Should addicts and alcoholics remain anonymous about their recovery? Eighteen years ago this month, I wrote my first op-ed for the Washington Post‘s Sunday Outlook section, arguing against that idea. It was headlined “Addicted to …
alcoholism
Happy Hour? ‘Wet Houses’ Allow Alcoholics to Drink, With Surprising Results
It sounds like an alcoholic’s vision of heaven: a free place to live, paid expenses (mostly), and an ample supply of booze. But the reality of “wet houses” for homeless alcoholics looks more like hell, even as these programs — …
Is Teen Binge-Drinking Really a Harbinger of Alcoholism?
Is teen binge-drinking “just a phase?” Or do most teens who drink heavily become alcoholics?
Should Parents Let Kids Drink at Home? New Data Show Many Do
Among American teens aged 12 to 14 who report drinking alcohol, nearly 30% were given the booze by their parents or other adult relatives, according to new statistics released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The Growing Link Between Alcoholism and Obesity
Can salty, fatty, sugary foods be addictive? Recent neurological research has shown that overeating lights up the same brain pathways as drug use, so it’s not surprising that new research from the Washington University School of …
New Version of an Old Drug Could Treat Autism (and Addiction Too)
One night in 2006, Kathy Roberts rushed her autistic daughter, Jenny, to the hospital. Nothing had been able to stop the young woman, then in her mid-20s, from vomiting. Jenny had recently suffered several major seizures and her …
Study: Do Energy Drinks Lead to Alcohol Abuse?
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 …
Recipe for Longevity: Social Drinking or Just Going to AA?
We’re so used to thinking of pleasurable things as “sinful” and “bad for you” that when the popular media, or science for that matter, attempts to validate our guilty pleasures — such as my colleague John Cloud’s excellent piece about recent research showing that heavy drinkers outlive teetotalers — skepticism runs high.
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 …