NY Magazine shares a jarring photo essay. (Trigger warning, the images are pretty graphic.) Most documentary projects about addiction expose someone else’s self-destructive behavior, but Graham MacIndoe took a very different approach: He photographed himself during the years he was addicted to drugs. He’d place a cheap digital camera on a table or bookshelf, set the … Continue reading You start losing everything
Month: February 2014
The Misconceptions Go Round
Anna David vents her frustration about recent distortions of 12 step groups in coverage of Philip Seymour Hoffman's death: ...I grow concerned about factually inaccurate information being spread in ways that are truly dangerous. That happened when I stumbled upon this io9 post which states, about 12-step, both that “the problem is that the sponsor system doesn’t … Continue reading The Misconceptions Go Round
Medication: The smart-pill oversell
Given the simultaneous explosion in ADHD diagnosis, prescribed use of stimulants and non-medical use of stimulants, maybe it's time to look at the cost/benefit ratio. We'll it's clear that the benefits aren't all that. What to make of it? Researchers are beginning to address this paradox. How can medication that makes children sit still and … Continue reading Medication: The smart-pill oversell
Tough love?
In a public facebook post, David Sheff rails against "tough love" advice to kick addicted loved ones out of the house: Like so many others, he's been indoctrinated by counselors, therapists, and people in 12 step groups. Al-Anon is wonderful --it helped me-- but it doesn’t tell us to let a child or spouse or … Continue reading Tough love?
Sentences to ponder
This is what it's all about. "I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad I want to live again. I have dreams. I want a family. I want to experience life. And right now, I’m heading in the right direction." via A suburban heroin addict describes his brush with death and his hopes for a better life … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
Suicide Prevention and Addiction
From the Dawn Farm Education Series: Suicide Prevention and Addiction from Dawn Farm on Vimeo. More here.
Addiction and Free Choice
Nora Volkow, in the first two sentences of this post, provides more clarity than I think I've every seen on the matter of choice and the brain disease of addiction: Choices do not happen without a brain—it is the mechanism of choice. The quality of a person’s choices depends on the health of that mechanism. … Continue reading Addiction and Free Choice
The “trauma of recovery”
Bill White with Stephanie Brown on the unexpected "trauma of recovery": Bill White: Yes, you used the phrase “trauma of recovery” that just stunned me when I first read it. Stephanie Brown: By 1994/95, we were well into analyzing family data and clearly saw that the experience of trauma, so starkly evident during active addiction, … Continue reading The “trauma of recovery”
Addicts and Disease
Dirk Hanson has a great post on resistance to the disease model. I'm a believer in harm reduction as part of the continuum of addiction interventions, but there is often a chasm between the way harm reductionists and treatment providers frame the problem. This can make it difficult to work together. Dirk does a great … Continue reading Addicts and Disease
The choice argument and pleasure cont’d
The NY Times recently had a Room for Debate feature on addiction. They published opinions from 6 different people on addiction with one being a clear advocate for the disease model. This is a little like publishing a debate feature on climate change and having 1 of 6 experts believe that global climate change is … Continue reading The choice argument and pleasure cont’d
Recovery Review 