In 1999, only 3 percent of U.S. counties had an annual drug death rate of more than ten people per 100,000. By 2008, 54 percent of counties did. --Popular Science via Andrew Sullivan Related articles Overdosing In America (dish.andrewsullivan.com) Drug Overdoses Are Killing More Rural Americans Than Ever [MAPS] (businessinsider.com) Medical overdose epidemic takes deadly turn … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
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.
a spectrum of apples, oranges, lemons, plums?
Howard Wetsman picks apart the spectrum approach of the DSM5 Making a spectrum out of the illnesses that have been put in the substance use category of DSM IV is like making a spectrum out of an apple, an orange, a lemon, a lime, a blue fruit (if there was one) and a plum. You’d … Continue reading a spectrum of apples, oranges, lemons, plums?
Living on the bottom
Debra Jay addresses the belief that families should let an addicted family member hit bottom: Hitting bottom is an old idea, still imposed upon families as if it were an absolute. Many families sadly believe that they must wait for alcoholics to hit bottom before there is any hope for recovery. They rarely stop to … Continue reading Living on the bottom
Sentences to ponder
After controlling for all factors, adults exposed to parental addiction had 69% higher odds of depression compared to their peers with non-addicted parents (OR=1.69; 95% CI, 1.25-2.28). The relationship between parental addictions and depression did not vary by gender. - The long arm of parental addictions - PubMed - NCBI
DSM 5 Substance Use Disorders: A Concise Summary
Terry Gorski has a nice summary of substance use disorders in the DSM-5. Here's his analysis at the end of the post: The DSM 5 is criticized for combining the the DSM IV categories of substance dependence (addiction marked by a pattern of compulsive use or loss of control) and substance abuse disorders (using in … Continue reading DSM 5 Substance Use Disorders: A Concise Summary
Sentences to ponder
Nearly one-third of U.S. veterans who are given psychiatric medications by their doctors do not have a diagnosed mental health problem Many vets given psychiatric drugs without diagnosis | Reuters Related articles Many Vets Given Psychiatric Drugs without Diagnosis (nlm.nih.gov) 30% of Vets Given Psych Drugs Have no Diagnosis (madinamerica.com) When "Psychiatric Survivors" Think They … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
Tribes of the recovering community
There are a lot of prevention coalitions out there, but I have not seen any that have done as good a job of integrating recovering people as Families Against Narcotics. They have a speaker's bureau that includes 50 young people in recovery and organize activities that include a softball game between the local police and … Continue reading Tribes of the recovering community
AA is asinine?
The Boston Globe has a piece on why Russians haven't embraced AA: ...the group-therapy dynamic collides with a skepticism about the possibility of ordinary people curing each other of anything. “The idea that another drunk can help you is asinine to most Russians,” said Alexandre Laudet, a social psychologist who has researched Russian alcoholism. Then … Continue reading AA is asinine?
With Rise Of Painkiller Abuse, A Closer Look At Heroin
The number of people who had used heroin in the previous year increased between 2007 and 2012, from 373,000 to 669,000. Meanwhile, federal data from 2011 finds that nearly 80 percent of people who had used heroin in the past year had also previously abused prescription painkillers classified as opioids. via With Rise … Continue reading With Rise Of Painkiller Abuse, A Closer Look At Heroin
Sentences to ponder
Snorting chemicals has a bad rap. But as a method of drug delivery, it may be on the verge of a renaissance. Unlike medications taken orally, intravenously or otherwise, those sniffed up the nose gain direct access to the brain. --Scientific American Pair this with Bill White's comment, "I can't tell you what will become … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
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