NIAAA’s Definition of Recovery
By Tom Horvath, PhD In 2022, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) proposed a definition of recovery that begins: Recovery is a process through which an individual pursues both remission from alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cessation from heavy drinking. An individual may be considered “recovered” if both remission from AUD and cessation from […]
Is it Time to Go to Rehab?
By Tom Horvath, PhD Thanksgiving is a few days away. The day after Thanksgiving (or Christmas, New Year’s Day, the Super Bowl, etc.), we often get calls about a substance binge the day before. The binge was so bad, is it time to go to rehab (residential treatment)? Below are some issues to consider when making that […]
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 […]