by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Self-care is frequently pushed as a key to wellbeing.  In the realm of addictive problems, family members are encouraged to put ‘self-care’ first as a way of curbing over-involvement in the lives of someone with addictive problems.  People with addictive problems are encouraged to find healthier ways to practice self-care.  Therapists are trained to implement self-care to manage the stresses and pressures of clinical practice.  Few argue against the merits of taking care of oneself, but simple and effective techniques for how to practice self-care often leave much to be desired.  This article will explore what is perhaps the most effective and simple tactic of practicing self-care – a healthy dose of 'Vitamin-N,' aka, saying no. The simplicity of sayin...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Addiction treatment outcomes in the United States leave much to be desired.  Most US addiction treatment is not evidence based. The time for easy access to varied, effective options in addiction treatment is long overdue.  A recent study in Nature, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, shows that ketamine can effectively reduce harmful drinking, especially when ketamine is given immediately following the induction of a craving.  After a single session of what could be described as ketamine-assisted cue-exposure treatment, participants’ drinking frequency and intensity reduced rapidly and remained at about ½ of original consumption levels at a nine-month follow-up.  The study in Nature calls for further research into ketamine therapy a...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D.   If a loved one is struggling with addictive problems and not interested in treatment, the overwhelming message from society is that staging an addiction intervention is the best way to help.  Interventions, like the ones depicted on television, generally involve a paid interventionist who coaches family members and friends on how to confront so-called ‘addicts’ and get them to agree to go to rehab.  For some, it may be surprising to learn that addiction interventions are only successful in encouraging a loved one to enter treatment around 30% of the time.  Furthermore, when interventions are not successful they can backfire in truly horrific ways.  Thus, it might be helpful to consider these five factors before staging an intervention. You migh...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Milestones are opportunities to reflect and refine.  Each New Year many resolve to make important changes, and such resolutions can carry even more weight when years stack up and we move into new decades and new centuries.  The 21st century has already seen significant change when it comes to understanding and treating addiction, much of which has been related to broadening access to multiple pathways of treatment as the tyranny of abstinence-only slowly and steadily decays.  As we move into the 2020’s, it's worth considering what positive changes the decade will bring as we continue to improve the treatment available to people who aim to change addictive behaviors. One significant change to understanding and treating addiction that will continue to gain...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Family is forever, or at least, that’s what the chintzy wall stencils say.  During times of hardship, sickness, death, misfortune, mistakes, and malaise it is helpful to rest assured that our families will stand by us and help us.  My esteemed mentor, Dr. Horvath, often says that 90% of social support is who shows up.  Who shows up in the hospital during chemo?  Who shows up to console after a break-up or job loss?  Often times, family shows up when no one else will.  But who shows up when a so-called ‘addict’ hits the proverbial ‘rock bottom?’  Often times family members desert loved ones when addictive problems are at their most severe.  Why is an exception to the golden rule of family standing by one another made when it comes to addiction?  The hypocriti...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Often, a call to reflection upon past achievements might be interpreted as a prelude to a swan song.  When our favorite musicians release greatest hits albums we move from excitement to nostalgia. When filmmakers reboot and update original creations, we hear the silent reverberations of writer's block echoing through the gaping idea void left in the wake of a once bright creative spark.  However, there are exceptions. Sometimes the creative spark becomes a long-burning fire. After decades of hard work on the part of many dedicated pioneers and volunteers, SMART Recovery celebrates its 25th Anniversary with the feeling of excitement for the future far outweighing nostalgia for the past. SMART Recovery: A Note of Gratitude Thanks to SMART Recovery, people w...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. They said acid fries your brain and makes you jump off buildings.  They said shrooms make your brain bleed and that’s why they cause hallucinations.  They said pot makes people murder their families.  I don’t know exactly who ‘they’ are, but boy were they wrong.  The prestigious Johns Hopkins University just announced the opening of a nearly $20 million dollar research center to study psychedelic medicines.  The announcement from Johns Hopkins is arguably the single biggest acknowledgment that Western Society has been embarrassingly wrong about psychedelics all along.  Support for Psychedelic Therapy Research trials forthcoming from the new research center include the use of psychedelics to treat addiction, anorexia, Alzheimer’s related distress and cogni...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. When it comes to addiction treatment, it is well-known that the United States is embarrassingly and shamefully behind the rest of the industrialized world.  It is no surprise then that evidence for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy reducing alcohol relapse is coming out of the UK. We know MDMA-assisted psychotherapy was designated breakthrough status as a treatment for PTSD, and we know that trauma is at the etiological heart of most addictive behaviors (see Atkins, 2014, p.195). So it would naturally follow that if MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy helps treat the etiology of addiction, it will probably help treat addiction. Yet, the misinformed notion that all addicts are the same and can never touch mind-altering substances again (except of course for boat-loads...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Addictive problems are most common amongst young adults, especially men.  Committing to lifelong abstinence is a hard sell for people with most of their lives still ahead.  Even AA co-founders Bill W. and Dr. Bob suggested their methods were unlikely to work for people under 40 years old.  Yet, when young adults engage in addictive behaviors problematically we continue send them away for 30 days to rehabs that deliver Bill W. & Dr. Bob’s message that addiction is an intractable disease that requires lifelong abstinence in order to avoid jails, institutions, and death.  It’s high time for a new paradigm. Re-Thinking Drug Rehab for Young Adults Many of the standards of mental health care warrant reconsideration when it comes to treating addictive pr...

by Thaddeus Camlin, Psy.D. Crises precipitate change.  The opioid crisis is catalyzing change in addiction treatment.  The tragedies of the opioid crisis may be the reveille that stirs addiction treatment from its walking slumber.  Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is finally being championed as the frontline defense in the opioid crisis.  Not only are advances being made in increasing accessibility to medication-assisted options like methadone and buprenorphine, researchers are looking into other options as well.  A new study investigated whether CBD helps heroin cravings, and the results were encouraging. Heroin Cravings and CBD: The Study The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that CBD significantly reduced both cravings and anxiety after participant...