The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.
The goal of the ASAM has always been to get the medical establishment to accept 12-step spiritual recovery.
AMSA evolved into the ASAM
According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine The ASAM Principles of Addiction Medicine is the “go-to textbook in the specialty of addiction medicine” and:
The 4th Edition of The ASAM Principles of Addiction Medicine contains an entire section entitled “Mutual Help, Twelve Step, and Other Recovery Programs” containing three chapters entitled “Twelve Step Programs in Recovery,”1 “Recent Research into Twelve Step Programs”2 and “Spirituality in the Recovery Process.”3
Despite the all-encompassing title of this 31-page section (pages 911-942) no “other recovery programs” are described. In fact, no other programs bar 12-step ideology are even mentioned.
I have read through each chapter word-for-word three times just to be sure; and although the chronic relapsing brain disease model of addiction requiring lifelong abstinence and spiritual recovery is described, trumpeted and proselytized in great detail, not one other model of addiction is even named.
As with anything I write I encourage you to fact-check this. My goal here is to present my opinions with facts and evidence that can be checked and verified. Point out any errors of fact and I will promptly remove and correct them.
If a Cardiology textbook had a section entitled “Cholesterol, Statins and other Lipid Lowering Agents” with three chapters that only described Lipitor it would be correctly lambasted from every angle by the entire field of medicine as soon as it hit the shelves.
The lack of evidence-base and conflicts-of-interest would be recognized and dealt with immediately and when it was realized that many of the authors not only profited from, but based their very own cardiac health on Lipitor they would rightly be held accountable. Such is not the case in Addiction Medicine.
The validity and reliability of opinions lie in their underlying methodology and evidence base. Reliance on the personal authority of any expert or group of experts is the fallacy of appeal to authority.
An appeal to Authority is a fallacy with the following form:
The fallacy is committed when the person (or group) in question is not a legitimate authority on the subject. If person A is not qualified to make reliable claims about subject S then the argument will be fallacious. Since this sort of reasoning is fallacious only when the person is not a legitimate authority it is necessary that acceptable standards be set and the following standards are widely accepted.
With the exception of number 5 the ASAM fails on all counts, but policy makers, members of the press, politicians and others have been successfully bamboozled into believing the ASAM are indeed “experts” in Addiction Medicine. 
Over the years, the American Society of Addiction Medicine has continued to promote the AA position that alcoholism (and by inference any other addiction) is an illness which only a “spiritual experience will conquer.” All addictions are believed by ASAM to be caused by a lifelong chronic relapsing brain disorder that can only be treated by complete abstinence from all mood-altering substances (with the apparent exceptions of tobacco and caffeine interestingly) and the vast majority of ASAM doctors believe that the only effective treatment for addiction must include surrendering one’s “will and life over to the care of God.”
Because addiction is defined as a disease, addicts must be “treated” (often coerced) and “cured” (which is defined as remaining abstinent).
The medical profession needs to reexamine its role in Addiction Medicine.
Confusing ideological opinions with professional knowledge is unacceptable. Presenting it as textbook science is not only dangerous but fosters negligence, abuse of power, self-interest and prejudice on the part of the medical community with respect to the treatment of all patients.
To be clear, just as Lipitor may be the best treatment for some individuals with elevated cholesterol, AA and 12-step may be the best treatment for some individuals with addiction and substance use disorders. If it works for them, then more power to them. I have no problem with that.
What I do have a problem with is imposing and mandating any treatment on others.
Under a dictatorship everything else becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship. Corresponding doctrine replaces professional guidelines, standards of care, and evidence based medicine. And unfortunately in the case of Addiction Medicine the guiding philosophy often trumps autonomy and ethics.
Inherent in the current chronic brain disease model of addiction is the importance of external control over individuals. Political correctness and the oversimplified medicalization of addiction is allowing it. Demanding scientific literacy and discriminating good science from bad science would prohibit what is occurring and In order to save American Medicine this problem needs to be clearly recognized. Otherwise we will become a profession that is essentially defined by the false dichotomies and grand illusions defined by the impaired physicians movement.
In 1985 the British sociologist G. V. Stimson wrote:
“The impaired physician movement is characterized by a number of evangelical recovered alcoholic and addict physicians, whose recovery has been accompanied by an involvement in medical society and treatment programs. Their ability to make authoritative pronouncements on physician impairment is based on their own claim to insider’s knowledge.”
The American Society of Addiction Medicine’s mission is to “establish addiction medicine as a specialty recognized by professional organizations, governments, physicians, purchasers, and consumers of health care products, and the general public”
In this they have succeeded.
And in the year 2014 G.V. Stimson’s characterization of the “impaired physician movement” remains as accurate and apt as it was in 1985. But the “number of evangelical recovered alcoholic and addict physicians” has increased dramatically (outnumbering Addiction Psychiatry by 4:1) and their involvement in “ medical society and treatment programs” has been realized and enforced through the state Physician Health Programs and their “PHP-approved’ assessment and treatment centers.
Their “ability to make authoritative pronouncements on physician impairment…based on their own claim to insider’s knowledge” has become public policy and sanctified by Regulatory Medicine -essentially the Word of the Lord.
And the 1953 Alcoholics Anonymous prophecy that “With one arm around the shoulder of religion and the other around the shoulder of medicine, we might change the world” is also coming to pass.
But the world is not changing for the better as that arm around the shoulder of religion has its fingers deep in the pockets of the multi-billion dollar drug and alcohol testing and assessment and treatment industries. And the arm around the shoulder of medicine has its fingers clamped tightly around its throat; a stranglehold in full throttle suffocating the Profession of Medicine with no meaningful opposition I can see.
In order to comprehend the current plight of the Medical Profession and the dark clouds that lie ahead it is necessary to understand the history of the “impaired physician movement” and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
In 1985 the British sociologist G. V. Stimson wrote:
“The impaired physician movement is characterized by a number of evangelical recovered alcoholic and addict physicians, whose recovery has been accompanied by an involvement in medical society and treatment programs. Their ability to make authoritative pronouncements on physician impairment is based on their own claim to insider’s knowledge.”1
The impaired physician movement emphasizes disease and therapy rather than discipline and punishment and believes that addiction is a chronic relapsing brain…
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The Elephant in the room is the state Physician Health Programs organized under the FSPHP. Nothing has changed–they have only grown more powerful and opaque and removed themselves from accountability and culpability. Moreover, they are expanding to other fields. Just ask the airline pilots. They eventually want to expand to students and children. Just take a look at the ASAM White Paper on Drug Testing or Dupont’s Keynote Speech before the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association.
If this does not affect you yet it eventually will and by then it will probably be too late.
Illegitimate and irrational power is very dangerous. But no one is really paying attention. This is just a few public policy steps away from you. Speak now before the door closes for good!
“It is easier to believe a lie one has heard a hundred times than a truth one has never heard before.” –American sociologist Robert S. Lynd
Ridgeview Institute was a drug and alcohol treatment program for “impaired physicians” in Georgia created by G. Douglas Talbott, a former cardiologist who lost control of his drinking and recovered through the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Up until his death on October 18, 2014 at the age of 90, Talbott owned and directed a number of treatment facilities for impaired professionals, most recently the Talbott Recovery Campus in Atlanta, one of the preferred referrals for physicians ordered into evaluation and treatment by licensing boards today.
G. Douglas Talbott is a prototypical example of an “impaired physician movement” physician–in fact in many ways he may be considered the”godfather” of the current organization. He helped organize and serve as past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and was a formative…
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“Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies”
Addiction Medicine is NOT recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). It is a a “Self-Designated Practice Specialty” which is an American Medical Association Census term that keeps track of what any group of physicians is calling themselves. The American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) is a Self-Designated Board. It is not recognized by the Medical Profession. So too is the “American Academy of Ringside Medicine and Surgery”, the “American Academy of Bloodless Medicine and Surgery” and the “Council of Non-Board Certified Physicians.” But these Self-Designated Boards do not have the multi-billion dollar drug and alcohol testing and treatment industry supporting them. Nevertheless, the “voice of addiction medicine” is in reality merely a whisper masquerading as a scream. The general public needs to awaken to this fact before it is too late.
“Spirituality can go hand-in-hand with ruthless single-mindedness when the individual is convinced his cause is just”
― Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo
Addiction Medicine is currently not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). It is still a a Self-Designated Practice Specialty and the American Board of Addiction Medicine is a Self-Designated Board. So too is the American Academy of Ringside Medicine and Surgery, the American Academy of Bloodless Medicine and Surgery and the Council of Non-Board Certified Physicians. But these Self-Designated Boards do not have the multi-billion dollar drug and alcohol testing and treatment industry supporting them. Addiction Medicine has deep pockets, and if the November 2014 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is a harbinger of what’s to come, this self-designated practice specialty currently being certified by a self-designated…
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About the Author
Dr. Langan graduated from Oregon Health Sciences University School Of Medicine, Portland Oregon with an MD 21 years ago. He had his residency training of Geriatric Medicine-Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medicine Center and Internal Medicine at St Vincent Hospital Medicine Center.
Conclusion
Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.
Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David…
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Staring Down the Enemy
[By Staff Reporters]
We have skirted around this issue before on the ME-P; as well as our related physician-executive leadership, risk-management and career development essays in our books and print publications.
But now, we look directly into the face of the terminal demon/beast.
So, her is a powerful look at the growing problem of physician suicide by two leading physicians and expert-bloggers Michael Lawrence Langan MD; an ME-P “thought-leader” – as well as a video by Pamela Wible MD.
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Conclusion
Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.
Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available…
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The evidence that Physician Health Services, Inc. (PHS) is committing crimes has been free-floating for the past two years. It has been posted on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, blogged, faxed, and phoned. The response? Absolute silence.
The procedural, ethical and criminal violations are clear and many. The incontrovertible evidence has been directly delivered to individuals who should address this but for some reason do not. This is not a matter of opinion folks but a matter of fact. Time and time again we hear of egregious misconduct hidden for decades because of cognitive dissonance and blinkered apathy.
They are engaging in criminal activity within the walls of an institution whose foundation is the antithesis of this groups actions and it must be addressed. Either support what the documents show or do something about it.
So please sign this petition and call Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump at 617-727-6200
Institutional injustice just like that being committed by Luis Sanchez, Linda Bresnahan and the corrupt MRO Wayne Gavryck is killing doctors across the country. They need to be held accountable. Help me hold them accountable.
Disrupted Physician 