Addiction in Society | Psychology Today

Roy Moore, Sex, Republicans, and Religious Conservatism

Roy Moore embodies an arrested sexual development common among fellow Republicans and conservative Christians.

"Lady Bird" II: To Be, or Not To Be, Traumatized

Greta Gerwig's film "Lady Bird" depicts a child whose mother can't accept her - but who ends up a self-sustaining, successful human being anyway. And she loves her mother.

American Cinema Has Produced Its First Woman Auteur

Greta Gerwig is the first great American woman "auteur" director - so what's a century to two?

How Are African Americans Doing? II: Economics and Education

In economics and educational opportunity, African Americans have barely been keeping pace in recent decades (if even doing that well), even as whites overestimate their status.

Is Harvey Weinstein Addicted to Love?

Harvey Weinstein sought a mother's love and admiration, combined with sexual devotion, in 20-year-olds, an addiction that doomed him.

How Are African Americans Doing? I: Violence and Segregation

African Americans' status has deteriorated over the last 50 years, while whites strive to isolate themselves from black problems. Liberals do so while denying this segregation.

We Live In a Dream World

It took the police SWAT squad more than an hour to reach Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock after he stopped shooting and killed himself. Don't worry if you believed it was minutes!

Today the Disease Theory Is Argued in Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Court commences today deciding whether addiction is a disease that removes the capacity to choose. What would be its implications for decriminalization?

Answer Me This: Why Are Americans So Depressed?

We are growing more depressed, with young people in the lead, and our pharmaceutical response is obviously not working. How about psychedelics?

Five Typical Charity Scandals

Corrupt charities are a fact of life — often including the most sanctified, and sanctimonious, charities and their leaders. Here are some highlights of this tradition.

Q.E.D.: The Most Dangerous Addiction—Childhood Video Games

People who attempts mass murders often seem to have been unusually involved in youthful video games, which DSM-5 failed to label "addictive." Is that an oversight?

How to Get Elected as a Democrat: Three Winning Memes

Each party rejects the other's key themes. But there are three ideas that cannot be defeated in contemporary America. Support these three "memes" and, sure as shooting, you're in.

Why Your Sex Life Stinks—Yes You, Capitalist Tool

Your lousy sex life is likely due to your overachieving participation in the capitalist system. Just ask women who have lived under both communism and capitalism.

Addiction Epidemic: (Not) the Christie Report

The opioid painkiller addiction crisis reported by the Christie Commission doesn't exist, according to government data. Dangerous use remains a problem, which the report ignores.

How to Interrogate a Criminal Suspect, a la Dostoyevsky

Law enforcement officers assaulting violent criminals, as Donald Trump suggests they do, is exactly the opposite of the best interrogation techniques for convicting criminals.

The Dean of USC's Medical School Used Addictive Drugs

When a prominent medical school dean was revealed to have used so-called "addictive drugs" before, he was terminated instantly due to what school authorities called his "disease."

Why They Let O.J. Out

O.J. Simpson will be released from prison after a parole hearing for his armed robbery conviction. But his self-image and demeanor are identical to when he was tried for murder.

The Conflict Over Russia and Trump Family Values

Values determine behavior. The way to understand the current administration, and especially the dispute about collaborating with the Russians, is to understand Trump family values.

The Myth of Addiction as "Equal Opportunity Destroyer"

As American experts consistently misplace their emphasis about addiction on drugs, rather than people, more people die. But those at high risk of victimhood are voiceless anyhow.

Trauma Nation

The cultural movement of recovering trauma is actually a psychological disaster of its own making. The answers—forward planning and community building—are nowhere apparent.

Anthony Bourdain's Updated Addiction Report Card

Anthony Bourdain, former drug addict, has kept up his frenetic, successful television career while drinking up a storm, most recently in Borneo. Meanwhile, post-60, he looks trim!

When a Recovery Princess Needs a Harm Reduction Intervention

Carrie Fisher maintained the image of a drug recovery princess. The image itself may have been lethal.

Stanton Peele: GS on subway home from bar

I'm Sorry If You Can't Drink Alcohol

I enjoy my time with my grandson going to the beach, riding the bus, and talking and thinking. These activities are part of living life on earth—along with drinking.

United Artists film poster

Trigger Warnings for American Classic Films

The film director Ernst Lubitsch, who was the toast of Hollywood for his light, "Lubitsch touch" before World War II, made films that would be banned on campuses today.

Our Drug Death Epidemic Is Worse than Ever

Our approach to addiction—as our epidemic of drug deaths accelerates—is itself addictive in as much as the responses we are drawn to in fact exacerbate the problem.

Everett Collection, Baron Wolman

What Was Jerry Garcia's Addiction?

Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead are portrayed in the more than four-hour documentary, Love Strange Trip, representing the intricate connections of their music and lives.

Is Trump's Abstinence a Personality Disorder?

Rather than quitting drinking without going to AA, as Kurt Anderson indicated was so for George W. Bush, Donald Trump makes us think that abstinence itself causes problems.

Reducing Drug Deaths: Heroin Injection by Appointment

There's a new addiction service coming to your town—safe injection sites. These sites offer us the main, perhaps the only, option for halting the growth in American drug deaths.

Ranking the Last 14 Presidential Marriages

The American presidential marriage, from FDR and Eleanor to Barack and Michelle and beyond demonstrate a remarkable range of marital partnerships and intimacy.

Trump Won't Reduce the Ravages of Drug Addiction

Liberals and conservatives both marvel at how, given such great addiction treatment, our addiction crisis deepens. They agree we should redouble our disease campaign.

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