Welcome to EVALI
...somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 EVALI cases to date, 50 of which resulted in fatalities.
Overdiagnosed?
She wasn’t seeking medication for the disorder. She was simply using ADHD as a way to understand some of the mysteries of her past behavior.
The headline in The Guardian:
New study casts doubt on reliability of mental health diagnosis interviews
All I can say is, well, no surprise there.
Diagnosis in mental health has always been a challenge, even more than in other fields. That’s because of the absence of confirmatory testing.
As one expert explained, if you went to your doctor concerned about having hypertension, perhaps based on some article you read online, their first task would be to check your blood pressure. Begin by confirming the problem, before initiating treatment.
In mental health, this kind of laboratory and radiology testing isn’t available. Instead, practitioners rely on an interview, where they ask questions and interpret the answers. Conclusions are drawn from symptoms as reported by the patient.
It’s vulnerable to bias, both on the part of the patient and the practitioner. There’s too much subjectivity involved in the process.
That results in a degree of variability in...
New study casts doubt on reliability of mental health diagnosis interviews
All I can say is, well, no surprise there.
Diagnosis in mental health has always been a challenge, even more than in other fields. That’s because of the absence of confirmatory testing.
As one expert explained, if you went to your doctor concerned about having hypertension, perhaps based on some article you read online, their first task would be to check your blood pressure. Begin by confirming the problem, before initiating treatment.
In mental health, this kind of laboratory and radiology testing isn’t available. Instead, practitioners rely on an interview, where they ask questions and interpret the answers. Conclusions are drawn from symptoms as reported by the patient.
It’s vulnerable to bias, both on the part of the patient and the practitioner. There’s too much subjectivity involved in the process.
That results in a degree of variability in...
- Thinking About Addiction
- In the News
- Public Health
- Public Policy
Fool Me, Please
...a chatbot doesn’t actually feel anything for the user. It’s simply doing what it was programmed to do. Principally, that’s serving as a perfect mirror.
Welcome to EVALI
...somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 EVALI cases to date, 50 of which resulted in fatalities.
A New Czar at ONDCP
...newly appointed Drug Czar is Sara Carter, a 45 year-old investigative journalist best known for her reporting on the US-Mexico border, and her appearances as a contributor on the Fox News Network
- Resources About
- Addiction
- Addictive Substances
- Prevention
- Recovery
- Treatment
Doubts about Diagnoses
It’s vulnerable to bias, both on the part of the patient and the practitioner.
Addicted to Exercise?
Like addicts deprived of their drug of choice, the compulsive exerciser may report a deep sense of loss, accompanied by symptoms such as sleeplessness, irritability, depression, anxiety.
Microdosing hallucinogens
They must be getting some kind of reward, or they wouldn’t keep coming back. Perhaps it’s the placebo effect?
Life in a Hot Spot
Make it a continuing effort, using strategies based in evidence, and harnessing the power of human interaction-- instead of relying on a burst of anti-drug education, however intense.
The Storytellers
One young man explained that he avoided speaker meetings because the “drunkalogues” he heard triggered in him an awful craving for a drink.
Doubts about Diagnoses
It’s vulnerable to bias, both on the part of the patient and the practitioner.
- Resources For
- Addiction Clinicians
- Families
- People in Recovery
- Programs
Rage-baited
From a counseling standpoint, it’s a time when we ought to be advising patients to restrict their social media activity, at the very least to selected forums and sites that support recovery goals
Rage-baited
From a counseling standpoint, it’s a time when we ought to be advising patients to restrict their social media activity, at the very least to selected forums and sites that support recovery goals
Parenting Under The Influence
Children raised in such families are more likely to be exposed to violence, to initiate their own substance use at an earlier age, and to have mental health problems in childhood.
Is This Recovery?
...there are other folks out there like these— pretending to sobriety yet still secretly using, and hoping to avoid the sort of trouble that haunted them in the past.
Officers in the House
...with law enforcement agencies taking on vastly different roles, planning and practicing our response appears more important than in the past.
- Library
- Bookshelf
- PDF Articles
- Videos
A Novel Approach
...the author, who grew up in and around the region, chose to use its earnings to found Higher Ground, a home for recovering women.
A Novel Approach
...the author, who grew up in and around the region, chose to use its earnings to found Higher Ground, a home for recovering women.
Diagnosing Cannabis Use Disorder: Updated
It certainly makes sense that if you suffer from a major mental illness, you should stay away from pot.
Video: Practical Advice on Prescription Painkiller Problems
People have abused opiates for 5,000 years. As much as medicine depends on them, they've always created problems for a percentage of users.
