A series of my blog posts based on Stephanie Brown’s wonderful book, A Place Called Self: Women, Sobriety, and Radical Transformation. In her book, Stephanie talks about what happens to women in recovery, how they think, how they feel, their problems, the good things, etc. (The book is relevant to men as well!)
Trauma and Healing
March 16, 2023 by
Links to 12 blog posts from The Carrolup Story website that I developed with John Stanton. These blog posts consider work by world-leading experts, including Gabor Maté, Vincent Felitti, Judith Herman, Bessel van Der Kolk, James Gordon and Judy Atkinson. Bruce Perry’s work is considered in another Resource.
The Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF)
March 15, 2023 by
After nearly twenty years working as a neuroscientist, I closed down my university research laboratory at the beginning of the millennium. I no longer believe in the biomedical approach to helping people overcome addiction and mental health problems. I believe that long-term use of psychiatric drugs causes more harm than good. It’s not ‘what is wrong with you’, but ‘what has happened, or is happening, to you.’
In January 2018, the Clinical Psychology Division of The British Psychological Society produced a very important paper, titled The Power Threat Meaning Framework and subtitled ‘Towards the identification of patterns in emotional distress, unusual experiences and troubled or troubling behaviour, as an alternative to functional psychiatric diagnosis.’
In my opinion, this document is a major breakthrough in the field, and the approach it describes makes so much more sense and is far superior to the biomedical approach to helping people overcome emotional distress (or so-called mental health problems).
Addiction, Recovery, and Treatment: An Introduction
March 14, 2023 by
A brief look at the nature of addiction, the main types of help that facilitate recovery from addiction, the stages of behavioural change, and some of the features of addiction treatment. (1,911 words)
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), 12-Step Movement, and Minnesota Model
March 14, 2023 by
Describes the nature of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), other 12-Step programmes, and the Minnesota Model, how they developed, and the key assumptions that underlie their approach. (1,320 words)
Background Briefings
March 14, 2023 by
For a period of four years from 15th November 2004, I wrote a series of Background Briefings for Drink and Drugs News (DDN), the leading UK magazine focused on drug and alcohol treatment. Here are links to 38 of 72 Briefings; each contains a link to an original pdf. I will slowly upload all other Briefings.
Factors That Facilitate Addiction Recovery
March 14, 2023 by
Recovery is something done by the person with the substance use problem, not by a treatment practitioner or anyone else. Whilst there are a multitude of pathways to recovery, there are a number of key factors that facilitate recovery from serious substance use problems. (9,586 words) *
Factors that Facilitate Recovery (Short Version, 2013)
March 14, 2023 by
The importance of these factors has been demonstrated by listening to the narratives of recovering people about their journeys into and out of addiction (1,116 words). *
Harm Reduction (Harm Minimisation)
March 14, 2023 by
Describes the rationale behind the harm reduction approach, as well as the different harm reduction interventions, e.g. needle and syringe exchanges and methadone maintenance. (922 words)
Impact of a Loved One’s Substance Use Problems on Family Members
March 14, 2023 by
Our research aimed to look at how a loved one’s substance use problems can impact on the health and well-being of other family members. (2,145 words) *
A Rendezvous With Hope: Bill White
March 14, 2023 by
Here’s one of my favourite posts from that prolific blogger William (Bill) White, addiction recovery advocate, writer, researcher and historian. Bill’s complete writings are now being hosted on a website run by Chestnut Health Systems in the US.
‘Through my early tenure in the addictions field, the question of readiness for treatment and recovery was thought to be a pain quotient. We then believed that people didn’t enter recovery until they had “hit bottom.” If a person did not show evidence of such pain-induced readiness, they were often refused admission to treatment. Then we recognized that the reason it took people so long to “hit bottom” was that they were protected from the painful consequences of their alcohol and other drug use by people we called “enablers.” We then set about teaching enablers to stop rescuing and protecting their beloved but addicted family members.
Vern Johnson then came along and convinced us we could raise the bottom through a process he called intervention. Staging such interventions within families and the workplace was something of a revolution that brought large numbers of culturally empowered people into recovery, including a former First Lady. All of these early philosophies and technologies relied on pain as a catalyst of addiction recovery, and that was the view I brought to my work as an evaluator of an innovative network of women’s treatment programs in the 1980s called Project SAFE.
Journeys, Part 1: Descent Into Heroin Addiction
March 14, 2023 by
Heroin users’ own accounts of their experiences help us understand why and how people start using heroin, and continue to use until they realise they have become addicted to the drug. (5,176 words) *
Journeys, Part 2: Living With Heroin Addiction
March 14, 2023 by
Heroin addiction often leads to changes in a person’s relationships, lifestyle, physical and psychological health, values, and identity. Some heroin addicts engage in criminal activity to maintain their habit. Heroin addicts are stigmatised by wider society. (5,643 words) *
Learning From the Experts at BAC O’Connor
March 14, 2023 by
A qualitative research project involving clients of the structured day care programme at BAC O’Connor provided insights into the positive effects of the programme, as well as the factors that contributed to these beneficial effects. (2,302 words) *
My Journey: From Brain Chemicals to Human Connection
March 14, 2023 by
An ongoing serialised account of my career, with an emphasis on describing my activities and the people who have inspired me since I closed down my university neuroscience laboratory in 2000 and started a community initiative (Wired In) focused on empowering people to overcome substance use problems.
Psychoactive Drugs and Their Effects
March 14, 2023 by
Considers classification of psychoactive drugs (including alcohol); their effects on the brain; the drug experience; biological factors that influence the effects of long-term drug use; absorption and elimination of drugs, and the harms and risks of drug use. (6,176 words)
