Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy

I just finished listening to the audio version of Clean which it is a very powerful book.

David writes from the perspective of a parent who went through years of helping his son overcome drug addiction. Like Anne Fletcher, author of Inside Rehab and Sober For Good, he is critical of the current treatment industry and the lack of options to AA/NA in most places. He’s also an advocate of the “disease” model of addiction. I quote, addiction “is one of the most complicated diseases there is because this is a brain disease.”

He makes a good case for this view based on his research and cites scientific sources to back it up.

Another thing I really liked about this book was David’s thorough critique of Americas “War on Drugs” and why it’s actually a war on American families and the American people.

Excerpt:

The view that drug use is a moral choice is pervasive, pernicious, and wrong. So are the corresponding beliefs about the addicted — that they’re weak, selfish, and dissolute; if they weren’t  when their excessive drug taking and drinking began to harm them, they’d stop. The reality is far different. Using drugs or not isn’t about willpower or character. Most problematic drug use is related to stress, trauma, genetic predisposition,mild or serious mental illness, use at an early age, or some combination of those. Even in their relentless destruction and self-destruction, the addicted aren’t bad people. They’re gravely ill, afflicted with a chronic, progressive, and often terminal disease.

People also believe that addicts can’t be treated; at best, they can muster their willpower and manage their compulsion for a short time. But while it’s true that addicts who seek treatment are seldom cured, their disease is treatable when we reject the pseudoscience, moralizing, and scare tactics that characterize the current system. The disease of addiction can be prevented, and when we treat it the way we treat other diseases, those in its thrall can be freed to live long, full, healthy lives.

The mission of Clean is to describe the scope of America’s drug problem and explain how and why we’ve failed in our efforts to combat it. I show why we must waste no time in rejecting the existing paradigm that got us into this catastrophic mess. I provide scientific evidence that will change the way we think about drugs and addiction. Finally, and most important, I present the hopeful news that we can now effectively prevent drug use and treat addiction. When we do, we do more than help those with drug problems and their families. We also start to remedy America’s single greatest problem, one that affects almost every other problem you can name — the quality and availability of health care, the national and international economic crisis, poverty, spousal and child abuse, suicide, U.S. competitiveness in the world economy, property crime, violence, shattered families, decimated neighborhoods, and many others.

Interviews:

• David Sheff On Addiction: Prevention, Treatment And Staying ‘Clean’
• NPR: Fresh Air

For science based alternatives to AA, please see the Substance Abuse And Addiction Recovery on the resources page ofSEAFA.

Looking for Evidence That Therapy Works

Mental-health care has come a long way since the remedy of choice was trepanation — drilling holes into the skull to release “evil spirits.” Over the last 30 years, treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy and family-based treatment have been shown effective for ailments ranging from anxiety and depression to post-traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders.

The trouble is, surprisingly few patients actually get these kinds of evidence-based treatments once they land on the couch — especially not cognitive behavioral therapy. In 2009, a meta-analysis conducted by leading mental-health researchers found that psychiatric patients in the United States and Britain rarely receive C.B.T., despite numerous trials demonstrating its effectiveness in treating common disorders. One survey of nearly 2,300 psychologists in the United States found that 69 percent used C.B.T. only part time or in combination with other therapies to treat depression and anxiety.

C.B.T. refers to a number of structured, directive types of psychotherapy that focus on the thoughts behind a patient’s feelings and that often include exposure therapy and other activities.

Instead, many patients are subjected to a kind of dim-sum approach — a little of this, a little of that, much of it derived more from the therapist’s biases and training than from the latest research findings. And even professionals who claim to use evidence-based treatments rarely do.

READ MORE

It’s refreshing to see such a prominent and well known newspaper advocating for Evidence Based Therapy (EBT). The dominance of non scientific/evidence based treatment is especially rampant when it comes to patients with substance abuse problems. 

As Cindy Brody stated on a CMC blog, the list of questions posed at the end of the Times article could quite helpful to anyone looking for a therapist more versed in EBT’s.

Looking for a good therapist, one that can help you most effectively address the challenges you want to work on, is a daunting task. Different experts will sometimes give wildly divergent opinions as to what can best help you. Educating yourself about the types of treatment, training, etc that have been shown to be the most impactful will help you navigate this system and pick someone who you not only feel comfortable with, but who also has the skill set best suited for your needs. In terms of additional questions to ask when seeking addiction treatment specifically, Anne Fletcher’s new book, Inside Rehab, provides a fantastic list to help you discriminate between the tons of programs that supposedly use evidence based practices, and find those that actually use the ones you need based on your individual situation.

For science based alternatives to AA, please see the Substance Abuse And Addiction Recovery section on the resources page of SEAFA.

Holistic Rehab Therapies: Do They Work for Addiction?

No question about it – holistic therapies are “in” at addiction rehabs, particularly ones at the more elite end of the rehab spectrum. One of the ways that treatment facilities attempt to attend to the whole person and to individualize care is by providing such alternative treatments—sometimes called “complementary” or “integrative” therapies—including acupuncture, energy psychology, equine-assisted therapy, neurofeedback, psychodrama, Reiki, somatic experiencing, and massage therapy. Yet when I investigated scientifically sound approaches for helping people with addictions for my book, Inside Rehab, none of these holistic therapies surfaced.

Do these holistic interventions add to the quality of the rehab experience, increasing the chances of recovery from addiction? Could their benefit be in the user’s head—that is, just a placebo effect? Are they worth the added expense? Or could some of them pose harm?

READ MORE

In my opinion, the answer to most of these questions is a resounding NO!

The rehab industry just recently started to overcome many of the antiquated, non-scientific methods of treatment which has been fostered by and promulgated by AA for over half a century so the last thing people need now is to be swindled by woowoo like this when reaching out for help for their substance abuse and/or addiction problems.

As Anne Fletcher says, “consumers have a right to know whether therapies are science-based and that those that aren’t should not be presented as such.”

For science based alternatives to AA, please see the Substance Abuse And Addiction Recovery section on the resources page of SEAFA.

How I Got Sober and Converted to Atheism

I left booze, and then I left God.

I stood on a mountaintop and looked out over the sea. A thousand feet below me, eagles soared on thermals. Wind blew through my hair and I felt dizzy. I fell to my knees and cried. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this “white-light” experience was the moment I realized there was no God—I had been struck atheist.

To be accurate and appropriately less dramatic, my atheist conversion was far from immediate. It was a process that began when I got sober about five years earlier.

I finally stopped drinking and drugging at age 30, in the summer of 2004, after about 15 years of relatively high-functioning abuse. I took to 12-step recovery like a fish to water and was especially drawn to Alcoholics Anonymous’ message of a spiritual solution.

READ MORE

An interesting article and although this guy had a rather usual experience running into the “Buddhist teacher” early own in AA, you can see how the AA community eventually treated him once he rejected the “God” or “higher power” concept that is a mandatory part of the program.

Anyone experiencing substance abuse and or other addiction problems and wish to get scientifically based assistance should check out the below organizations and research the secular “Substance Abuse And Addiction Recovery” section on our resources page here at http://theseafa.org/resources.html.

Substance Abuse And Addiction Recovery

• Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS)
• SMART Recovery®
• LifeRing Secular Recovery
• Recovery International
• Women For Sobriety, Inc.
• REBT Network
• Albert Ellis Institute (AEI)

I recommend both SMART Recovery and Life Ring Secular Recovery, they are both great programs.