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.

Cultivating Mindfulness to Support Recovery – Dawn Farm Education Series

March 2, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 3 Comments

From the Dawn Farm Education Series: Recent research confirms the efficacy of mindfulness practices to support attaining and sustaining recovery from substance use disorders. This video includes an overview of theory and research supporting mindfulness practices for people with addiction as well as practical techniques to cultivate mindfulness and apply mindfulness practices. The presentation defines … Continue reading Cultivating Mindfulness to Support Recovery – Dawn Farm Education Series

Empathy: The First Step To Improving Health Outcomes

March 1, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 4 Comments

A Health Affairs post points to a study that higher levels of physician empathy predicted better outcomes for diabetes patients. A 2012 study from Italy analyzed the health outcomes of more than 20,000 patients with diabetes, who were assigned to three different groups of physicians (pre-evaluated for their levels of empathy). The physicians who demonstrated … Continue reading Empathy: The First Step To Improving Health Outcomes

You start losing everything

February 28, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 2 Comments

NY Magazine shares a jarring photo essay. (Trigger warning, the images are pretty graphic.) Most documentary projects about addiction expose someone else’s self-destructive behavior, but Graham MacIndoe took a very different approach: He photographed himself during the years he was addicted to drugs. He’d place a cheap digital camera on a table or bookshelf, set the … Continue reading You start losing everything

The Misconceptions Go Round

February 27, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 10 Comments

Anna David vents her frustration about recent distortions of 12 step groups in coverage of Philip Seymour Hoffman's death: ...I grow concerned about factually inaccurate information being spread in ways that are truly dangerous. That happened when I stumbled upon this io9 post which states, about 12-step, both that “the problem is that the sponsor system doesn’t … Continue reading The Misconceptions Go Round

Medication: The smart-pill oversell

February 26, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 1 Comment

Given the simultaneous explosion in ADHD diagnosis, prescribed use of stimulants and non-medical use of stimulants, maybe it's time to look at the cost/benefit ratio. We'll it's clear that the benefits aren't all that. What to make of it? Researchers are beginning to address this paradox. How can medication that makes children sit still and … Continue reading Medication: The smart-pill oversell

Tough love?

February 25, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 6 Comments

In a public facebook post, David Sheff rails against "tough love" advice to kick addicted loved ones out of the house: Like so many others, he's been indoctrinated by counselors, therapists, and people in 12 step groups. Al-Anon is wonderful --it helped me-- but it doesn’t tell us to let a child or spouse or … Continue reading Tough love?

Sentences to ponder

February 24, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz

This is what it's all about. "I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad I want to live again. I have dreams. I want a family. I want to experience life. And right now, I’m heading in the right direction." via A suburban heroin addict describes his brush with death and his hopes for a better life … Continue reading Sentences to ponder

Suicide Prevention and Addiction

February 23, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 2 Comments

From the Dawn Farm Education Series: Suicide Prevention and Addiction from Dawn Farm on Vimeo. More here.

Addiction and Free Choice

February 22, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 1 Comment

Nora Volkow, in the first two sentences of this post, provides more clarity than I think I've every seen on the matter of choice and the brain disease of addiction: Choices do not happen without a brain—it is the mechanism of choice. The quality of a person’s choices depends on the health of that mechanism. … Continue reading Addiction and Free Choice

The “trauma of recovery”

February 21, 2014February 28, 2022 ~ Jason Schwartz ~ 2 Comments

Bill White with Stephanie Brown on the unexpected "trauma of recovery": Bill White: Yes, you used the phrase “trauma of recovery” that just stunned me when I first read it. Stephanie Brown: By 1994/95, we were well into analyzing family data and clearly saw that the experience of trauma, so starkly evident during active addiction, … Continue reading The “trauma of recovery”