FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Award-winning Doctor & Health Journalist Offer a Holistic Solution to Addiction
People become addicted because it’s hard to be human, but there *is* a solution, Portland-based doctor says
November 6, 2018 Portland, Ore.—Dr. Paul Thomas seems like a man who has it all: an Ivy League medical degree (Dartmouth, class of 1985), a thriving practice where he’s successfully treated hundreds of opioid addicts, and over 789,000 subscribers to his channel on YouTube.
Paul Thomas nearly lost his life to addiction
So people are often astonished to learn that Dr. Paul (as his patients call him) nearly lost his life and his livelihood to addiction.
In his new book, The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery (HarperOne), Thomas and his co-author, award-winning health journalist Jennifer Margulis, detail their holistic solution to addiction. Moreover, they explain how easy it is to get hooked, and how hard it is to be human, for all of us.
The book tells the story of how Thomas fought a losing battle with alcohol while at the same time his wife, Maiya, was struggling with addiction to opioids.
Thomas has also struggled with overeating and an addiction to food.
The Addiction Spectrum argues that we can only understand the current opioid crisis if we understand that addiction can happen to anyone.
Key lifestyle changes part of the holistic solution to addiction, new book says
But, the authors say, key lifestyle changes can help you. If you want to move from the severe to the mild end of the addiction spectrum, you can start making those changes today. There is a holistic solution to addiction. So, if you’re struggling, don’t despair.
Part of their plan is finding the right community—what Thomas calls your sober tribe.
“Isolation is a hallmark of addiction,” Thomas, who was born in Portland but grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), says.
“A main reason I didn’t spiral into alcoholism earlier—though I was genetically predisposed to it—is because I had a strong support system. I lived in a village in Africa as a kid. I could go outside and be with friends.”
“So many people are so lonely,” Margulis agrees. “And that disconnection is the catapult into addiction. We know from both social science and scientific studies that humans thrive when they live in community. But they tend to be sicker, die younger, and be more likely to become addicted when they’re isolated.”
The authors present their holistic solution to addiction, an actionable plan to solve the addiction crisis, this Friday, November 9th, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at Powell’s Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon. Join them to learn about their new book, The Addiction Spectrum.
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Contact:
Rebecca Ponton, publicist
(210) 374-6405
rebeccaponton@yahoo.com
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