Life Process Program Blog

The sudden removal of TikTok from many young people’s lives has caused considerable consternation. This phenomenon raises the question: “Is TikTok (and other social media) addictive?” That question raises a series of ten provocative questions for me in regards...

Q. Stanton, the American Psychiatric Association has released “The Top Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Addiction.” What is your response? The APA’s list actually cements into place the mistaken and dysfunctional way we think about and deal with...

Overall increase this century The dramatic rise in opioid deaths, especially attributable to synthetic opioids created for medical pain relief has been the dominant theme of drug use, addiction, and drug fatalities in this century. In overview, drug fatalities...

When you’re trying to break free from addiction, it often feels like life’s problems are piling up and competing for your attention. The constant barrage of issues can make it hard to decide where to start or even to...

This guide explores how to stay motivated, manage criticism, and align your actions with your goals, helping you turn challenges into opportunities for transformation. Change is hard. Whether overcoming addiction, managing a difficult habit, or simply trying to improve...

The Frog-in-the-Pot Model There’s an old story about a frog in a pot of water. At first, the water is cool, even pleasant. The frog has no reason to worry. But slowly, very gradually, the heat is turned up....

What’s the Right Length of Time in Rehab? Liam Payne plunged to his death from a third-floor room in a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, apparently intoxicated. He was 31. What a horrible tragedy for anybody. But especially after...

ADHD has become nearly ubiquitous, especially among children. According to recent statistics, about 1 in 9 children in the United States are now diagnosed with ADHD. Some claim this is due to better awareness and improved diagnostic tools. However,...

They discovered what makes for a happy, fulfilled life. It also makes you live the longest and the best able to resist addiction. We tell so many stories about people whose gifts are destroyed by disease: autism, ADHD, bipolar,...

Dear Stanton, A client recently asked me your thoughts about ADHD. This is a highly-educated professional who was diagnosed as an adult and has not found medication helpful. I gave them my take on ADHD but said I would...

Two Irish superstars who have led very different lives each illustrate the power of local connection in dealing with alcohol At the end of his interview with Norah O’Donnell in the pub in the Irish village where he grew...

The transfer of mental health from the family and community to the medical system is regarded as a modern miracle. It is an unmitigated disaster. In the proceedings of a 1988 conference in which he and I both participated,...

You don’t have to fact check George Santos to know he’s lying  The Peacock series “Poker Face” stars Natasha Lyonne as a superhero with a special power: the ability to detect bullshit. You can do the same without having...

We used to think it was fun and good for you — but now we know that it’s a . . . . deadly killer?? Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health: “Recent research makes it clear that...

   *  *  * The universal theme of trauma as the cause of addiction and much else has been broadened to include generational trauma. This phenomenon gives the 2013 ESPN series “The Book of Manning” new visibility and significance....

 *  *  * We are walking a razor’s edge in reviewing Perry’s memoir. We risk upsetting AA evangelists and the anti-12-step crowd in one review.  On one hand, AA’s “Big Book” thumpers will hate that we have no patience...

There are two ways of viewing how people emerge from addiction: the “recovery” route, where people fight an “illness” forever, versus the natural, developmental one. In the latter case, the person progresses naturally by maturing and gaining a sound...

 * * * “Drug overdose” deaths are one of our largest killers. From the overdose perspective, a naive user dies due to taking a single unexpectedly powerful dose of a drug, usually an opioid. But this scenario is a...

 * * * Minority and deprived populations’ death rates are increasing precipitously. Covid and drugs have been a major focus for this spate of deaths. But the cause runs deeper. The latest bad news is “U.S. Life Expectancy Falls...

We face a crossroads in harm reduction. The concept has been widely deployed. Yet many object to it — including progressives who should be our biggest backers. Here’s the solution. * * * The Biden Administration’s Harm Reduction Background...

After devastating data have shown that America is leading the world in a failed approach to combating mental illness and addiction, Nora Volkow comes out firing. *  *. * When Prophecy Fails What to do when you stake your...

  Unlike the disease theory of addiction, the life process model sees addiction as an experience that most people avoid or outgrow.  LPP encourages this development through fostering clients’ purpose, strengths and skills, engagement, experience and adventure, and belonging...

For a half century, at least, American psychiatry and its fellow travelers have been cheerleading a descent into madness. We stand on the threshold of advances in the biological sciences so relevant to psychopathology that one can look forward...

Quinta Brunson licked the toughest addiction— with purpose. Quinta Brunson—creator, writer and star of ABC’s Abbott Elementary—has written something of an addiction manual in her 2021 memoir, She Memes Well. In all of Brunson’s work, she reckons to have...

An interview with a fictional newscaster I often fantasize about having an honest conversation with the type of news correspondent (virtually all of them) who believe addiction is a brain disease— that some are genetically predisposed to become addicted...

Can a child feel too much? Can they take their concern for others, and the state of the nation and the world, too far? Congressman Jamie Raskin had a monumental year in 2021. As a progressive representative from Maryland,...

Does Bruce Springsteen symbolize creativity, engagement, and superseding early roots? Instead, for some he symbolizes mental illness and requiring psychiatric medications to live.   Bruce Springsteen’s Legacy If it were possible, Bruce Springsteen is having a “moment” in the...

The American medical establishment hasn’t progressed one iota beyond “This is your brain on drugs.” The esteemed medical website WebMD featured a piece “How Alcohol Affects Your Body” listing 15 items.  Guess how many of them were positive? I...

We are emerging from the Dark Ages of Drug Policy by recognizing that drug use and addiction are not the same thing. That is, drug use does not inevitably lead to addiction any more than an addiction requires drugs...

We’ve missed something fundamental for decades. It seems impossible that the entire U.S. Government could follow a delusional policy that is an utter failure, while administration after administration and their experts declared it a success. That’s what happened in...

Nobody is actually immune to addiction, despite what you may read about brain surgeries, medicines, or other “magical” addiction cures. The best any of us can do to prevent and beat addiction is to live a balanced life, which...

Love addiction is worse the second time around. This article, written by Dr. Peele, was originally published in Psychology Today Anthony Bourdain hanged himself on June 8, 2018, at Le Chambard Hotel in Alsace, France. He was on location...

It can be difficult for some people to hear about how so many people drink or take drugs without problems, or becoming addicted. Or, on the other hand, to learn how many overcome addiction in the course of time,...

Why relying on disease or trauma in order not to punish people harms more than it helps  In an international cause celebre, Sha’Carri Richardson, perhaps the fastest woman in the world, tested positive for marijuana, upsetting her participation in...

The new cudgel against drinking and drug use Move over racism, sexism and age-ism. We have a new label to shame the majority of people who choose to drink and use recreational drugs. They aren’t “sober.” Medium ran a...

Britney Spears is the map of the future The documentary Framing Britney Spears revealed the story of how a youthful female singing-entertainment star (now 39) has been under a guardianship arrangement since 2008. The basis for this arrangement was...

There’s benefit to seeking life help in the form of therapy, counseling, coaching and mutual-aid groups. But most of that which is available for addiction doesn’t provide essential benefits.  The Life Process Program operates as a therapeutic coaching program....

The Life Process Program’s “MAT Empowerment Model”  MAT stands for medication-assisted treatment. This is the use of medications to assist recovery from addiction. Harm reduction as it relates to substance use means improvement, or recovery, while continuing to use...

Stressful situations or problems can be major addiction-triggers (even when stress is unrelated to addictions past or present). Thus, developing effective problem-solving skills– better ways of coping with such situations– is essential to breaking an addictive cycle. Here are...

Last week, a podcast listener emailed us with such an interesting question that we wanted to share the question and our answer with you. Listen to our answer in this video, or read our exchange below. Question: I feel...

12-step groups like AA are largely ineffective at curbing drug and alcohol addiction. Happily, SMART Recovery (Self Management and Recovery Training) is another lay-led support group and that honors the principles of personal agency and development that we talk...

With Contributions From Ilse Thompson Mindfulness is the antidote for addiction. Happily, living mindfully is simple with practice, and getting started doesn’t necessarily require meditation or intense practice. In this article, you will learn five tools for living more...

The idea of addiction as inevitably a lifetime burden is a myth. In fact, most people resolve addictions over time and most do so without professional or support-group help.  We know this because the American government’s own data tells...

Harm Reduction is the elimination of worst-case scenarios with drugs and alcohol. Can the same concept apply to policing?  The Life Process Program utilizes harm reduction techniques in addictions.  These involve cases where people are not abstaining completely from...

Pete Davidson is an American phenomenon. The youngest cast member ever to appear on Saturday Night Live, at age 20, now 26, he stars in and wrote the forthcoming movie, The King of Staten Island, directed by Judd Apatow...

We are in the midst of a disastrous mental health and addiction epidemic, in which the U.S. is at the bottom of the world heap. (See the 2019 World Happiness Report chapter, “Addiction and Unhappiness in America.”) This plummeting...

If, as Johan Harri said, the opposite of addiction is connection, what do we do in a pandemic when the safest thing to do is actually avoid each other? These are unprecedented and challenging circumstances. I don’t need to...