A Court Ruling That Endangers 130 Million With SUD or Mental Health Challenges

rredick July 27, 2022

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A landmark ruling in 2019 required insurers to define “medical necessity” in accordance with accepted clinical standards. But in 2022, a three-judge panel threw out that ruling, allowing insurance companies to determine coverage by “arbitrary, profit-motivated, and internally developed criteria.”

The ruling is a big step backwards for patients with SUD or mental health challenges, as well as their Loved Ones and communities. As the author of this article in The Hill notes, overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 14-23, while over 40 million Americans are seeking substance use treatment every year. Since the March 2022 ruling, insurance companies have a much easier time denying coverage to all these people in need.

Court decision endangers addiction and mental health coverage for 130 million Americans

Tagged: Addiction, Addiction Treatment, inpatient treatment, insurance, Mental Health, mental health services, paying for treatment, relationships, Research, substance use

rredick

Hunter Biden and the National Conversation About SUD

Biden’s case, like those of other famous persons, could help shed some needed light on the disorder.

rredick August 20, 2024

Rhode Island Sees First Drop in Drug Fatalities Since 2019

The state is also the newest to make access to Allies in Recovery free for all residents

rredick August 13, 2024

SUD Is “A preventable, Treatable Disease With Roots in Adolescence”

A conversation with the CEO of the Partnership to End Addiction

rredick July 30, 2024

Allies in Recovery Named a Top 10 Addiction Recovery Company by Health Care Business Review

It’s a welcome endorsement of the effectiveness and solid track record of Allies in Recovery: recognition by a trusted journal as one of the 10 best companies dedicated to addiction recovery in the United States.

rredick May 14, 2024

Fourth Largest Health Insurer U.S. Is Sued For Fraudulent, AI-Calculated Denial of Claims

If you’ve been thinking that concerns about artificial intelligence are overblown, this story may change your mind. But as with many abuses of new technology, human greed also plays a role.

rredick March 12, 2024

The Biden Administration Is Easing Access to Methadone

Fentanyl and other opioids are cutting lives short in numbers we’ve never seen before. Unfortunately, this health emergency hasn’t yet generated the national response we need. But there are some encouraging steps in the right direction—and among them are these new rules on access to methadone.

rredick March 5, 2024

What Happens In Recovery: A Young Man’s Journey in 2 ¼ Minutes

rredick February 27, 2024

Fentanyl Is Making “The Worst Overdose Crisis in American History” Worse All The Time

Many factors have combined to make recent years the deadliest in history for U.S. drug overdose deaths. At the same time, many policy responses, from bold to incremental, are on the negotiating table. Unfortunately, as this report from Politico explains, most of them are likely to stay there awhile. For now, in the absence of national leadership, it’s up to others to carry on.

rredick November 21, 2023

Positive Childhood Experiences Are Linked to Emotional Health and Resilience—Even in Households Experiencing Trauma

For decades, pediatric research has focused on negative childhood experiences (NCEs) and their effects on children’s wellbeing. Until recently, however, positive childhood experiences (PCEs) went mostly unstudied. Now that’s beginning to change, and the findings are encouraging to say the least.

rredick September 20, 2023

Ozempic, Widely Used for Diabetes and Weight Loss, Has Potential Substance Use Disorder Benefits As Well

It was developed to help regulate blood sugar in diabetics and pre-diabetics. It’s widely (though unofficially) used for weight loss. Now semaglutide (brand name Ozempic) is showing promise for SUD sufferers as well.

rredick September 12, 2023

Fentanyl Deaths In Communities of Color: A Crisis “Decades In the Making”

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals the unequal effects of the opioid crisis on Black, Native American, Hispanic, and white populations in the United States. Fentanyl deaths in particular have skyrocketed for all groups—but far more so in Black communities. Understanding the lasting effects of discrimination is essential, both for grasping the problem and seeking solutions.

rredick September 5, 2023

Borderline Personality Disorder: A Family Takes Its Caring to the Next Level

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects nearly 6% of Americans at some point in their lives, but research, treatment, and support for the condition lags far behind other serious mental illnesses. Paula Tusiani-Eng and her parents know first-hand what it’s like to live with, and eventually lose, a loved one suffering from BPD. Their story is remarkable not just because of those challenges, but because of what they decided to do next.

rredick August 22, 2023

Ketamine: A Potential Leap Forward In Opioid Addiction Medication

Buprenorphine is a crucial medicine for many patients in treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). But with the rise of deadly fentanyl, buprenorphine is becoming much harder to use effectively. That’s where another medicine, ketamine, is showing immense promise.

rredick August 15, 2023

White Patients Receive Opioid Addiction Medication at More Than Twice the Rate of Black Patients

In a new report, the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that Black and Native American patients struggling with opioid use were less than half as likely to be prescribed a crucial treatment medicine as White patients. The reasons are numerous, but many stem from what the reports’ authors call “the racial segregation of healthcare” in the United States.

rredick August 2, 2023

Bromazolam, Delivered By Mail, Is Killing Canadians in Startling Numbers

Over 20,000 Canadians have died of opioid-related causes since 2020. Many of these deaths involved opioids mixed with Bromazolam or similar illicit sedatives—and most, it appears, reach users via Canadian mail. Until that pipeline can be shut down, awareness may be the best protection families can hope for.

rredick July 25, 2023

Lessons From Risk (the Board Game) May Help You Change Your Life

Eric Zimmer barely survived his twentieth year, when his struggle with heroin was at its worst. In this TED talk, he looks back on the choices he made and strategies he developed that supported his full recovery. Don’t worry if you’ve never played Risk! Eric’s presentation lays it all out clearly.

rredick June 20, 2023

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New Data Proves It: You’re Not Alone

A Pew Research Center survey gives us another sharp statistical window on substance use in America. Its findings may surprise you. 46% of Americans have a family member or close friend who’s struggled with substance use disorder.

Allies in Recovery May 17, 2023

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A New Study Reveals How the Brains of Family Members Respond to Their Loved One

It’s no mystery that humans subjected to various stressors can respond in similar ways. But why is this so? What are the neurological mechanisms? We’re far from having all the answers. Now, however, brain scans are revealing similar activity in substance use disorder (SUD) sufferers and the family and friends who care for them.

Allies in Recovery May 3, 2023

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Debunked in 3 ½ Minutes: Harmful Myths About Family and Recovery

It can’t be said too often: substance use disorder is a disease. Yet unlike nearly all other diseases, it’s still often treated as a moral failure, or even a lifestyle choice. This short video illustrates this double standard in the starkest terms. It reminds us that showing care, commitment, and understanding to a Loved One with SUD is not just natural, but also the foundation for helping them at all.

Allies in Recovery April 12, 2023

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Mental Health: Just How Much Have We Got Wrong?

Everyone knows that great ideas can spread. But bad ones can also “hang around so long that you can forget you have the option of questioning them.” In this arresting Ted Talk, the entrepreneur and mental health leader Khaliya takes on some ideas that certainly merit questioning, and make a passionate case for trying to “remove our mental health blinders.”

rredick February 1, 2023

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Opioid Treatment Medications Will Be Permanently More Accessible Under New Federal Rules

Covid-19 pushed U.S. patient care to the brink. In response, take-home policies for opioid treatment medications use were temporarily relaxed. There’s evidence that these changes were massively beneficial. Now a federal agency is moving to make the changes permanent—and even expand them.

rredick January 25, 2023

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A Vaccine That Blocks the Effects of Fentanyl Created In the Lab

Testing on humans has yet to begin, but the vaccine still represents a breakthrough. As fentanyl deaths hit an all-time high in the United States, the search for solutions is heating up as well. Now researchers at the University of Houston say that have developed a potential “game changer”: a vaccine that stops fentanyl from affecting the brain at all.

rredick January 11, 2023

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At-Home, Computerized CBT Reduces Drug Use as Much as CBT Delivered in a Clinical Setting, Study Finds

Self-administering CBT via a computer training program helps as many people reduce their drug use as CBT delivered in person by a clinician, according to a clinical trial. In some cases, the results may even be better.

rredick December 28, 2022

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Meet the Parents Who’ve Had Enough of the War on Drugs

As one of the world’s leading researchers and thinkers on trauma, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk knows better than to offer solutions to this most intricate of problems. In this video series, he brilliantly describes the contours of trauma, community, and individualism, shedding brilliant light on the search for one’s own path to recovery.

rredick December 26, 2022

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My Brother Is Not a Monster: A Children’s Book About SUD, Recovery, and One Loving Family

Children can understand SUD better than adults might think. Good storytelling can help. This beautifully illustrated children’s book is spot on: showing a family challenged by SUD but coming together to support their Loved One. Instead of magnifying fear, it teaches and sheds light. And its arrival could hardly be more timely.

rredick December 12, 2022

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Material Rewards Can Make Recovery Fun — and Lead To Dramatically Better Outcomes

The research is clear: tangible rewards can greatly improve recovery efforts. Such programs are at last being given a chance. It’s called contingency management: the use of modest but far from trivial rewards for progress toward recovery. And for many suffering from SUD, it works. Now, after decades of resistance in the U.S., the approach is being adopted in states and cities across the country.

rredick October 26, 2022

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The Meaning of Recovery: Five People Share Their Stories

As Allies members know quite well, substance use disorder often throws not just the user, but the entire family unit into turmoil. The documentary “Our American Family” takes an intimate look at one such family in Philadelphia, diving deep into intergenerational addiction and recovery. This review from Psychology Today reflects on the film and the troubled but resilient family it follows.

rredick October 3, 2022

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Three Common Thinking Traps, and How to Avoid Them

Our minds have various kinds of natural bias. Fortunately they can be recognized and resisted. Bias affects everyone’s thinking. While it isn’t always a disaster, it can cause serious problems, including misunderstandings and conflict between Loved Ones. In this NPR interview, Yale Professor Woo-kyoung Ahn discusses three of the most common sorts of bias, and how we can train ourselves to counteract them.

rredick September 28, 2022

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This Documentary That Shows the Whole Family’s Experience with Substance Use

rredick September 14, 2022

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New Evidence Shows That Medicine Is An Effective Part of Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment

Prescribed medication often helps — and is considered far too rarely. In the U.S., medicines for the treatment of alcohol use disorder date back to at least the 1920s. In recent decades, according to numerous studies, patient outcomes improve dramatically when medicine is part of the treatment plan. This article from VeryWellMind lays out the details.

rredick August 29, 2022

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On “Mom Guilt” and Self-Compassion

Parents, and especially mothers, often blame themselves for issues their children face — including issues over which the parents have little or no control. Such internalized “mom guilt” can have adverse effects on both parents and children. Amy Paturel’s essay in the Washington Post explores the roots of such feelings and recommends a self-care response.

rredick August 22, 2022

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The Destructive Myth of “Codependency”

The idea of codependency—that Loved Ones of substance users psychologically benefit from and thus enable use—has penetrated popular thinking about SUD across the country. The concept has no clear basis in fact — but that hasn’t prevented it from causing widespread harm.

rredick July 11, 2022

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A&E TV’s “Intervention”: More Harm Than Good?

Participants and SUD professionals alike question the methods, and even the premise, of A&E’s longstanding series. Now in its 24th season, A&E’s show arranges, funds, and films confrontations between family members and sufferers from substance use disorder. The show’s many critics deem its methods coercive and counterproductive.

rredick June 29, 2022

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Section 35: Playing Russian Roulette with Involuntary Treatment in Massachusetts

While many states use civil commitment, Massachusetts is believed to be the only state in the union that allows family members to file a Section 35 petition and court-order their Loved One to treatment. More often than not, they are sent to treatment inside jails and prisons — even if they haven’t committed any crimes. Family members who ask for involuntary committal call it “Russian Roulette”.

rredick June 22, 2022

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Fentanyl’s Deadly Toll Leads Parents to Seek New Ways to Keep Their Children Safe

How do parents keep their children safe amidst an ever-changing drug landscape? Illicit drug suppliers are mixing cheap, potent fentanyl into everything from heroin and cocaine to counterfeit prescription drugs. Click the image to read the full article.

rredick June 10, 2022

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Involuntary Treatment Usually Fails. Here’s Why.

A New York Times contributor explains—and tells us why voluntary treatment, and approaches like CRAFT, succeed more often.

rredick May 23, 2022

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A mock book next to Lady Justice. Patients' Bill of Rights concept shot.

“Patients’ Bill of Rights” For Substance Use Disorder Becomes Law in California

It has more teeth than most past efforts in any state. And it may well save lives.

rredick May 18, 2022

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How To Ask If They’re Getting Addicted

Worried about someone’s drinking or drug use, but not sure what to say? The CRAFT approach can help!

Dominique Simon May 3, 2022

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Dabbing is Growing In Popularity, But the Risks Are Real

Dabbing, a method of cannabis use, produces a fast high, but can expose you to a host of toxins and other risks.

rredick February 18, 2022

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A Profile of Allies in Recovery

Allies in the news! A knowledge-packed introduction to Allies in Recovery and our work with families, by a leader in the field.

rredick January 25, 2022

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Your Mind Needs Good Nutrition as Much as Your Body

The evidence is overwhelming: eating well—especially foods rich in vitamins and minerals—has great benefits for our mental health. Don’t try to go without.

rredick December 13, 2021

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Northwest ATTC webinar – Digital Health Services to Address Addiction in Families: Allies in Recovery

This webinar, sponsored by the Northwest ATTC (Addiction Technology Transfer Center), introduced participants to Allies in Recovery.

Dominique Simon September 9, 2021

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Couple fighting highwater article thesoberworld

Toxic Moods

We hear a lot about Serenity in recovery programs. For me personally, developing Serenity meant no longer being codependent to four dynamics when they show up around me: Jealousy, spitefulness, moodines and rudeness.

annieunhooked March 29, 2021

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Is Your Loved One in the Criminal Justice System in MA?

Our collaborator, Dr. Haner Hernandez, has shared with us these "talking points" for Massachusetts families facing a Loved One's involvement with the Criminal Justice System. You will also find the necessary forms to request a criminal offender record.

isabel February 26, 2021

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Study Finds Two-Drug Combination May Help Treat Meth Addiction

A two-drug combination may help treat addiction to meth, according to a study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. The study found the two drugs were safe and effective in treating adults with moderate or severe methamphetamine use disorder.

isabel February 1, 2021

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Contingency Management Works – Why Is It So Underused?

In a recent article, nytimes.com focused on contingency management, finally putting addiction treatment at the heart of the conversation. How does it work? What are clinicians, researchers and patients saying about it? What are the obstacles preventing people with addiction from accessing this innovative treatment method?

Dominique Simon November 5, 2020

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Five Science-Backed Strategies to Build Resilience

Even for the relatively self-aware and emotionally adept, struggles can take us by surprise. But learning healthy ways to move through adversity—a collection of skills that researchers call resilience—can help us cope better and recover more quickly, or at least start heading in that direction.

isabel October 12, 2020

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When Does Drinking Moderation Work?

If you’re the family member of someone with a drinking problem, you probably have strong opinions about whether your Loved One can, or ought to, continue drinking. You know by now that it’s not up to you…. Learn more about moderate drinking and read Dominique Simon-Levine's full article on addictionblog.org.

isabel September 8, 2020

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Alcoholics Anonymous vs. Other Approaches: The Evidence Is Now In

For a long time, medical researchers were unsure whether Alcoholics Anonymous worked better than other approaches to treating people with alcohol use disorder. In 2006, a review of the evidence concluded we didn’t have enough evidence to judge.That has changed.

isabel July 24, 2020

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Alcoholism vs. Addiction

Dominique Simon July 9, 2020

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Alcoholism vs. Addiction

Using a wide range of first-hand accounts, this article takes a frank look at the language we use to label addictions, and unpacks some of the meaning within these terms.

Dominique Simon April 30, 2020

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Dual Diagnosis: When It Seems Like It Will Never End

There’s no putting aside the pain, exhaustion, and disappointments that go on, sometimes for years – even decades – when loved ones struggle with dual diagnoses.

isabel April 17, 2020

3 Comments

Dr. Drew on Substance Use and Violence

Dr. Drew has published a new article on the connections between substance use and violence. Drugs and alcohol can both trigger aggression and escalate/increase its severity, so when they intersect in intimate relationships the results can be devastating for everyone involved.

isabel June 7, 2019

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A Recovery Method Based on Buddhist Practice

What is a Refuge Recovery Meeting like? Refuge Recovery is an alternative to 12-step programs. It's a relatively new organization that has quickly grown in popularity in recent years. It is a recovery method based on Buddhist practice. The meetings themselves are fairly simple. They are peer-led…

isabel April 24, 2019

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A Hopeless Patient ?

…looking at my schedule, I remember saying, “Oh HELL no. I’m not seeing this guy. He’s not going to stabilize in an office-based practice.” But he had already paid to hold his appointment slot, so I felt obligated to see him. My plan was to tell him he wasn’t appropriate for an office-based program, and to recommend inpatient treatment, as I had so many times in the past.

isabel February 1, 2019

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New Guidelines on the Information Healthcare Providers Can Share

The HHS Office for Civil Rights has released new guidance on when and how healthcare providers can share a patient’s health information with his or her family members, friends, and legal personal representatives when that patient may be in crisis and incapacitated, such as during an opioid overdose.

isabel July 23, 2018

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Addiction, Recovery, and Personal Character

Addiction medicine is ill-equipped to address such pathologies of character and to fill the void once drugs are removed from the center of an addicted patient’s life.

isabel June 15, 2018

9 Comments

Compassion Led Me to Rehab

Singer, rapper and activist Macklemore writes of his recovery: "Compassion Led Me to Rehab and It Can Help the Country Fight the Opioid Crisis"

isabel April 3, 2018

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Trump insurers have to pay for addiction treatment

Insurers have to pay for treatment. Trump just has to enforce the law.

The administration's rhetoric doesn’t match its action. Many Americans are suffering without getting the treatment they need because for-profit insurance companies are finding ways to deny it.

isabel March 23, 2018

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I Just Got Denied Coverage: Now What?

Was your request for treatment denied? Here's an article explaining how to file an insurance appeal for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) – from the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

isabel March 23, 2018

2 Comments

My Father’s Addiction Made Him A Stranger. Is It Too Late to Get to Know Him Now?

Like millions of Americans, I am a child of addiction. Research indicates that an annual average of 8.7 million children 17 or younger live with a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol. I was raised by my mother as an only child in Takoma Park, away from much of the havoc affecting families across the District.

isabel January 25, 2018

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Why Some People Swear by Alcoholics Anonymous—And Others Despise It

The 12 steps, first established in the 1930s by Bill Wilson, have now become a powerhouse in the addiction treatment world, with millions of attendees worldwide each year in AA meetings alone. More than 15 million have an alcohol use disorder. Excessive drinking alone is linked to 88,000 deaths each year. So whether one of the most common types of treatment for this disease is actually effective could be a matter of life or death.

isabel January 17, 2018

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Beer - Alcohol & Recovery from other substances

How Does Alcohol Affect Recovery from Other Drugs?

There is an ongoing debate in the addiction field: Can people successfully recover from one drug use disorder if they continue to consume a different drug? In this case, authors reviewed more than a dozen studies in the field investigating specifically how drinking alcohol affects other drug use disorder treatment outcomes.

Dominique Simon December 26, 2017

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You relapsed? You’re going to jail!

This is an excellent piece from NPR.org about the whether relapse should be treated as a crime. The Massachusetts Supreme Court is preparing to rule on this sensitive and crucial topic.

Dominique Simon November 3, 2017

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6 Things to Do Before Your L.O. Comes Home from Addiction Treatment

The day has finally come for you and your family to welcome your Loved One back from a residential treatment program (rehab) for addiction to drugs or alcohol. You may be cautiously optimistic for the homecoming or you may be worried about how it will go.

isabel September 25, 2017

2 Comments

NEWS - national geographic science of addiction

How Science is Unlocking the Secrets of Addiction

Addiction hijacks the brain’s neural pathways. Scientists are challenging the view that it’s a moral failing and researching treatments that could offer an exit from the cycle of desire, bingeing, and withdrawal that traps tens of millions of people.

isabel September 5, 2017

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How to Talk to Them When They’re Lying

One of the oldest and well known myths is that all substance users have profound character flaws that result in chronic lying. Lying is a tool that almost everyone uses at one time or another to try and mitigate negative reactions and emotions in others. It’s a human communication strategy that is as old as time itself.

isabel August 30, 2017

3 Comments

7 Things a Parent Can Say to a Child Struggling with SUD

Let your child know when they are struggling with substances, that you are still there for them. You will be waiting for them when they are ready to cross the bridge to recovery. Your support can give them the inner strength that they need to start their life anew. Here are some helpful things you can say when your child is struggling with drugs or alcohol. These seven messages would be wonderful for any child to hear.

isabel August 11, 2017

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Can You Trust A Person With Substance Disorder?

…In over 20 years of experience working with individuals who use substances in a way that causes harm, most individuals I have known, abstaining or actively using, defy these stereotypes. This opinion column from the Huffington Post focuses on the strengths of these individuals through the truths they tell.

isabel June 14, 2017

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The Importance of Household Rules for Teens in Treatment

Setting new household rules for teens in treatment for a substance use disorder can be challenging for parents. But it is important because research shows that teens do take their parents’ attitudes, opinions and beliefs into account when they make choices about substance use

isabel January 17, 2017

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What You Need to Know About Wellness

Embracing wellness can improve the quality of your life, while adding years to it! But what does "wellness" really mean? Here's a well-crafted page put together by SAMHSA on the 8 Dimensions of Wellness and how they help with recovery.

isabel October 6, 2016

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Seeking Serenity

From Addiction Professional's online magazine… This is a good article for those trying to recover but also for their family members.

Dominique Simon September 26, 2016

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Links Between Addiction & Mental Illness

From US News & World Report: Does mental illness lead to drug abuse? And more common questions, answered.

isabel September 12, 2016

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Naloxone … is No Cure in Heroin Epidemic

From the New York Times: "Critics say the highly effective antidote provides a safety net for those who keep abusing drugs, enabling them to be revived over and over."

isabel July 29, 2016

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Blame the Parents, Punish the Child?

In this post from rehabs.com, Anne Fletcher addresses the common and dangerous beliefs that many of us carry. These misconceptions lead us to blame the parents when their child suffers from addiction, and punish the child.

isabel July 25, 2016

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Unbroken Brain Explains Why ‘Tough’ Treatment Doesn’t Help Drug Addicts

From npr.org, an interview with Maia Szalavitz, author of Unbroken Brain. Szalavitz was addicted to cocaine and heroin from the age of 17 until she was 23. "We have this idea that if we are just cruel enough and mean enough and tough enough to people with addiction, that they will suddenly wake up and stop, and that is not the case," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

isabel July 19, 2016

1 Comment

Can You Get Over an Addiction?

…Research also shows that half of all addictions — with the exception of tobacco — end by age 30, and the majority of people with alcohol and drug addictions overcome it, mostly without treatment. I stopped taking drugs when I was 23. I always thought that I had quit because I finally realized that my addiction was harming me. Opinion column from the NYT.

isabel July 11, 2016

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Can He Successfully Moderate? There’s Only One Way to Find Out …

The founders of AA suggest that attempts at moderation provide the best litmus test for alcoholism. In their view, drinkers that are able to cut back without abstaining are not alcoholics because they haven’t become powerless over alcohol. Read the article from planyourrecovery.com.

isabel July 1, 2016

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NEWS - ruth potee greenfield recorder article

Missing the Mark on Addiction

Massachusetts Doctor and Addiction Medicine Specialist Dr. Ruth A. Potee has written an editorial for the Greenfield Recorder about the recently passed Opiod legislation signed by Governor Charlie Baker.

isabel June 20, 2016

2 Comments

Children of Heroin Crisis Find Refuge in Grandparents’ Arms

With the rise in heroin use, grandparents are increasingly raising their grandchildren because the parents are either dead, in jail, in rehab or otherwise incapable of taking care of their children. Read the Boston Globe article here…

isabel May 25, 2016

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Opioid-affected Families are Learning to Cope

Joanne Peterson has attended more than 100 funerals for opioid victims, and she long ago learned the words to all the songs she hears at the services. But she no longer attends the wakes. “I could not look at another young person in a casket,” Peterson said. “There are some days when I just start crying.” … read full article here

Dominique Simon May 24, 2016

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Finding the Best Addiction Treatment, With Hired Help

From the New York Times: For families who can afford to do so, hiring a private consultant is proving to be a great help for finding treatment options for an addicted Loved One. A consultant helped Juli Frawley's family through their daughter’s treatment for substance abuse.

isabel April 5, 2016

0 Comments

NEWS - how to really help someone with addiction

How to Really Help Someone with Alcoholism

From addictionblog.org, Dominique Simon-Levine guest authors a post: A young woman named Kate came to see us, deeply upset about her mother’s severe alcoholism. As her drinking got worse, her mother had quit a high-paying job as a nurse, and was now almost a complete shut-in. Kate and her brother still lived with their mother, providing food and paying the bills. Read more here…

isabel March 6, 2016

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The End of Hitting Rock Bottom

SHORTLY AFTER 1 A.M. on March 27, Susan Knade awoke to the sound of her cellphone ringing. It was her 21-year-old daughter, Caroline, calling. She was crying. "Please," Caroline said. "Please, come pick me up." Caroline had been kicked out of her halfway house. She was entering heroin withdrawal….. (read more from the Boston Globe)

isabel March 2, 2016

0 Comments

Your Worst Fears Have Been Confirmed

Families who find evidence of drug or alcohol use need a plan that goes way beyond the day-to-day reactivity caused by the chaos of life, especially when someone is struggling with alcohol or drugs. Read more on addictionblog.org …

isabel March 2, 2016

0 Comments

How to intervene so an addict or alcoholic hears your message

You may believe that getting your addicted family member into treatment would take a miracle. Or you may think it can only happen if a professional is brought in. But an intervention does not have to be a big dramatic family meeting with lots of tears and pressure…(read more from addictionblog.org)

isabel March 2, 2016

0 Comments

Alchohol Abuse Among the Elderly

AFTER 50 years of heavy drinking, a 72-year-old woman from Fairfield County was forced to confront her alcoholism when her son threatened to move out of the house he shares with her if she did not stop drinking. "I won't stay here and watch you die," he told her. Read the article on New York Times.

isabel February 24, 2016

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