Chooper's Guide ... the Internet's most comprehensive substance abuse treatment, prevention and intervention resource directory.

All things Addiction: | March 2015:



Summary/Abstract

Chooper's Guide Newsletter - March 6, 2015 - Epidemiology of substance abuse, second step, epigenitics,and addiction theory articles.

Content

Chooper's Guide Newsletter - March 6, 2015

 

 

Everything Addiction
View this email in your browser
Reaching More People, Saving More Lives!

Happy Rats and Addiction Reversal in Portugal:
What Do They Know That We Don't?

Since the turn of the century, society has been led to believe that the disease of addiction is caused by the introduction of a chemical substance into our bodies that changes our brain chemistry and alienates us from others.  What if addiction is caused not by the introduction of a substance, but a forced or environmentally induced extraction of ourselves from the collective “body” or society as we know it, and the subsequent alienation of ourselves from safe, loving, and supportive communities?  What if the only thing that meets our deep seated psychological need for safe and reliable connection is a drug?   Can addiction be prevented or reversed by creating communities that meet this core need? As a nation once ravaged by heroin addiction, Portugal has tested this hypothesis with astounding results.  Borrowing from the work of Bruce Alexander in which cocaine addicted rats were either exiled in social isolation or immersed in “happy communities”, Portugal implemented drug policies that decriminalized drug use while providing housing, jobs, and  supportive environments that allowed addicts to connect with themselves, their emotions and their community.  Since doing so nearly two decades ago, the rate of injection drug use has declined by 50% while overdose rates and crime have plummeted.  To read more about what we can learn from our furry friends, check out  Portugal Cuts Addiction Rates in Half by Connecting Drug Users with Communities Instead of Jailing Them at Choopersguide.com.
Saving Lives is a Numbers Game....
and We Don't Have Them

Epidemiology [-dē′mē·ol′əjē]  
Etymology: 
Gk, epi + demos, people, logos, science


The formal study of health event patterns in a population, their causes, and means of prevention. Epidemiology provides the scientific basis for evidence-based medicine and strategies to improve public health - Segen's Medical Dictionary

To successfully prevent and treat the disease of addiction, we need access to timely, accurate and standardized data that allows us as educators, service providers, and policy makers to understand its causes, prevalence and impacts on short and long term health.  We also need data that allows us to focus on the deadliest drugs while forecasting and preparing for changes in their use. 

The 
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)is responsible for the collection and dissemination of this data is the . Unfortunately, its June 2014 Epidemiologic Trends in Drug Abuse report fails us at every turn.  Despite the nationwide heroin epidemic and the rising death toll from overdoses and Hep C, the report lacks essential data.   With misaligned priorities and questionable objectives, it focusses instead on the drug seizure activity and treatment admissions for marijauna, arguably the most benign and medically beneficial drug on the street.  To learn more about this report and its disturbing omissions, check out Current Drug Abuse Trends Data and the Drug War

 

21st Century Recovery:
Is It Time to Throw Abstinence Under the Bus?
 
Psychotherapist and addiction author Stanton Peele. Is he a provocative, ill-informed and dangerous renegade who threatens to topple the 12-step model of recovery and those living within it?  Or is he a brilliant visionary who refuses to board the abstinence bus and offers instead an empowering and liberating path out of the darkness of addiction?  Or perhaps like all iconoclasts, is he a little of both?
 
 
In his recent article Peele demands that therapists adopt a Harm Reduction paradigm while urging the dissolution of therapeutic practices that label, shame, and focus on the abstract concept of disease rather than people with variable and multifaceted lives. He further challenges the addiction industry to rethink "abstinence-based" treatment and offers an alternative conception that turns the 12-Step model of recovery upside down.  

Radical? Evidence-based? Life saving or dead wrong? Read "The Addiction Therapist’s Guide to the 21st Century”  at Choopersguide.com and you decide.  

 
Early Childhood Trauma and the Roots of Addiction –
Where Silos and Science Diverge in the Woods

 
The rigorous application of the scientific method is critical to understanding the causes and treatment of Addiction. Theorists and practitioners alike must resist the urge to create myopic and exclusionary silos.  They must remain willing to change their hypotheses as technology exposes the roots of the disease, the role of epigenetics and the impacts of early childhood trauma.  

Ego makes this easier said than done, and even the field’s greatest thinkers remain steadfast in their views despite new evidence-based revelations.  Refusing to work together and selectively omitting or elevating “pet” data that supports their theories, they create a confusing tug of war where there are no winners.  For example, the “single bullet”/causality theories described in three (3) Choopersguide articles by Gabor Mate, Stanton Peele, Nadine Burke Harris, et. al., are helpful and illuminating.  But none of them can fully explain the complexity of the disease, its causes and its manifestations.  A well-coordinated militia will hit the target and save more lives. To learn more, check out the Addiction Treatment Articles and Addiction Research Articles on Choopersguide.com.
 

 
 
 
 

CAME, CAME TO, CAME TO BELIEVE....

From Fear and Intellectual Angst to Spiritual Peace, 
In One (not so simple ) Step

 
For many in 12-Step recovery, the Second Step and its assault on our “best thinking” is the greatest obstacle to saving our lives.  As agnostics, atheists, skeptics, and ”intellectually self-sufficient ones”, the concept of a higher power and its ability to restore us to sanity boils the acid in our stomach and threatens our tentative grasp on reality; incorporating it into our daily lives is a bitter insult to our denial.  Driven by fear and a desperate desire to maintain what we think is control, we become self-appointed members of the debating club and contort ourselves with excruciating mental acrobatics that threaten to unravel any clean and/or sober time we have. 

Analysis paralysis and mental masturbation in the face of this Step become our best friends.  It is only when we surrender to win that the power of this Step infiltrates our lives and restores us to a sanity that we had rarely known.  As a recovering heroin addict, naloxone survivor, and strenuous advocate for human rights in the face of addiction, Tim Cheney shares his labyrinthine journey through the The Second Step – The Fork in my Road and My Final Wager and the door it opened to 33+ years of recovery.
  
 
NEED MORE INFORMATION?
CHECK US OUT AT
CHOOPERSGUIDE.COM
  • 43,000 Providers
  • Global Listings
  • Featured Listings
  • Inpatient/Out Patient Programs
  • Co-occurring Disorders
  • Drug Counselors
  • Interventionists
  • Recovery Residences
  • Community Resource Centers
  • 12 Step Meetings
  • Harm Reduction Programs
  • Drug Policy History
  • Drug Policy Reform
  • Drug Impacted Youth
  • Hepatitis C Resources
  • HIV Resources
  • Homeless Resources
  • Naloxone Resources
  • 911 Good Sam Laws
  • Needle Exchange Programs
  • Safe Injection Sites
  • Addiction Conferences
  • Neuroscience Conferences
  • Webinars & Online Training
  • Workshops
  • Recovery Events
  • Mental Health Conferences
  • Opioid Conferences
  • Harm Reduction Conferences
  • Counseling Events and Training
 
  • Family and Friends
  • FAQS
  • Assessing the Problem
  • Finding Help - Treatment Research and Questions to Ask
  • Family Resources and Links
  • Family and Friends Support Groups
 
  • Addiction Neuroscience
  • Epidemiology Reports
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Addiction Research
  • Addiction Treatment
  • Addiction History & Law
  • Addiction Multimedia
  • Co-Occurring Disorders Articles
  • Drug War Articles & Videos
  • Advocacy
  • Recovery Movement
  • Faces and Voices of Recovery
  • Recovery Community Organizations (RCO)
  • Parity Legislation
  • Legislative Contact
  • Advocacy Toolkits
 
Upcoming
Events
                   FEATURED EVENT       
Chooper's Guide is honored to be the Pay it Forward Sponsor for West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders (WCSAD). Free Scholarships available. 05/28/15 - 05/31/15 Details


 
                           
National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems Annual Meeting
 03/16/15 - 03/18/15 Details


 

     Chooper's Foundation - Fundraiser      Help Prevent the Spread of HIV & Hepatitis C in Maine . All Proceeds to purchase  a mobile Harm Reduction Unit. Suggested Donation is $2-$5 for every year in recovery. Please take a moment to learn more.
We need Your Help!!


 
 
The BIG Hospital SBIRT Initiative - On Demand Webinars
 
02/26/15 - 12/31/15 -

Details




 
American Counseling Association Conference and Expo (ACA)  03/12/15 - 03/15/15 - Details




 
   
Commission on Narcotic Drug (CND) 58th Session
03/09/15 - 03/17/15 - Details



 
American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD)
03/28/15 - 04/01/15 - Details



 

Australian Drug and Alcohol Strategy Conference (ADASC)
03/17/15  - 03/20/15  Details

 
 

   
  
Get a Free Listing       Chooper's Guide for Addiction Treatment and Co-occurring Treatment Programs | Recovery Residences | Addiction Professionals | Addiction Community Organizations. We have over 42,000 listings in the US, Europe and Canada.           Are you listed?

  
   
Get a Free Listing       Chooper's Guide is committed to the philosophy and practices of Harm Reduction and is an active supporter of Harm Reduction initiatives. We provide Free Diamond Level Listings for all Harm Reduction Programs
Are you listed?     Get Listed
 
Share
Tweet
Forward
+1
 
Copyright 2015  |  Chooper's Guide, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed or because you have indicated interest in receiving emails containing information on addiction events, addiction research, treatment or recovery

Our mailing address is:
955 Treasure Lane
Vero Beach, Florida  32963

unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

 






This email was sent to *|EMAIL|*
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
*|LIST:ADDRESSLINE|*

*|REWARDS|*

Comments