There’s a fascinating first person account of serious marijuana addiction in Cassie Rodenberg’s Scientific American Blog, The White Noise, posted yesterday (see below for link). As a specialist in addiction, I’ve seen (in psychotherapy and in research) numerous people addicted to marijuana and it’s often quite devastating, despite the neutral or…
This may be the month we put together enough evidence that childhood trauma may not be the “responsible” agent in causing serious mental disorders to at least make us reconsider our popular theories. Of course there’s been plenty of prior evidence, but fixed ideas, even wrong ones,…
The media, supported by science-savvy psychologists and other non-medical mental health providers, seems to be on a rampage against anti-depressant medications. Inflammatory press, well-promoted TV interviews (like the recent CBS 60 Minutes News, with Irving Kirsch) may be convincing to those predisposed to dislike and even stigmatize psychiatric medication. Confusing…
Addiction is the news again, a good thing because large numbers of people are drug/alcohol addicted –alcohol is a drug in case anyone has been lulled into thinking it’s “different.” So when I use the word “drug,” know I am also referring to alcohol. Recent research…
I recently read an article in The New York Times by L. Alan Sroufe, suggesting that ADHD/ADD (attention deficit and attention hyperactivity disorder/attention deficit disorder) may not really exist, that it is over diagnosed and that medications are not effective over time. I found it disturbing, potentially harmful,…
In early January I presented a lecture on “Contemplative Science and Practice: How to Do Research You Love” to the Faculty Forum at the Wright Institute. I told my personal story (how a meeting with Paul Ekman, the world-famous emotion researcher upon whom the TV series…