Findings were recently published on a study of a mindfulness based intervention for chronic pain and opioid misuse. To test the treatment, 115 chronic pain patients were randomly assigned to eight weeks of either MORE or conventional support group therapy, and outcomes were measured through questionnaires at pre- and post-treatment, and again at a three-month … Continue reading Mind Over Matter: Beating Pain and Painkillers
Month: February 2014
Amplified Recovery
Bill White, illuminating real recovery and the how necessary it is for helpers to maintaining direct connections to people with "amplified recovery": The addictions field has been so fixated throughout its history on addiction-related pathologies that we know very little about these amplified states of recovery. We as addiction professionals need to periodically remind ourselves … Continue reading Amplified Recovery
Tribes of the recovering community – Clergy
We'll wrap the tribes of the recovering community series with a few mutual aid groups for recovering clergy. Clergy Recovery Network - The Clergy Recovery Network exists to support, encourage and provide resources to religious professionals in recovery. If you are a pastor, missionary, religious professional--or a spouse of one--and you need help . . .welcome … Continue reading Tribes of the recovering community – Clergy
A new smoking culture?
But now a new threat is emerging. The use of e-cigarettes is rising rapidly, with teenagers a key target of marketing efforts. “Vaping” is making smoking acceptable—even cool—once again as the tobacco industry returns to its old ways, putting e-cigarette commercials back on the airwaves for the first time since the 1970s. Right now, e-cigarettes … Continue reading A new smoking culture?
‘Recovering Alcoholic’: Words That Stigmatize or Empower?
• The more the individual identified him/herself as a recovering alcoholic (addict) the higher was his/her level of self-efficacy.• Higher self-efficacy was associated with more months clean and/or sober.• The more the individual leaned toward the recovering identity the less likely she/he was to report having relapsed into drinking or drug use during the pervious … Continue reading ‘Recovering Alcoholic’: Words That Stigmatize or Empower?
Sentences to ponder
The more than 16,000 overdose deaths from prescription opioids each year disproves the idea that it's easy to regulate addictive drugs if they are produced and provided legally. We can reduce the violence in markets, but we’ve paid a real cost in public health harms and in safety failures from reckless corporate behavior. via 100 … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
Recovery vs. Treatment
Hopeworks Community's blog speaks from the perspective of a mental health care patient advocate. He draws some important distinctions between recovery and treatment: Is treatment a necessary or a sufficient condition for recovery?? The answer is clearly on both counts no. Mental health professionals have stolen the notion of recovery and defined it as the result of … Continue reading Recovery vs. Treatment
What we project onto Philip Seymour Hoffman
Jen Matesa pushes back against some of the commentary framing Philip Seymour Hoffman's attempt to re-establish his recovery through a 12 step program as a product of stigma. (This, in spite of the fact that he had previously maintained recovery using this path for 23 years.) I find it astonishingly patronizing that some are suggesting … Continue reading What we project onto Philip Seymour Hoffman
Vancouver home to Canada’s first crackpipe vending machines
Vancouver is the home to Canada's first-ever crackpipe vending machines, which were installed in the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside in a bid to curb the spread of disease among drug users. Portland Hotel Society's Drug Users Resource Centre operates two of the machines. They dispense Pyrex crackpipes for just 25 cents. "For us, this was … Continue reading Vancouver home to Canada’s first crackpipe vending machines
Tribes of the recovering community
Narcotics Anonymous has gotten a lot of attention this week after Philip Seymour Hoffman's death, so it'll be this week's tribe: Narcotics Anonymous is a global, community-based organization with a multi-lingual and multicultural membership. NA was founded in 1953, and our membership growth was minimal during our initial twenty years as an organization. Since the … Continue reading Tribes of the recovering community
Recovery Review 