Buddha links the positive aspect of conscience to a pure heart and a calm, well-directed mind: "when the mind is face to face with the Truth, a self-luminous spark of thought is revealed at the inner core of ourselves and, by analogy, all reality."

Many state Physicians Health Program “agents” do not have any qualifications other than those to do substance abuse treatment “peer mentoring” through A.A. or 12-step programs.  PHP or ASAM medical professionals may have limited licensure, may be monitored themselves by state medical boards, and may not have access to a DEA controlled drug box because of previous drug infractions. Their scope of practice may have been curtailed by the state medical board to only include working with persons with addiction problems or doing workplace or workmen’s compensation evaluations, so as to limit their contact with patients. 

Because of their limited training and education and the limits set by the state medical boards that monitor their own scope of practice, ASAM fellows tend to view all physical and mental health problems as “co-occurring” and secondary in importance to addiction problems.  With disregard to professional standards of practice, “dual diagnosis” of psychiatric labels are freely applied to patients in spite of the fact that most ASAM fellows are not formally trained in the diagnosis and treatment of “mental disorders.” [i]  ASAM does not acknowledge that many psychiatric diagnoses are subjective, imprecise, and subject to change over time.[ii]  They apply their limited knowledge of the DSM-IV-TR without supervision or accountability to professional standards.  All patients are assumed to have a diagnosis of the disease of addiction – even when no evidence of addiction is present.  According to the A.A. or 12-step model, the patient is in that case just in denial. The client is always guilty of addiction and in need of expensive monitoring and treatment or he/she will lose their medical license. This was true in the case of Dr. Leon Masters MD when he was threatened professionally and then falsely diagnosed as having an addiction problem, falsely imprisoned at Talbott Marsh Recovery Center in Atlanta GA and had his professional reputation as a doctor destroyed by then ASAM president George Douglas Talbott MD.

George Douglas Talbott MD wrote his own criteria of what constitutes addiction, based on the A.A. and 12-step model.[iii]  When examining this diagnostic protocol, it becomes evident that the symptoms described actually represent symptoms consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  ASAM Fellows of the FSPHP base their diagnostic criteria for addiction on symptoms that the valid application of the criteria in the DSM-IV-TR might instead attribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Acute and Complex). 

The ASAM and the FSPHP never confer a diagnosis that does not include addiction as a co-occurring and predominant diagnosis. Charting two co-occurring diagnosis increases revenue with little increase time spent.

PTSD can be related to a child’s experience in a Straight-like copycat program.  Maia Szalavitz reported that psychiatrist Dr. Jay Kurdis recently provided expert testimony in the 2003 civil trial against Miller Newton (former Straight, Inc. National Director), which revealed that:

“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur when someone is confronted by an overwhelmingly scary, actual real threat to life and limb, or to something as important as that, and in the face of that threat, [finds himself] helpless to do anything about it. The diagnosis was first introduced in relation to Vietnam veterans, some of whom had had terrifying combat or prisoner-of-war experiences that left them anxious, depressed, paranoid, over reactive to loud noises, and susceptible to vivid nightmares and flashbacks of the traumatic situation. Research shows that the longer that people feel helpless in frightening situations, and the less control they feel they have, the more likely they are to develop PTSD.” [iv]

One of the hallmarks of all the Straights and Straight, Inc. descendant programs, such as Kids Helping Kids, KIDS of New Jersey (KIDS), etc. was that the whole program was deliberately designed to make participants feel powerless.

PTSD is a diagnosis that has been historically best treated with psychotherapy.  Acute PTSD can be treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the patient can recover to full function without further need for monitoring or further psychiatric treatment.  PTSD also has been proven to respond best to psychotherapy not medication, although some medications have shown to have limited application.  It is important to recognize the difference between PTSD, which is a psychiatric injury, and other clinical conditions of mental illness.  This is a legal as well as a medical concept with enormous implications.  For example, a sole diagnosis of PTSD would permit a sexual assault victim or domestic violence victim to testify in a court of law as a credible witness.

The American Psychiatric Association publishes an authoritative manual regarding diagnosis of mental disorders.  This manual called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is periodically updated to reflect the most recent findings in the field.  A newly revised first draft of the DSM-V or the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's [i] (APA) DSM is due for publication in May 2013.  In this new DSM-V draft  it is suggested that “Eliminating the separate categories of Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence and replacing them with a single unified category of Substance Use Disorder” and instead labeling the overall section ‘The Addiction and Related Disorders’.  This was a change in wording which the ASAM/ABAM heavily lobbied for as it would change the diagnosis of Substance Abuse (in the DSM-IV) to instead Substance Use Disorder under the section heading of addictive disorder.[ii]  This simple change would have the result of further legitimizing ASAM and their new ABAM specialty and expanding their scope of practice.[iii]  ASAM fellows support A.A. and 12-step program principles and maintain that addiction is a lifelong brain disorder requiring lifelong treatment.  This treatment bolstered with a DSM diagnosis is often mandated by court orders and censure by professional licensing boards. The financial benefits to the newly established ABAM would be enormous.

 The FSPHP is an independent nonprofit corporation which controls the vast majority of standard "Physician Health Programs" (PHP's) operated by medical licensing boards in all 50 states.  Also known as "diversion programs,” PHP's were originally designed to provide a therapeutic avenue for physicians with "chemical dependency" (alcoholism and drug addictions) to access confidential treatment with protection from professional investigation and/or disciplinary action.  Many PHP's have gradually expanded their missions to include monitoring and treatment management for physicians with mental illness, and some are now expanding even further to encompass monitoring and treatment management for all physicians with possible “diseases of impairment” (defined as alcohol and drug use disorders, psychiatric disorders, disruptive disorders, psychosexual disorders, metabolic disorders, and physical disorders -- including diabetes, hypertension, and asthma). These increasingly broad missions have not changed the fact that the majority of state PHP's are still run by medical directors who are qualified only in "addiction medicine" and have supervisory committees largely staffed by addiction specialists and members of the general public who are “in recovery” from various addictions and who need not be physicians at all. 

"To move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness."

Marcus Aurelius

The techniques learned by Dr. Ruth Fox in mind control experiments using alcoholics as clinical subjects were easily adapted to silence whistleblowers.  Program participants are required to abandon their strong sense of self and embrace the judgment and directives of the group philosophy and mentors. The concept translates to a “client” becoming obedient to those above him/her in the hierarchy of the 12 Step program.  Forced submission and subservience are hallmarks of the 12 Step program.  This can conflict with a human rights perspective which asserts that all human beings deserve recognition of their inherent dignity and are equal, having inalienable rights.  Abusive rehabilitative treatment programs violate human rights when they force detrimental obedience and subservience to the “Higher Power” and to those in authority within the program, regardless of related circumstances.

The rigid dogma demeans and damages the person who is an innocent crime victim or victim of trauma.   For persons suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), one of the most important healing elements is the concept of empowerment and personal control.  To force whistleblowers, victims of sexual assault, crime victims or combat trauma victims to admit moral lapse due to defects of character is contrary to what is necessary for recovery from the injuries that inflicted vulnerability.  Thus, programs that espouse the rigid approach of 12 Step philosophies are contraindicated for populations under consideration as target markets by certain industries and affiliated groups.

There have been several U.S.A. Congressional investigations into abusive treatment programs and numerous state investigations, but they multiply and thrive despite exposure of their abusive methods.  These aberrant systems have usurped authority over the quality control system within the medical community and are entrenched as the “monitors” of professional behavior.  They are well-positioned to permit financial exploitation of the systems all citizens need for safety and health.  Their ability to harm professionals acting with integrity when they report the illegal or unethical activities of these harmful enterprises is a clear threat to our nation’s security. At this time no agency exists to assist a medical professional targeted by the corrupted interests, and this must change.

"The sight of her tears grieved me; but I soon realized that she was weeping over her failure, without caring about what was happening inside me...We might still have come to an understanding if, instead of asking everybody to pray for my soul, she had given me a little confidence and sympathy. I know now what prevented her from doing so: she had too much to pay back, too many wounds to salve, to put herself in another's place. In actual doing she made every sacrifice, but her feelings did not take her out of herself. Besides, how could she have tried to understand me since she avoided looking into her own heart? As for discovering an attitude that would not have set us apart, nothing in her life had ever prepared her for such a thing: the unexpected sent her into a panic, because she had been taught never to think, act or feel except in a ready-made framework."

— Simone de Beauvoir. A Very Easy Death. Penguin Books. London. 1982. p. 60.