Rat Park Revisited
By Tom Horvath, PhD Not exactly: I’m reporting about a presentation by Professor Bruce Alexander, the creator of “rat park,” given on 4/19/22, for the Addiction Theory Network, based in the UK. The webinar was: Retiring the Brain Disease Model of Addiction. And Then What? Rat Park Recap Rat Park, if you are not familiar […]
Addiction and Relationships
Addiction and Relationships: How Well Do I Engage in Relationships? by Tom Horvath, PhD, ABPP If I live just for myself I can do what I want when I want. If I do not mistreat others they probably will not mistreat me. However, if I have no connections with others no one is likely to […]
Psychedelic Diaries – Interview with Dr. Horvath
Psychedelic Diaries, Episode 3: Interview with Tom Horvath, PhD, ABPP “Psychedelic Diaries,” a podcast hosted by Ray Christian, has nearly 30 episodes (each an interview). Dr. Horvath was the third interviewee. The podcast describes itself as offering: “Experts from the world of medicine talk about mental health, mystical experiences, and the psychedelic renaissance. The show […]
Sage Money Podcast – Interview with Dr. Horvath
Sage Money Conversations with Barbara Norman, CFP® – Interview with Dr. Tom Horvath Episode 010: Dealing With Family Addiction Addiction can be financially devastating, it can destroy a life, and it can tear a family apart. It’s common for individuals with addictive problems to attend several expensive treatment programs, with little lasting progress. In this revealing episode, Dr. Tom Horvath […]
A Courageous Statement from Dr. Volkow
by Tom Horvath, PhD There is no more important person to the addiction treatment and recovery field than Nora D. Volkow, MD. Dr. Volkow is the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In the US government’s fiscal year 2021 NIDA spent about $1.4 billion, primarily on research. By comparison, the budget for […]
Netflix Miniseries Mentions Rational Recovery
by Tom Horvath, PhD In September 2021, Netflix released a seven-episode miniseries that mentions Rational Recovery (RR) as an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in episode II (starting in minute 46). Ironically, the mention of RR occurs in a very small (two-person) AA meeting. The pro-RR speaker is required to attend AA as part of […]
Undoing Drugs – a Review by Tom Horvath, Ph.D.
Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, by Maia Szalavitz Review by A. Tom Horvath, PhD The harm reduction approach to addressing addictive problems has until recently been highly controversial, at least in the US. Treatment and other change efforts in the US have been primarily guided by the […]
Ending Stigma
By Tom Horvath, PhD Addiction professionals say they’re working toward ending stigma surrounding addiction, but they also tend to promote addiction as a disease. These activities are contradictory. By promoting addiction as a disease they play into the general tendency to perceive in-groups (“normies”) and out-groups (those with the disease). Instead of emphasizing that “addiction […]
The Self-Empowering Approach
by Tom Horvath, PhD Practical Recovery and SMART Recovery both use the self-empowering approach for resolving addictive problems. This approach contrasts with the powerlessness-based approach of AA and other 12-step groups, at least on the surface. Both approaches begin with the person considering change, and then deciding to change (at least to some degree). Both […]
Stanton Peele Book Review by Dr. Tom Horvath
A Scientific Life on the Edge: My Lonely Quest to Change How We See Addiction, by Stanton Peele, reviewed by Tom Horvath, PhD Peele’s latest book (#14) is a personal autobiography, an intellectual autobiography, and a detailed comparison of his work with that of many other authors and scientists, including Maia Szalavitz, Carl Hart, Marc Lewis, […]