Research shows that substance use disorder (SUD) patients who attend 12-step mutual help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous experience reduced healthcare costs and better outcomes. However, many individuals with SUD never attend 12-step meetings, while others who attend initially do not follow through. The reasons for non-attendance and dropout of 12-step meetings have not been...

Racism, dogmatism, and sexism are the judgments that one race, set of beliefs, or sex are superior. I am introducing the term “recoveryism,” defined as the judgment that one approach to recovery is superior. Recoveryism often gets even more extreme: there is only ONE approach to recovery. Any other “approach” is just pseudo-recovery. Individuals who try these pseudo-recoveries will...

The disease perspective discourages many people from seeking help and implies that addiction is a disease. Suppose you have had a “few too many,” and you have done so a few too many times in recent weeks or months. You might also be interested in: Addiction is Learning, Not Disease Most people, under these circumstances...

Will insurance cover addiction if it’s not a disease? Some highly vocal addiction recovery advocacy groups claim that addictions, or at least some addictions, are diseases. These groups argue that insurance coverage for addiction treatment is crucial for recovery, and that insurers will not pay for treatment if addiction is not understood as a disease. Therefore...

By: Tom Brown, Ph.D. CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) is a non-confrontational approach to getting a loved one to enter addiction treatment. It is an approach designed for the concerned other (spouse, family member, friend), who is seeking assistance in getting their loved one help. CRAFT can also help the person you are concerned...

A. Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP I make a number of assumptions when conducting a substance abuse evaluations as part of a litigation process: The individual’s use is usually not less than the individual reports, but it might often be more (or much more). Inaccurate accusations of substance abuse are common because there is usually little...

Addiction, Recovery and Society How society should view addiction Ending recoveryism Let’s stop insisting addiction is a disease Will insurance cover addiction treatment if addiction is not a disease? AA’s dominance in the US is harmful Court-ordered 12-step attendance is illegal CRAFT: An alternative to addiction “intervention” Substance abuse evaluations in child custody cases Addiction...

A. Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP Alcohol prohibition in the US lasted from 1919 to 1933. Prohibition continues for those under age 21. Prohibition was repealed because it was violated so often.  Given how much people like to drink, prohibition as a public policy was not realistic. In this article, I suggest that we are seeing...