What’s News Blog
Latest Allies in Recovery News
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.
What’s News Posts
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Seeking Serenity
From Addiction Professional's online magazine… This is a good article for those trying to recover but also for their family members.