Therapeutic Techniques

August 23, 2010: FROM HOPELESSNESS TO ACTION: MOVING ADDICTS INTO RECOVERY
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Policies, legislation , Therapeutic Techniques
RESPONSE TO HOME OFFICE DRUGS CONSULTATION We need ‘saltation’ – a successful leap to the major recovery league, a single mutation which dramatically alters the treatment phenotype, both a quantum jump and a series of rhythmical steps in time. Deirdre...

August 1, 2010: STAGES OF CHANGE
Comments: 3 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
A BLUEPRINT TO BUILD STRONG FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE Professor Carlo DiClemente’s Stages of Change model is feted worldwide for enhancing the understanding and skills which make a substance-abuse treatment provider effective. It helps clinicians develop thoughtful, individually tailored, scientifically grounded...

July 30, 2010: NUTRITION: REPAIR YOUR BODY IN RECOVERY
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This article from Addiction Today journal will be posted on this webpage by the end of July 2010.

June 29, 2010: PATIENT PLACEMENT CRITERIA:
Comments: 0 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Therapeutic Techniques
SELECTING APPROPRIATE TREATMENT About 50 million lives are in the hands of companies across the globe which state that they use ASAM ‘patient placement criteria’ to authorise addiction treatment. What are these criteria? And how can they help give happier...

June 11, 2010: "ADDICTIONS AND RECOVERY"
Comments: 0 | Categories: Families and children , News , Therapeutic Techniques
SELF HELP FOR ADDICTS, FAMILIES, FRIENDS The Addiction Recovery Foundation has updated and republished this book by its CEO Deirdre Boyd, and kept it at a low price of $9.99, to help as many people as possible to recover from...

April 29, 2010: UKESAD 2010: best-practice therapies
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Therapeutic Techniques , Training
The 60 worldclass presenters for over 40 presentations at the 7th UK/European Symposium on Addictive Disorders will exchange international expertise to help your clients recover from addiction/dependency. Topics include: Increase family access to treatment Working through the continuum of care...

April 9, 2010: FACE IT & FIX IT
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Article by Ken Seely to follow by end-April.

April 9, 2010: HOW TO CHANGE SOMEONE YOU LOVE
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Article by Brad Lamm to be published end-April 2010.

April 7, 2010: INTEGRATED, HOLISTIC APPROACH TO ADDICTIVE DISORDERS
Comments: 0 | Categories: Medical , Therapeutic Techniques
by Dr Mark Atkinson To follow April 2010

January 5, 2010: ACCOUNTABILITY CAN BREAK THE CYCLE OF CRIME – AND MORE
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Stephen Valle’s accountability model yields dividends in clinical- and cost-effectiveness. It can cut re-offending rates by an extra 10-40%, and has been applied to domestic violence programmes, courts, community and in-prison therapeutic communities. He gives us the inside story. Print-friendly...

October 28, 2009: STRUCTURED INTERVENTIONS
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...ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW Good structured interventions have a 92% success in getting addicts into treatment – and of helping family members even when this does not ensue. Jeff Van Vonderen explains in detail. “Intervention” has caught the...

July 20, 2009: WATER OFF A DUCK'S BACK, pt 2
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HELP CLIENTS TO DEAL WITH VERBAL PROVOCATION Having identified the common ‘crimes’ of provocation and potential relapse triggers, how can you help your clients to deal with them? Jon Lavelle offers cunning linguistics. Print-friendly version: Download Water off a duck's...

July 20, 2009: WATER OFF A DUCK'S BACK
Comments: 2 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
HELP CLIENTS TO DEAL WITH AWKWARD PEOPLE – AND SMILE Frustrating situations and awkward, exasperating or manipulative people can trigger relapse. So Jon Lavelle offers helpful hints and tips to sail safely through some of life’s storms. Print-friendly version: Download...

July 20, 2009: GRIEVING CAN GIVE YOU LIFE!
Comments: 3 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
If we do not face up to our losses and grief, we can turn to alcohol and drugs as a mistaken way out. To aid recovery, we give a 10-point system for healing from grief, created by Fr Jack McGinnis....

July 20, 2009: GRIEF PAVES WAY TO FREEDOM
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We must face up to our grief in order to move forward and give up our addictions. Father Jack McGinnis illustrates the importance of grieving, starting with his own intense experience of his alcoholic father’s death. This article was published...

April 16, 2009: EFT: TAPPING INTO NEW SOLUTIONS
Comments: 1 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
After an initial period of scepticism – “I have a background in science and am suspicious of new ‘fads’ unless they have good evidence base” – Masha Bennett trained in EFT and has become a convert. She explains how it...

March 4, 2009: USE STRUCTURED INTERVENTIONS...
Comments: 0 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
... TO SPEED CLIENTS INTO CARE Structured family and workplace interventions are a powerful catalyst for change, raising a troubled person’s ‘rock bottom’ to the here and now without the dangers of a progressively-worsening addictive life. Deirdre Boyd studied cutting-edge...

March 1, 2009: COKE COSTS THE EARTH
Comments: 5 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
USING COCAINE DESTROYS RAINFORESTS It does not matter how many bottles you recycle: if you use cocaine, you turn virgin rainforest into coca farms - which quickly become toxic and barren... * 4.4 square metres of rainforest is destroyed to...

March 1, 2009: RESIDENTIAL REHABILITATION: WHAT’S THE STORY?
Comments: 3 | Categories: News , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
The government’s Commission for Social Care Inspection and the NTA carried out a review of treatment services last year – inspector David Finney reveals findings that “residential rehabs outstrip other sectors in every outcome group we measure”. Print-friendly version: Download...

January 11, 2009: NUMBERS AND TICKBOXES MUST NOT STRANGLE PUBLIC HEALTH
Comments: 2 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Therapeutic Techniques
Following Addiction Today’s identification of only 2% of patients managing to access drug-free rehabs, Dr David Best diagnoses what is wrong with a treatment system in which maintenance prescribing is the driver rather than a supportive adjunct. This is the...

November 21, 2008: TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS:
Comments: 1 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Therapeutic Techniques
NATIONAL TREATMENT AGENCY REVIEW The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse released its Review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems. It is mostly excellent and a great reference tool – but some conclusions have led to a judicial...

November 17, 2008: REHABS WORK: RESEARCH ON SUCCESS
Comments: 12 | Categories: Research , Therapeutic Techniques
Peter McDermott, a Board member of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, stated in The Observer national newspaper [16 November] that "Residential rehab doesn't actually work very well" alongside other negative comments. After Addiction Today complained to the NTA...

October 23, 2008: HELP CLIENTS TO SURVIVE THE 'FESTIVE SEASON'
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Christmas and the new year are the riskiest times of the year for relapse back into addiction. Here are some top hints and tips on how to survive it - or help your clients to survive it - from past...

October 8, 2008: TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS:
Comments: 0 | Categories: Policies, legislation , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
ALCOHOL SERVICES The National Treatment Agency has released its Review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems. It is mostly excellent and a great reference tool – but some conclusions have led to a judicial review being explored by...

September 25, 2008: ASSESSMENT IS THE KEY
Comments: 2 | Categories: Research , Therapeutic Techniques
Heated debates about abstinence vs harm minimisation could be coolly eliminated if... satisfactory, appropriate assessment identifies whether someone is dependent/ addicted or merely a misuser/abuser, states Norman Hoffmann. This article was first published in Addiction Today journal in 2002. It...

September 17, 2008: "ADDICTION IS A DISEASE"
Comments: 5 | Categories: Medical , Policies, legislation , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
“Drug [including alcohol] addictions are medical diseases which deserve parity in national healthcare programmes...” states scientist and professor Carlton Erickson, as he reveals the neurobiological research. Although this article was first printed in Addiction Today journal in 2002, the vast...

September 13, 2008: BROADCASTING TO BUILD RECOVERY
Comments: 1 | Categories: News , Therapeutic Techniques , Training
Two new recovery resources have arrived to help professionals, people in recovery and members of the general public who want to learn more. The Afflicted and Affected internet broadcast is hosted by well-known radio personality and recovery lecturer Chris Schroeder....

July 4, 2008: MEDITATION IS GOOD FOr PSYCHIATRISTS’ MENTAL HEALTH
Comments: 1 | Categories: Jobs, training, professional development , News , Therapeutic Techniques
Meditation sessions are proving a hit for members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists at their Annual Meeting – with a growing number claiming they turn to the spiritual discipline to combat anxiety and burnout. Meditation workshops, run by the...

June 5, 2008: DOES TREATING PEOPLE INCREASE THEIR CHANCE FOR ABSTINENCE?
Comments: 0 | Categories: News , Research , Therapeutic Techniques
“Interventions geared for public-health and safety purposes can delay or prevent long-term recovery,” find DR DAVID BEST, JESSICA LOARING and SAFEENA GHUFRAN. They advocate a ‘life-course model’ offering hope to client and clinician alike. * This article will be published...

May 25, 2008: PHARMACOLOGY AND ADDICTION
Comments: 1 | Categories: Therapeutic Techniques
YOUR DEFINITIVE CUTTING-EDGE GUIDE This article will be published on the website 30 June 2008 REFERENCES: 1. Addolorato G, Balducci G, Capristo E, Attilia ML, Taggi F, Gasbarrini G, Ceccanti M 1992: Gammahydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in the treatment of alcohol...