Visuals Unlimited, Inc. / Victor Habbick / Getty Images
+Addiction | April 12, 2012

Zapping Memories of Drug Addiction Without Medication

By Maia Szalavitz

Medications may not be needed to eliminate the drug-related memories that trigger relapse in addicts. Appropriately timed behavioral interventions may do the trick, according to new research published in Science.

+Addiction | March 7, 2012

10% of the U.S. Population Has Overcome Drugs or Alcohol

By Maia Szalavitz
Getty Images

A new poll finds that 1 in 10 adults — or 23.5 million Americans — has successfully overcome a problem with alcohol or illegal drugs.

+Addiction | September 30, 2011

Viewpoint: Teaching Recovery, Rather Than Treating Addiction

By Maia Szalavitz
Getty Images

Today is the final day of Recovery Month, during which we celebrated those who are overcoming addictions. But as the month winds down, the question of how best to spur recovery remains. One New York program, Exponents, has pioneered an approach that I think deserves to be more widely considered and replicated.

+Addiction | September 9, 2011

How We Cope: What Do Addiction Rates After 9/11 Tell Us?

By Maia Szalavitz
Nathan Blaney / Getty Images

We may never know the true death toll of 9/11, nor the full extent of the psychological trauma the terrorist attacks caused. But by looking at rates of alcohol and other drug use among those who were directly and indirectly affected by the World Trade Center attacks, researchers are discovering insights into our complex psychological [...]

+Addiction | August 4, 2011

The Detox Amy Winehouse Should Have Done

By Maia Szalavitz
Samir Hussein / Getty Images

It appears that we won’t know what caused Amy Winehouse’s death for several months, but if the singer did die from alcohol withdrawal, as has been speculated, the tragedy of her loss will be compounded by the fact that such deaths are almost always preventable.

+Trauma | June 13, 2011

What Gabrielle Giffords Can Expect When She Leaves Rehab

By Meredith Melnick
P.K. WEIS/GIFFORDS CAMPAIGN, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Recently released photos of a smiling Rep. Gabrielle Giffords have reassured her supporters that she is recovering well. They have also sparked much media interest — a strategic ploy by Giffords’ team, who released the images in the hopes that the press will back off the Arizona congresswoman once she is discharged from inpatient treatment [...]

+Addiction | May 31, 2011

An Addict’s Battle With Painkiller Addiction Reveals Outdated Rehab Tactics

By Maia Szalavitz
aurumarcus / Vetta via Getty Images

The New York Times today includes a moving personal story about overcoming opioid addiction. But while it describes one woman’s triumph, it also illustrates something the Institute of Medicine calls a “quality chasm” between effective addiction care, as supported by scientific research, and the treatments people actually receive.

+Addiction | April 26, 2011

Defining Recovery in Anorexia — and Addiction

By Maia Szalavitz
Jason Hetherington / Stone via Getty Images

How do you define recovery from anorexia? Tuesday’s New York Times explores this question — and highlights striking similarities to the debate over defining recovery from alcoholism and other drug addictions.

+Drugs | April 1, 2011

Drug Courts: Martin Sheen Defends Them in Congress. But Do They Work?

By Maia Szalavitz
Nick Dolding/Getty

(Updated) U.S. drug courts, which divert non-violent drug cases and assign offenders to treatment and supervision rather than jail, are championed by the left, right and center. The left likes them because they favor treatment over punishment; the right likes that they save money; for the center, they strike a middle ground between getting tough [...]

+Addiction | March 31, 2011

Does Narconon’s Addiction Rehab Really Work?

By Maia Szalavitz
John Rensten / Image Bank via Getty Images

In a field in which the meetings and prayers of 12-step treatment are among the most accepted ways to help people with drug addiction, consumers have little way of knowing which rehabs are genuinely evidence-based and which simply offer faith healing masquerading as medicine.