Understanding Addiction

…by Kate Benet… Marc here: Perhaps the one question I get asked most often is whether it’s possible to go back to safe use (of alcohol or other substances) after being addicted. So, after reading Kate’s story, please reserve half a minute to read my comments at the end. It seems crucial to embed the […] (Read the rest.)

I just got back from a two-day meeting on animal models of addiction. And here’s what I learned: animals way way down the evolutionary ladder also like opioids and psychostimulants. And flies like alcohol. That should make us feel less lonesome. I was asked to be the keynote speaker for the meeting, because the organizers […] (Read the rest.)

Doctors are taught from year 1 Medicine (if not before): First, do no harm. And yet, in treating addicted individuals, doctors often do more harm than good — by obstructing or totally derailing the recovery process. That should never happen! I want to show you what I mean by telling you part 2 of Sally’s […] (Read the rest.)

I haven’t been blogging since last spring, and even then it was pretty sketchy for a couple of months. Why the melt-down? For one thing, I was on drugs. Uh-huh, it’s true. And I was in pain and fairly miserable. So today’s post is about my own drug use, not anyone else’s. No theories to […] (Read the rest.)

…by Nick Jaworski… After nearly 80 years, addiction treatment in America is slowly warming to the idea of multiple pathways to recovery, after viewing the 12 steps as the only “real” way to recover. MAT (medication-assisted treatment) is among the most promising. This is a guest-post by Nick Jaworski, owner of Circle Social Inc., a […] (Read the rest.)