If you have ever experienced drug and alcohol addiction, whether it was your own substance use or a loved one's, you were likely on the receiving end of opinions from others. US culture and its collective views on addiction are often rooted in shame, degradation, and negativity. More importantly, however, the mainstream conversation is all too often shrouded in myths and misinformation. These myths of drug and alcohol addiction are not only untrue,  they are dangerous for those who are in need of treatment and unsupportive for those in recovery. The misinformation paints a scary uphill battle for those who enter recovery, when, really, recovery is a journey of healing, hope, and self-empowerment. We've collected 12 of the most common myths of drug and alcohol addiction in an attempt ...

by Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP Benefits of Software in Addiction Treatment For about a year Practical Recovery has included the Checkup & Choices website (www.checkupandchoices.com) in our work. By referring clients to the site we reduce the amount of time they spend with clinicians, thereby lowering their fees.  We also increase the accuracy of both assessment and psycho-education. Psycho-education is that part of psychotherapy in which the clinician delivers basic information about a common topic (e.g., how to cope with craving). Software does not have memory lapses. Unlike the more variable clinician, software asks the same questions and delivers the same information each time (barring the occasional hardware or software problems). Of course, to eliminate memory problems du...

As one of the first rehabs that began offering non 12 step treatment, we’ve been around long enough to hear just about every misperception out there regarding this non-traditional approach to treatment. If you’ve been searching for addiction treatment, or have gone to a non 12 step rehab program, you’ve likely come across some of these misunderstandings yourself. Below, we give you the top 14 misperceptions about non 12 step rehab and, hopefully, set the record straight. 1. Non 12 step rehabs are anti-AA/NA. Not true!  Non 12 step is in favor of options, and powerlessness based approaches are an important and helpful option for some. 2. Non 12 step rehabs tell “alcoholics” to drink. Nonsense!  Self-empowering approaches, as a general rule, don’t tell anyone what to do. 3. Non 12 st...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. This week we look at how to be unpopular in the addiction treatment industry - a topic we at Practical Recovery are certainly experts in! 1. Treat Addiction in Stages, Not Steps To be unpopular in the addiction treatment industry, the first step is to treat addiction in stages, not steps.  Framing addiction within the stages of change (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance) helps treatment providers match interventions to each individual’s level of motivation.  With the stages of change as a framework for treatment a higher power, character defects, and spiritual maladies are optional and not emphasized.  While emphasizing self-guided recovery through fluid, often non-linear stages of change creates individualized and flexible ...

by Thaddeus Camlin Psy.D. A recent study analyzed thousands of social media posts and found reliable predictors of depression in the language people use, or what we can call the language of depression.  The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychological Science, reveals three ways to predict depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.  Extrapolating from the results offers some intriguing considerations that relate to how we think, the way in which our thinking influences our mood and behavior, and how our language might influence addictive cycles. You might also be interested in: The Antidote to Depression Post Content as a Predictor of Depression and Anxiety The first two predictors of depression and anxiety in social media that researchers found were in the content o...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. There is a litany of terms in the addiction world – including addiction – that need to go.  Recently, noted author and leading thinker in the field of substance use, Anne Fletcher, M.S., R.D., L.D., wrote an article pointing out the flaws in the term ‘harm-reduction.’  I’ve been guilty of slinging the HR term around all over the place without questioning it, but Fletcher’s article gave me cause for pause. Is the Term Harm Reduction Harmful? Why is it that with any other “disorder” (another term that deserves the axe?) symptom reduction is considered success, but with substance use symptom reduction is described in the negative terms of reducing harm?  A harm reduction plan could just as easily be called a health improvement plan.  Once again, the normal r...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The medical examiner’s report on Tom Petty’s death revealed that the perpetual free faller’s last dance was with opiates, not mary jane.  The statements issued by Petty’s family were quick to clarify that Petty’s use of opiates was in response to a fractured hip, because, God forbid he used opiates for recreation, pleasure, or creative exploration. The knee-jerk reaction on the part of Petty’s family is perfectly natural – nobody would want the legacy of a loved one tainted with one of society’s dirtiest and most un-bleachable stains... addiction. In no way is this article written to suggest that Petty was a “drug addict,” a label whose value is universally questionable. The extravagant cocktail of his death dose and a song portfolio littered with drug r...

by Tom Horvath, Ph.D. According to a new ground-breaking study, individuals attending SMART, LifeRing and WFS now have scientific support for their choice to attend these groups. As with all new scientific findings, we have a reached a new vantage point from which to consider both next research efforts, and the clinical implications of what we now perceive more clearly. Before considering the clinical implications, let’s remind ourselves that any single finding is subject to re-interpretation in the light of new findings. However, this finding has many precedents, and therefore is not especially “single” or divergent. Although not a controlled trial, Atkins and Hawdon (2007) found individuals in multiple mutual help groups to obtain similar outcomes. In psychotherapy resear...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Few would argue against complacency’s tendency to erode the foundations of change.  Most of us experience the lull that can follow a flurry of effort and progress.  We lose steam, let our guard down, relax, and suddenly find ourselves slipping back into the very patterns we are trying to break - whether related to addiction or not.  However, rather than an inevitable stalling of progress and change, the presence of complacency can be a doorway into the deeper vaults of ourselves where reservoirs of powerful motivation lie. Definition of Complacency Mistakenly, I thought of complacency as a synonym for laziness, lack of motivation, and diminishing effort. I was surprised to learn that it actually means a smug, uncritical satisfaction with oneself. I usuall...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. If you wanted an objective appraisal of a home you probably wouldn’t ask the sellers to choose the appraiser. With drug research this is exactly what happens. Congress advocates for the war on drugs, Congress funds the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and with their billion dollar annual budget NIDA is responsible for 90% of the “scientific” research on drugs. Eric Sterling, a lawyer who spent a decade writing U.S. drug laws, is on record (pg. 179 of this book) saying that if any government-funded scientist produced research findings that contradicted the brain disease model of addiction, then the head of NIDA would be called in front of a congressional committee to receive a clear mandate to shut down the research. She might even be fired. NIDA’s r...