DISCOVERY: Health & Stigma

Credit: Banksy

I am a Hostile Witness to the barriers to treatment for mental, chronic, physical, and community health. If a trained advocate like me has this much trouble navigating the opaque system, the rest of you are fucked. Let’s unfuck the barriers together.

Addiction Is a Disease, Not a Moral Failing

Do You Believe Addiction Is a Disease? I suspect nearly every person who is reading these words has been touched by addiction and pondered whether addiction is a disease or not. Some believe it is. Others think it’s a matter of self-discipline. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s abrupt death rocked the foundation of the addiction community by […]

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Myth: Addiction is a Choice

Part Two: Do You Believe Addiction is a Choice? (Read Part One here.) When you are in the throes of dealing with the chaos an Addict creates, it is hard to see the disease clearly through a lens clouded by your completely justified anger and disappointment. Addiction is unlike any other disease. You would never […]

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Which Superhero Are You: Empower or Enable?

Recognizing Professor Empower and General Enable Do you use your superpowers for good or evil? Do you empower or enable the people around you? Here’s a simple motto: Empowering people = good. Enabling = bad, mkay? The superhero I just made up, Professor Empower, knows that healthy relationships are those that empower, not enable. The […]

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Substance Abuse vs Substance Addiction

It is a common misperception that substance abuse is the same as substance addiction. In fact, each of these conditions affects different parts of the brain. It doesn’t help that  abuse looks similar to addiction and can ultimately lead to addiction. Substance Abuse vs Substance Addiction: Defining Abuse The essential feature of abuse is a […]

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Most Doctors Do Not Address Addiction

This is a continuation on a series of blog posts about Addiction. You can read the other posts by clicking Addiction is a Disease and Myth: Addiction is a Choice. Most Doctors Do Not Address Addiction Half-way through non-sobriety, I scheduled a routine doctor’s appointment for my Addict which I attended. I wanted to get insight from […]

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