This article got me thinking about the bigotry of low expectations and the importance of continuing to assert that every addict should be offered treatment services that provide a path to full recovery, not just symptom or harm reduction. If it's not suicide or drug overdoses doing the killing in psychiatric patients after all, how … Continue reading “looking past these behaviors”
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.
Marijuana advocates target workplace policies
Since Jan. 1, it has been legal to buy and use marijuana in Colorado, but it's illegal for players under the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. In September, the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group, placed a billboard outside Denver's Sports Authority Field at Mile High, calling on the league to stop punishing players for using … Continue reading Marijuana advocates target workplace policies
What kind of corporate citizen is Reckitt Benckiser?
While the story has nothing directly to do with addiction, Marketplace provides a little background on the kind of corporation that Reckitt Benckiser (manufacturer of Suboxone) is: Here's the background: Many rodenticides act as anticoagulants, killing pests by making them bleed internally. They're great at killing rats, but they're also killing animals that eat rats. Stella … Continue reading What kind of corporate citizen is Reckitt Benckiser?
Spiritual awakening predicts improved recovery outcomes
An interesting study from a friend of ours: Abstract PURPOSE: This study examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between two dimensions of affiliation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)-attendance and spiritual awakening-and drinking outcomes among adult patients who were in treatment for alcohol dependence in Warsaw, Poland. In a study conducted at four addiction treatment centers, male and female … Continue reading Spiritual awakening predicts improved recovery outcomes
Therapists personal lives affect treatment outcomes
If you're a helper and you think your personal life is irrelevant to the treatment you provide, think again. The Personal Burdens scale was strongly and inversely related to the growth of the alliance as rated by the patients, but was unrelated to therapist-rated alliance. Conversely, the factor scale of therapists' Personal Satisfactions was clearly … Continue reading Therapists personal lives affect treatment outcomes
My Dad Will Never Stop Smoking Pot
The Atlantic published an personal essay about the impact of her father's marijuana addiction on herself and her siblings. Then there's my sister, the baby, the one who struggled harder than any of us. She tried so desperately to finish high school, a rare feat in my family. Then she tried community college. As we … Continue reading My Dad Will Never Stop Smoking Pot
Tribes of the recovering community
This week's tribe are Wellbriety Circles: Wellbriety means to be both sober and well. It means to have come through recovery from chemical dependency and to be a recovered person who is going beyond survival to thriving in his or her life and in the life of the community. The Well part of Wellbriety means to live the … Continue reading Tribes of the recovering community
Anticipatory Grief and Family Recovery
Bill White recently wrote a great post speaking to the experience of family members—first, the trauma of loving an addict, then the unexpected trauma of recovery: There are numerous obstacles that inhibit family recovery from addiction. One of the most critical is the cumulative effects of anticipatory grief (AG). AG is a process through which grieving … Continue reading Anticipatory Grief and Family Recovery
Home is where the meth is
An anthropologist embedded with meth addicts in Missouri and has an interview in the New Republic. The trailer parks of Jefferson County, Missouri, are a far cry from the international cartels of Breaking Bad, but this is the real picture of meth in America: Eveready batteries and Red Devil Lye on kitchen counters, used syringes … Continue reading Home is where the meth is
Krokodil Crock: How Rumors Of A ‘Flesh-Eating Zombie Drug’ Swept The Nation
This is why you don't see sensational horror stories about new drugs on this blog: By now you probably have heard that krokodil, a nasty homemade version of the narcotic painkiller desomorphine, is starting to catch on in the United States. Having eaten its way through the flesh of myriad Russian opiate addicts, the caustic … Continue reading Krokodil Crock: How Rumors Of A ‘Flesh-Eating Zombie Drug’ Swept The Nation
Recovery Review 