Let's take a look at some of the statements Bill White makes in his 2003 paper on the lost roots of addiction counseling. And as we do, let's think about the context we currently see in the addiction treatment and SUD services space. What points in this paper help us have clarity about our work … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White. “The Road Not Taken: The Lost Roots of Addiction Counseling”
Author: Brian Coon
Revisiting the Work of William White: “Treatment Works! Time for a new slogan”
In his 4 ½ page paper from 2005 titled, “Treatment Works! Time for a new slogan”, Bill provides a look at the pro-treatment, pro-recovery, and de-stigmatizing slogan promulgated by many including the US government: "Treatment Works!”. In doing so he accurately outlines the advantages of sloganeering, and some of the positives inherent in the “Treatment … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White: “Treatment Works! Time for a new slogan”
Revisiting the Work of William White. Behavioral Health Recovery Management: Statement of Principles
I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and carefully read this 2 1/2 page document from 2001. I can think of no single paper Bill has been involved in that has impacted my day-to-day clinical life and activity more than the BHRM Statement of Principles. That brief document is immediately below. BHRM Statement of … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White. Behavioral Health Recovery Management: Statement of Principles
Revisiting the Work of William White: “Recovery Carriers”
Summary In this paper, Bill describes the phenomena of addiction recovery being somehow primed in those who are still suffering, caught by those who are not “ready”, transmitted by those with this personal quality, and forming a critical mass of a different kind and higher potency when individuals with it gather. In doing so, he … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White: “Recovery Carriers”
Revisiting the Work of William White. “The Rhetoric of Recovery Advocacy”: An Essay On the Power of Language
Summary In another post in this series, I'll highlight Bill’s paper on the concept of the “recovery carrier”. For me, if I’m asked to single out one paper above all his others that I would have someone read first – as being most critical, brief, and easy to read – that would be the one. … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White. “The Rhetoric of Recovery Advocacy”: An Essay On the Power of Language
Proposing Two First-Rank Symptoms of Alcoholism
Jason Schwartz recently posted about the 11 DSM-5 criteria for SUD (APA, 2013). In doing so he discussed the: category of Substance Use Disorder in the DSM-5 as being too broad to be useful; ballooning of epidemiological data concerning the incidence and prevalence of addiction based on category errors in context of the DSM-5 SUD … Continue reading Proposing Two First-Rank Symptoms of Alcoholism
Who calls themselves a “former alumni” and what exactly does that mean?
If someone graduates from an academic degree program then that person is an alumnus of that institution, by definition. And of course, by definition, the status of being an alumnus is permanent. But concerning an addiction treatment program, some people might claim they are no longer an alumnus. At some point in the future they … Continue reading Who calls themselves a “former alumni” and what exactly does that mean?
A fresh look at “The Four Pests”
A shift in the zeitgeist seems to be happening in recent years, such that four particular things are becoming regarded as pests: Recovery, both as a goal and as a process Sobriety (its functional significance) and Abstinence (its efficacy and value, vs. its safety and vs. one’s ability to tolerate it) Addiction illness (the construct) Treatment (its indications and its … Continue reading A fresh look at “The Four Pests”
A fresh look at the “Harms of Use”
By 2019 I had grown concerned enough about the occasionally all-encompassing nature of Harm Reduction as an activist ideology (rather than the set of sound clinical practices in harm reduction I've literally seen and been involved in across my entire career since 1988), that I coined a term for the sake of my own clarity. … Continue reading A fresh look at the “Harms of Use”
A Fresh Look at the Topic of “Addiction Hospice”
We seem to be moving toward formalizing what I have called “Addiction Hospice” (palliative SUD care, both as a clinical process and as an endpoint goal). Toward supplying a back story, I’ll say that I started to identify this trend and called it “Addiction Hospice” around 2007 or so (during the final years of our … Continue reading A Fresh Look at the Topic of “Addiction Hospice”
Recovery Review 