ABSTRACT
Recovery religion affirms five central beliefs: that one's own needs must come before the demands of society; those families emotionally and spiritually wound children during the socialization process; that those scars carry into adulthood, causing them to be stuck in debilitating behavioral patterns; that to heal, people must let go of these private wounds by sharing them with others; and that these patterns are symptomatic of the disease that ails people—codependency. The Recovery Movement is a broad yet diffuse social movement. This chapter uses the term to include information on personal discovery and self-help as well as the narrower topics of addiction and code-pendency. The Recovery Movement is a recent phenomenon, but its roots are intricately woven from the social fabric of American culture. The success of the Recovery Movement is evidence that America has undergone cultural change. While the Recovery Movement is anti-institutional, it is the family as an institution that suffers its most severe condemnation.
