addiction is a bogeyman that robs individuals of their free will and their personal choice. The medical recovery society developed and promoted the idea that alcohol and drug abusers have a disease which needs to be treated and from which they need to recover. It is a hundreds of billions of dollars money making scheme benefiting AA, conventional medicine, drug treatment centers, and the pharmaceutical industry.

The recovery society states that addiction is really an involuntary, compulsive behavior caused by a disease, independent of any personal decision, choice or responsibility.

If a substance abuser adopts this conventional recovery theory, then he will become indoctrinated into thinking of himself as a sick person who has a “disease.” Therefore, he must fight his “disease” by frequently attending AA meetings, taking pharmaceutical drugs to relieve anxiety, participate in counseling sessions, avoid stressful situations and finally by exerting sheer will power. Most of those individuals who adopt this disease theory of substance abuse ultimately feel helpless and find themselves falling on and off the wagon regularly, because life is, after all, is full of stress.

The Freedom Model emphasizes that alcohol and drug abuse problems can only be resolved by making choices based upon an individual’s free will.

This concept of personal responsibility regarding the use of alcohol is taught in the Bible. “Wine is a mocker and strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.” (Proverbs 20:1)

This places the responsibility for sobriety solely upon the individual. If you are convinced that the perceived benefits and happiness that you have enjoyed by drinking are less than the benefits and happiness that you would enjoy by eliminating alcohol, then you will eliminate it.

The Freedom Model is not a medical treatment. It provides an education that teaches individuals about free will, personal choice and responsibility. The Freedom Model presents the research and information necessary to help individuals move past this false concept of addiction and adopt the true concept of personal responsibility.

The Freedom Model stresses that our mind, which contains our thoughts, is different from our brain. Think of your brain as the hard drive, and your mind as the software that is the operating system of your brain. Your mind and thoughts are not physical. Your ability to think allows you to make choices about your actions and behavior.

Alcohol and drugs do have physiological actions on the body, but they do not change the content of your thoughts.

Your actions are determined by three things:

1) the alcohol or drug’s physiological effects,

2) your mindset about what you think a drink or a drug will do, and

3) the setting in which you find yourself.

Let me give you an example.

At a cocktail party, those who drink often have an enjoyable time conversing and enjoying one another’s company. Alcohol is said to lubricate the conversation. At a wake before a funeral, those who imbibe alcohol are somber, serious and sad. Alcohol cannot produce two diametrically opposed actions. Those actions are determined by your thoughts, not the effect of alcohol or drugs.

The alcohol causes neither the enjoyment at the party, nor the sorrow at the wake. Your mindset and the setting of the events is what determines your behavior.

The Freedom Model teaches you that you determine your thoughts. You have free will and are able to make personal choices.  You alone are responsible for your actions and results. God has given you free will to decide whether to eliminate alcohol or addictive drugs. If you believe that the benefits of sobriety offer more potential for a happy, meaningful life than continuing on your current course, then you can and will make a change in your actions.

The Freedom Model is not a rehabilitation program, not a process of recovery, not a treatment, not counseling, nor is it therapy.

The Freedom Model is a way of thinking about the choices that you can and will make about the way that you will conduct your life.

The Freedom Model debunks all the addiction and recovery myths, so that you can choose your own course of action based upon facts rather than fiction and fear.

Let me reemphasize that The Freedom Model requires you to accept personal responsibility for your actions. It is based upon free will, personal choice, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Freedom Model exists in direct opposition to the lies and myths about alcohol and drug abuse being a “disease” which have been promoted by the recovery/rehab industry, AA, conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry.

If you know a family member or a friend who are using drugs or alcohol in such a way as to adversely affect the quality of their lives, then I encourage you to have them contact The Freedom Model at St. Jude’s Retreat. Their professionals can educate individuals who are suffering from substance abuse on how to take charge of their health, and their minds, so that they will make decisions to improve the quality of their lives without the need to use or abuse alcohol or drugs.

The professionals at St. Jude’s Retreat offer both online and in person educational programs. The professionals at The Freedom Model can be reached at 855-931-1449.

I heartily endorse The Freedom Model and encourage you to share this information with others.

Sincerely,

Steven F. Hotze, M.D.

[1] The National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions III (NESARC-III) published a paper in 2016 in the US Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Reference Manual entitled, Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Disorders in the United States. It compared data between treated versus untreated alcoholics totaling 43,000 people. All met the diagnostic criteria for alcohol addiction yet it made no difference whether they were treated or not. 72% of the treated alcoholics were no longer alcohol dependent and 76% of the untreated were no longer alcohol dependent. It seems that the treated group would have gotten over their alcohol dependency without treatment, so the treatment was unnecessary. It may have provided a placebo effect for those who were in the treatment programs.