"One of the tensions that I've encountered when writing a story about people who are in recovery from alcoholism is that they sort of have to be screwing up in order for me to have a story." --Dan Barden
Author: Jason Schwartz
I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I currently serve as the Director of Social Work and Spiritual Care for a healthcare system. I've also served as the Director of Behavioral Health at another hospital. I'm also a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work.
Views expressed here are my own.
Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.
Everyone, from Yale to jail
Greater Good has a nice piece on the benefits of helping others in addiction recovery: In recent years, a growing body of research has found that helping others brings measurable physical and psychological benefits to the helper. Building on this work, Pagano is exploring the particular and sometimes surprising benefits of altruism for people battling alcoholism and … Continue reading Everyone, from Yale to jail
The Doctor’s Opinion, Revisited
The Doctor’s Opinion on Alcoholism from Dawn Farm on Vimeo.
Songs of addiction and recovery
Gene Ween (Real name is Aaron Freeman.) will be releasing a new album next month. He talks about the album, his recovery and why the timing of this album of covers fits well with his early recovery.
Rest in peace
Addicts and alcoholics often experience sleep disturbance and often seek help from doctors. Sleeping meds have always been risky for addicts, here's another reason to think twice. In the study, which compared 10,529 people who received prescriptions for sleep aids with nearly twice as many people with similar health histories who did not take sleeping … Continue reading Rest in peace
Blame your language for being broke and fat
Does language shape behavior? Here’s the idea: Languages differ in the devices they offer to speakers who want to talk about the future. For some, like Spanish and Greek, you have to tack on a verb ending that explicitly marks future time—so, in Spanish, you would say escribo for the present tense (I write or I’m writing) andescribiré for the … Continue reading Blame your language for being broke and fat
Sober housing helps! Who knew?
Detox + discharge = 😦 Detox + sober housing = 🙂 Detox + sober housing + treatment = 😀 To find out if opioid-dependent individuals achieve higher abstinence rates given access to recovery housing and day treatment, researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine followed 243 patients -- primarily heroin users -- after their … Continue reading Sober housing helps! Who knew?
Identity and addiction
The White Noise had a post on identity and addiction. The blogger ends up expressing some discomfort with the way many recovering addicts make their addiction and recovery so central to their identity: I have mixed feelings on AA. I believe in camaraderie and community in times of strain and crisis. I believe in cultivating the … Continue reading Identity and addiction
Sentences to ponder
Further along the theme of blindness to one's own bias: It is therefore striking that libertarians, who are in fact uninclined to talk about family breakdown, seek to overturn a policy that does more damage to American families than any other. Conor Friedersdorf arguing that the single best thing the US government could do for families is … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
I can’t sleep no more…
Ta-Nehisi Coates reminds us that human error will exist, whatever the drug policy, and uses a recent police killing of an unarmed 18 year old to point out that the stakes are very high when anything is criminalized. When people talk about ending the War on Drugs, or decriminalizing marijuana, or reining in stop and frisk, they … Continue reading I can’t sleep no more…
Recovery Review 