In September 2024, the world lost an addiction recovery hero: Michael Dye.
Michael Dye was the founder of Genesis Process, and author of the book by the same name. Along with his wife Cathy, Michael helped train counselors and churches for 25 years.
After becoming a Christian, he developed a passion for helping people who struggled with addictions. He wrestled with the question of why people engage in self-destructive behaviors. Dye described his approach as a blend of biblical principles, addiction recovery tools, and the latest insights from neuroscience.
Out of this work, Michael created the F.A.S.T.E.R. Scale. This powerful tool for addiction recovery continues to help people today, including many who are struggling with pornography.
What is the F.A.S.T.E.R. Scale?
“I define addiction as when we continue to do something even though we know it’s not good for us.” – Michael Dye
When you recognize a harmful behavior, the logical thing to do is stop. But with an addiction, someone persists in this behavior despite the consequences. F.A.S.T.E.R. is an acronym that helps predict and prevent addiction relapses.
While Michael worked primarily with substance addictions, the scale has been shown to work just as well for porn addiction. It’s based on a recognizable pattern in all addictions. The relapse actually begins long before someone starts acting out. Once you understand the pattern, you can work to intervene before getting to the point of relapse.
Let’s look at each part of the acronym to better understand how it works.
Forget Priorities
The “F” of the F.A.S.T.E.R. scale stands for forgetting priorities and losing sight of what’s really important. The priority could be a marriage, it could be spiritual growth, or some personal goal. When someone loses sight of what matters most, they’ve started down the path to relapse.
Anxiety
“Stress is the number one killer, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically in our lives.” – Michael Dye
For someone in recovery, it’s dangerous for increased worry, fear, or stress to go unchecked.
Anxiety pushes someone who’s forgotten their priorities down the path toward harmful behavior. There’s been a lot of research on the relationship between porn and anxiety.
Speeding Up
“Speeding up” could also be called, “trying to outrun anxiety.” This means becoming overly busy, avoiding emotions, or engaging in compulsive behaviors. This further intensifies the situation, and pushes someone closer to a relapse.
Ticked Off
Speeding up leads to a frustrated or angry state. At this point, the individual may lash out at others, or get defensive about their behavior. While it manifests differently in different people, the “ticked off” point marks another step closer to an eventual relapse.
Exhausted
Exhaustion follows the anger and frustration. The exhausted person feels they’re at the end of their rope and can’t go on. At this stage, preoccupation with the addictive behavior (e.g. watching pornography) consumes their thoughts. They’re in a vulnerable place and highly susceptible.
Relapse
The final part of the scale is the actual relapse. It marks a return to the addictive behavior and a further solidification of the coping pattern.
How the F.A.S.T.E.R. Scale Helps With Recovery
For Michael Dye, addiction recovery was about much more than changing an addictive behavior. He remarked that changing the behavior without addressing the root problem “is like changing seats on the Titanic”—meaning that people replace one bad behavior for a worse one.
“If you want to change your behavior, you have to change your heart.” – Michael Dye
Michael believed that Jesus is the one who changes hearts. And when Jesus changes your heart, He changes your belief system, which in turn changes behaviors. The F.A.S.T.E.R. scale helps us stop and evaluate where we’ve gotten off track from our core beliefs.
The Power of Connection
Human connection is the only way someone can overcome addiction. Even a powerful tool like the F.A.S.T.E.R. Scale doesn’t work in isolation.
This is because an addiction is really a substitute for this connection. People are primed for addiction in the earliest years of their life when they lack strong attachments to their caregivers. Coping behaviors become a substitute for the lack of connection.
And the only way to break the pattern of addiction is through relationships.
“You can’t get to where you want to go or be who you want to be alone.” – Michael Dye
The F.A.S.T.E.R. Scale becomes extremely effective when used in the context of open and honest relationships. Used with a trusted ally, it fosters accountability on the road to recovery.
We are grateful for Michael and his work and dedication over many years of helping people find freedom from the bonds of compulsive behavior. God truly used his life and continues to use his work to bless many.
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