A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “alcoholism”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott Alexander critiques Bryan Caplan's argument that psychiatric diseases are unusual preferences rather than real illnesses, providing counterarguments and evidence to show this view is untenable.
Scott Alexander examines the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous, finding it and other treatments only marginally better than no treatment, based on flawed and inconclusive studies.
Scott Alexander shares two humorous medical anecdotes that highlight the potential for misunderstanding complex health information.
Scott Alexander reviews two papers exposing statistical manipulation techniques in psychology research and addiction treatment program evaluations.
Scott explains how the Sinclair Method treats alcoholism by using naltrexone to block the brain's reward response to alcohol, breaking the learned association between drinking and pleasure through temporal difference learning.