All right, last one. This time, Sally Satel makes the case that recovery comes down to choice and "grit and conviction." It's not just American Enterprise Institute fellows who make these arguments. I've heard people in recovery say to other AA members in relapse, "You need to make a decision!" Of course, the relapser has … Continue reading If it wasn’t rational, cont’d
Category: Controversies
If it wasn’t rational, cont’d
Sam Wilkinson responds to the the coverage of Hart's research (That crack and meth addicts in a lab will decline drugs for money.) and agrees that addiction is rational. Hart has found the same thing. It isn’t the addicts are powerless; it’s that nothing on the other side of the scale weighs as much as … Continue reading If it wasn’t rational, cont’d
Blame and illness
On blame and illness: After Linnea Duff learned at age 45 that she had developed lung cancer, she practically encouraged people to ask if she had ever smoked. But in the eight years since, her feelings have soured considerably on the too-frequent question, and she’s developed an acute sense of solidarity with fellow … Continue reading Blame and illness
NIMH acknowledges that antipsychotics worsen prospects for long term recovery
Thomas Insel, the Director of the National Institute on Mental Health comments on a recent study of the long term effects of antipsychotic maintenance for schizophrenics. The study looked at patients who discontinued antipsychotics compared to those who were maintained on antipsychotics. ...by seven years, the discontinuation group had achieved twice the functional recovery rate: … Continue reading NIMH acknowledges that antipsychotics worsen prospects for long term recovery
6 sessions of chronic care management for addiction is not effective
JAMA published a study of a primary-care based chronic care management model (CCM) for addiction. The test group did no better than the control group. The headline is a big bummer for any of us who want to see chronic disease models developed and implemented for addiction. What should we make of it? Many headlines … Continue reading 6 sessions of chronic care management for addiction is not effective
If it wasn’t rational, cont’d
Yesterday I posted about a recent NY Times column arguing for a rational model of addictive drug use: “When they were given an alternative to crack, they made rational economic decisions.” … When methamphetamine replaced crack as the great drug scourge in the United States, Dr. Hart brought meth addicts into his laboratory for similar … Continue reading If it wasn’t rational, cont’d
Brain disease does not equal stigma reduction
Yesterday, I posted about The Anonymous People and Dawn Farm's co-sponsorship of an upcoming screening of the film. So...why is this message of recovery so important to stigma reduction? We've spent 20 years trying to convince the public that addiction is a brain disease without too much attention to the potential for this message to … Continue reading Brain disease does not equal stigma reduction
What’s in that weed?
From Addiction Inbox: Australia has one of the highest rates of marijuana use in the world, but until recently, nobody could say for certain what, exactly, Australians were smoking. Researchers at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales recently analyzed hundreds of cannabis samples seized by Australian police, and … Continue reading What’s in that weed?
3 fold preference for talk-therapy
I swear I don't go looking for this stuff. This post from the British Psychological Society just popped up in my feed reader: A line was crossed in 2005 as anti-depressant medication became the most widely prescribed class of drug in the USA. ... "It is unclear why the shift toward pharmacologic and away from … Continue reading 3 fold preference for talk-therapy
Why is talk therapy going out of favor?
A special issue of Clinical Psychology Review examines the decline of talk therapies: Psychotherapy has issues. Evidence shows that some psychosocial treatments work well for common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression and that consumers often prefer them to medication. Yet the use of psychotherapy is on a clear decline in the United States. In a set of research review … Continue reading Why is talk therapy going out of favor?
Recovery Review 