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 …
recovery
An Addict’s Battle With Painkiller Addiction Reveals Outdated Rehab Tactics
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 …
Defining Recovery in Anorexia — and Addiction
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.
Drug Courts: Martin Sheen Defends Them in Congress. But Do They Work?
(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 …
Does Narconon’s Addiction Rehab Really Work?
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 …
‘Paradise Built in Hell:’ How Disaster Brings Out the Best in People
In her 2009 book, A Paradise Built in Hell, author Rebecca Solnit describes how in the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters — such as the one unfolding in Japan — human beings tend to respond by banding together, not …
Q&A: Terrorism Expert Jessica Stern on Her Own Terror and Trauma
For decades, Jessica Stern had been one of the nation’s leading experts on terrorism. She served on the staff of President Clinton’s National Security Council and on the Council on Foreign Relations.
Addiction Files: The Keith Richards Blueprint for Recovery
Keith Richards isn’t exactly a recovery role model — the Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter used drugs for much of his life, and he still drinks copiously and smokes marijuana and cigarettes.
How Religion Was Edited Out of AA’s Bible: Early ‘Big Book’ Manuscript Soon to Be Published
The “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous has long been seen as holy writ by AA members. But for the first time ever, recovering alcoholics, scholars and the public will have access to the original manuscript, including editorial …
Lindsay Lohan’s Relapse and Court-Mandated AA
Imagine that you had cancer and a judge mandated that you receive a treatment first introduced in the 1930s — one that had been described, by the world’s leading medical evidence–review group, as having “no experimental …
Evidence Review: Anti-Drinking Drug Shows Modest Success
Only three medications are approved by the government to treat alcoholism: Antabuse (disulfiram), Revia (naltrexone) and Campral (acamprosate). None is anything close to a cure, but a new review of the research on acamprosate …
Was the JetBlue slide incident caused by head injury?
Many explanations have been offered for JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater’s meltdown and dramatic emergency slide exit on Monday—from “air rage” to suggestions of a relapse into alcoholism. But none of the media coverage has noted what could be the most obvious and chilling reason for his bizarre behavior: at the beginning of …