Psychedelic Diaries – Interview with Dr. Horvath
Psychedelic Diaries, Episode 3: Interview with Tom Horvath, PhD, ABPP “Psychedelic Diaries,” a podcast hosted by Ray Christian, has nearly 30 episodes (each an interview). Dr. Horvath was the third interviewee. The podcast describes itself as offering: “Experts from the world of medicine talk about mental health, mystical experiences, and the psychedelic renaissance. The show […]
A Courageous Statement from Dr. Volkow
by Tom Horvath, PhD There is no more important person to the addiction treatment and recovery field than Nora D. Volkow, MD. Dr. Volkow is the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In the US government’s fiscal year 2021 NIDA spent about $1.4 billion, primarily on research. By comparison, the budget for […]
Netflix Miniseries Mentions Rational Recovery
by Tom Horvath, PhD In September 2021, Netflix released a seven-episode miniseries that mentions Rational Recovery (RR) as an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in episode II (starting in minute 46). Ironically, the mention of RR occurs in a very small (two-person) AA meeting. The pro-RR speaker is required to attend AA as part of […]
Undoing Drugs – a Review by Tom Horvath, Ph.D.
Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, by Maia Szalavitz Review by A. Tom Horvath, PhD The harm reduction approach to addressing addictive problems has until recently been highly controversial, at least in the US. Treatment and other change efforts in the US have been primarily guided by the […]
Ending Stigma
By Tom Horvath, PhD Addiction professionals say they’re working toward ending stigma surrounding addiction, but they also tend to promote addiction as a disease. These activities are contradictory. By promoting addiction as a disease they play into the general tendency to perceive in-groups (“normies”) and out-groups (those with the disease). Instead of emphasizing that “addiction […]
The Self-Empowering Approach
by Tom Horvath, PhD Practical Recovery and SMART Recovery both use the self-empowering approach for resolving addictive problems. This approach contrasts with the powerlessness-based approach of AA and other 12-step groups, at least on the surface. Both approaches begin with the person considering change, and then deciding to change (at least to some degree). Both […]
Stanton Peele Book Review by Dr. Tom Horvath
A Scientific Life on the Edge: My Lonely Quest to Change How We See Addiction, by Stanton Peele, reviewed by Tom Horvath, PhD Peele’s latest book (#14) is a personal autobiography, an intellectual autobiography, and a detailed comparison of his work with that of many other authors and scientists, including Maia Szalavitz, Carl Hart, Marc Lewis, […]
America Celebrates the Drug War’s 50th Anniversary
by Thaddeus Camlin, PsyD Let’s call a spade a spade. The war on drugs is a euphemism for a war on personal freedom. The hypocrisy inherent in a war on personal freedom in the self-proclaimed land of the free is more than a tad embarrassing (insert cringe emoji here). The number of lives ruined with criminal scarlet letters […]
Managing Interpersonal Boundaries, pt. II
by Tom Horvath, PhD, ABPP Interpersonal boundaries are part of the rules we establish about how we interact with other people. In this blog we focus on protecting ourselves from the outside. In a parallel blog we focused on keeping inside what needs to stay there. In both cases we can compare interpersonal boundaries to […]
New Year’s Resolutions & The Abstinence Violation Effect
by Thaddeus Camlin, PsyD The ‘us & them,’ ‘normies and addicts’ mentality continues to lose its stronghold in addiction theory. The more addictive behaviors are recognized as a manifestation of normal human learning rather than diseased character defects and spiritual maladies, the better. New Year’s resolutions, and their reputation for failure that often precedes them, […]