An Apology With Echoes of 12 Steps

In the long, self-lacerating statement that he read to a nationwide audience last week, Tiger Woods never used the words sex addiction. Yet by publicly apologizing for his infidelity, saying he was returning to his religious faith and admitting that he has “work to do,” he appeared to be carrying out several steps of a common 12-step treatment for just that.

Experts in the field note that Woods hit several key points in the program used by the Gentle Path clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss., at whose front door he has been photographed.

In Steps 8 and 9 of the program, for instance, patients are admonished to list everyone they have harmed and make amends. In his statement, Woods dwelled on his mistakes and apologized to his family, his wife’s family, his business partners and sponsors, and parents who “used to point to me as a role model for their kids.”

In his seeming embrace of the 12-step approach — first formulated by Alcoholics Anonymous but since adopted by Narcotics Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous and groups for gambling, food and shopping addictions — Woods waded into a longstanding debate over sexual disorders and how to treat them.

The very idea that someone can be addicted to sex is controversial and inevitably leads to chuckles and jokes. Those claiming addiction may be accused of seeking a medical excuse for simple promiscuity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23ther.html?th&emc=th

I think that the idea that people claiming addiction are seeking to absolve themselves of personal responsibility is probably a valid point to be brought up for any addiction, be it sex, alcohol, or narcotics. I mean, we can only blame those that are responsible for their actions, and disease undercuts free will, so if someone's actions are the result of a disease then they become essentially blameless.

Even if that is the case, I don't necessarily think that an addict is blameless. I think that the onus is always on the addict to recognize that there is a problem -- even if they cannot overcome it without help, it is always their responsibility to recognize that they need the help. From that perspective, it's not necessarily a failure of will or anything like that...but it's a failure of honesty with oneself and those closest to you.

At least, that's my .02.