In Pathways: From the culture of addiction to the culture of recovery, Bill White shared the concept of tribes within the culture of recovery. One tribe of the recovering community is the Wharf Rats. They started as a group of recovering Dead-Heads and currently describe themselves as "a group of concert-goers who have chosen to … Continue reading Tribes of the recovering community
Tag: addiction
how do you want your loved one to return?
Anna David has an interview with Earl Hightower that really gets at the informed consent issues I've been talking about here. AD: Should the parents just accept the first recommendation or should they ask for more? EH: I think the first question they should ask should be one they ask themselves, which is how they … Continue reading how do you want your loved one to return?
Quality of life and death
A study out of Australia looks at death rates among opioid addicts receiving opioid substitution treatment (OST, for short. It's methadone.) in New South Wales between 1985-2005. It's a HUGE sample--43,789 people. If fact, the paper says: This cohort is likely to represent the majority of opioid dependent people in that State during this period, … Continue reading Quality of life and death
Sentences to Ponder
...conducting an RCT (randomized controlled trial) comparing two medical treatments (depot naltrexone and methadone.) misses the critical issue—that cure of addiction is not through medical interventions. People need social roles that provide identity other than being an addict and provide alternative rewards to drug use, in order to recover from addiction. Medical treatment cannot provide … Continue reading Sentences to Ponder
a “selfish” and “untrusted” professional attitude*
Bankole Johnson, who was featured in HBO's Addiction documentary touting the use of Topiramate and wrote an anti-treatment screed years ago (my response here), has left his post after losing a whistleblower lawsuit. A University of Virginia department chairman nationally known for his addiction research has resigned less than 10 months after a subordinate won an $820,000 whistleblower lawsuit filed … Continue reading a “selfish” and “untrusted” professional attitude*
I would have learned to listen.
Drugfree.org has a great post from a parent who's been through the wringer and is speaking from the other side. When speaking with a struggling parent, she asked him what he wishes he would have done differently. He responds I would have learned to listen. First, I would have learned to listen to my son. … Continue reading I would have learned to listen.
“It works!”, Ctd
A new study of buprenorphine implants find that implants work as well as oral dosing and outperform placebo. What does that mean? If I'm reading it correctly, it means that the average subject receiving the implant tested positive for opioids 68.8% of the time compared to 86.6% for the placebo subjects. (If I'm misreading it, … Continue reading “It works!”, Ctd
Recovery for life?
Our friend Bill White has been blogging. This is great news! To my mind, he's been the most important voice in addiction treatment, recovery and research of both. His writing is very accessible and he bridges experiential knowledge and empirical knowledge. He's also been amazingly prolific. The downside of this is that his body of work … Continue reading Recovery for life?
Buprenorphine + therapy = ?
Ian McLoone directs us to another study (the 4th in a row) finding that buprenorphine patients receive no benefit from added behavioral treatments. Where does this leave us? We've seen criticism of the devolution of methadone maintenance (MMT) into dosing clinics with calls for a new recovery orientation to MMT and a return to methadone being … Continue reading Buprenorphine + therapy = ?
Buprenorphine and emotional reactivity
The following article was shared with me by a reader. Not surprisingly, the emphasized portion below caught my eye. [emphasis mine] Abstract Addictions to illicit drugs are among the nation’s most critical public health and societal problems. The current opioid prescription epidemic and the need for buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone®; SUBX) as an opioid maintenance substance, and its … Continue reading Buprenorphine and emotional reactivity
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