About 20 years ago, I ran across this in an essay by C.S. Lewis:
Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.*
Lewis argued, “I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old.” He also offered this suggestion: “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”
My reading habits immediately changed. I started reading old books—in many cases, very old books.
And so it is that we will be considering Richard R. Peabody’s The Common Sense of Drinking, which was published in 1931, at an upcoming residential recovery retreat at Hazelden Betty Ford’s Dan Anderson Renewal Center. The book contains ideas and phrases that were later popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous such as “once a drunkard always a drunkard” and “halfway measures are of no avail.”†
It’s great to be back at the MARRCHAnnual Conference & Expo after a several year hiatus. This year, I’ll be speaking on tailoring treatment using the transtheoretical model (26 October, 12:30 p.m.). You can find my PowerPoint here.
The transtheoretical model is seemingly central to addiction treatment, but do we effectively use it?
Do we accurately stage patients upon admission and during their course of care?
Does our interpersonal stance match each patient’s stage of change?
Do we use appropriate processes of change for each patient’s stage of change?
We could perhaps tackle psychiatric malingering next year (hint, hint). In some ways, this is easier to deal with as presentations seldom require urgent off-site transport. Standardized tests also make determinations more secure.
Many thanks to Holly Compo, Tom Wells and Randy Willis for inviting me to participate, and for onsite support. ✸
No, not *that* kind of mask! I’m thinking about the airline safety announcement. It’s a great metaphor for health professionals—it’s hard to help others when we’re struggling ourselves.
Please join me for a weekend retreat at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s aptly named Renewal Center, located on its beautiful Center City, Minn., campus. I’ll be bringing together a decade of work on burnout, resilience and wellbeing, with a big emphasis on acquiring new self-care skills.
Anyone working in healthcare welcome. And, yes, Hazelden Betty Foundation is known for addiction treatment—but you don’t need to have a personal history of addiction to attend the retreat. ✸
_____ Postscript. The retreat’s title—This Is Water—is a riff on a small but profound book by David Foster Wallace.
I’m privileged to serve as faculty for another season of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Summer Institute for Medical Students (SIMS). This page contains links to my teaching materials and some additional resources.
I’ve long advised medical students and residents to acquire some psychotherapy skills, regardless of their eventual specialty. Motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are relatively easy to learn and have broad clinical utility.
Some MI resources include:
Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational Interviewing, 3d ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2013 [classic textbook]
Sim MG, Wain T, Khong E. Influencing behaviour change in general practice. Part 1—brief intervention and motivational interviewing. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(11):885-888 (PMID: 19893835; and here)
Sim MG, Wain T, Khong E. Influencing behaviour change in general practice. Part 2—motivational interviewing approaches. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(12):986-989 (PMID: 20369152; and here)
Hall K, Gibbie T, Lubman DI. Motivational interviewing techniques—facilitating behaviour change in the general practice setting. Aust Fam Physician 2012;41(9):660-667 (PMID: 22962639; and here)
Searight HR. Counseling patients in primary care: evidence-based strategies. Am Fam Physician 2018;98(12):719-728 (PMID: 30525356)
DiGiuseppe RA, Doyle KA, Dryden W, Backx W. A Practitioner’s Guide to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, 3d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 [classic textbook]
Harden M. Cognitive behaviour therapy—incorporating therapy into general practice. Aust Fam Physician 2012;41(9):668-671 (PMID: 22962640; and here)
Stuart MR, Lieberman JA. The Fifteen Minute Hour, 6th ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2019 [please see, in particular, Chapter 4]
Frenz DA. Another Arrow for Your Quiver: REBT for SUD. Minneapolis: David A. Frenz, M.D., 2018 [PowerPoint presentation]
I’m looking forward to presenting at the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association’s Correctional Health Division Conference on October 13th. I’ll be discussing the use of clinical decision rules in assessing inmates for chest pain, head injuries and other high-risk presentations. You can find my PowerPoint here.
My title is a riff on the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), which has good negative predictive for really bad stuff like cardiac arrest, ICU admissions and death. I previously wrote about it forToday’s Hospitalist (and PDF version here).
Many thanks to Heather Qunell and the other conference organizers for inviting me to participate! ✸
I recently contributed a “lunch and learn” to PreferredOne’s annual health fair. We talked about some key topics related to behavioral change, including process thinking, end-gaining, means-whereby and indirect methods. Please see my PowerPoint for more.
The health dimension is a 30-day challenge based on Tom Rath’sEat Move Sleep(book) and companion website. I encouraged the audience to make some small choices that could lead to big changes in both their quality and quantity of life.
Many thanks to Donna Larson, Shelley Markve, Susan Bernstein and PreferredOne’s Wellbeing Committee for pulling together the event and making the book available to employees. ✸
_ Postscript [10/07/2021]. Nell Hurley brought my attention to James Clear’sAtomic Habits (book). Looks like fantastic read that syncs of up with Rath’s work. BTW, Nell was recently featured in a Star Tribune article on the contemporary sober movement.
_ Postscript [10/10/2021]. For those intrigued by the Alexander Technique, I suggest booking a few lessons with Brian McCullough or another qualified teacher in your area.
— Postscript [07/30/2021]. I’ve long advised medical students and residents to acquire some psychotherapy skills, regardless of their eventual specialty. Motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are relatively easy to learn and have broad clinical utility.
Some MI resources include:
Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational Interviewing, 3d ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2013 [classic textbook]
Sim MG, Wain T, Khong E. Influencing behaviour change in general practice. Part 1—brief intervention and motivational interviewing. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(11):885-888 (PMID: 19893835; and here)
Sim MG, Wain T, Khong E. Influencing behaviour change in general practice. Part 2—motivational interviewing approaches. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(12):986-989 (PMID: 20369152; and here)
Hall K, Gibbie T, Lubman DI. Motivational interviewing techniques—facilitating behaviour change in the general practice setting. Aust Fam Physician 2012;41(9):660-667 (PMID: 22962639; and here)
Searight HR. Counseling patients in primary care: evidence-based strategies. Am Fam Physician 2018;98(12):719-728 (PMID: 30525356)
DiGiuseppe RA, Doyle KA, Dryden W, Backx W. A Practitioner’s Guide to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, 3d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 [classic textbook]
Harden M. Cognitive behaviour therapy—incorporating therapy into general practice. Aust Fam Physician 2012;41(9):668-671 (PMID: 22962640; and here)
Stuart MR, Lieberman JA. The Fifteen Minute Hour, 6th ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2019 [please see, in particular, Chapter 4]
Frenz DA. Another Arrow for Your Quiver: REBT for SUD. Minneapolis: David A. Frenz, M.D., 2018 [PowerPoint presentation]