Recently, while doing some reading, I came across the phrase, “…the patient’s unknown goal…” To me, that phrase is splendid for a number of reasons.  And it’s sent me reeling in my thinking across a variety of topics.  Noah Grossenbbacher, Unsplash In this post I’ll list a couple of those topics, and some of my … Continue reading “The patient’s unknown goal”

At this stage of my career, it seems to me that “Addiction Counseling” is one thing made from the following four essential ingredients:  listening with the “third ear”; those unique competencies and skills that are particular to the professional addiction counselor; the competencies and skills particular to the recovery coach; and finally, the qualities of … Continue reading What is Addiction Counseling?

Disclaimer:  nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care.  Around 25 years ago the topic of a “list of things worth memorizing” was presented by a trainer who came to our agency.  The trainer suggested a list of things worth memorizing could be helpful … Continue reading A List of Things Worth Memorizing (for clinicians)

Disclaimer:  nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care.  In Part 1 of this topic from the field I addressed the problem of treatment plans that seem to reflect the counselor more than the patient.  In doing so, I described some ways to assess … Continue reading Topic from the field:  A problem with treatment plans. Part 2 – Some considerations toward improved treatment planning

Disclaimer:  nothing in this post should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care.  A colleague in the field submitted a specific problem related to treatment plans for me to comment on here at Recovery Review. “What's the specific issue?”, I asked.  They replied, “When treatment plans are individualized … Continue reading Topic from the field:  A problem with treatment plans

Each of us have qualities that seem relatively stable over our lifespan, while other aspects seem to come and go.  Some of our more stable qualities are personality factors.  Examples of personality factors include how outgoing we are, a tendency to see the glass as “half-empty”, and our propensity for risk-taking behaviors.  There are many … Continue reading Comments on the Practical Use of Personality

The majority of the population prefer the certainty of irrational conviction to the uncertainty of logical doubt. (Anonymous). Payte, J. T. (1997). Methadone Maintenance Treatment: The First Thirty Years. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 29(2): 149-153. DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1997.10400182

An article published online 11/20/2023 caught my attention.  The paper is titled “Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of cannabis use disorder yields insight into disease biology and public health implications”.  You can find the full text here. The article's a rather technical read, given it describes research methods within population-level genetics.  By contrast, a highly readable … Continue reading Research Article Review:  A paper examining the genome of 1,054,365 people from four ancestral groups vs. cannabis

What do you gain for our field as you consider this quote about Miles Davis as a bandleader? Here it is. See what you think....  The main ingredient there, if there was any special ingredient, was Miles, and the way he led the way…Basically there was an agreement amongst those musicians, not spoken but something … Continue reading Lessons from Outside the Field:  Chick Corea on Miles Davis as a Bandleader 

Disclaimer:  nothing in this content should be taken or held as clinical instruction, clinical supervision, or advisory concerning patient care.  This post consists of the Overview and Introduction of a monograph I wrote on the subject of resistance in addiction counseling. For those that are interested, the entire monograph, including both the Overview and Introduction … Continue reading Notes on Resistance in Addiction Counseling