Something went awry with yesterday's post, so I'm reposting and adding a video shared in a comment. This interview with Keith Humphreys is well worth the time, particularly if you don't have first hand experience with 12 step recovery. https://soundcloud.com/stanfordmed/study-aa-best-for-alcohol-abstinence For more info, visit David McCartney's post on the Cochrane Review discussed in this interview. … Continue reading One of the fun things about science is that it can overturn your prejudices (trying again)
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.
One of the fun things about science is that it can overturn your prejudices
This interview with Keith Humphreys is well worth the time, particularly if you don't have first hand experience with 12 step recovery. https://soundcloud.com/stanfordmed/study-aa-best-for-alcohol-abstinence For more info, visit David McCartney's post on the Cochrane Review discussed in this interview.
Recovering community as political fiction
This was originally posted in 2011 and seems like a appropriate follow-up to yesterday's post. I suppose the notion that the the recovery community is a useful fiction can take us in multiple directions. If the recovery community is a fiction, then it's boundaries are also a fiction, not static, and can be changed (expanded) at … Continue reading Recovering community as political fiction
Building big tents and finding our lane(s)
Faces and Voices' blog has a new post arguing that social justice advocacy is in the recovery advocacy lane. I don’t get to pick recovery justice outside of the frame of social justice because recovery justice is social justice. This doesn’t mean I need to be an expert on all social justice issues, but I … Continue reading Building big tents and finding our lane(s)
Cognitive Bias and Public Health Policy
JAMA has an article on cognitive bias as it relates to public health policy for COVID-19. These cognitive errors, which distract leaders from optimal policy making and citizens from taking steps to promote their own and others’ interests, cannot merely be ascribed to repudiations of science. Rather, these biases are pervasive and may have been … Continue reading Cognitive Bias and Public Health Policy
Does morality have a place in discussions of addiction recovery?
A question has been on my mind for a while--what is the place of morality or moralizing language in addiction and recovery? Not moral? Bill White has been one of the most influential recovery advocates of the last quarter century. One could argue that, over that time, no one has done more to advance the … Continue reading Does morality have a place in discussions of addiction recovery?
Follow the science . . .
I haven't posted for some time. The hospital I work at was hit very hard by COVID-19 and I'm still working on getting recharged for activities like blogging, but the pandemic did play a role in inspiring this post. I've been thinking a lot about the convergence of several cultural trends: historically unprecedented access to … Continue reading Follow the science . . .
Less effective and focused on only one problem
This is a throwback post that was originally posted January 14, 2012. Some friends shared this video about the benefits of exercise: At about 7:00, he says: So a German researcher named Rainer Hambrecht looked at this with about 100 cardiac patients He got the group to exercise, and by that I mean 20 minutes … Continue reading Less effective and focused on only one problem
Sheltering at home when home is “the lion’s den”
(Source: ABC 7 Bay Area) Bill White shared an important post this week that I imagine will evoke a variety of reactions. Stigma reduction efforts have sought to challenge assumptions that people with addiction are neglectful or abusive parents. Those assumptions are wrong and should be challenged. It's also true that addiction does inflict harms … Continue reading Sheltering at home when home is “the lion’s den”
Stigma? Or, something else?
I saw some comments about this study as evidence of stigma among physicians. Every time I see a discussion about physician reluctance to treat addiction, I wonder if there's an alternative explanation. Here's what paper reported: 67.1% believe treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) is more effective with medication than without77.5% believe buprenorphine is an … Continue reading Stigma? Or, something else?
Recovery Review 