The authors Michael Pond, a therapist, and Maureen Palmer, a filmmaker, discuss Wasted: An Alcoholic Therapist’s Fight for Recovery in a Flawed Treatment System (Greystone, 2016), a chronicle of Pond’s struggle with alcoholism and his path to recovery, with Joseph Planta.

Wasted: An Alcoholic Therapist’s Fight for Recovery in a Flawed Treatment System by Michael Pond and Maureen Palmer (Greystone, 2016). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Wasted

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

Just a few weeks ago on the CBC’s Nature of Things, you might have seen the film Maureen Palmer made that looked at the journey Michael Pond made from having a family and successful counselling practice in Penticton to ending up in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, alone, looking for a drink. The film is based on the new book Wasted: An Alcoholic Therapist’s Fight for Recovery in a Flawed Treatment System. It’s a new edition of a book we talked about on this program nearly two years ago: The Couch of Willingness. Both Mike and Maureen join me now to talk about what they’ve learned firsthand about addiction, about therapy, the flaws in Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as how recovery homes, but also the research they’ve encountered, especially the remarkable neuroscience research about addictions that explain what’s going on in our heads. What you get out of Mike and Maureen’s writing is a new way of looking and talking about addiction. It’s so much easier of course to resent, blame and shame the alcoholic, but there’s obviously something else going on. I’ll ask Mr. Pond about what he’s been able to find out and what he does today in this journey of real recovery. It’s horrifying when we learn that even our own doctors might not understand alcoholism enough to really help us. Maureen Palmer is an acclaimed filmmaker and former radio and television producer at the CBC. She is co-founder of Bountiful Films, which produced the recent Nature of Things film. I saw it online a few days ago on the CBC’s site; it’s excellent. Michael Pond has a private practice in Vancouver where he specialises in addiction treatment. His degrees in psychiatric nursing and social work were had from the University of Victoria, and the University of British Columbia. This new book is published by Greystone Books. Visit www.addictionthenextstep.com for more. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, in person today, Mike Pond and Maureen Palmer; Ms. Palmer, good morning. And Mr. Pond, good morning.

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