As with most major problems, we all talk about the dramatic failures, the tragedies, the deaths and near-deaths. Hardly ever do we focus on the positive, the turn-around, the accomplishment, the recovery. Addiction is an awful, chronic brain disease that causes much pain, sorrow and premature…
Employee Assistance Programs have changed since the old programs of the 70s in which companies like CSX Railroad and GM had employees, usually recovering alcoholics, who would talk to other employees with drinking problems to see if they could get them detoxed and into Alcoholics Anonymous. Now…
Unless someone has worked in the alcoholism (the current term is Alcohol Use Disorder, AUD) treatment field for a significant period of time, they likely don’t possess the knowledge necessary to identify stages of alcoholism. Healthcare workers in general identify alcoholism in the late stage, when just about…
Addiction recovery – emotional intelligence. They go together. Emotional intelligence can be described as the ability to assess, deal with and learn from emotions. Emotional intelligence can be enhanced and it’s related not solely to addiction recovery, of course — everyone can benefit from learning more…
Through the years, since I started working in the addiction treatment field in 1983, I’ve heard from various “expert” sources, and have read in various articles, that treatment doesn’t work. I’m not sure there are any good studies that can tell us definitively if…
Alcohol abuse prevention is a growing concern, as it should be. If we can improve prevention efforts, we’ll likely see a reduction in premature death, healthcare costs will plummet and quality of life will improve for millions. Many courts are sending alcohol and drug…
We were surveyed by CARF Monday and Tuesday of this week. This is why I’ve skipped a few days posting here. I don’t know the results yet, but I’m pretty sure we passed the survey. CARF will contact us shortly to let us know the results….
I’ve touched on this subject in several posts, but the problem is so important it needs greater understanding. In all the healthcare debates I’ve witnessed on the news channels in the last 10 years, the effect of alcohol abuse and alcoholism on healthcare hasn’t been highlighted….
Is Alcoholics Anonymous the only support for recovering alcoholics? No, although AA is the largest, oldest and most successful. AA has been in existence since 1935. If you aren’t familiar with AA and have seen the critical portrayals in media, then you might think AA…
I touched on this subject in a recent blog, but it needs more attention. There was a lot of progress in the addiction treatment field the 80s. Quality addiction treatment could be easily found and accessed. Most treatment centers concentrated on alcoholism treatment, but cocaine…
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