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Carl Erik Fisher

@drcarlerik.bsky.social
710 followers 413 following 47 posts

Addiction psychiatrist, bioethicist, associate professor at Columbia University. | The Urge: Our History of Addiction (Penguin Press, 2022) | Rat Park newsletter--> carlerikfisher.substack.com

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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
I spoke with Dr David Nutt of @Drug_Science on one of addiction science’s biggest errors: dopamine as the whole story. “Patently daft,” he says. (We also talk psychedelics, drug development, and circuit models) Read more and listen here: carlerikfisher.substack.com/p/what-addic...
carlerikfisher.substack.com
What Addiction Science Got Wrong About Dopamine, with Dr. David Nutt | Flourishing After Addiction #45
"It's inconceivable there can be just a single chemical that mediates all the effects of what addicted drugs have. That was so patently daft."
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Melissa Febos @melissafebos.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
This book is out TODAY! I put my whole heart into it. You can buy it wherever you buy books. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725681...
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Melissa Febos @melissafebos.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
My event on June 10 at The Strand is sold out but there are a few tickets left for the Brooklyn launch with Leslie Jamison at Public Records via Books Are Magic: www.eventbrite.com/e/offsite-me...
eventbrite.com
Offsite: Melissa Febos: The Dry Season w/ Leslie Jamison
“Only Melissa Febos could convince us of the ecstasy of abstinence. She never fails in her candor and precision.” —Katherine May
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Joshua Richardson @schizosemia.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I’m excited for this podcast with @drcarlerik.bsky.social and @owenflanagan.bsky.social. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/f...
podcasts.apple.com
What Is It Like to Be an Addict? with Prof. Owen Flanagan
Podcast Episode · Flourishing After Addiction with Carl Erik Fisher · 2025-04-22 · 1h 6m
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I got to interview Owen Flanagan, an excellent philosopher of addiction (and much more), about his new book, What Is It Like to Be an Addict? open.substack.com/pub/carlerik...
open.substack.com
What Is It Like to Be an Addict? with Prof. Owen Flanagan | Flourishing After Addiction #40
"One cannot have a complete theory of addiction without incorporating the addict’s experience. Listen carefully to what addicts say about what it is like to be an addict."
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
relevant front page of FT today about the Trump memecoin today, which I discuss in my gambling essay
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
I have a new essay out in The New York Times today: "What Sports Betting Reveals About Addiction." I challenge some assumptions about addiction through the lens of America’s sports betting explosion, just in time for Super Bowl Sunday. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Price We Pay Betting on Sports
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
I wrote about the paradox of self-control in addiction. open.substack.com/pub/carlerik...
open.substack.com
Self-Control Matters in Addiction
The biomechanical disease folks are right that there is a there there, that when people with addiction say they feel powerless, we should take them (us) seriously. The choice folks are right that even...
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Keith Humphreys and John Kelly setting the record straight
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Lev Facher @levfacher.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
RFK says he supports methadone and buprenorphine — but majorly misrepresents a study that he claimed shows 12-step programs are more effective vs. opioid addiction (The study was exclusively about alcohol!) www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/r...
statnews.com
RFK Jr. endorses medications for opioid addiction at confirmation hearing, but misleads on 12-step programs
During his Thursday Senate confirmation hearing, RFK Jr. shed light for the first time on his attitudes toward medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction.
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Addiction journal @addictionjournal.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
The Society for the Study of Addiction have just joined Bluesky. Please give them a follow! @ssa-addiction.bsky.social
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Excellent new substack on publishing from a superstar agent!
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
As a clinician and someone in recovery from a serious alcohol use problem, I find this paper very thoughtful and useful! Very good starting point and call to action. "Alcohol research has a problem with pleasure". I agree, but I would also suggest that pleasure research has a problem with pleasure
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James Nicholls @jamesnicholls.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
New 'For debate' paper in @addictionjournal.bsky.social in which we ask whether alcohol research needs to take pleasure more seriously. It's an invitation to discuss, so I'd be interested to hear views! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Taking pleasure seriously: Should alcohol research say more about fun?
Background This paper invites discussion on whether pleasure should receive more attention in public health-oriented research on alcohol. While there is a history of sociological and anthropological...
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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Phil & psych folks, Richard Gipps @drgipps.bsky.social is on Bluesky! Give him a follow. Several years ago, when Richard joined Twitter, I made a similar announcement so that people would follow him. That was the beginning of a rewarding friendship ☺️ (1/4)
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
congrats on an excellent first lead-author paper, @mattflathers.bsky.social ! (in my somewhat biased opinion...)
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
With great collaborators, I have a new paper in BMJ Mental Health. AI-generated imagery often amplifies harmful stereotypes about mental disorders. How models like DALL-E 3 and Midjourney shape public perceptions of mental illness. Here's a summary with some images: open.substack.com/pub/carlerik...
AI-generated stereotypical portrayals of addiction, including images cluttered with pills, smoker with glazed-over expression, and ominous skulll.
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
I was very happy to be involved with this study of AI depictions of psychiatric diagnoses--it shows how image generation models reflect cultural perceptions of mental disorders, including harmful bias. Open access: mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/27/1...
mentalhealth.bmj.com
AI depictions of psychiatric diagnoses: a preliminary study of generative image outputs in Midjourney V.6 and DALL-E 3
Objective This paper investigates how state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence (AI) image models represent common psychiatric diagnoses. We offer key lessons derived from these representati...
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
I love the articulation of 'discursive pollution’ here- how commercial actors and forces "contaminate scientific and policy debates and harm public and environmental health." Nice angle on a big topic
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I wrote about the specific technology design features that can weaken our self-control. A brief review of some recent commentary and classification What makes the internet addictive? carlerikfisher.substack.com/p/what-makes...
carlerikfisher.substack.com
What makes the internet addictive?
The next hellsites. What makes us stay online. Bluesky. The allure of simplicity and the inexorable pull toward complex design features eroding our self-control.
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Carl Erik Fisher @drcarlerik.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
This is a fascinating development: an official "Plain Language Big Book" of AA. The original book is from 1939 and uses really florid language at times, so this plain language version could be useful for anyone interested in mutual help for whom that's challenging. www.aa.org/sites/defaul...
aa.org
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