Five Studies: New Approaches in Treating Addiction as a Disease
The disease model of addiction offers addicts several ways forward—including getting drunk to beat alcoholism.
Browsing Tag
Addiction
149 posts
Drug Courts Grow Up
As drug courts spread across the world, new standards and best practices aim to hold them all accountable.
Facing Disturbing Truths About Pedophilia Could Help Us Keep Kids Safer
Pedophilia can be something you're born with. It's not an addiction, although pedophiles can be sex addicts and are often given addiction-type treatment. As a sex addict, I'm convinced we fail these people in ways that increase our risks.
Personalized Medicine Is Coming to Addiction Treatment
Using gene testing to find the right drug for the right person at the right time is medicine's cutting edge. Addiction researchers are identifying promising genetic targets for treatments for alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs.
Humiliating People With Addiction Is Not Treatment
My experiences at a "therapeutic community" in Florida where degrading practices were routine will always inform my continuing work as a therapist.
This Is What It’s Like When Gambling Is Your Drug
My buddy prefers gambling to every other substance or behavior, including sex, food, and sleep. He's lost count of how much he won, but it's less than what he lost. Now, in middle age, he says he's over it.
‘Hardcore’ Smokers Are Softening Up
A new study questions whether there really are smokers who can't or won't quit—and whether encouraging them to use other nicotine products is the right way to get them off cigarettes.
Me and My Mug Shot: The Face of Addiction Stigma
The photo of me after my arrest for heroin possession shows the generic "ugly, addicted criminal." That was five years—and a lifetime—ago, but whenever it's re-published I feel the same old shame, remorse, and dehumanization. Society wants me to.
When Addicts Get Out of Jail
New research suggests that maintaining methadone treatment in jails and prisons would save lives.
How America Overdosed on Drug Courts
Hailed as the most compassionate way for the criminal justice system to deal with addicts, drug courts were designed to balance punishment with rehabilitation. But after 25 years, the verdict is in: Drug courts embolden judges to practice medicine without a license—and they put lives in danger.