When I started working in addiction treatment to reliably access residential rehab in Scotland you had to live in the right area, be wealthy or just plain lucky. I heard it too often from patients and families who could see what was needed and, despite their best efforts, couldn't get near it. When we argued … Continue reading Mission Accomplished? Rehab in Scotland, Five Years On
Addiction, the Stages of Healing, and the 5-Year Model
Yesterday I had a wonderful conversation with a professional colleague in our field. The conversation was centered in wellbeing over the much longer-term, and related research with the SUD population. I found myself expounding the Stages of Healing proposal. And the 5-Year Model practice guideline as well. During the conversation I found myself wishing I … Continue reading Addiction, the Stages of Healing, and the 5-Year Model
Sentences to Ponder (more about “solo recovery”)
This phenomenon is extensively documented in the professional literature under such descriptors as maturing out (Winick, 1962, 1964), autoremission (Vaillant, 1983; Klingeman, 1992), self-initiated change (Biernacki, 1986), unassisted change (McMurran, 1994), spontaneous remission (Tuchfield, 1981; Anthony & Helzer, 1991), de-addiction (Frykholm, 1985; Klingeman, 1991), self-change (Sobell, Sobell, & Toneatto, 1991), self-managed change (Copeland, 1988), and … Continue reading Sentences to Ponder (more about “solo recovery”)
Sentences to Ponder (about “solo recovery”)
Solo (natural) recovery involves the use of one’s own intrapersonal and interpersonal resources (family, kinship, and social networks) to resolve AOD problems without benefit of professional treatment or involvement in a recovery mutual aid community. White, W. & Kurtz, E. (2006). The varieties of recovery experience. International Journal ofSelf Help and Self Care, 3(1-2), 21-61.
Children Deserve Recovery Too
Learn more and join Voices of the Unheard through NACoA’s campaign page This blog has shared thousands of posts about drug use, addiction, treatment, and recovery over the last 20 years. Very few of those posts focused on the effects of adult substance use problems on children. All of our contributors tend to focus on … Continue reading Children Deserve Recovery Too
Recovery Review as an Archive of Recovery Knowledge. Methadone Maintenance in Peoria: Late 1960s -2006.
Disclaimer: nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care, and neither should the content in the attached documents. Dr. Austin Brown’s idea that Recovery Review can or does serve as an archive of what is thought, can be thought, or has been thought about addiction, … Continue reading Recovery Review as an Archive of Recovery Knowledge. Methadone Maintenance in Peoria: Late 1960s -2006.
Recovery is a Transformative Process Extending Beyond the Individual
There is an often used saying, “connection is the opposite of addiction.” It is an oversimplified slogan suggesting a simple solution to a series of highly complex pathogenesis and environmental processes. It contains truth but is far from the panacea it is used to convey. Yet connection really is vital to sustained recovery. Historically, recovery … Continue reading Recovery is a Transformative Process Extending Beyond the Individual
When Treatment Centers Become Assembly Lines
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay I've encountered a particular institutional condition often in my work: the drug treatment center with an “assembly line” mentality. Some of the worst behavior happens in these places, clients are rarely served quality care. But it isn't because of poor staff (who tend to be some of the most passionate … Continue reading When Treatment Centers Become Assembly Lines
Question from the field: “What are your top 3 book suggestions for parents, in addition to Al-Anon?”
Disclaimer: nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care. I'll hedge my answer and say the three books I list below are the ones I tend to suggest to clinicians that they read as a resource for their own learning. And from that on-going … Continue reading Question from the field: “What are your top 3 book suggestions for parents, in addition to Al-Anon?”
Some 2025 USA drug use statistics
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a summary of drug use data from 2025 on August 12 of this year. The data is compiled from the Monitoring the Future Longitudinal Panel Study that has been examining self-reported drug use among those aged 19-65 since 1976. Here are a few direct quotations from the NIH … Continue reading Some 2025 USA drug use statistics