Defects of Character: A Defective Way of “Helping”
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Defects of Character: Helpful or Hurtful? This week’s article explores the widely accepted, rarely contemplated idea that identifying defects of character is helpful in recovery. Fault, failing, weakness, flaw, shortcoming, and inadequacy are all synonyms for the word defect. Character refers to the mental and moral qualities of an individual. Thus, […]
The Biggest Lies in Recovery, Pt. VI: Addiction as a Disease
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. This week’s topic is the sixth and final installment in a series exploring lies that have permeated the recovery culture. Thus far, lies about success, failure, everyone in recovery being the same, shaming, and labeling have been challenged. While there are many more lies than six that have infiltrated the consciousness […]
The Biggest Lies in Recovery, Pt. V: Labeling
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Labels Can Actually Hurt the Recovery Process This week’s topic is the fifth installment in a series exploring lies that have permeated the recovery culture. Thus far, lies about success, failure, everyone in recovery being the same, and shaming have been challenged. This week’s article challenges the lie of labeling addiction, […]
The Biggest Lies in Recovery, pt. IV: Shaming Inspires Change
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. This week’s topic is the fourth installment in a series exploring lies that have permeated the recovery culture. Thus far, lies about success, failure, and everyone in recovery being the same have been challenged. This week’s article challenges the lie that shaming people helps them change a problematic pattern of substance […]
The Biggest Lies in Recovery, pt. III: All Addicts Are the Same
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. This week’s topic is the third installment in a series exploring lies that have permeated the recovery culture. The first article challenged the lie that perfect abstinence is the only way to succeed in recovery. Last week’s article challenged the lie that most people in recovery fail. This week’s article challenges […]
The Biggest Lies in Recovery, pt. II: Recovery Failure
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. The Biggest Lies in Recovery, pt. II – Recovery Failure This week’s topic is the second installment in a series exploring lies that have permeated the recovery culture. Last week’s article challenged the lie that success in recovery is perfect abstinence. This week’s article challenges the closely related lie of recovery […]
The Biggest Lies in Recovery, pt. 1
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. This week’s topic is the first installment in a series that will explore lies that have permeated the recovery culture. Lies selected for critique will share a common theme of being detrimental to progress. The first lie on the chopping block is the lie of perfection. How strange would it be […]
How “Triggers” Steal Your Freedom in Recovery
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Much is being said about changing the nomenclature in the treatment of problematic substance use. The latest diagnostic manual (DSM-5) no longer uses the term ‘addiction.’ Anne Fletcher wrote about the value of cleaning up the language of addiction using powerful comparisons to other avenues of treatment. She astutely pointed out […]
Dealing With Difficult People
by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. We all deal with people who bug us every day. Sometimes the people who annoy us are our neighbors, our co-workers, or our family members. Improving our ways of dealing with difficult people can help us enrich our own lives and decrease urges to use substances to cope with uncomfortable feelings. […]
Linda Lewis: “I Swore it Would Not Happen to Me.”
Linda Lewis shares her story. by Linda Lewis, Recovery Maintenance Counselor for Practical Recovery I’ve been preparing for my role as an addiction counselor all my life. From the time I was born, I was surrounded by people with addiction problems… life and death problems. Our family has a white sheep, one, my aunt Lois. […]