Brain Surgery for Addiction
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Addiction treatment needs improvement. Exploring new methods is essential to advancing the field. To imagine the latest radical approach to treating addiction one might envision an amalgamation of electro-shock therapy and trepanning. Brain surgery for addiction is not a futuristic concept at the dawn of its conception. On the contrary, brain […]
There is No Such Thing as an Addictive Personality
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The concentration of misinformation in the world of addiction is as dense as osmium. One of the most well-known misconceptions in addiction is the idea of an addictive personality. I hear references to someone with an addictive personality all the time from professionals and lay folk alike. The idea of an […]
How to Provide Basic Addiction Treatment
by Tom Horvath, PhD., ABPP This blog is addressed to psychotherapists who do not view themselves as capable of providing addiction treatment. Many (if not most) therapists have this perspective. However, as I have suggested for many years, individual therapy (possibly supplemented by couple’s and family therapy) is the setting of choice for most individuals […]
Addiction is Learning, Not Disease
by Thaddeus Camlin, PsyD New England Journal of Medicine Article Says: Addiction is Learning, Not Disease One of the world’s most prestigious journals just published an article saying that addiction is not disease. Not surprisingly, an uproar is underway. Devotees to the disease model of addiction are not happy, but sometimes the truth hurts. The article […]
Person-First Language in Addiction Treatment is Long Overdue
By Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Mental health professions are big on person-first language, and rightly so. Defining people by their problems is widely agreed upon to be below the standard of care. People are much more than their diagnoses, and thus, mental health professions now routinely opt for descriptions like, ‘a person with schizophrenia’ rather than, […]
The Streets Are No Place for Addicts
The Streets Are No Place For Addicts by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Treating trauma with trauma isn’t helpful, it’s abusive. Turning away from loved ones in need deepens isolation and disconnection. Trauma and isolation cause addiction, connection cures it. Addiction, trauma, and mental illness occur amongst people without a home at much higher rates than the […]
Social Constructionism and the Roots of Addiction
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 […]
Persistence in Life and Recovery
Persistence in Life and Recovery So we are now about two weeks into the New Year. That’s long enough that the great enthusiasm we had for our 2018 goals has dimmed a bit, or worse. So now what? Life is a continuing challenge of balancing short-term and long-term satisfactions, as SMART Recovery’s 4th Point, Lifestyle […]
Hollywood Scandals Remind Us of Addiction’s Roots
Hollywood Scandals Remind Us of Addiction’s Roots by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. What does Hollywood have to do with addiction’s roots? The recent wave of sexual abuse revelations in Hollywood is simultaneously tragic and inspiring. The courage, resilience, and fortitude demonstrated by victims publicly disclosing some of the most disturbing and traumatic details of their lives […]
A Mirror for The Language of Addiction
Language of Addiction: Using Treatment Jargon to Describe Treatment By Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The insulting, dehumanizing rhetoric of the addiction ‘treatment’ industry never ceases to amaze and dishearten. The language of addiction used by the industry is purportedly used for the addicts’ own good – to break them down so they can be rebuilt. People […]