In possibly one of the most divisive interviews given within the recovery community in the UK, Joe Gerstein, described as the founder of SMART Recovery, talks to Guardian journalist Denis Campbell in an article published on 10th March 2010. Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I am a supporter of SMART recovery, or at least my previous understanding of SMART Recovery, as a tolerant mutual aid group in the UK. I like what I’ve heard about it and respect members who blog here as they respect other mutual aid approaches. Prof Gerstein does not respect Alcoholics Anonymous.

We tend to think of alcohol as primarily a disinhibitor, but this can't really explain its varying effects. Sometimes it seems to make us loud and boisterous, sometimes quiet and contemplative, sometimes sad and depressed, along with all the shades and combinations of these, and other emotions. Similarly psychologists have found that alcohol can have all sorts of counter-intuitive effects. Studies have even shown that after drinking people can become less aggressive and less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours. Doesn't sound like alcohol does it? So, how can we understand and explain all these different states?

Preliminary studies investigated the effect of two herbs, kudzu (Pueraria lobata) and St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) on alcohol intake. Male and female subjects who took the kudzu capsules drank an average of 1.8 beers in 90 minutes, compared to the average of 3.5 beers consumed by the subjects who took the placebo. Recent preminary studies have found that St. John's Wort may also decrease alcohol intake.

The biological discoveries have been so much more illuminating than the Freudian notion that addiction stems from "dependency needs" dating to childhood. It's understandable, then, that more funding, and seemingly all the excitement, has gone to discover medications and vaccines for addiction, not to implement behavioral therapies. And although the media laud the smallest steps toward a cocaine vaccine, when a study shows—yawn—that rewarding abstinence can get addicts off meth, that couples counseling can treat alcoholism, or that cognitive-behavior therapy can break the grip of coke addiction … silence.

What are the odds of Bad Blake, Jeff Bridges’ alcoholic, chain-smoking country singer, overcoming and/or surviving his demons? The premise [of the movie "Crazy Heart"]: Otis "Bad" Blake ( Jeff Bridges) is a 57-year-old country singer and songwriter who has fallen on hard times. He's an alcoholic and chain smoker. He's experiencing frequent blackouts and episodes of vomiting from the alcohol, and he has jitters when he goes more than a few hours without a glass of whiskey. While playing in a small nightclub in Santa Fe, N.M., he becomes romantically involved with a newspaper reporter played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and befriends her 4-year-old son, Buddy (Jack Nation). But he continues to drink.

After a decade of consistent declines in teen drug abuse, a new national study released today by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® and MetLife Foundation points to marked upswings in use of drugs that teens are likely to encounter at parties and in other social situations. According to the 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, sponsored by MetLife Foundation, the number of teens in grades 9-12 that used alcohol in the past month has grown by 11 percent, (from 35 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2009), past year Ecstasy use shows a 67 percent increase (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2009) and past year marijuana use shows a 19 percent increase (from 32 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2009).

In this episode, R. Trent Codd, III, Ed.S., LPC, LCAS interviews Michael P. Twohig, PhD about Pornography addiction. Topics discussed include:  * Definitional matters pertaining to the definition of pornography addiction  * The first controlled outcome study for the treatment of this problem  * An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approach to treating pornography addiction.

This podcast is relevant to professionals.  In this episode R. Trent Codd, III, Ed.S. interviews Dr. Marc Branch about Behavioral Pharmacology. Some of the topics discussed in this episode include: * Behavioral Pharmacology’s views on addiction  * Discussion of Peter Dews’s research * Behavioral factors related to tolerance * Exposure and anti-anxiety agents

Question: I eat out about three times a week, and I enjoy a Manhattan or a martini. Given a possible personality propensity for substance abuse, do you see any danger in my case? Answer: When you say “given a possible propensity for substance abuse,” it sounds as though you might harbor some concern about it.

If you have ever lost weight on a diet only to gain it all back, you were probably as perplexed as you were disappointed. You felt certain that you had conquered bad eating habits—so what caused the backslide? New research suggests that you may have succumbed to a cognitive distortion called restraint bias.