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
Category: Treatment
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
A drug to treat cocaine addiction?
A recent study on the use of topiramate for cocaine addiction has been getting a lot of attention. Most of the coverage draws only from the researchers press release. “Using an intent-to-treat analysis, the researchers found that topiramate was more efficacious than placebo at increasing the participants’ weekly proportion of cocaine nonuse days and in … Continue reading A drug to treat cocaine addiction?
“The Situation” with PHARMA
Here are two sentence fragments (not taken out of context) from After Party Chat that show just how broken the pharmaceutical industry is: ...in 2012 Big Pharma spent 19 times as much on marketing as they did on research. ...Jersey Shore’s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is now shilling for Suboxone. It's hard to know where to start with … Continue reading “The Situation” with PHARMA
A chronic illness?
Bill White responds to a recent article that has gotten a lot of attention by Gene Heyman, a disease model critic. Heyman (and a couple of other recent articles) question whether it's accurate to call addiction a chronic illness. If there is anything that the full scope of modern research on the resolution of AOD problems is … Continue reading A chronic illness?
How full do you want your recovery to be?
Bill White on the importance of primary care: The Philadelphia survey goes beyond affirming the significant prevalence of recovery in the general population to provide a detailed profile of the health of people in recovery. The results are sobering. People in recovery, compared to citizens not in recovery, are twice as likely to describe their … Continue reading How full do you want your recovery to be?
Sentences to ponder
It is time we broadened our vision beyond what we can subtract from people's lives in the short run to encompass what can be added to enrich those lives in the long term. --William White
Is low therapist empathy toxic?
Miller and Moyers make the case that low therapist empathy is toxic with a review of some research on the topic. In one study, a single in-session therapist behavior predicted 42% of the variance in clients’ 12-month drinking outcomes: the more the therapist confronted, the more the client drank (Miller, Benefield, & Tonigan, … Continue reading Is low therapist empathy toxic?
Mental Illness not a barrier to 12 step benefits
A recently published study replicates findings that addicts with co-occurring mental illness benefit from twelve step facilitation: Background Evidence indicates that 12-step mutual-help organizations (MHOs), such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), can play an important role in extending and potentiating the recovery benefits of professionally delivered addiction treatment among young adults with … Continue reading Mental Illness not a barrier to 12 step benefits
Podcast Alert!
We got a message from our friend Mark at the Recovered podcast that he will be podcasting with his wife on the topic of Grief and Recovery. Their oldest son died July 2, 2012 and they have been dealing with this topic since. This topic is near and dear to my heart. Below is a repost of … Continue reading Podcast Alert!
Recovery Review 