Outside Reading #3

From the twenty, or so, pages I have read this week there seems to be a underlining theme the author is trying to show. There are a couple places where James notes that when people have an addiction (to drugs and alcohol), to cure their addiction they simply shift their addiction to something else. He is saying that it is impossible for an addict to ever truly get off an addiction. The example he gives is to religion/ a god. Some of his quote is:

          

        "Though the people in them (AA/ Alcoholics Anonymous) are no longer drinking and doing drugs, they're still living a life of obsession... Though they function as human beings, they function because of their Meetings and their Dogma and their God. Take away their Meetings and their Dogma and they have nothing, Take them away and they are back where they started. They have an addiction." (Frey 71)

In my opinion, this is an interesting viewpoint. There is evidence that AA works, and a lot of people find that their god can guide them though the healing process. But what if someone is trying to get over an addiction, and they don't want to have religion heal them? Is there ways offered to get though your addiction?