Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay We write a lot about the measurement and exact definition of recovery on this blog, so I won't rehash all the discussions here. But I will update readers that (based on my attendance at a recent researcher convening) the young recovery science field is still very much debating the … Continue reading Science Debates Dropping the Word “Recovery”
Tag: science
Covering Drugs
Visit http://www.coveringdrugs.org I often think about how difficult it is to find good information about addiction, drug use, recovery, drug policy, and advocacy around all these matters. There are so many sources providing incomplete and incorrect information, often very persuasively. I've spoken with so many family members and members of the media struggling to find … Continue reading Covering Drugs
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?
What makes treatment effective?
This will be my post in response to the NY Times' series on Suboxone. This post originally ran on 7/19/13 and addressed a lot of our concerns. * * * I've been catching a lot of heat recently for posts about Suboxone and methadone. (For the sake of this post, lets refer to … Continue reading What makes treatment effective?
“manifestly unsuitable for (psychiatric) treatment”
Will Self reviews a recently published book on psychiatry and has some interesting observations on the relationships between addicts, mutual aid groups and psychiatry: Interestingly there is one large sector of the "mentally ill" that Burns believes are manifestly unsuitable for treatment – drug addicts and alcoholics. He points to the ineffectiveness of almost all … Continue reading “manifestly unsuitable for (psychiatric) treatment”
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
What makes treatment effective?
I've been catching a lot of heat recently for posts about Suboxone and methadone. (For the sake of this post, lets refer to them as opioid replacement therapy, or ORT, for the rest of this post. One commenter who blogs for an ORT provider challenged my arguments that we should offer everyone the same kind … Continue reading What makes treatment effective?
The benefits of harm reduction are not as obvious as they seem
Theodore Dalrymple points out the inconsistency in the British Medical Journal's vigorous advocacy for harm reduction where heroin is concerned and its squeamishness with harm reduction for nicotine. He pulls a passage from BMJ and inserts comments: What, then, does the BMJ, so much in favour of harm reduction for heroin addicts, say about harm reduction … Continue reading The benefits of harm reduction are not as obvious as they seem
Balancing pain management and public health
I blogged before about the availability of opiates for pain management and the need to try to limit their diversion. While others have complained about draconian limitations on the prescribing of opiates and being too afraid to treat pain, I pointed out the explosion in opiate prescriptions and overdoses. It's a complex problem that demands a solution that balances the … Continue reading Balancing pain management and public health
Diagnosing ADHD in detox?
Unreal. Someone's got an awful lot of faith in their diagnostic skills. Diagnosing ADHD with addicts in a detox unit? Really? And, now that it's published, it's "evidence". Rates of undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in London drug and alcohol detoxification units Background ADHD is a common childhood onset mental health disorder that persists into … Continue reading Diagnosing ADHD in detox?