Some friends shared this video about the benefits of exercise: At about 7:00, he says: So a German researcher named Rainer Hambrecht looked at this with about 100 cardiac patients He got the group to exercise, and by that I mean 20 minutes a day in an exercise bicycle and once a week a 60 … Continue reading Less effective and focused on only one problem
Category: Research
a thousand pasts and no future
"Choose [your memories] carefully. Memories are all we end up with ... You'll have a thousand pasts and no future." --The Secret Behind Their Eyes (film) A friend shared this On Point episode with me and made a connection between it and resentments. This matter of appropriate, helpful, deliberate forgetting is very fascinating. We've talked before … Continue reading a thousand pasts and no future
Top Posts of 2011 #1 – The Suboxone “Solution”
The Fix has a provocative article on the growing use of buprenorphine maintenance. Over the last several years we've watched long-term maintenance become the norm and it has been a growing concern at Dawn Farm, particularly as we've had growing numbers of people misusing the drug and others seeking help getting detoxed from buprenorphine. She … Continue reading Top Posts of 2011 #1 – The Suboxone “Solution”
Top Posts of 2011 #4 – Acquiring addiction?
Nora Volkow suggests that it is possible to acquire cocaine addiction from a combination of stress and exposure to cocaine: Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has shown in several brain-imaging studies that people addicted to such drugs as cocaine, heroin and alcohol have fewer dopamine receptors in the brain’s reward pathways than nonaddicts. … Continue reading Top Posts of 2011 #4 – Acquiring addiction?
Top Posts of 2011 #5 – Substance Use and Dependence Following Initiation of Alcohol or Illicit Drug Use
There is a new NSDUH report on the development of dependence upon a substance in the 2 years following substance use initiation as explained below. For the purposes of this report, persons who initiated use of a substance 13 to 24 months prior to the interview are referred to as "year-before-last initiates." Year-before-last initiates were … Continue reading Top Posts of 2011 #5 – Substance Use and Dependence Following Initiation of Alcohol or Illicit Drug Use
Top Posts of 2011 #6 – The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?
CNN.com summarizes a NYT Book Review review of three recent books that challenge conventional wisdom about mental illness. All of the authors of the new books agree on two thought-provoking viewpoints: 1. Our understanding of categories of mental illness and their treatments has been influenced by drug companies, through both legal and illegal marketing. 2. … Continue reading Top Posts of 2011 #6 – The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?
What Vietnam Taught Us
I've noticed an uptick in book, news and blog references to heroin addiction among returning Vietnam vets. (A Google news search suggests that this perception is accurate. I suspect it's because it offers a narrative that's consistent with the current monoculture.) It's claimed that this offers important lessons about addiction and behavior change. In May of … Continue reading What Vietnam Taught Us
Top Posts of 2011 #10 – How AA and NA work
Here is a summary of the knowledge presented at last year's conference on AA and NA: The preponderance of evidence supports the causal pathway that AA attendance leads to abstinence (Kaskutas, Zemore). 12-Step affiliation significantly enhances the odds of sustaining abstinence for multiple years among polysubstance-dependent individuals (Laudet). 12-Step involvement yields benefits above and beyond meeting attendance (Kaskutas, … Continue reading Top Posts of 2011 #10 – How AA and NA work
One way?
A few weeks ago, The Fix posted one of its typical confessional pieces by a guy who had been in recovery and relapsed while writing a memoir/investigative report on opiate addiction in America. He talks about his attempts to keep it real in his book led to relapse, he went to treatment, got kicked out … Continue reading One way?
Too expensive?
I frequently point to health professional recovery programs when discussing the effectiveness of drug-free treatment when it's delivered in the appropriate dose, frequency and duration. They have stellar outcomes. The programs were abstinence-based, requiring physicians to abstain from any use of alcohol or other drugs of abuse as assessed by frequent random tests typically lasting … Continue reading Too expensive?
Recovery Review 