I am excited to announce that a new book is out today from my colleague, Dr. Omar Manejwala. He is the former Medical Director of Hazelden (one of the oldest and most respected treatment organizations in the world), and current Chief Medical Officer of Catasys, an innovative health management company focused on treating substance abuse problems. I was fortunate to… [Continue Reading]
Addiction Treatment System 14 Years Later
This past week The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released a scathing report of our addiction treatment system: Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap between Science and Practice. While the report says nothing new, it does a nice job of summarizing the fact that we have made little progress since the… [Continue Reading]
Siddhartha’s Path Out of Addiction
I’m not sure how I missed reading Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha (Hilda Rosner translation) in high school, but I did. It’s one of those enchanting books I wish I would have read earlier! If you are unfamiliar with the story, I encourage you to read it and soak in its many wonderful messages about life. I have… [Continue Reading]
Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT)
At a training not long ago on CRAFT, the presenter, Dr. Robert Meyers, told a story that I want to pass on to you. But first, if you have never heard of CRAFT, it stands for Community Reinforcement and Family Training which is an evidence-based approach that family members (or friends) can use to facilitate getting… [Continue Reading]
Investing in Addiction Treatment: Is it Worth the Cost?
I recently talked with a Huffington Post reporter about the Real Tab for Rehab: Inside the Addiction Treatment Biz. In our discussion, I pointed out that to a large extent we still have an addiction treatment system that provides short-term (acute) treatment for a long-term (chronic) problem (this key point did not make the article). In… [Continue Reading]