The peer recovery specialist owes a great deal to the therapeutic community, or TC. As much as the recovery movement has distanced itself from the blight of Synanon, Synanon and its TC offshoots were once considered the future of addiction treatment and looked to as a source of solutions by scientists and practitioners. Seeking to … Continue reading When We Expect Peers to be “Magical Saviors”: A 50-Year-Old Problem Revisited
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Authenticity and Actualization: Stronger Through Our Brokenness, Together
"Know thyself"(γνῶθι σεαυτόν) – Inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi 4th century B.C.E For millennia, philosophy has grappled with our capacity to reach our fullest potential, barriers to these ends and the conditions under which we are most likely to actualize. William James (1842-1910), often called the "father of American psychology," well over … Continue reading Authenticity and Actualization: Stronger Through Our Brokenness, Together
Sentences to Ponder (John Kelly/Carl Jung)
I'm afraid medicine has nothing for you. I recommend three things. A protective wall of human community. Real religious insight. And a group of friends with whom you can be honest. John Kelly, PhD, paraphrasing Carl Jung's letter to Bill Wilson
The Historical Emergence of Peer Recovery; Conditions and Contradictions
What can a genealogical analysis of peer recovery tell us about our modern dilemmas?
Moving Beyond Macro Level Dysfunctional Dynamics – Supporting Addiction Recovery Efforts in America
On Tuesday, January 13th in the evening, around 9:30 PM on the east coast or 6:30 PM on the west coast, thousands of emails went out across America from SAMHSA, the nation’s mental health and substance use condition federal authority. Attached was a form letter notifying service providers, their staff and the people they served … Continue reading Moving Beyond Macro Level Dysfunctional Dynamics – Supporting Addiction Recovery Efforts in America
Sentences to Ponder (Norman Hoffmann, PhD)
If your theory doesn't match the folklore, it's time to adjust your theory. The first time Norm said this to me I knew I was learning from someone who knew what they were talking about. Norm told me how, from an academic standpoint and from a research standpoint, the lives of large numbers of people … Continue reading Sentences to Ponder (Norman Hoffmann, PhD)
A Metapsychology of Addiction, Addiction Recovery, and Human Beings
It seems to me that addiction: is dynamic has a form consumes energy and manages affects is influenced by genes and is also developmental has substructures that are simultaneously independent and interdependent adapts to reality. Let me expound each of those points in turn. Addiction is fluid, not static. Once in place it undulates within, … Continue reading A Metapsychology of Addiction, Addiction Recovery, and Human Beings
MOUD retention: 17 years, 212 days, 10 days
Earlier this week, a friend shared a really interesting table from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) 2023 annual report. I'm familiar with the TEDS, but I don't recall ever seeing this table of discharges by year of admission. What this table shows is that, of the 1.4 million discharges in 2023, 60 of them … Continue reading MOUD retention: 17 years, 212 days, 10 days
Lived experience and empirical knowledge: domination or integration?
I've been in and around professional addiction and recovery circles for more than 30 years. In that time, I've spent a lot of time in rooms where empirical knowledge was a suffocating force. It determined what and who was valued, heard, and respected in ways that did not lead us any closer to truth or … Continue reading Lived experience and empirical knowledge: domination or integration?
Public Interest or Industry Interest: the Economics and Politics of Minimizing Alcohol Harm
“Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.” – George Washington, First Annual Message to Congress, 1790 Last January a report on alcohol and health was posted by the US Department of Health and Human Services for public comment, Draft Report: Scientific Findings of the Alcohol Intake & Health Study for Public … Continue reading Public Interest or Industry Interest: the Economics and Politics of Minimizing Alcohol Harm
Recovery Review 