The Theological State: A Call for Separate, but Equal Profession

Quantitative Science as Dogma and the Ethical Mandate for Separation of State and Science

Structured Abstract

• Background: The Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM) posits that addiction, trauma, and functional neurological symptoms (e.g., Absence Seizures, Fading Memory Disorder) are rooted in the survival-driven wisdom of the embodied unconscious. This qualitative wisdom is systematically minimized by the prevailing quantitative, reductionist scientific paradigm, which seeks absolute certainty through measurement.¹ This epistemological conflict has translated directly into institutional and legal policies that perpetuate a collective denial system regarding the ubiquity of trauma.
• Hypothesis: The modern State has assumed the role of Religion, dictating moral truth and punishing deviation (sin/crime), while its institutional interpretation of Quantitative Science has become the Church, providing the unquestionable, dogmatic scripture (DSM, diagnostic codes) necessary for enforcing compliance and maintaining institutional control (fear).¹ This fear-based bias compels medical-legal systems to mislabel the body’s adaptive, life-preserving responses (like functional seizures and dissociative memory loss) as “pseudo,” “absent,” or “disease,” thereby minimizing the qualitative reality of trauma. To achieve ethical justice and authentic healing, the traditional separation of Church and State must be superseded by a new philosophical mandate: the Separation of State and Science, acknowledging that “separate does not mean not equal”, but it could.
• Conclusions: The current symbiosis between State and institutional Science maintains psychological ignorance by suppressing trauma literacy in public discourse and law. A true separation would allow scientific inquiry to be guided by Recovering Common Sense and love-based wisdom, valuing qualitative and quantitative methodologies equally. This realignment is essential for dismantling the institutional addiction to control and fulfilling the ethical imperative of the Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH).

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1. Introduction: The Epistemological Roots of Institutional Control

The history of addiction and trauma is defined by a philosophical war between the objective and the subjective. The Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM) provides a unifying framework, positing that addiction is a conditioned relationship to a dissociative survival state, driven by the need of the physical body (the psychological unconscious) to cope with overwhelming events.¹ This model’s qualitative insights—that the addictive compulsion is an unconscious, life-affirming choice for relief, not a moral failing—clash directly with the dominant quantitative scientific paradigm.

This blog extends the critique that the quantitative worldview is inherently fear-based, designed to control the chaotic and unpredictable nature of trauma by forcing it into rigid, measurable categories.¹ When applied institutionally, this fear-based science is transmuted into dogma, resulting in the State and its regulatory bodies acting as the ultimate moral and ontological authority.

2. The State as Religion, Science as Church

The metaphor of the State as Religion and institutional Science as the Church perfectly illustrates the mechanism by which qualitative, subjective truth is minimized, segregated, and stigmatized.

2.1. The State’s Dogma and the Demand for Certainty (Fear)

The State operates on the imperative of control and stability. Its laws, precedents, and public policies require certainty (quantitative validation) to function. When dealing with human behavior—particularly the chaotic and non-linear consequences of trauma—the State demands a simple, measurable explanation. This demand turns complex clinical reality into reductive dogma:

1. Enshrining the Diagnostic Catechism: The State, through legal and institutional requirements, relies on codified systems like the DSM for diagnosis, funding, and legal adjudication. These diagnostic taxonomies, which define disorders like Substance Use Disorder (SUD) by observable symptoms while failing to define the underlying process ¹, become the sacred texts of the Church (institutional science). Adherence to this text is mandatory for practitioners, turning professional compliance into religious orthodoxy.
2. Punishment of Non-Believers (The Moral Failing): The State prosecutes individuals for behaviors derived from their unconscious, trauma-driven survival mandate (e.g., addiction as an unconscious survival choice).¹ The legal system, in its quantitative focus, dismisses the individual’s lived experience of “loss of control” or feeling “enslaved” ¹ by its own survival mechanism. The “moral failing” view is perpetuated by the State/Religion because it allows for punitive measures (incarceration, forced treatment) instead of trauma-informed care, thereby reinforcing institutional control and avoiding the systemic accountability required by Recovering Law.¹

2.2. Science as the Church: Denying Qualitative Wisdom

Institutional science becomes the Church by claiming a monopoly on truth and actively dismissing qualitative experience that challenges its quantitative metrics. This denial manifests through mislabeling core dissociative responses:

1. The Stigma of the “Pseudo”: Dissociative functional neurological symptoms, often misdiagnosed as Absence Seizures (AS) or Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES), are labeled “pseudo” because they lack quantifiable, structural pathology visible on objective scans. This medical dismissal is the Church actively branding the body’s functional survival response as fake or heretical. It reflects the observer’s fear and implicit bias—the preference for the quantifiable over the overwhelming truth of the somatic, emotional memory held in the unconscious body.¹
2. The Minimization of Fading Memory: Fading Memory Disorder (FMD), or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), is similarly reduced to simple cognitive aging. This ignores the qualitative reality of dissociative fragmentation—the brain’s protective, adaptive strategy of weakening detailed explicit memory to manage an active, implicit trauma load. The Church/Science insists on a linear, functional memory, denying the disruptive reality of non-linear traumatic memory.

3. The Legal and Educational Complicity in Psychological Ignorance

The legal and educational systems act as crucial agents in perpetuating this institutional religion, guaranteeing that the general public remains disconnected from the qualitative wisdom of the trauma-informed self.

• Legal Adherence to Reductionism: The legal system, relying on deductive reasoning and documented metric scores ¹, upholds the quantitative status quo. By demanding adherence to symptom-based diagnoses (e.g., the DSM), it structurally impedes the application of trauma-informed models that recognize the dissociative roots of behavior. This is an ethical failure that prevents the recovering law from establishing legal precedent based on genuine, embodied truth.¹
• Educational Negligence: Government education departments contribute to the denial system by failing to mandate a trauma literacy curriculum for citizens. By withholding fundamental knowledge about dissociation, the body’s survival mechanisms, and the impact of trauma (ACEs) on health ², the State ensures that its populace is fundamentally psychologically ignorant. Citizens are thus disempowered, lacking the knowledge to justify or validate their own internal choices, behaviors, and laws against the institutional narrative.¹

4. The Mandate for Separation: Separate Does Not Mean Not Equal

The solution to this crisis of institutional dogma is not merely political but fundamentally epistemological: the necessity of the Separation of State and Science.

4.1. Reframing Separation from Church to Science

The historical separation of Church and State was designed to prevent religious dogma from dictating law. Today, the separation of State and Science is required to prevent fear-based, institutional science (the Church) from dictating the ontological and ethical truth of human experience.

4.2. Separate Does Not Mean Not Equal (Quantitative and Qualitative Synthesis)

This proposed separation does not advocate for the abolition of quantitative methodology. Instead, it asserts that the qualitative wisdom of the embodied unconscious must be valued equally with quantitative data.

• Love-Based Science: Science should be guided by Recovering Common Sense ¹, prioritizing the organism’s innate drive toward life and healing (love), which is reflected in the purpose of dissociation (e.g., endogenous opioid/cannabinoid systems initiating repair). This qualitative approach validates the subjective experience of the person, providing the holistic context that mere numbers cannot capture.
• The Path of the Wounded Healer: The PWH is the moral-ethical path that guides this separation, demanding that professionals heal their own institutional conditioning (“addiction to control”) to see past the fear-based metrics and embrace the spiritual awakening inherent in recovery.

5. Conclusions

The State, acting as the Church or Religion, utilizes institutional legal science (societal structure) to enforce a culture of control, maintaining a collective denial regarding trauma-related dissociation. This manifests clinically through the mislabeling of functional, survival-driven responses—such as Absence Seizures and Fading Memory Disorder—as “pseudo” or “disease”. The path toward ethical and effective public policy requires a profound philosophical shift: acknowledging the fundamental truth that the body is the unconscious and requiring a Separation of State and Science. This separation, rooted in the principle that qualitative and quantitative truth are equal yet distinct, provides the only viable path to Recovering Common Sense as separate and equal and establishing a system of care that honors the whole, complex human being.

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References

O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/

O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/

O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/

*This is for informational and educational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.