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The Book's Inside Cover Explains:
After reading Hypoic's Handbook you will know for sure the answer to the question, "Why is Dr. Umanoff so angry?" His answer is simple: "Someone needs to be." Today is 5/10/99, and we are in the middle of the Kosovar genocide. Littleton, Colorado just exploded the other day. The drug war continues unabated. No one appreciates their parallels or the horrible irony that connects them. Everyday President Clinton expounds and preaches about how we must commit our country firmly against discrimination, superstition induced violence, racism, and genocide, and show the world we stand for individual diversity and freedom, yet for the last six years he has expanded our country's genocide against addicts, the last legally discriminated against group of Americans. And he's one of us to boot! Today, addicts across the country are imprisoned, murdered, persecuted, tortured, made to risk contracting AIDS, fired from jobs, and bankrupted. Their families are stigmatized, broken up, impoverished, ignored, and abused in countless unforeseen ways. Their kids, many of whom will eventually become addicts, grow up hating their addicted and weird parents, and themselves. All this in the name of a superstitious addiction paradigm that bears no resemblance to the reality of the disease that causes addictions. All this in the name of a self-perpetuating prejudicial belief and misconception that drugs and other addictors cause addictions, are "bad," and that we must rid the world of them in order to save our kids and our hunky-dory culture. All this just to feel sanctimonious and self-assured. Unknowingly and ignorantly, we are perpetuating and expanding that which we mean to rid ourselves. Moreover, addicts are cooperating with their own genocide because they believe the same nonsense about addicts that non-addicts believe. "Walk this way, sirs and madams, right into our cozy crematorium, please." Dr. Umanoff's concern is with the hapless addicts and their families. He's unafraid to say, "Damn the assholes with power and let's save some addicts and their families." Who are the assholes with power who will never help an addict in all truth? They are: 1) Addictionologists who will not deal honestly with addictions or any addiction paradigm other than their own superstition based paradigm, 2) psychologists and psychiatrists who believe they know all about human nature and addictions, and who thereby daily kill and injure addicts with their useless and abusive treatments, pronouncements of expertise, and prognostications, 3) uninformed and stupid politicians who produce lethal policies and irrelevant laws against addictions and addicts based on ignorance and xenophobia, pandering to the ill-founded fear and hate of the populous for addicts bolstered by the deep seated ignorance spread by these same assholes just to stay in office (much like their gun control negligence), and 4) the attorney-criminal justice-incarceration conglomerate who just makes a living off addicts. These people have an overwhelmingly damaging influence on the prevailing addiction attitudes, beliefs, and "treatment" concepts in our country. There is a massive propaganda system in this country espousing illiterate information about addictions and addicts to ensure this continues. This same system makes sure any realistic addiction paradigm will never surface to interfere with this hate and persecution. Dr. Umanoff has attempted to publish his hypothesis in addiction journals to no avail. He has attempted to share his ideas with addictionologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, politicians, news reporters, journals, health and family oriented foundations, newspapers, TV medical people, and others who claim interest in the addiction conundrum. Not a single one of them have shown any interest in even discussing Hypoism with him because they are mightily ensnared in the current bogus addiction paradigm. The 12 Step programs, who know better, have abdicated their responsibility through their "tradition" of non-involvement with "outside" issues, their fear of asserting their opinions, and their outdated desire to remain anonymous. The National Council on Alcoholism, initially organized to advocate for alcoholics, has long since joined the other side. Believe it or not, there is no one publicly or politically on our side. Hypoics are isolated and alone, being picked off one by one. This is why Dr. Umanoff is angry, and this is why he is appealing to the hapless and isolated hypoics and their families who currently either believe the current nonsense about addictions or have given up altogether. It is the hypoics of the world who must stand up for themselves and shout, "I refuse to take it anymore!" Dr. Umanoff hopes you do. This book is your handbook to the realistic life and freedom you deserve. However, you must come out of the closet, as scary as that may be, and get involved. Dr. Umanoff can't fight the system and educate the country alone. He hopes to hear from you all. He implores you all to support and participate in The National Association for the Advancement and Advocacy of Addicts, The N4A, a not-for-profit organization promoting free addiction education and free legal services for discriminated against addicts of all varieties under all circumstances. Please read the extraordinary Hypoic's Handbook with an open mind and, we hope, relish. Discover the actual neurobiological and genetic basis behind all addictions, then go out and grab onto the simple and realistic recovery presently available to all hypoics.
Think of penicillin and Fleming, its discoverer. By accident, Fleming discovered a mold that killed bacteria. By that time we knew that bacteria caused infections that damaged and killed people. The active ingredient from the mold, penicillin, was isolated and, without knowing a single thing about how it worked, penicillin was put into action treating infections. It was observed that penicillin worked on some infections but not all. Two things resulted from these findings. 1.) Penicillin stimulated research into why and how it worked. 2.) Scientists began searching for other molds that might produce antibiotics that kill bacteria, especially the ones that penicillin didn't kill. Number 1. is called pathophysiology. Number 2. is called effective empirical therapy. Both work, but when they are used in conjunction, they yield much more productive research and results. Research into pathophysiology has discovered how bacteria work and how best to kill them. Empirical therapy continues to discover new antibiotics to kill bacteria previous antibiotics don't kill. These findings have led to yet more pathophysiology research to better understand how bacteria work. The two methods work together to produce the safest, most effective, and most specific treatments for bacterial infections. Now for the analogy: A.A. is penicillin and Bill Wilson is Flemming. Wilson discovered A.A. by accident and put it into practice. It worked for some addicts, but not for most addicts, definitely not for all addicts. The problem is that he stopped at that point. He didn't begin research into why it worked or on the pathophysiology of addictions. In fact, he put the kibosh on asking why it worked. "How does A.A. work? Just fine." "We have no opinions on outside issues." That was fine for A.A. but not for addictions and addicts. He turned the recovery of A.A. into a religion instead of a science. This is where A.A. still finds itself; stuck and stagnant. Other scientists researching addictions ignored A.A. much as if the scientists in the 40's had actually ignored penicillin. They looked elsewhere for learning about addictions and looking for effective treatments. They haven't found any, but they still won't look at A.A. (penicillin) and to why it works (if only in a limited fashion). Instead of working in conjunction with each other as was the case of penicillin, the two addiction camps are competing with and ignoring each other. The empiricists (A.A.) have taken an absolutist stance for their recovery program, and the pathophysiologists, addictionologists, and psychiatrists have an opposing yet similarly closed-minded stance for their (ineffective) theories and ways to manage addiction. This conflict has resulted in the mess we have today in addictions, both in recovery and in public policy. Neither camp has found the complete answers to addiction causation and recovery because of their biases, prejudices, and closed-minded approaches to the problem of addiction and their biased stances on causality and "treatment" approaches. This polarization of approaches exists no where else in medicine. It exists for purely emotional and prejudicial reasons which must be admitted consciously by both sides of the polarized debate before any progress will be made in this field. I come along and did what no one else had done. I looked at both sides of the problem, the pathophysiology and the empirical therapy. I asked, "How do I put both approaches together and discover the real pathophysiology behind how A.A. works?" What happened when I did that was that I discovered the pathophysiology behind addictions, Hypoism, and through this discovery, found how to make A.A. recovery more effective and inclusive for all addicts and all addictions. Moreover, when I evaluated Hypoism in practice I also discovered that it would remove stigmatization and denial from addiction attitudes and from the addicts themselves, the exact beliefs that presently make public policy damaging and keep addicts out of recovery. Thus, Hypoism removes all barriers from the self-diagnosis of addictions and, additionally, improves recovery infinitely. It simultaneously produces humane, loving, and effective public policy. A funny thing happened when I showed Hypoism to the two waring addiction camps. This surprising happening was diametrically opposed to that which occurred when penicillin was discovered. Both camps ignored Hypoism, vehemently. Both camps continued pushing their own personal addiction agendas as if they were deaf, dumb, and blind to really wanting to deal realistically with addictions. They both acted as if their paradigms were more important than was the solving of the problem of addictions. This is where we stand right now: Two biased and prejudiced absolutist stances, neither of which has found the real paradigm of addictions facing off against each other, and both ignoring the real addiction paradigm, Hypoism, because it interferes with their biased positions; addicts and their families be damned! This is an unconscionable position for addicts and the field of addictionology to be in. We are at the mercy of two opposing groups who put their paradigms above the truth and above our welfare. This mess will not be resolved unless we aggressively look into Hypoism as our source of reality, knowledge, strength, freedom, and recovery, instead of blindly following the high priests of the two biased and incorrect paradigms. Hypoism is the result of the same scientific process that has led to our understanding of bacteria, penicillin, and all other well established biomedical processes that have led to the revolution known today as modern medicine and all that that entails. The two waring paradigms are keeping us in the dark ages of superstition instead of in modern science. You belong to one of these factions. You, as an individual, must decide whether or not to look into the reality of Hypoism. Only you, one person at a time, can end this stupid and obstreperous war against the valid paradigm of addictions for the sake of superstition and stubborn prejudice. It must end now! Hypoism needs to be viewed with an open mind. I confront all people interested in addictions to do that or hang your heads in shame. Hypoism will drastically improve recovery and policy for addictions without interfering with what you do. Isn't that what you want? Read the book and find out why and how this will happen. | |||||||