Not only is this not new, but this approach has already been incorporated into many of the more progressive (and, incidentally, more successful) drug treatment programs.
It turns out that, when you treat substance abuse as a symptom of an underlying problem and not a symptom of the substance itself (the same way we do for alcohol), you end up with a much more effective treatment strategy.
It's funny that it's taking us this long to come to that realization, when even the DSM IV outlines specific criteria for substance abuse and substance dependence, and most habitual users of drugs fit neither of these.
Funny anecdote: Szasz's "Rat Park" study originally appeared in a relatively unknown journal because it was rejected from all the mainstream ones for being "too much of a deviation" from the mainstream schools of thought.
In a pithy sentence: People are self-medicating for a reason.
I love how so many "well-meaning" people continue to often, apparently quite wilfully and in correspondence with their own perceived self-interest, turn a blind eye to those reasons.
I don't believe the study has anything to do with Thomas Szasz, although he may have used it as a supporting example in some of his writings. The study was conducted by Bruce Alexander and his collaborators, at Simon Fraser University in Canada.
This has actually been pretty standard thinking in addiction medicine for a long time. 12 step programs were developed by thinking as addiction as a 'spiritual' affection. Many AA'isms reflect this: "I don't have a alcohol problem. I have a spiritual problem and drugs and alcohol were the solution." etc.
a thank you to paddy and Garry for something that may not be new to the world but is new to me - a nice experiment with a counter-prevailing-wisdom result.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 36.9 ms ] thread"New" apparently now means "35 years old" ;)
Not just rats will avoid poison when there is an alternative and will consume it if nothing else to do.)
It turns out that, when you treat substance abuse as a symptom of an underlying problem and not a symptom of the substance itself (the same way we do for alcohol), you end up with a much more effective treatment strategy.
It's funny that it's taking us this long to come to that realization, when even the DSM IV outlines specific criteria for substance abuse and substance dependence, and most habitual users of drugs fit neither of these.
Funny anecdote: Szasz's "Rat Park" study originally appeared in a relatively unknown journal because it was rejected from all the mainstream ones for being "too much of a deviation" from the mainstream schools of thought.
I love how so many "well-meaning" people continue to often, apparently quite wilfully and in correspondence with their own perceived self-interest, turn a blind eye to those reasons.
I don't believe the study has anything to do with Thomas Szasz, although he may have used it as a supporting example in some of his writings. The study was conducted by Bruce Alexander and his collaborators, at Simon Fraser University in Canada.
My intellectual curiosity is satisfied thanks