FBI Raids Rehabs in SoCal and Florida Rehab Unraveling By Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Light is now exposing the shadiness that cloaks the world of rehab.  Recent FBI raids in south Florida and southern California are revealing a network of conmen making fortunes off the vulnerability of people with substance use problems and their families.  A relentless pursuit of profit over product and a lack of regulation and oversight fostered a treatment world where the unscrupulous were able to dominate the market and overshadow the treatment professionals with an ethical backbone and genuine desire to help people who are hurting.   Now, it appears the swan song is in full swing for the predatory miscreants tainting the healing efforts of the many honest addiction treatment providers. FBI rai...

Technology Addiction:  'Likes' Are the New ‘It’ Drug by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. In the world of technology, the customers are the advertisers and the product is our attention.  Tech giants like google, apple, twitter, and facebook sell advertisers access to our eyeballs.  In an age of unparalleled information abundance, our attention is increasingly scarce.  The scarcity of attention is bringing competition for it to a fever pitch.  The increasingly sensationalized tactics tech companies use to get a piece of our attention work.  Ninety-two percent of people aged 18-29 have a smartphone.  The average person touches, clicks, or swipes their phone 2,617 times every day.  ‘Likes’ are the new 'it' drug, and the addiction to technology is spreading like wildfire. Technology Addiction an...

Suicide and Addiction By Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The recent success of the Netflix series entitled, 13 Reasons Why, along with the death of Chris Cornell, brought suicide into the forefront of American consciousness.  The relationship between suicide and addiction is well established – substance use problems are the #2 risk factor for suicide (depression is #1, and it frequently co-occurs with substance use problems).  Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States  This article will explore the difference between risk factors and warning signs for suicide.  It will then offer suggestions for what to do if you or a loved one struggles with the pain that pushes people to seek relief from extreme methods like addiction and suicide. Warning Signs Warning signs for su...

Mushroom Therapy for Addiction Treatment by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Psilocybin: The Magic in the Mushroom Empirical research supporting the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in "magic mushrooms") just keeps piling up.  The idea of mushroom therapy for addiction treatment may sound like a pipe dream espoused by someone named Moonbeam on hippie-hill in Golden Gate Park who smells like patchouli.  But the truth is that psilocybin research from renowned institutions like UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and NYU shows promising results for the treatment of ailments like treatment-resistant depression, OCD, anxiety, and addiction.  In the words of the June, 2017 edition of Psychology Today, psilocybin may be “A One Hit Cure for Addiction.” Cave paintings that are many thous...

Recovery from Addiction The Coordinates to Self-Control in Recovery by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Self-control is treated like a four-letter word in some recovery circles.  Many people in the process of changing a problematic pattern of behavior are told their only hope is to give up control, even self-control in recovery.  The truth is that every single one of us has the ability to control our behavior.  To improve our ability to control our behavior it is important to understand how to arrive at a state of self-control.  We either control our behavior or our behavior controls us. Simply put, self-control is the ability to perform behaviors that will produce desired outcomes.  Researchers generally agree on three primary characteristics that, when they are the aim of personal grow...

American Healthcare and Addiction Treatment by Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP With the passage of “Trumpcare” in the House we have renewed our national focus on healthcare legislation. Rather than address the specifics of this bill, let’s step back and consider two often over-looked “big picture” factors when it comes to American healthcare and addiction treatment. 1) What is the role of government in healthcare? Although in the US we like to think of ourselves as “the best,” in healthcare we are best perhaps in only one way. The very best medical care in the world is available here, if you have the money to pay for it. The Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, and other renowned facilities attract wealthy patients from around the world. These cente...

The War on Drugs: History and Implications by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The Politics of Consciousness Few political issues today are sources of unity and shared vision.  Politics has become vehemently binary to the point that extremes on both sides see opposing views as subhuman.  In the current climate of ‘us and them,’ drugs may be one of the few remaining topics that many people from both sides of the aisle can agree upon.  Ending the drug war aligns with advocates for limited government, human rights, conservative economics, and liberal social policy.  However, as the war drums currently pound for a renewed call to arms in an impossible war, an in-depth analysis of the war on drugs is important for anyone who chooses to use  substances or knows someone who does. This article di...

SMART Recovery’s First Systematic Scientific Review by Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP The first systematic scientific review of SMART Recovery was published earlier this year. What is a systematic review? It reports the process of “identifying, summarizing and evaluating the quality of evidence for SMART Recovery” (Beck, Forbes, Baker, Kelly, et al, 2017, p. 2). Prior reviews had become outdated, and they were “narrative in nature and tend[ed] to focus on the origins, development and principles of SMART Recovery….since Horvath & Yeterian’s narrative review (Horvath & Yeterian, 2012), the evidence base has doubled—an additional four studies, including the first randomized controlled trial (RCT), have been published” (p. 2). Although I regret that our 2012 review is no longer the...

Gauging Success in Recovery by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Success in recovery is about much more than abstinence. In fact, for about half of the people who recover moderation is the outcome. Basing success on abstinence sets people up for the abstinence violation effect, which can be a major factor in pushing a minor slip into an all-out relapse. So when someone is not measuring success by counting days of abstinence, what factors are useful in gauging success? Three factors have been shown to predict successful recovery. The first is a change in attitude towards substances. How people first felt about substance use compared to how they feel now often differs. People who once idealized substance use may now find it to be a nuisance or an impediment to more important things in life. I...

Why Do People Use Drugs? The Relationship Between Emotions and Addiction, pt. 6: Happiness by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The final topic of our in-depth exploration of each core emotion is happiness.  Happiness is the most pleasurable, desired, pursued, elusive, mercurial emotion of all.  If happiness is so pleasurable and desired then it can’t be a reason people use drugs, right?  Wrong.  People often use drugs to both achieve and sustain happiness and the drugs work, sort of.  As Tolstoy astutely observed, there appear to be many more ways not to be happy than there are ways to be happy.  Drugs are one method people employ to feel happy.  Therefore, understanding happiness is vital to understanding addiction. Did you miss part 5 of this series? Learn about the relationship betwee...