Abstract
Addiction is this country’s most pervasive and damaging public health problem, yet most Americans receive care that results in a failure rate that is both astronomically high and shielded from public view. This book examines the current state of the addiction treatment business and explores the reasons why—unlike those for all other behavioral, psychological, or neurological disorders—the treatment of addiction has been frozen in amber and little improved since the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935. After describing the size and scope of the problem and examining actual recovery rates for those who undergo treatment, there is the assertion that there are effectively two kinds of treatment regimes in the United States: those that medical doctors receive and those for the rest of us. The former has about an 80 percent success rate, the latter about an 80 percent failure rate. Drawing from personal experience as a former patient and person in long-term recovery, as well as 22 years as a clinician, professor, and researcher, many of the impediments to effective treatment today are described. The book finally offers a plausible and cost-effective way to disrupt the dismal status quo and realistically aspire to an 80 percent success rate for everyone who receives professional help for a substance use disorder.
Published Version
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