The Lifecycle of Addiction and Recovery Addiction problems seem to be something that comes to everyone’s attention because of the crises that it causes. Possibly the first few crisis situations pass by and are excused to circumstances but soon enough of a series of crisis shows there is a deeper problem. At the time that […]

People with extreme heroin problems given heroin on the NHS in bold new trial.

I have been interested to see the difference in approach to vaping between America and the UK right now. Last week the British medical research journal ‘The Lancet’ published a review of the evidence around vaping and declared vaping to be “the most disruptive influence on smoking in decades”. They found the harms to be […]

We are seeing a terrible surge in drug deaths in Scotland right now and it’s time to take urgent action. There is a clear case study that gives us a great example of exactly what needs to be done. In the lead up to the new millennium, Portugal was also seeing a horrible rise in […]

Whether you are concerned about someone you love, or if you are in a group therapy based recovery process yourself, one of the most challenging but important skills you will benefit from developing is that of being able to give people constructive feedback.  There are many reasons to avoid telling each other the truth, it […]

Whether you have an addiction problem, care about someone with an addiction problem or even if you work with people who have addiction problems, I think it helps to step back for a minute and understand how this problem and it’s recovery unfolds. It’s too easy to get blinkered, judgemental of ourselves and others, and […]

How long should someone stay in Rehab? This depends on so many things, how many problems are being treated, how intense they are and so on. Some people come to stay for a brief respite and others stay longer so it’s interesting to know if there is any evidence for different benefits for different lengths […]

BBC World at One news programme has reported on poor and unsafe practice in the private rehab sector.

In this last couple of years, I have seen Dr John Kelly speak a few times and I am always impressed with what he has to say. I want to share a few ideas he has brought up and to begin with, I’d like to share his ideas about the language we use to describe […]

What can Psychology teach us?  A series of short articles about useful ideas from psychology. The Fundamental Attribution Error This is a psychological phenomenon coined by the Stanford Psychology professor Lee Ross based on a psychology experiment by Psychologists Jones and Harris (1967).