Merle Jordan argues that many people spend their adult lives struggling to distinguish between the imperatives of divine authority and the deeply rooted psychological authority of family structures. Employing the wisdom of his experience as a pastoral psychologist as well as the insights of clinical researchers and therapists, Jordan offers ways to demythologize false absolutes and to refocus distorted maps of reality.

Religious and secular counselors from a variety of disciplines share their basic approaches in working with addicted persons and their understandings of the spiritual dimension in treatment and recovery.