A look at how stigma is inhibiting our response to the substance use crisis, generated based on reaction to Beth Macy’s Raising Lazarus, her follow-on to Dopesick.

Part 6 of 6 on Unbroken Brain covers a third category of action Szalavitz recommends to address the growing crisis of substance use disorder: education.

Part 5 of 6 covers the second category of action Szalavitz recommends to address the growing crisis of substance use disorder: legalization.

Part 4 of 6 covers the first category of action Szalavitz recommends to address the growing crisis of substance use disorder: harm reduction.

Continuing into Szalavitz’s concept of addiction as a learning disorder - taking a look at one more risk factor to children, setting the stage for later risk of substance use disorder, and also detailing the links between addiction and learning disorders.

Continuing into Szalavitz’s concept of addiction as a learning disorder - in particular, the consequences to an early start of substance use.

In Richard Reeves’s book, he shares shocking statistics about the decline of well-being among males since 1979, not just in the U.S. but worldwide.

The data and studies of pandemic-era substance use are just now starting to come in, and the numbers are startling.

So now I need to tell you all something hard about the people you know who are misusing substances. They can die too soon.

The concept of addiction as a learning disorder is a fascinating adjustment to the idea of addiction as a disease.

It is only when we speak openly about substance misuse disorder that we can hope to make the changes needed in our society and policies to help everyone affected.

Fact: addiction is all around us. We are all affected by it, whether through interactions with family, friends, co-workers, lovers - chances are either we ourselves have faced addiction, or someone we care about has.

My project to tell the story of my brother’s life requires research, and research requires uncomfortable tasks, like cold calling.

Today I found my brother’s pen, that I’d taken over forty years ago..

In midlife, I found it time to leave the working world and find my life, by joining the Great Resignation.