Posts by LifeRing

The question of whether addiction constitutes a “disease” is a perennial source of disagreement among the “experts’ and among addicts themselves. Much depends on the definition of “disease.” Used casually, the term implies some sort of breakdown in the body, stemming from bacteria, or viruses or things like cancer which have a clear and negative…

Martin Nicolaus, LifeRing’s founding leader and author of our three LifeRing books, passes along this mention of LifeRing in a recent article co-authored by the widely-respected writer on addiction William L. White. John Kelly was the other author and the passage appeared in the Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery under the title “Broadening…

Anne Dowsett Johnston is the author of a new book entitled Drink that explores the relationship between women and alcohol. In a recent interview, Johnston said, “‘We look at red wine like it’s dark chocolate, … We know the downsides of the tanning bed and trans fats, but not the downside of our favorite drug.’…

LifeRing member Byron Kerr shares some thoughts on LifeRing’s approach to providing structure in recovery: I recently heard a proposal in a LifeRing forum that, “some people just need the structure of 12-Step.” This reflects an assumption that LifeRing is somehow unstructured. While it is true that we do not offer a single “official” structure as to…