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Addiction & Recovery

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Mind & BrainApril 4, 2015

Alcoholics Anonymous Ain’t Perfect, But At Least It’s Free

Alcoholics Anonymous, the 80-year-old self-help program, has always had critics, who fault it for being too religious and unscientific. Journalist Gabrielle Glaser revives both these charges in her April Atlantic article, “The False Gospel of Alcoholics Anonymous.” She claims that “researchers have debunked central tenets of A.A.

John Horgan

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Mind & BrainMarch 13, 2015

Hype of “Feel-Good Gene” Makes Me Feel Bad

In 1990 The New York Times published a front-page article by Lawrence Altman, a reporter with a medical degree, announcing that scientists had discovered “a link between alcoholism and a specific gene.” That was merely one in a string of reports in which the Times and other major media hyped what turned out to be [...]

John Horgan

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