CHIT-CHAT FARMS

BY DR. GEORGE BIRTCH

Near Reading, Pennyslvania, there is a treatment centre for addictive diseases rejoicing in the unlikely name of Chit Chat Farms. The quaintness of the title belies the seriousness of their purpose.

In my brief encounter with some of their staff at a recent conference in Hartford, Connecticut, I found their methods and objectives to be similar to ours at Donwood.

I admired particularly some of their educational material. They had what they called an alcoholism questionare. The questions were on one page and then one had to turn a page to find their rationale. Some of these I want to pass on to you as discussion starters;

Q. In the treatment of alcoholism, should the focus of attention be on the problems contributing to the addiction? A. No. We feel that the alcoholic can do nothing of a lasting and constructive nature about any of his other problems until he "first does something constructive about his drinking problem". Treatment of causative factors and or underlying problems is effictive only if the alcoholic is first sober.

Q. Is it true that when dependencies on both ethanol and medication co-exist, the addict will be free from both or neither? A. Our experience indicates that the problem in addiction is reliance on chemicals, the dependency on any of these serves to support the addiction. The name of the chemical or the form in which it comes seems simply not important.

Q. Must the alcoholic eventually be charged with the responsibility for his own recovery? A. Yes: It appears that although the alcoholic is not responsible for his illness, he is responsible for his recovery. Our experience is that he "must be charged" with this responsiblity because this is the only way he can recover. Neither external situations or persons other than the alcoholic seem able to manufacture sobriety for that alcoholic.

Don says: The key words here are: "The addict must first be sober". How true. We cannot begin to beat the problem until we purge the chemical from our bodies. There must be time given to let the body adjust to the new fact. There is no alcohol in the body, and now I am ready to heal.