Trauma Doesn’t Cause Addiction – But it Can be a Reason for it
“Trauma doesn’t cause addiction.” Nearly every time I’ve made that statement publically, the blogosphere erupts with angry people telling me how unthinking, callous, and mean I’m being when I make this claim. Here’s the problem; they assume I’m saying past traumas...
Trauma Doesn’t Cause Addiction – But it Can be a Reason for it
“Trauma doesn’t cause addiction.” Nearly every time I’ve made that statement publically, the blogosphere erupts with angry people telling me how unthinking, callous, and mean I’m being when I make...
Life After Leaving a 12 Step Recovery Group
In a couple of hours myself and my colleagues, Michelle Dunbar and Steven Slate will be performing a Facebook Live event on our Freedom Model page. We have these live shows every 2 weeks and we...
Is Moderate Drinking Possible for Everyone?
Is Moderate Drinking Possible for Everyone? The short answer is yes. Because there is no actual loss of control with respect to drinking, that means that moderation is always possible for anyone....
Recovery – The Other Half of the Addiction Disease Myth
Over the course of the last 30 years of helping people move past addiction, I’ve come to see certain patterns in the conversations I’ve had with those who struggle. For example, a common discussion...
Relative Happiness and Changing Your Substance Use Habit
When we say in The Freedom Model that people will change their substance use behaviors and habits based on what they feel will make them happier, many people mistakenly think that we're saying they...
Why Do People Fear Leaving AA (Alcoholics Anonymous)
For More on the topic of this article, check out The Addiction Solution Podcast's latest episode related to this episode here:The Addict Alcoholic Self Image I can remember deciding to leave AA...
Why is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Considered a Cult?
For More on the topic of this article, check out The Addiction Solution Podcast's latest episode related to this episode here:The Freedom Model is The Official 12 Step Deprogramming Guide: Move...
I Hate Getting Drunk – So Why Do I Keep Doing It?
For an in-depth discussion focusing on the topic of this article, check out The Addiction Solution Podcast's related episode here:I Hate Getting Drunk – So Why Do I Keep Doing It? “I hate...
FYI, ADHD is BS
To an increasing degree, people are having prescription drug issues. Nationwide, prescription drug use kills more people than heroin and cocaine combined, so there is a rising need for people...
ADHD Meds: the New Meth? Protect your kids from addiction.
Over-medicating kids has become a major issue, an issue more and more parents are forced to address as an increasing percentage of our children are diagnosed and medicated for ADHD. Naturally, the...
Are You Waiting for Someone or Something to Fix You?
In the fall of 1989, I was lost. I had left college at Thanksgiving never to return. I felt completely alone and broken. Looking back I can't really point to any specific event that led to my full...
Warrior2Warrior and The Saint Jude Retreats Partnership
A Partnership to Solve Addiction Issues in the Special Ops and General Military CommunityAddiction.PTSD.Trauma.Suicide.Domestic Violence.Loneliness.The feelings of loss of relevance.These are just...
Stop Saying Trauma Causes Addiction!
I'm 51 years old and it occurred to me today that no one gets to 51 years old without having experienced trauma. No one. We all have one very important thing in common; we're all going to die. I'm...
Replacing a Drug Habit vs. Moving on from One
Many years ago, we promoted the idea of replacing an addiction with other more beneficial activities and positive goals as a method to help people steer clear of “relapse” and move on from...
The Choice That Saved My Life
I was a heroin addict. One choice changed my life. It wasn’t the choice to quit. When things got really bad, I knew I had to quit heroin. I knew I should quit heroin. I even wanted to quit heroin....
Why is Self-Image Important to Self-Change?
Most people, when struggling with addiction, seek out help by going to an alcohol or drug rehab, drug treatment, alcohol treatment , or what have you. The problem is, these rehabs are designed to...
Why Do I get Drunk? It Doesn’t Make Me Happy Anymore
Humans are motivated by the pursuit of happiness - always. This is true even in the realm of addiction. In The Freedom Model we call this concrete truth The Positive Drive Principle (PDP).When I’m...
EXPOSED: The Biggest Lie about Addiction
Have you ever wondered why the idea of “addiction as a disease” only includes behaviors and habits that society deems as negative or harmful? Habitual activities that are positive or neutral would...
New Study Confirms That Disease Model Of Addiction Is Disempowering
We’ve been told for several decades that the disease model of addiction would help people to stop blaming themselves for their substance use problems,provide hope, and motivate them to seek help....
There is No Such Thing as Denial in Addiction: It’s All About Control
Whether you have had a personal experience with a substance use problem or not, you have likely heard the term denial used to describe someone who uses substances heavily, but tells others they...
The Truth About Addiction: A Message to Parents
Every day I talk to parents of heavy substance users. I hear a range of emotions from fear to anger to concern to intense love. Many parents don't entirely buy into the idea that their adult child...
How Does A Freedom Model Presenter Help A Retreat Guest Facilitate Change?
Human change is an unavoidable human experience. At its core, it’s a completely personal autonomous experience. Being that this reality is concrete, one must ask – what then is the role of a Freedom...
Approaching Someone You Love About a Substance Use Problem
In 1989, my father and sister had a talk with me because they were concerned that I had an alcohol and drug problem. This was before the show Intervention became a big hit on A&E, but at a time...
Non 12 Step- What Is It?
Non 12 Step – What Does this Mean? 30 years ago, I had just matriculated out of a long term intensive outpatient program that I was mandated to attend as a result of a DUI I had gotten 18 months...
Loving Someone “In Recovery”
When you send your spouse or significant other to rehab, you're hoping that the end results will be a happier loved one and an improved relationship, but more often than not, that's not the case at...
Are You Ready To Move Past Recovery?
When most “addicts” or “alcoholics” make the decision to quit or moderate their substance usage, they usually define their newly minted selves as “a person in recovery.” Of course recovery can mean...
What Kayne West SHOULD HAVE Said Instead
We all saw it. We all heard it. The headlines in early May of 2018, “Kayne West proclaimed that slavery was a choice during an interview at the TMZ Headquarters.” If you’ve ever seen the gif of the...
Dear Worried Mom: There’s Always Hope For Your Addicted Child
Dear Worried Mom, Let me start this letter by saying I know how scared you are. I know how confused you are. I’m a parent of 3, and at one time I was a very troubled teen who was emotionally lost,...
All Addiction Help Should be Completely Private and Here’s Why: Drawbacks of Group Therapy and Support Group Meetings for Addictions
Since coming onto the scene in the 1930's, the group Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has shaped the way people with substance use problems are helped. AA had its roots in a fundamentalist Christian...
Suboxone Has NOT Reduced Overdoses!
Suboxone has been widely adopted, yet overdose deaths have still increased Overview: Simply put, there are now far more people on the Medication Assisted Treatments methadone and buprenorphine...
Can “Addicts” and “Alcoholics” Solve Their Addiction at Home?
Over the past 84 years (since the founding of the first 12 step cult, Alcoholics Anonymous), people who struggle with addictions have been told they must attend a rehab, or at the very least they...
Costly Habits Are Chosen Habits Still
The Positive Drive Principle (PDP): the principle that humans will always act to move in the direction where they perceive the greatest happiness. -The Freedom Model for Addictions, pg 142Upon...
The Twelve Steps CREATES Addicts, It Doesn’t Cure Them!
"Remember that we deal with alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us." (p.58-59, Alcoholics Anonymous) From the age of 10 years old I was told of the mysterious...
How I Escaped the 12 Step Recovery Trap and Lived to Tell About It.
I was a child who grew up in an AA household from as far back as I can remember. It was the seventies and early eighties, and many of my siblings and my mother were active members in various 12 step...
Why Recovery is No Different Than Addiction
The Freedom Model for Addictions has the tagline, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap. It’s widely known after more than seventy years of failure, that the treatment industry is rife with scams...
Do Drug Addicts Have A Choice?
Can people who've been diagnosed with the various addictions (or Substance Use Disorders, in modern parlance) choose to change their condition? At Baldwin Research Institute, we’ve been saying they...
Calling Addiction a Disease Does Not Reduce Stigma
There is a lot of talk about stigma with respect to addiction. Those who promote that addiction is a disease claim that calling it a disease reduces the stigma. Their theory is that reducing the...
Addiction is NOT a Family Disease!
Substance use problems (addiction) have been thought of as a family issue for years. Is addiction a family disease?
You Choose Your Addictions and You Can Choose Freedom
“Try to do something without thinking about doing it first.” That was the first lesson given to me by my soon-to be mentor when I was 19 years old. At the time I was a seriously lonely, depressed...
How Big Pharma and Big Rehab are Keeping you Addicted
Understanding The MAT Trap Here is an email I recently received that sums up the confusion and disillusion felt by so many people who've been led to believe that medications will solve their opioid...
Parents – Don’t be Afraid of Moderation
Let’s be straight here, when it comes to addiction, the idea of being able to moderate substance use downright scares people, especially those in treatment circles and families who have been exposed...
Residential Retreat vs. Inpatient Treatment: What’s the difference?
The first residential retreat for those with drug and alcohol problems was founded 30 years ago in Hagaman, NY. I know about it because I founded it. That was the beginning of The Freedom Model...
How Do Expectations Shape Our Outlook On Addiction?
Drug and Alcohol Addicts, Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Drug and Alcohol Halfway Houses, Drug and Alcohol Sober Living Houses, Alcoholics Anonymous; what do these five items have in common? They all...
Can You Prevent Addiction?
Can you prevent addiction? This question can mean two different things: Can an individual prevent themselves from going down a path to addiction? Can a parent or sibling prevent a loved one or a...
Nobody Needs Addiction Treatment
One of the most exciting facts about addiction and our ability to move past it goes unreported – more than 90% of those with a drug or alcohol problem will get over their problem when you factor in...
7 Reasons Not to Send Your Adolescent to Drug Rehab
Your son got caught at school with pot. Your daughter came home last weekend completely wasted. You just learned your son has been using his friend's Adderall. Your daughter stole your pain...
No Drug Is Addictive, Not Even Heroin!
Let me hit this head on – no drug is addictive, not even the poster child for this myth – heroin. That is not to say that people do not feel addicted to drugs. That is not to say that people do not...
Is Relapse a Part of Recovery?
Is relapse a part of recovery? The answer to this question is – absolutely, relapse is a part of recovery, and also - absolutely relapse is not a part of recovery. How can it be both you ask? The...
What is Perpetual Recovery?
We’ve written about perpetual recovery throughout the years in various different ways and it always seems resonates with people once they understand what is meant by this term. The differences...
Support Systems for Addictions: Are They Good or Bad?
There is a common idea that has been promoted over the past 70 years that people who struggle with addiction will do better if they have a support system of some kind. It might be a family that...
