This weekly meeting, sponsored by the recovery community In the Rooms, is a place to learn about both trauma and the steps trauma survivors can take to deal with flashbacks, PTSD, and other consequences of their experience. Each meeting is hosted by an expert in the trauma and recovery field.
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about what you’re living with.
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The app, based in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, has shown promising results in early trials
Some of the best organizations, support groups, readings, and curricula for young people with SUD in the family
A correlation between SUD and psychosis is real and worrisome, but causation is a harder issue. Read on for details.
Anger evolved with the human brain. Though it may not seem so today, its original function was to keep us safe. Unfortunately, for most of us, anger is a deeply unpleasant experience, one that can damage our relationships and sense of wellbeing. The good news is that we can change this dynamic. This article offers a science-based guide to regulating anger and returning it to its constructive purpose.
Over 30 million people in the United States live with an eating disorder. Some of these conditions are life threatening, but even the least severe cases are detrimental. Young people, especially girls, are particularly at risk. That’s why we were so pleased to discover a nonprofit support and information organization called F.E.A.S.T.
Finding a health professional who truly understands eating disorders is no easy task. And for those who suffer from them, it can be just as hard to avoid the judgments and unhelpful comments of friends, family, or coworkers. This interview with one of the world’s leading experts on eating disorders takes a broom to those old and stigmatizing ideas. It also offers pointers for standing by a Loved One suffering from an eating disorder.
You’d be forgiven if ear acupuncture isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when talk turns to substance use disorder. Numerous studies, however, are documenting the efficacy of a specific procedure (the NADA protocol) for help with craving, withdrawal, and other aspects of addiction. As this article points out, however, the key to success with NADA lies in the details.
Childhood trauma of any kind leaves its mark. Severe or sustained trauma generates certain telltale symptoms in survivors. Licensed therapist and life coach Patrick Teahan, himself a survivor of childhood trauma, breaks down three of the most prominent symptoms. By reaching a deeper understanding of what’s occurring inside us, he argues, we’re in a far better position to overcome the challenges that result.
Some solid, simple guidelines that can reduce (not eliminate) the health risks associated with cannabis. There’s no such thing as zero-risk cannabis use, but this one-page reference sheet from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research provides an excellent, straightforward guide to lowering that risk.
The Recovery Research Institute, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, is dedicated to advancing the understanding and treatment of addiction. This page on substance use and the family is an extremely well-designed information hub. It’s a great place to start your journey to deeper understanding—or to remind yourself of the basics.
Methamphetamine use is a national crisis—but not one the drug industry has taken much interest in. Fortunately, that may at last be changing, and not a moment too soon. As this article makes clear, both meth users and treatment providers need all the help they can get.
In 2021, only 6% of people in the U.S. struggling with substance use disorder received any treatment, according to this year’s SAMHSA report. That is just one of a great many statistics gathered in this report. Its findings should concern us all.
It’s not the right fit for everyone. But for some it’s a real alternative to the total-abstinence approach. For many people in the United States, getting a handle on their alcohol use has long meant seeking out an abstinence-based program such as AA or Smart. While these programs have helped millions, they do not work for everyone.
We all know how destructive “wildfire” anger can be. The good news is that a suite of skills and practices—known as anger management—can help us manage, limit, and even learn from our anger. The techniques are rather straightforward, but the details matter. This article is a great place to familiarize yourself with the basics.
Verywellmind is a health website that takes pride in its quality, professionally-reviewed information. In this article, they make it clear how the CRAFT approach differs from old-school “interventions,” and why its outcomes are so much better overall. This is also a great general overview of the CRAFT approach, hitting the highlights of the skills and resources you can access through Allies in Recovery.
A brave and loving look back, and a plea to others to think broadly about options for their Loved Ones. Jaclyn Brown lost her brother Marc to heroin in 2018. While she and her sister tried to support him, the clarity of hindsight is making it painfully clear to her the steps she might have taken, if only she’d known they were possible. But her essay is not about self-judgment; it’s about reaching out to others with a message of hope.
Evidence of a correlation exists, and is worrisome. A causal link, however, is still very much in question. Do dabbing and other forms of high-potency cannabis use cause psychotic episodes? We can’t say that definitively yet, but there’s enough evidence of a link that warnings are merited. This article lays out the facts as we know them.
The typical phases, bright spots, hard moments, and takeaways in SUD treatment and recovery. An amazing resource from The Addiction Policy Forum this is a new map of SUD treatment and recovery experiences, from trigger events and seeking care all the way to long-term support.
Dr. John. F Kelly is one of the world’s leading authorities on recovery from alcohol and other drugs. In this PDF version of his slideshow, he reviews both the long-term data and the latest research on numerous approaches to recovery.
Despite great controversy, detoxing from marijuana can bring on a variety of withdrawal symptoms. Let’s take a closer look.
Self-image can be changed, argues this insightful bestseller from 1960. But such change is real work.
Fisher, our longtime colleague, has just appeared in an Allies’ podcast, and in the country’s top newspapers.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts, feelings and behavior together, and how each of these affects the others.
Dr. Xavier Amador sketches his own journey, and introduces a vital framework for how to relate to a Loved One suffering from anosognosia, a common aspect of mental illness in which the affected person is unaware, or cannot perceive, their own condition.
The author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma explains how the fast food industry taught us to abandon cooking, and how much healthier we can be when we return to home meals.
New clinical studies of therapies involving psychedelics show great promise.
David Scherer, PhD has been a collaborator on the Allies team from the start. He is a retired clinical psychologist and professor emeritus in the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He worked with adolescents and families for over 35 years, doing research and publishing articles on adolescent development and how to most effectively treat troubled adolescents. Here is a selection of his publications.
MAT (medication-assisted treatment) is the use of medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a whole-patient approach to the treatment of substance use disorders (SUD). Research shows that when treating substance use disorders, a combination of medication and behavioral therapies is most successful.
Learn more about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and the research shaking things up around improved health and the origins of addiction.
