People go to a lot of trouble to get insurance companies to cover expensive addiction treatments for their loved ones – and so do the doctors and other staff offering treatment. A recent article on nj.com covered this phenomenon well, and in fact they might’ve covered it too well for their purposes. The headline reads:… Continue reading Dual Diagnosis: Reality, or Fraud?
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.
75% of “Addicts” are “Recovered” at any given point in time – Most without treatment
A reader recently commented: I question the validity of your statistic that 3/4 of people with substance abuse problems achieved sobriety without any treatment I know it doesn’t fit with common wisdom, but I stand behind this basic statement that I’ve made all over this website: “at any given time, 75% of addicts have recovered… Continue reading 75% of “Addicts” are “Recovered” at any given point in time – Most without treatment
Adderall Addiction in the NY Times
A recent article in the New York Times tells the tragic tale of a young man, Richard Fee, who committed suicide after a few years of heavy Adderall use and psychotic episodes which were probably related to/caused by the drug use. Adderall, a prescription medication used to treat ADHD, contains two types of amphetamine –… Continue reading Adderall Addiction in the NY Times
Review: Addiction Is A Choice, By Jeffrey Schaler
Addiction Is A Choice, by Jeffrey Schaler Ph.D, was published in 2000, so why am I reviewing it 13 years later? Well for one, I wasn’t writing reviews back then, but more importantly, this is still, to date, the best book I’ve found refuting the disease theory of addiction. If you have any interest in… Continue reading Review: Addiction Is A Choice, By Jeffrey Schaler
Is Brand Loyalty A Brain Disease?
Can you be addicted to a brand? Does your brain cause you to keep buying expensive brand name merchandise? An article titled “Suds For Drugs” in New York Magazine seems to suggest this. The article tells how Tide detergent has become the shoplifted product du jour (probably replacing baby formula), and that people boost and resell or… Continue reading Is Brand Loyalty A Brain Disease?
Pleasure Center Lobotomy: The Logical Extreme of The Brain Disease Model of Addiction
You’ve heard that the brain is hijacked by the disease of addiction, right? Then you’ve also heard that it’s because of the great surges of dopamine that drugs and alcohol provide to the “pleasure center” of the brain, right? Ok. So let’s just remove that dopamine-craving pleasure center of the brain, and voila! – no… Continue reading Pleasure Center Lobotomy: The Logical Extreme of The Brain Disease Model of Addiction
Freudian Slip? Robbie Williams Regrets Realizing He Was “Out of Control” Over Addiction
A recent article about british pop star Robbie Williams’ addiction woes would be completely stupefying if I didn’t already understand its messy philosophical foundation. Williams, now 38 years old, has been dealing with addiction and the conventional recovery world, with all of its self-defeating teachings, since the age of 19, with many documented stints in… Continue reading Freudian Slip? Robbie Williams Regrets Realizing He Was “Out of Control” Over Addiction
Brain, or Thought? How To Explain Changes In Substance Use Habits
The Black Eyed Peas vocalist Fergie recently spilled her guts to Oprah about a past problem with drugs, specifically crystal meth. She says she got into a state of paranoia, walked into a church, had a conversation with God, and decided to stop using drugs. Meanwhile, addiction “experts” often describe choices about substance use as… Continue reading Brain, or Thought? How To Explain Changes In Substance Use Habits
New Alcoholism Study: Treatment Doesn’t Lower Mortality Rates
A new study concludes that getting treatment for alcoholism will not increase your chances of survival. Here’s why it’s important – we’re told all the time that there’s an epidemic of addiction, and that some astronomical figure of people who “need treatment” aren’t getting it. Most estimates range around 90%, such as this one, from… Continue reading New Alcoholism Study: Treatment Doesn’t Lower Mortality Rates
Money, Drugs, and Triggers
It’s amazing witnessing the lengths that addiction researchers and theorists will go to in order to avoid stating what’s so painfully obvious to any sane person. As an example, I present to you this passage from a popular manual on “relapse prevention”: Substance cues include not only the drugs themselves, but also associated cues and… Continue reading Money, Drugs, and Triggers