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I’m sorry, I’ve changed, I promise
Many people who have never even stepped foot into a 12-step recovery room have nevertheless heard of the 9th step. That’s the part where recovering alcoholics and addicts make amends to people they have harmed
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A willingness to wonder
Willingness is a core concept of addiction recovery programs, and a paradoxical one. Twelve-step programs emphasize that individual addicts cannot will themselves into recovery and healthy sobriety, indeed that the ego and self-reliance are often
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The Science of Recovery
Over the past few years, I have written many short essays on new findings in psychological science. Most have these have appeared in this blog, “We’re Only Human,” but many others have been published in
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The future is lookin’ sweet
Many addiction recovery programs teach a principle called HALT. HALT is an acronym for Hungry-Angry-Lonely-Tired, and the idea is that any one of these conditions of mind and body can be a threat to continued
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The Straight Dope: Studies Suggest Parental Monitoring Can Help Decrease Adolescent Marijuana Use
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug by adolescents, with almost 42% of high school seniors admitting to having experimented with it. Continued marijuana use may result in a number of serious consequences including
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Trouble Quitting? New Pitt-Carnegie Mellon Smoking Study May Reveal Why
A new study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University sheds light on why smokers’ intentions to quit “cold turkey” often fizzle out within days or even hours. If a smoker
