I was recently invited to give a talk on recovery housing research and found myself wondering where the term “social model” came from. I found this account, which claims it was coined by a book published in 1973, Recovery from Alcoholism: A Social Treatment Model. That book’s principal author, Bob O’Briant, would go on to … Continue reading What a Radical 1970s Program Got Right about Treating Addiction
Category: History
The Doctor’s Opinion – Dawn Farm Ed Series
Research continues to shed light on the neurobiology of alcohol/other drug addiction. Modern research supports much of what was intuitively and experientially believed by the medical specialists who supported the Alcoholics Anonymous program in its earliest days. This program will describe a physician's view of alcoholism, as presented in the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous and updated … Continue reading The Doctor’s Opinion – Dawn Farm Ed Series
On knowing and piety toward science
I've pushed back before on the limits of research, "rational" policy, evidence-based policies, and the assumption that research is objective, etc. On Being recently discussed science and the unknown. Here are a few choice bits. On the limitations of science: Dr. Gleiser: . . . one of the grand goals of modern physics is to build a Theory … Continue reading On knowing and piety toward science
Recovery vs. Disease Management
The Hopeworks Community blog has an outstanding post contrasting recovery and disease management. His focus is on mental illness, but the parallels are clear. One can't help but reflect on the fact that the addiction recovery movement rose in response to the failure of the mental health system to help addicts recover. There's a lot … Continue reading Recovery vs. Disease Management
1 in 5 Russian men die of alcohol-related causes
The scale of the alcohol problem in Russia is stunning: Today, according to the World Health Organization, one in five men in the Russia Federation die due to alcohol-related causes, compared with 6.2 percent of all men globally. In 2000, in her article “First Steps: AA and Alcoholism in Russia,”Patricia Critchlow estimated that some 20 million … Continue reading 1 in 5 Russian men die of alcohol-related causes
Love and faith
The field of addiction treatment was flawed in 1973, but not nearly as flawed as some would have you believe. The following is from Marty Mann in 1973 and I could not do a better job of summarizing Dawn Farm's approach. Para-professionals working in the field of alcoholism are overwhelmingly recovered alcoholics. Most of them … Continue reading Love and faith
Crack is Wack
Points has a post on the history of Keith Haring's "Crack is Wack" mural.
Sanjay Gupta – I was wrong about pot
Worth noting that the guy was almost Surgeon General of the U.S. He's changed his mind on marijuana. He says he overestimated the harm and looks forward to more research on medical marijuana. I didn't read many conclusions in his piece, but I agree with the questions he's asking. As far as … Continue reading Sanjay Gupta – I was wrong about pot
What happened to the “crack babies”?
Dirk Hansen reports the good news about "crack babies": In a paper authored by Hurt, Laura M Betancourt, and others, the investigators write: “It is now well established that gestational cocaine exposure has not produced the profound deficits anticipated in the 1980s and 1990s, with children described variably as joyless, microcephalic, or unmanageable.” The authors do … Continue reading What happened to the “crack babies”?
Vintage drug ads
io9 has a great collection of vintage drug ads. Check it out here. Here are a few