I’ve been getting quite a bit of communication from people studying to be in the addiction treatment field lately. Most are aggressive and insulting off the bat – and some even pretend to want to have a productive discourse while doing this! Here’s an example of a recent exchange (I have changed identifiers and bolded… Continue reading Mail: Discourse with a budding addiction counselor.
Author: Steven Slate
Steven Slate has personally taught hundreds of people how to change their substance use habits through choice - while avoiding the harmful recovery culture and disease model of addiction.
Euthanasia for Addiction? A logical choice built on a false premise.
This is a truly sad and disturbing story that sums up why I fight against the myth that addiction is a chronic disease, and that addicts/alcoholics are helplessly out of control. A 41 year old man in the Netherlands decided to euthanize himself after 8 years of a painful alcohol use problem. ‘My parents especially have… Continue reading Euthanasia for Addiction? A logical choice built on a false premise.
Pathologizing Partying
To any personal friends reading this, know that I don’t usually do this, but a few years ago I counted how many drinks you all had at a birthday party – and you’re all dangerous binge drinkers! Well, I don’t think that’s a fair representation of my friends’ drinking, but that’s how the government would… Continue reading Pathologizing Partying
Steven Slate’s TEDx Talk Tahoe City
Addiction treatment, and our entire approach to “addiction” doesn’t help, and it doesn’t “cure addicts”, it only creates more of the symptoms of “addiction” – hopelessness and a sense of powerlessness to change and make different choices. This what I chose to demonstrate when I got the chance to give a TED Talk on addiction.… Continue reading Steven Slate’s TEDx Talk Tahoe City
Deflection in the addiction treatment industry over ethics
Addiction treatment workers complain about unethical behavior in the addiction treatment industry, in a recent New York Times article titled “How Staten Island’s Drug Problem Made It a Target for Poaching Patients.” Their target is rehab recruiters who offer backdoor referral payments for patients with private insurance. This is against the law in some states, but… Continue reading Deflection in the addiction treatment industry over ethics
Why we can’t work together to end shame & stigma and promote ongoing recovery support
I get many communications from rehabs and recovery organizations trying to get me to post an infographic full of addiction myths, or to advertise a rehab on my site that I completely disagree with, to propagate some content I disagree with, or to vaguely work together in some way. One of the recent messages I… Continue reading Why we can’t work together to end shame & stigma and promote ongoing recovery support
Stanton Peele pens new paper on free will and addiction
The key issue in addiction is free will. There’s no way around this. The entire notion of addiction rests on the assertion that the “addict” lacks free will in some way (either solely in regard to substance use – losing free will over substances after freely choosing a single dose, or else when faced with some… Continue reading Stanton Peele pens new paper on free will and addiction
The key ingredient to a successful quit or reduction of substance use.
There’s nothing worse than white knuckling it while trying to quit or moderate a drug or alcohol habit. Just barely hanging on. Feeling tempted all the time. Resisting urges. Frantically avoiding anywhere you might find temptation – bars, parties, anywhere that you might run into people who use substances. Feeling left out, and generally punished… Continue reading The key ingredient to a successful quit or reduction of substance use.
NPR accidentally reveals the disgusting truth about the disease model of addiction
“But then, the more I think about it [getting off the drugs], it scares the hell out of me,” he says. “I’m scared of going backward. I honestly don’t know what would happen.”
That’s a fear voiced by many of the growing number of Americans who have come to see their addiction as a chronic disease, a condition they may have to live with — and need treatment for — for many years.
21 Things Obama and Macklemore got wrong about addiction
I almost died of a misinformation overdose watching President Obama and rapper Macklemore talk about addiction yesterday. Luckily though, I had some Narcan-for-myths handy: the knowledge I gained from studying drugs and addiction for over a decade now. President Obama’s Weekly Address was filled with misinformation. I counted 21 false statements in all. In fact the myths only… Continue reading 21 Things Obama and Macklemore got wrong about addiction