Almost Addicted

The slippery slope of recreational drug use
by J. Wesley Boyd, M.D., Ph.D.

Health Care Blues: Health Insurance Offers Little Assurance

Having health insurance does not guarantee access to needed care. In efforts to generate the biggest profits possible, insurance companies often deny payment or set up roadblocks to accessing care. Americans deserve better and a single payer national health insurance would cure many of these woes. Read More

Psychiatrists Waste Millions of Hours Obtaining Prior Auths

Psychiatric clinicians spend over a million hours annually in the US obtaining prior authorizations from health insurance companies to ensure that needed services will be paid for. Read More

Mental Health, ADHD, and Drug Abuse

The overlap between mental health issues and substance abuse is large, and sorting out which one causes the other can be difficult at times if not simply impossible. Regardless, proper treatment of the mental health condition--even using stimulants to treat ADHD--improves outcomes and, in the case of ADHD and probably other conditions, leads to less substance abuse later. Read More

Adolescent Abusing Drugs?: The 7 C’s of Leverage

The seven C's of leverage. What you can do to try to leverage your child into better decisions about drugs and alcohol. Read More

I’m not Using “Hard” Drugs, So What’s the Big Deal?

Some think that because marijuana isn't a "hard" drug it doesn't cause problems. The reality is that although drugs like methamphetamine and the opiates can be devastating and even a single use might be too much, regular use of marijuana can also exact a high price and wreak havoc on lives in various ways. Read More

Marijuana is All Natural, so What’s the Problem?

Marijuana might be natural and even legal in many places, but those facts do not mean that it is safe or harmless. It can cause depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals who use it. Read More

What Exactly Went Into My Psychiatric Diagnosis?

The folks who are rewriting the diagnostic manual in psychiatry have often built their careers on the diagnosis in question and/or have received money from Big Pharma, so that the diagnoses they craft are potentially fraught with conflicts of interest and bias. Even though those rewriting the diagnostic manual tried to rectify matters, their efforts fall short. Read More

Almost Addicted

Almost addicted to drugs. Read More

J. Wesley Boyd, M.D., Ph.D.

Wes Boyd is on faculty at Harvard Medical School and is an Attending Psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance and Children’s Hospital Boston.

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Confessions of a Sociopath

She's successful and charming as well as ruthless and calculating.

Books by J. Wesley Boyd, M.D., Ph.D.

Image of Almost Addicted: Is My (or My Loved One's) Drug Use a Problem? (The Almost Effect)
Almost Addicted: Is My (or My Loved One's) Drug Use a Problem? (The Almost Effect)