RSS FEED IDEMS: Counselor Magazine (Features)
- The TurnAround Mom Tells How She Neutralizes Toxic Intensity- The Mother of All Addictions
Toxic intensity — self-induced anxiety — is addictive, and has
tremendous relevance for today’s debt-laden, overweight, oversexed,
overmedicated, jonesing for a drink society — and that includes me.
Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:06:22 +0000
- Firewall for Recovery
As addiction treatment professionals, we know the addict faces two
challenges. The first is to stop using — to “put the plug in the jug.”
The second is twofold: to make personal changes and to sustain a
recovery program “one day at a time.”
Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:02:38 +0000
- A Recovery Revolution in Philadelphia
The City of Philadelphia has a long and distinguished role in the
history of addiction treatment and recovery in America. One of the
city’s most famous and beloved sons, Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), was
the first to articulate a disease concept of chronic drunkenness and
call for the creation of special institutions for the care of the
inebriate. Philadelphia’s Franklin Reformatory Home for Inebriates
(founded 1872) was among the most prominent of early inebriate homes
and asylums. When a lay alcoholism therapy movement rose in the early
20th century, Philadelphia was again distinguished by the collaboration
of lay alcoholism therapist Francis Chambers and noted psychiatrist Dr.
Edward Strecker at the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital.
Chambers’ acceptance as an interdisciplinary team member in one of the
nation’s most prominent psychiatric hospitals stands as an important
milestone in the professionalization of addiction counseling (White,
1998).
Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:41:27 +0000
- A Model for Successful Medical Methadone Maintenance Programs
Methadone maintenance is the most widely accepted and best studied
treatment for opioid dependence (National Consensus Development Panel
1998; Joseph et al. 2000; Ball & Ross 1991). Long-term methadone
treatment has been shown to be more effective than short-term treatment
(Sees et al. 2000) or non-agonist based treatment for opioid dependence
(Mattick et al. 2003), and there is a high rate of relapse to opioid
use when methadone is discontinued (Ball & Ross 1991; Dole &
Joseph 1978; Anglin et al. 1989).
Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:56:38 +0000
- Yoga: An Excellent Therapeutic Adjunct for Outpatient Recovery
For thousands of years, yoga has provided a means for establishing and
building upon inner balance. Yoga is the unity of mind and body, of
self with life. Thus, the practice of yoga seeks to purify both the
physical body and the mental/emotional facility to bring balance to the
individual by promoting strength, flexibility and internal cleansing
physiologically, as well as mentally seeking calm, focus and the
replacement of external referencing with internal referencing for
things like locus of control and self-esteem.
Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:30:21 +0000
- Family - Focused Interventions
An intervention is an act of redesigning the power paradigm by defining
the terms for moving forward; outlining livable, manageable boundaries;
and using every bit of the leverage at hand to put an end to the
addiction-related chaos.
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:26:33 +0000
- Chronic Pain, Opioids and Addiction: Challenges and Controversies
Approximately 50 million Americans — one in six people — suffer from
chronic pain. Furthermore, 25 percent of them experienced pain that
lasted through the day in the previous month; and 10 percent
experienced the same pain for one year or more. Nationwide, chronic
pain causes more disability than cancer and heart disease combined and
costs $550 million annually in lost workdays.
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:16:20 +0000
- Confrontation in Addiction Treatment
The use of confrontational strategies in individual, group and family
substance abuse counseling emerged through a confluence of cultural
factors in U.S. history, pre-dating the development of methods for
reliably evaluating the effects of such treatment. Originally practiced
within voluntary peer-based communities, confrontational approaches
soon extended to authority-based professional relationships where the
potential for abuse and harm greatly increased.
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:00:00 +0000
- Can You Hear Me Now? An Innovation to Promote Continued Treatment
As lengths of stay in inpatient care have become shorter, it is
increasingly important to assist clients in making successful
transitions from residential to outpatient care. However, the move from
inpatient to outpatient care often presents special challenges for both
clients and staff. If clients are to receive an “adequate dose” in a
treatment episode, much of that treatment will be outpatient. Clients
often drop out of substance abuse treatment upon discharge from
detoxification or inpatient rehabilitation, and consequently, they
increase their chances for relapse.
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:46:15 +0000
- When Death Begins at the Dinner Table: Interview with Noted Psychiatrist on Eating Disorders
Editor’s Note: Kimberli McCallum, MD is a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, as well as adult psychiatrist. She received her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine and completed her training in general psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatry Institute. She has developed several eating disorder treatment programs, including inpatient, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs. Dr. McCallum has lectured across the country on a variety of topics, achieving national recognition for her skills and knowledge in treating eating disorders and in the medical management of complicated cases.
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:43:48 +0000
- Modern Perspectives of Women's Addiction Treatment from Top Centers in the US
The history of specialized addiction treatment for women in the United
States has a long history dating to such 19th century institutions as
the Martha Washington Home in Chicago (1869), the Temple Home in
Binghampton, N.Y. (1876), and the New England Home for Intemperate
Women in Boston (1879) (White, 1996). Previous articles in this column
have chronicled the history of addiction among American women (White
& Kilbourne, 2006); summarized the early history of gender-specific
treatment (White, 2002); and honored some of the pioneers in
gender-specific treatment (White, 2004). This article profiles the
treatment of addicted women at three prominent private institutions:
Betty Ford Center, Caron Treatment Centers and Hazelden. The article
closes with a discussion of what these institutions have learned about
the treatment of addicted women.
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:34:59 +0000
- Counseling Difficult-to-Reach Adolescent Males with Substance Use Disorders: Strength-based Approach
Difficult-to-reach adolescent males with substance use disorders often
engage in behaviors that can lead to a “failure identity,” including
delinquency, crime, truancy, academic failure, destructive peer group
affiliation, substance use and relapse. Our traditional approach is in
dire contrast to the strength-based approach, in that it can leave
difficult-to-reach adolescent males feeling more inadequate, incapable,
labeled, stigmatized, defiant and more difficult to reach than before
they entered our program (Sanders, 2006).
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:28:29 +0000
- Barriers to Treatment for Women
The past 30 years have seen an increase in funding and focus on women’s
substance abuse treatment. We know that women often face treatment
issues that differ from men and require gender-specialized treatment
approaches to address these issues. Publicly-funded, as well as private
treatment programs, have increased their services to women and have
developed specialized programs to meet the needs of pregnant and
parenting women.
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:19:14 +0000
- New Developments in Treatment for Alcohol Dependence
Alcohol dependence is a complex and difficult disease to treat, often
requiring a sophisticated approach to treatment. Recent advances in
medications approved for treatment of alcohol dependence make
pharmacotherapies important therapeutic options for alcohol-dependent
individuals.
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:11:48 +0000
- Bill W. and Dr. Bob Makes Off Broadway Debut - An Interview with the Playwrights
In addition to his “day job” as a doctor on the Harvard Medical School
faculty and running a private psychiatric practice, Dr. Stephen Bergman
also is a published novelist and playwright.
In a writing career than spans more than 30 years, he has written
novels and plays under the pen-name Samuel Shem, including his classic
novel about medical internship, The House of God (1978), which has sold
more than two million copies, in 30 languages. He has been honored as
one of “Boston’s Best Authors” and has given commencement addresses at
more than 50 medical schools on “How to Stay Human in Medicine.” His
newest novel, The Spirit of the Place, will be published in 2008.
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:59:43 +0000
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