By Tracy Frisch, Gabor Mate — 2012
Most genetic studies completely ignore the science of epigenetics, which is how the environment actually turns certain genes on or off.
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CLEAR ALL
A new study hints at a novel and promising treatment for alcohol use disorder.
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Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the worldwide fellowship of sobriety seekers, is the most effective path to abstinence.
In 1982 Stanley Schachter, an eminent social psychologist then at Columbia University, unleashed a storm of controversy in the addictions field by publishing an article showing that most former smokers and overweight people he interviewed had changed successfully without treatment.
Steven Kelty had been addicted to crack cocaine for 32 years when he tried a different kind of treatment last year, one so basic in concept that he was skeptical.
Alcoholics Anonymous and similar 12-step programs can lead to higher rates of continuous abstinence than other addiction treatment approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy, a large new study suggests.
Their meetings used to take place discreetly in the basements of churches, a spare room at the Y.M.C.A., the back of a cafe. But when the pandemic hit last spring, members of Alcoholics Anonymous and other groups of recovering substance abusers found those doors quickly shut.
People typically do more research when shopping for a new car than when seeking treatment for addiction.
Long-term recovery is not a final destination, but an ongoing process of facing and coping with life without retreating into addictive behaviors.
Mindfulness holds promise as a treatment for those struggling to curb their substance misuse, researchers say.
All addictions have the capacity to induce a sense of hopelessness and feelings of failure, as well as shame and guilt, but research documents that recovery is the rule rather than the exception.
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