Word: treatment
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...last month's Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, University of New Mexico addiction specialist William Miller and his colleagues presented findings from two controlled trials in which patients underwent drug treatment. Some of the patients received spiritual guidance as part of the treatment - learning such practices as prayer, meditation and service to others, all of which are central to 12-step programs. Others received secular psychotherapy. Because of the enduring popularity of AA and similar programs that involve a spiritual component, Miller and his team expected the patients in the spiritual group to do better than those in the secular...
While both groups eventually benefited relatively equally from their treatment - abusing substances on fewer days - it took longer to see improvement among those in the spiritual group. What's more, those who received spiritual guidance reported being significantly more anxious and depressed after four months than those who got secular help. Those problems abated at about the eight-month point, but because substance abusers are at high risk for suicide, some worry that it may not be a good idea to put them through demanding spiritual calisthenics in the early months of their recovery. (Read a 2007 TIME cover story...
This study amplifies a fascinating paper Miller co-authored in 1997, which found that patients who reported knowing that someone was praying for them used significantly more substances after leaving treatment than those who didn't know someone was praying for them. Taken together, Miller's studies suggest that spirituality can be demanding - even when others are being spiritual on your behalf - and that many addicts may simply not be up to the pressure. For those people, non-faith-based treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment therapy might be better...
...multiple sclerosis symptoms. The claim is drawing a lot of attention, but it is too soon to say how effective the drug will be for other alcoholics or how widely it will be embraced by the addiction community. (Read a 1974 TIME cover story, "Alcoholism: New Victims, New Treatment...
About 1 in 5 people with alcohol dependence stop drinking without any treatment, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the field guide mental-health professionals use to diagnose illnesses. That means we have to figure out a way to help the 80% who won't get better through willpower. The latest evidence suggests that those who think that spirituality or a pill alone can save them are wrong. The answer almost certainly lies deeper inside ourselves...