What
do mental health professionals say about Abraham Low
and Recovery, Inc.?
What did Abraham Low do?
As a neuropsychiatrist at the Psychiatric Institute, University of Illinois, Chicago, in the 1930s, Low developed a self-help system of psychotherapy based on the management of fear, anger, and nervous symptoms. This system has, for more than half a century, formed the basis of the training offered by Recovery, Inc., the international self-help organization founded by Low in 1937.
Though Low's system trains participants to be self-directed, they are continually encouraged to cooperate with their professional. Low stressed the importance of relying on professionals for diagnosis and treatment, and of using Recovery, Inc., as an adjunct to professional treatment. People with a wide variety of psychiatric diagnoses can benefit from Recovery training.
What is Low's 'system'?
The system is a comprehensive program of concepts and techniques as described in Low's writings and offered through training at Recovery, Inc., and Relatives Project meetings. Low's concepts of 'temper' and 'symptoms' are basic to his system, as explained fully in A Concise Outline of the Self-Help Techniques for Mental Health, available through the Literature Request Form.
- Temper.
The term 'temper' is ordinarily taken to mean anger only. Low divided
temper into anger and fear. He said that, in the events of everyday
life, temper is the judgment of right and wrong.
The judgment that oneself is wrong, he called 'fearful temper,' and the judgment that someone else is wrong, 'angry temper.' Fearful temper includes discouragement, self-blame, embarrassment, shame, despair, and hopelessness. Angry temper includes resentment, disgust, indignation, impatience, and hatred. If the judgment is removed from everyday situations, both fear and anger retreat.
- Symptoms.
Low assured his patients that everyone may have symptoms: racing thoughts,
shortness of breath, sweating hands, blurred vision, palpitations --
far too many to name. The difference between average symptoms and incapacitating
symptoms is in their duration, intensity, and the attachment of danger
to those symptoms. All nervous symptoms not of organic origin are caused
by sustained tenseness, Low said, and most tenseness is caused by temper.
Successfully reduce temper, and the agony of symptoms will be replaced
by the harmony of a balanced nervous system.
What did Low mean by 'training'?
By regularly attending meetings of Recovery, Inc., or The Relatives Project, one hears Low's concepts and techniques applied to everyday experiences. By reading Low's literature, one gains necessary information about those concepts and techniques.
Meeting attendance and information, however, are not enough to manage fear, anger, or nervous symptoms. The hardest part is practicing what is learned and practicing it persistently. Training, then, involves attending meetings, reading, and practicing, with practice the most important part.
Are Low's concepts used by mental health professionals today?
Yes, some of Low's concepts are similar to the current psychiatric concepts of cognitive therapy (rejecting or accepting ideas) and behavior modification (stopping or releasing impulses). Low's concepts (published in 1943 and 1950) preceded those present-day terms.
Current mental health professionals familiar with his work see Low as an original thinker whose ideas are still not fully absorbed into current psychiatric thinking.
A biography of Abraham Low, My Dear Ones by Neil and Margaret Rau, can be obtained through the Literature Request Form.
Bibliographies of Abraham Low's published works and of works published on him or on Recovery, Inc., can be consulted in Research Resources.
What do mental health professionals say about Abraham Low and Recovery, Inc.?
In his work in establishing Recovery, Inc., Dr. Low provided not only hope, but treatment as well, for a vast number of recovering mentally ill persons. He taught them the method and the process of self-help. He gifted them with the confidence that they could participate actively in their own recovery.
Harold
M. Visotsky, M.D.
Owen L. Coon Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Northwestern University Medical School
The self-help methods of Recovery, Inc., continue to reduce suffering, disability and relapse among thousands of patients and former patients with nervous or mental disorders. While the Recovery principles are simple, the underlying wisdom is enduring; and many will find hope and courage amidst these practical guidelines for coping with everyday life.
Mark
R. Hansen, M.D.
Chair, Division of Adult Psychiatry
Mayo Clinic
Recovery, Inc., emphasizes self-leadership; that is, taking responsibility
for oneself. It does not foster dependency...I have never seen a patient
nor heard of one who was harmed by Recovery.
Dana
M. Sheldon, M.D.
Psychiatrist
Spruce Head, Maine
Dr. Abraham Low understood the wisdom of citizens groups' active participation
in the mental illness field long before it became popular. By honoring
good psychiatric treatment and active patient and family involvement in
the process, we also honor Dr. Low.
Melvin
Sabshin, M.D.
Former
Medical Director, American Psychiatric Association
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Dr. Low worked his wonders by reducing techniques to such simplicity one
could change a whole lifetime of beliefs and behavior by following surprisingly
easy guidelines.
Lee
Schnebly, M.Ed., N.C.C.
Individual, Marriage, and Family Counselor
Tucson, Arizona
I've referred some 200 patients to Recovery. Most of them continued simultaneously
under my care...This concurrent group, as a whole, showed better progress
than non-participants. There was more rapid symptomatic improvement; less
self-consciousness and embarrassment; a greater sense of pride, accomplishment
and degree of commitment; better coping behavior; accelerated social rehabilitation;
and less tendency to decompensate under stress.
Stanley
R. Dean, M.D.
Psychiatrist
Miami, Florida
We found the longer members attended Recovery, the more accepting they
were of professional help.
Hanus
J. Grosz, M.D., F.A.C.P., LF. APA
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry
Indiana University School of Medicine
Recovery was years ahead of its time in incorporating cognitive treatment
into the management of mental illness. It also illustrates the remarkable
capacity of a cohesive and supportive group to provide remission from
psychological distress.
Marc
Galanter, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
New York University Medical Center
Dr. Low provided clear methods to help people come to grips with their
disorders, and he insisted on destigmatizing their conditions. He worked
to restore morale and commitment in the context of developing mastery
and self-control. His strategies are the strategies of rehabilitation.
Boris
M. Astrachan, M.D.
Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Recovery, Inc., differing from other groups in being started by a psychiatrist,
also more systematically integrates self-help as an active concept into
its program.
Donald
T. Lee, M.S.W., A.C.S.W.
Mental Health Consultant
San Marcos, California
In the structured format that Low designed for Recovery, Inc., meetings,
members learn to identify self-defeating and illness-promoting thoughts
and impulses and counter them with self-endorsing thoughts and wellness-promoting
actions.
Peter
Murray, M.D.
Chief, Psychiatric Emergency and Intake Service
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Abraham Low's words continue to enrich the lives of tens of thousands
of people who might otherwise have been irreparably damaged by mental
illness. He created Recovery, Inc., and decades ahead of his time, he
pioneered what I believe to be to this day the quintessential non-professional
Support System.
Gerald Caplan, M.D.
Scientific Director
Jerusalem Institute for the Study of Psychological Stress
Dr. Low developed a remarkable method of self-help which has given relief
to thousands of people suffering from emotional stress and/or handicaps.
I believe this method should be studied by all mental health professionals
and caregivers so that its benefits may be extended to as many people
as possible.
Milton
Greenblatt, M.D. (deceased)
Professor of Psychiatry
UCLA
[Abraham Low was] a real pioneer in what is now a significant partnership
in helping individuals who are ill, in helping families understand the
illness of their loved ones and in reducing stigma and educating the public.
Dr. Low foresaw this years ago and is to be recognized and honored for
his work, albeit posthumously.
George
H. Pollock, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus
Northwestern University Medical School
With the enrichment from this support, therapy is accelerated, its overall
cost is reduced and the duration of morbidity is decreased....For some
of my patients, it has been the difference between their being able to
function in society or being chronically disabled by illness....Recovery
is complementary to therapy and not competitive with it.
Earl
Solon, M.D.
Psychiatrist
Emeritus Attending Lutheran General Hospital
Chicago