I decided to try something a little different and record an interview with Derek Wolfe, a new medical school graduate and future psychiatrist with a special interest in addiction. (Maybe interviews will be a recurring thing.) One of the outcomes of the opioid crisis is that physicians have been centered in addiction treatment and drug … Continue reading What do medical students learn about addiction?

I've been involved in some recent discussions about addiction as a disease and the role of experiences like trauma. A few years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Jehannine Austin discuss how she approaches genetic counseling around psychiatric disorders and addiction. She doesn't answer all the questions around the etiology of addiction (who … Continue reading Is addiction caused by genetic or environmental factors?

I've been watching a really interesting twitter discussion about the conceptual boundaries of recovery. One branch of the discussion got into recovery as a process and as an outcome. It reminded me of this post from 2019. Yesterday, we began to revisit the concept of recovery-oriented harm reduction. Why recovery-oriented harm reduction and not just … Continue reading Revisiting recovery-oriented harm reduction (part 2)

A friend recently shared a copy of the May/June 1989 issue of Professional Counselor Magazine. I thought you might find this portion interesting. The field has been wrong about a lot and learned a lot, but it's worth knowing that we were engaged in advocacy opposing the war on drugs in (and before) 1989, while … Continue reading Recovery Advocacy circa 1989

The Association of Recovery In Higher Education recently hosted a webinar on the The Recovery Legacies of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. It was presented by Mark Sanders, an under-recognized treasure in the field. I can't embed it here, but please go check it out.

Bill recently suggested that we're all vulnerable to engaging in abusive behavior. Bill suggested that we all be mindful about that human tendency and maintain vigilance to prevent it. That post got me thinking about Chris Budnick's open letter of amends and I wanted to share it with you now. https://youtu.be/AKeXdKGKM24

I've posted quite a bit on language in advocacy over the years. Most recently I posted about the choice between words ("chronic brain disease") that evoke less blame but more pessimism about change, or words ("problem") that evoke more blame but more optimism about change. A couple of months ago, I examined a few examples … Continue reading Stigma, humanizing terms, and taking on hostility

Our contributor David McCartney has a post over at the Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems blog. It's worth your time. “Rehab? What’s the point of it? There’s no evidence that it works. I don’t refer anyone to rehab. Do you?”The addiction worker was talking to a colleague – another practitioner working in the field. … Continue reading Residential rehabilitation: powering up in 2021

Austin Brown recently tweeted a link to an editorial from Drug and Alcohol Dependence which is, unfortunately, behind a paywall. The editorial was written by Eric Strain, the outgoing Editor in Chief, reflecting on the research he's observed in his 15 years as an editor. Coincidentally, it articulates the core message of my blogging over … Continue reading Meaning and purpose in the context of opioid overdose deaths