LPP, Coronavirus, and Addiction

LPP’s value has become even clearer in the Age of the Epidemic

Many organizations are now presenting themselves as online alternatives for addiction therapy. My Life Process Program (LPP) has been offering online coaching and help for addictions of all kinds (e.g., alcohol, drugs, gambling, food, shopping, love and sex relationships, porn) the longest. Originally designed for a residential rehab in 2008, we took LPP online in 2012, as I described in The Fix.

I and my colleagues — tech administrators and coaches — are proud of our longevity. We have found a care niche: providing easily accessed, readily available, nonjudgmental assistance for people addressing a range of addictive issues. Not only do we avoid labeling them, we don’t tell them what their “solution” is. And being first in — now approaching a decade — we’ve worked out the kinks and perfected the product and it’s delivery.  

Finally, dealing with people from different backgrounds and from around the world, we know how to work with all kinds of people with every type of addictive problem. LPP and its coaches have never turned anyone away while responding with tailored help specific to each person. 

The basic principles of LPP are

1. addiction is not a disease but a modifiable way of dealing with the world,
2. people are in charge of their own recoveries,
3. all change takes place in the real world, not in a therapy office or support group,
4. people have resources to call on, ones they often don’t recognize they have,
5. they will probably need to sharpen their skills in certain areas (communicating, helping, problem solving),
6. they will do better with support and community,
7. people are not permanently marred by their addictions, traumas, or other problems,
8. you are not an “addict” and don’t need to adopt a lifelong identity as one.

LPP coaches, all of whom I have worked with and trained over years, understand these principles and know how to enhance people’s life functioning and thus address their addictive behaviors. The LPP program accomplishes this through exercises, one-on-one coaching, and support networks. All of these tools allow people to take action to free themselves from addictions where they live.

The coronavirus shutdown has demonstrated just how valuable the online LPP approach is.  In particular, I want to detail how what LPP does is the best response to the current epidemic in the following three areas—all of which are critically tied to addictions:

1. Stress, anxiety and mental health. 
2. Intimacy, connection, and community.
3. Goals, purpose, values and meaning.

Before turning to how the LPP program and its coaches perform these functions, I would like first to quote the Wikipedia description of my work:

Stanton Peele began his critique of standard notions of addiction when he published Love and Addiction (coauthored with Archie Brodsky in 1975). According to Peele’s experiential/environmental approach, addictions are negative patterns of behavior that result from an over-attachment people form to experiences generated from a range of involvements. He contends that most people experience addiction to some degree at least for periods of time during their lives. He does not view addictions as medical problems but as “problems of life” that most people overcome. The failure to do so is the exception rather than the rule, he argues.

Here, now, is how LPP and LPP coaches deal with burning issues raised by the current epidemic:

• Stress, anxiety, and mental health. People frequently form or turn to addictions in response to emotional issues like anxiety and depression, issues that have been exacerbated by the current epidemic and lockdown. LPP allows people to work on these issues in a reasoned manner, to judge what therapies are helpful in addressing their emotional problems, and to realize how such issues are tied to their addictions.
• Intimacy, connection, and community. The epidemic obviously impacts both people’s existing intimate and family relationships, as well as their ability to form relationships and to be part of a community. LPP sensitizes and trains people on how to conduct relationships within their homes and families. It also alerts people to opportunities to seek intimacy and community. Finally, LPP coaches and online meetings offer clients chances to connect with caring, sympathetic people without the pressures of AA and other 12-step groups.
• Goals, purpose, values and meaning. People are best able to overcome addictions, and to avoid relapse, when they have larger goals, values, and purpose in their lives. LPP and LPP coaches are always helping people to realize their values and to find larger life purposes and meaning. The epidemic, even being locked in, does not change this primary focus of LPP and its coaches.

Online LPP is not a second-best substitute for “real” addiction treatment — like, say, 12-step rehabs — necessitated by the epidemic shutdown. In fact, even given its reasonable pricing, LPP is the best alternative for dealing with addictions, both before and since the epidemic hit us.

Try our easy-in methods for exploring LPP at minimum cost and at your convenience. You will discover how unique and valuable the Life Process Program is. And we are proud of it.