Program Overview

The wisdom behind this breakthrough addiction treatment program model was born out of tragedy. Joan Mathews Larson, Ph.D., founded HRC after the suicide of her teenage son following a standard 12-step alcohol addiction treatment program. Over her 30-year quest for answers, she pioneered the most successful scientific approach for alcohol addiction treatment available today.

“The world’s first orthomolecular-based addiction treatment center.”
-Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, the Father of Orthomolecular Medicine

“One of an elite group of six national researchers and practitioners who have made the most significant contribution to the world of medicine in the 20th century.”
-Dr. Julian Whitaker MD, renowned orthomolecular physician and author of international fame

Consider a physical disease such as schizophrenia. With its multiple distortions that mimic a troubled mind, it would seem the mind is hearing voices, or seeing what isn’t there, but these symptoms are being broadcast to the mind from an unstable brain. When we fix the brain, the voices stop. To quote novelist Dr. Linus Pauling, “The mind is a manifestation of the molecular balance of the brain”.

Science shows that addiction also begins with imbalances of brain chemicals that substances such as alcohol and drugs temporarily disguise and lend an aura of feeling better. Addictions aren’t character flaws or spiritual weaknesses – they come from underlying physical flaws that can be rectified. But in order to do this, the primary focus must be physical. The traditional treatment philosophy of exclusively talking to the mind has produced relapse for 80 percent of addicts in the first year following treatment (U.S. govt. figures). How can real recovery happen without first testing to determine what brain-based needs are behind the addiction, and the extent of damage that heavy use has caused?

Ongoing drug and/or alcohol use alters brain chemistry causing distortions too great for willpower to control. Will power alone cannot lift depression, or stop cravings caused by chemical imbalances. Anxiety, irritability, mental confusion and irrational thinking are caused by physical disruption to the brain. Talk therapy cannot reverse these conditions, psychiatric drugs compound the problem, and many holistic adjuncts miss the essential point: biochemical repair must occur. This is the critical piece other drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs fail to provide. This is the heart of addiction treatment at Health Recovery Center.