Non 12 step addiction treatment puts an emphasis on resolving underlying issues, including issues of anxiety. Family history with addiction and substance abuse can be a major factor in understanding the underlying issues behind one’s alcohol addiction. Previous research has shown that a family history of alcohol dependence is a risk factor for alcohol use disorders. Positive expectancies of alcohol use have been shown to moderate this association. Family history of anxiety disorders may also be a risk factor for alcohol use disorders; this is suggested by high rates of comorbidity between anxiety disorders and alcohol use disorders. Further, expectations of negative reinforcement (such as tension reduction) have been shown to moderate anxiety-related traits. With this in mind, resear...

Non 12 step addiction treatment programs provide individual treatment plans depending on a person’s age, personality, and addictive behavior. Alcohol-Related Media and Adolescent Alcohol Use - The Study Adolescents are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol and generally consume it in a more risky fashion, compared to adults. Alcohol consumption during adolescence may cause permanent brain damage (at a time when the brain is still developing), injury or death (through automobile crashes and other accidents), suicide, depression, violence, date rape, spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and many other harms. Previous research shows that alcohol advertising is associated with more positive drinking expectancies. Because of ethical boundaries, it has been impossible to directly te...

Is media coverage of celebrity DUIs a missed opportunity for alcohol treatment and prevention efforts? A non 12 step alcohol treatment plan can provide people with strategies to prevent negative drinking behaviors that can lead to a DUI. Between 2005 and 2008, there were several high-profile celebrity DUI arrests, particularly among young female celebrities. Female celebrities arrested for DUI included Michelle Rodriguez, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Lindsay Lohan (who was arrested for DUI in May 2007 and again in July 2007). These celebrity DUIs received substantial media coverage. Did the media coverage create more problems by presenting problematic social modeling for young viewers to imitate? Did the media coverage miss an opportunity to provide alcohol treatment and prevent...

A non 12 step approach to addiction treatment teaches people to distinguish the difference between positive and negative outcomes related to addictive behavior. Gambling Addiction and Reward Systems - The Study Pathological gambling, or gambling addiction, occurs when recreational activity becomes dysfunctional and detrimental, and many pathological gamblers need addiction treatment to overcome their addictive behavior. Pathological gamblers typically face a variety of cognitive distortions in which they overestimate their chances of winning. Some speculate that the excitement of “near-miss” outcomes in gambling games encourage such cognitive distortions. In a previous study with healthy participants, researchers found that near-miss outcomes in recreational gamblers shared overlappin...

by A. Tom Horvath, PhD., ABPP It would be easy to misunderstand the title of this article. I’m not saying that AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is harmful. On the contrary, many people attend AA and report it to be helpful. In the US there may be one million individuals or more active in AA at any one time.  A significant percentage may attend under court order, but the rest are free to quit anytime.  Although some individuals hate AA and speak their hatred loudly, it appears reasonable to believe that individuals who freely attend AA are not experiencing it as harmful. You may also be interested in: Debunking the Myth about AA In most other countries AA also has meetings, but does not dominate the recovery environment. In these countries there is a much greater opportunity to choose from...

It has been widely said that “AA is the only thing that works” when it comes to alcohol recovery. The 12-step model of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is now applied to other substance use disorders in drug rehab centers around the world. However, research shows that AA is not the only approach that works. In fact, many studies have shown that other drug treatment approaches are just as effective as 12-step programs. Banerjee et. al. found that a relatively new approach known as Health Realization offered comparable benefits for women in a residential drug rehab program as compared to a 12-step program (2007). You might also be interested in: What is the Best Alcohol Treatment? Health Realization (HR) is an approach to psychology first developed by Roger Mills and George Pransky in the 1980...

A. Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP Wondering if court ordered 12-step attendance is illegal? You're not the only one. This article is not intended to convey legal advice, which can only be provided by an attorney licensed in your state.  What follows is an addiction psychologist’s summary of a legal issue he has been following for over a decade. You might also be interested in: Mental Health Among Drug Court Participants in Drug Treatment The “establishment” and “free exercise” clauses of the US Constitution’s 1st Amendment state that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  In everyday speech we say that there is “separation of church and state” in the US.  Our religious or spiritual beliefs (or lack of them) are our p...

There are numerous individuals who use drugs and alcohol for coping with stress and their daily problems. Thus, to help those individuals disengage from constantly looking right to drugs for the answer to their problems, they need to be offered a way to find a solution. In a non 12 step approach to recovery, individuals can learn self-empowering tactics such as maintaining motivation, coping with cravings, managing thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and living a balance life. When individuals learn how to address stressful situations, they can use the tools they’ve learned to come up with a solution to their problems instead of looking to drugs and alcohol as their only solution. The Research: Coping with Stress Individuals who face and address stressful problems rather than avoiding t...

Evidence based addiction treatment takes into consideration the trend between peer delinquency and juvenile drinking behavior. However, there may be underlying issues present with adolescents that correlate with their alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior. Thus, it is imperative that adolescents receive individualized treatment plans during alcohol treatment so that the individual is encouraged to find motivations that are deeper than the addiction. An individualized self- empowering treatment plan enables adolescents to focus primarily on underlying issues that may have been the cause of their drinking and/or engaging in aggressive behavior. You might also be interested in: From Adolescent Drug Experimentation to Addiction Peer Delinquency and Juvenile Drinking Behavior - The...