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?
Tag: Mental Health
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
Eliminating Barriers for Black Mothers With Substance Use Disorder
Between 2010 and 2017, the U.S. saw a 131% increase in maternal opioid use disorder at delivery. There also was an 83% rise in cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome due to prenatal opioid exposure. Additionally, between 2016 and 2020, there was a 3.6% increase in prenatal substance exposure, including alcohol, with significant variation across states. The rising rates of … Continue reading Eliminating Barriers for Black Mothers With Substance Use Disorder
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
Macro Level Moral Injury Within the SUD Care System – Our Unaddressed Imperative
Authors note - I first wrote on this topic in Recovery Review in 2021. It was also picked up by Treatment Magazine. Since then, overall overdose mortality rates have decreased slightly which is being reported quite broadly despite the fact that they are dramatically increasing in African American communities. Alcohol death rates have increased at … Continue reading Macro Level Moral Injury Within the SUD Care System – Our Unaddressed Imperative
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
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