“What the addiction counselor knows that other service professionals do not is the very soul of the addicted—their terrifying fear of insanity, the shame of their wretchedness, their guilt over drug-induced sins of omission and commission, their desperate struggle to sustain their personhood, their need to avoid the psychological and social taint of addiction, and … Continue reading Revisiting the Work of William White: The Historical Essence of Addiction Counseling (2004)
Tag: addiction
What does SAMHSA do?
What does SAMHSA do, and should I care if their staff are fired in significant numbers? It's my impression that most probationary SAMHSA employees have been fired. Terminations started there because terminating probationary employees is easy procedurally. Permanent employees require a process to justify Reductions in Force (RIF) to move ahead with termination. Some people … Continue reading What does SAMHSA do?
Recovery Capitalists and the Industries of Dependency
We are at the 25th anniversary of the new recovery advocacy movement in America. A movement to elevate and expand recovery opportunities nationally. It began as a grassroot community vision that rose up across the county. It envisioned a more cohesive treatment and community-based recovery model. A system to expand beyond the acute and fragmented … Continue reading Recovery Capitalists and the Industries of Dependency
Substance use disorder sets off a cascade of category errors
A recent letter to JAMA analyzes the National Survey of Drug Use and Health regarding the need for treatment: Among 657 583 participants, the prevalence of individuals needing SUD treatment increased from 8.2% in 2013 to 17.1% in 2023. AUD increased from 6.6% to 10.2%, while DUD increased from 2.6% to 9.6%. OUD more than doubled … Continue reading Substance use disorder sets off a cascade of category errors
Low Expectations Yield Low Rates of Recovery from Addiction
The primary limitation in life is our low expectations for ourselves and others. When we expect minimum results, that's usually what we get.” - John C. Maxwell How are we measuring our war against addiction in the United States? We have one single metric in the arena of public discourse on our progress. The increase … Continue reading Low Expectations Yield Low Rates of Recovery from Addiction
Drugs and alcohol in the NY Times
The NY Times had a couple of pieces on alcohol and drug problems this week. (credit: Jonas Bengtsson) First, an audio story about a Maine doctor operating a MOUD clinic in a county jail. Her commitment and advocacy are admirable. There are a couple of striking things to the story. First, she makes a case for … Continue reading Drugs and alcohol in the NY Times
Recovery Redefined: Shifts Across Domains and Contexts
I've posted several times about the changing boundaries of recovery. A recovery science pioneer's thoughts on the boundaries of recovery. On typologies for recovery. On questions about the boundaries of recovery-oriented models of care. On the changing definitions. On research regarding some college students being assigned a recovery label and questioning whether it's appropriate for … Continue reading Recovery Redefined: Shifts Across Domains and Contexts
Addiction Treatment and the Multiple Echoes of History – Lessons to Heed
“If you want a new idea, read an old book” - Ivan Pavlov In respect to efforts to expand addiction recovery in America, our new challenges often have historic parallels. It is also true that some of the very best ideas we may be able to harness to move our endeavors forward have roots in … Continue reading Addiction Treatment and the Multiple Echoes of History – Lessons to Heed
Language, social justice, access to care, symbolic capital, and recovery advocacy
(source: cultural iceberg from lcw) Many times over the years I've expressed frustration with the field's emphasis on language while it's not clear to me that a whole lot of progress has been made in access to recovery-oriented care of adequate quality, intensity, and duration. (See here, here, here, here, and here.) I just finished … Continue reading Language, social justice, access to care, symbolic capital, and recovery advocacy
2024’s Top Posts – #1 – 12-Step Facilitation is the eighth most frequently used therapeutic approach in treatment facilities
There are a lot of problems in addiction treatment, but 12-step hegemony is not the problem that advocates and media coverage would lead one to believe. There's a widely held belief that 12-step culture exerts a smothering pro-abstinence stranglehold on public health and policy responses to substance use. It's a strange phenomenon when one considers … Continue reading 2024’s Top Posts – #1 – 12-Step Facilitation is the eighth most frequently used therapeutic approach in treatment facilities
Recovery Review 