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. 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...

How to Quit Drinking? Self-Guided Change by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. For those who wonder how to quit drinking problematically, it is important to understand that seeing through the cultural brainwashing is arguably the most challenging aspect of overcoming addiction. For starters, most people who have a “problem” according to family and society are not “addicts” at all. Most people know what’s best for them. When it comes to substance use a culture of shame and ostracizing often fosters unwarranted self-doubt. A comprehensive research review was published this week by Michler Bishop and the results are striking: The culmination of 50 years of research shows that 80-90% of people successfully moderate or stop unhealthy patterns of substance use, and that most people achieve success...

Updated November 9, 2021 Addiction is a Social Construct by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The perpetually changing understanding of addiction provides clear evidence of its social construction. With rare exception, the infectious agents that cause a disease don’t change, the pathological biological processes of a disease don’t change, and the biologically degenerative conditions of a disease don’t change. If left untreated, diseases generally worsen. Addiction has no infectious agent, no biologically degenerative condition, there is no agreed upon definition, the diagnostic criteria constantly change, and perhaps most strikingly, when left untreated most people recover from addiction. However, when addiction is treated with leading methods – criminal records, jail time, and shame-based r...

Alternatives to Abstinence Will Be Mainstream by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Step aside ‘abstinence-only,’ your monopoly on addiction treatment is finally coming to an end.  It has taken some time, decades even, for practical approaches to recovery to gain respect and prominence.  Finally, with an opioid epidemic in full swing, treatment rooted in approaches that are nearly a century old, and rehabs crumbling under the scandal of insurance scams, the climate in addiction treatment is on a fulcrum tipping towards change.  This article explores some of the exciting changes on the horizon of addiction treatment. For nearly a century, addiction treatment has been plagued by the erroneous beliefs that most people fail, that only one outcome is viable (total abstinence), and that only one ...

How to Solve the Opioid Crisis by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. In an age when Americans agree on few things, an issue that unites us toward a common goal could be deeply and profoundly healing. On the costs of the opioid crisis in America, there is little disagreement. People from both sides of the aisle, all walks of life, and every socio-economic stratum are affected by the opioid epidemic. Even President Trump and former President Obama agree on this issue, with the former recently calling (but not officially declaring) the opioid crisis a national emergency and the latter recognizing it as an epidemic. While many agree the opioid crisis is a major problem, there is a need for increasing clarity and agreement on how to solve it. Officially Declare a National Emergency The first step...

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...

High Sobriety: Cannabis Inclusive Treatment Opens in Los Angeles An Interview with Joe Schrank, by Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP In an effort to offer another pathway to recovery, High Sobriety in Los Angeles opened last month a residential treatment facility that includes the option of prescribed cannabis. The home page states: “For generations we have been told marijuana is a gateway drug; this has been debunked by science and common sense. At High Sobriety, we believe marijuana can be an exit drug.” Reinforcing the notion of an exit transition process, the facility’s tagline is “lethal > non-lethal > life.” I have great admiration for the courage demonstrated by the founder of this facility, Joe Schrank. Several years ago I contemplated offering a similar option, but finally ...

Using Marijuana to Treat Addiction Cannabis:  A Gateway to Recovery? by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. As the failed cannabis prohibition effort continues to die a slow death, some interesting new growth is emerging in the wake.  One Cannabis friendly treatment center, High Sobriety, is already up and running in California and it may be a prelude to a much larger movement in the treatment of addiction. Also see: The Urgency of Drug Policy Reform  Rather than seeing cannabis as a gateway to addiction (a view without research to support it), those involved in marijuana-friendly treatment see it as a gateway to recovery.  As harm reduction continues to compile mounds of empirical support, the attitude towards an approach like transitioning someone off heroin with cannabis appears to be shi...