Author Archives: rccjaved

A Response to a Recent “debunking” of The 12-Step Program By John F. Kelly and Gene Beresin In a recent National Public Radio show on WBUR Radio Boston, Dr. Lance Dodes discussed his new book which attempts to debunk the science related to the effectiveness of 12-step mutual-help programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), as[…]

How Distraction Can Help Prevent Relapse In Relapse Prevention 101, one of the techniques recovering addicts learn is a distraction. Many are already familiar with the unhealthy version of this skill. After all, people often develop addictions in an effort to distract themselves from the pain of daily life. If addiction is itself a distraction, how could[…]

5 Approaches That Work in Relapse Prevention Relapse rates for addiction are notoriously high, falling between 40 and 60 percent according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The relapse rate is even higher among young adults, particularly those who began using drugs in early adolescence, have weak social support networks, abuse multiple drugs, or have co-occurring mental health disorders. These[…]

Eight Basic Emotions That Underlie Eight Psychological Disorder Clusters I have written in past about the basic structure of emotions and identified eight basic emotions- four of them paired together viz. Fear-Disgust; Sadness-Anger; Joy- Love/Attentiveness and Interest-surprise. I have also tried to carve psychopathology at its joints, and come up with a psychological disorders taxonomy that places all major psychological disorders[…]

You Have an Opportunity to Parent Such That Your Children Do Not Become Addicts I am the father of two small children, an infant, and a preschooler. And although I am a relatively new parent, I’ve learned a great deal about parenting over the years. Some of what I learned was gleaned from what my parents did[…]

Out-of-control-shopping i Primarily Driven By Poor Credit Card Management Did you know that approximately 10 percent of adults in western countries are believed to have a compulsive spending disorder? Their spending habits lead them to lose control over their buying behavior, and this trend is on the rise. Interestingly, these shopaholics are addicted to buying[…]

Drug, Alcohol, & Behavioral Addictions Have One Thing in Common: Compulsion I said I’d use the next few posts to share what I learned at a recent conference on behavioral addictions. I should emphasize that the conference, held in Budapest, was billed as the First International Conference on Behavioral Addictions. The idea that gambling, hypersexualized behavior, eating[…]

How to Turns Steps Backward into Leaps Forward You’ve been working hard to eat better, but one day you binge at Taco Bell. Or, you’ve tried to quit smoking several times, and only reached three weeks in the most recent attempt. Barbara Markway, Ph.D., is a psychologist with over twenty years of experience and the author of[…]

When Should Addicts Be Protected By Disability Laws? In Oregon, a police officer was fired in 2011 for driving an unmarked police car under the influence while off-duty. He refused a field sobriety test after driving the vehicle into a ditch. The arresting officer commented that the man was one of the most impaired people he’d ever[…]

Understanding How The Brain Heals Creates New Treatment Options For Addicts We used to think that the brain, once damaged, could not repair itself. Breakthroughs in neuroscience have shown that this is not true.  Though individual neurons might be damaged beyond repair, the brain attempts to heal itself when damaged by making new connections or new neural[…]