I have been talking this week to some individuals who are Facilitators and Advisors to SMART Recovery groups in Chicago, and have learned that more meetings are taking place than ever before. This is a positive development for people struggling with drug and alcohol dependence, and for the professionals who need self-help resources to provide… Continue Reading SMART Recovery expands Chicagoland meetings

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has issued a new definition of “Addiction” as of August, 2011. This definition stresses the neurobehavioral aspects of addictive disorders and essentially defines them as “brain diseases.”

Someone made a comment to me today that they guessed everyone I talk to must be pretty down about what’s going on in the world right now. I replied that no, actually, people have their own worries and troubles, for the most part. Some people who work in the financial sector are stressed about the… Continue Reading How not to let it bring you down

I don’t ordinarily like to bring my political views into this blog, but there are some examples (like the Florida law that makes it illegal for a doctor to ask if there are guns in a house with young children) that seem to cross from politics into ethical dilemmas. This blog post on Mother Jones’… Continue Reading Suicide shouldn’t be politicized, but…

I spent the day today at the Northern Illinois Employee Assistance Professionals Association annual conference. There were some excellent presentations and the opportunity to network with a great many EAP and treatment professionals.

Another law that tries to force an extreme agenda at the expense of common sense According to a story that appeared on Yahoo! News today, the Florida legislature is preparing to pass a law – being pushed by the National Rifle Association – which goes far beyond the issue of gun rights. It strays dangerously… Continue Reading Common Sense Takes Another Hit

(Author’s note: This post follows from the earlier post on new findings about addiction. I had originally added this as a comment to further discuss alternatives to AA and other 12-step approaches. I have moved that comment into this separate post.) S.M.A.R.T. Recovery (Self-Management and Recovery Training) was started by a group of mental health… Continue Reading Choices in self-help for substance use disorders

I was asked to be a part of an Adler School of Professional Psychology Student Government event that took place yesterday and today at the school. Six faculty members were asked to talk about a case (taken from the DSM-IV Casebook) using six different theoretical viewpoints. The theories presented were cognitive-behavioral therapy, trauma-focused therapy, Adlerian… Continue Reading Successful faculty panel presentation at Adler School

Last summer, my sister (who directs a university counseling center) sent me a link to a story in the online journal, Inside Higher Education . The story was about a lawsuit brought by a student at Eastern Michigan University, Julea Ward, who was dismissed from the Master’s degree in counseling program after she refused to… Continue Reading A Contentious Issue in Counselor Training

I received a link today to an online poll being conducted by a therapy practice in Alaska, which asked the respondents to give their opinion on the question of whether licensing boards should require that therapists have gone through their own therapy as part of their training. I gave my response (which I’ll explain a… Continue Reading Should therapists in training be required to be in therapy?