Beyond the Twelve: A User’s Guide (Book Review)
Beyond the Twelve-User’s Guide: A Workbook for Navigating the Intersection of Addiction and Change (without the Twelve-Step programs), by Ryan Paul Carruthers A Review by Tom Horvath, PhD I stopped years ago attempting to keep up with new books about how to address addictive problems without using the 12 steps. There seemed to be so […]
Ketamine for Depression
How effective is ketamine for depression? By Tom Horvath Depression often coincides with addictive problems, as a cause or effect, or some combination thereof. Addressing depression, whatever its causal role, is often one of our main focuses at Practical Recovery. Fortunately, there are a wide range of methods for addressing depression, and we expect to […]
Increase in Overdose Deaths in the US
Substance use disorders slightly declined worldwide over the past 3 decades, but deaths increase 2.2 times. by Tom Horvath, Ph.D. A recently published study (9/30/25) in the Frontiers in Psychiatry reported that although the presence of substance use disorders (both new cases—incidence, and existing cases–prevalence) has declined slightly around the world since 1990 (to 2021), substance-related […]
California Complaints About Addiction Treatment
A slight improvement in California law for addressing complaints about addiction treatment By Tom Horvath, PhD AB 424 was signed by the governor on 10/3/25. The bill is quite brief! It adds a section (11834.33) to the Health and Safety code about how the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is to address a complaint […]
Free Psychoeducation Group
Practical Recovery’s Free Psychoeducation Group Every Wednesday at 9AM by Zoom, Practical Recovery offers a free one-hour psychoeducation group to all current and past clients. This group has existed for over 10 years. It has regular participants, some of long standing. If it were a SMART Recovery group, we’d call it a “check-in” meeting. We […]
What’s a Good Life?
By Tom Horvath, PhD For many of us a good life is a happy or a meaningful one (or some combination). However, in recent years a group of psychologists has proposed a third guideline: “psychological richness.” On their deathbeds the happy might say “I had fun.” Those with meaningful lives might say “I made a […]
A Screening of The Shuffle Film
By Tom Horvath, PhD “An intimate look inside the billion-dollar addiction treatment industry where young people are bought and sold for their insurance policies and ushered into a system designed to keep them sick.” From www.StopTheShuffle.com Practical Recovery will host a free screening of this award-winning documentary on Thursday, 11/13/25, at 7:00PM, in the conference […]
Food Diaries, Part 2
Tom Horvath, PhD Part 1 suggested that tracking what you eat rather than what you weigh promotes better health and could also lead to slow but sustained weight loss over time. Part 2 adds further detail about what to eat. Even if there were only a minor reduction in some of the less-than-healthy foods you […]
Longterm: A Podcast on Recovery – Interview with Tom Horvath, Ph.D.
Longterm: A Podcast on Recovery Interview with Tom Horvath, Ph.D. Episode: Understanding Recovery Beyond the Stereotype YouTube: https://youtu.be/c3wGl2If6o8?si=8HplQQxea6gMuG7c Spotify and all other podcast platforms: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/tiking/ The host is Ti King. The podcast was described this way: Dr. Horvath explains that SMART Recovery is a free mutual-help group, similar to AA in its community-driven support. However, […]
Food Diaries vs. Bathroom Scales
By Tom Horvath, PhD Many of us are concerned about our weight. We might check the scale regularly, and not much else. I suggest that a food diary of everything you eat is a much more sensible approach. A simple version is a list of foods you eat at each meal, without listing how much […]