News and Blog

Methamphetamine misuse is on the rise in the United States, yet its impact on the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) has not been studied widely.

Judith Tsui is a clinician specializing in addiction treatment at the University of Washington. She was seeing more and more OUD patients in treatment who were misusing methamphetamines—powerful, highly addictive stimulants.

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency of human beings to overrate personal characteristics and ignore situational factors when judging other people’s behavior. Because of this error—also known as correspondence bias—we tend to believe that others do bad things because they are bad people and we are inclined to ignore situational factors that might have played a role.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is frequently described as a brain disease with many patients returning to substance misuse at high rates after treatment. “Substance use disorders are chronic, relapsing conditions,” writes Lloyd Sederer in The Addiction Solution. “We have to expect relapse.”

Although we have to expect it, we should not accept it as unavoidable, of course, because any relapse can be life-threatening. That is why so many addiction professionals put so much effort into enabling clients to recognize the warning signs early on before the relapse becomes dangerous.

The holidays are a notoriously stressful time for everyone, and especially so for people in early recovery from addiction. Many people relapse during or immediately before the holiday season—so it’s important to be extra cautious and friends and family should give them as much support as they can.