Author Archives: Evan Gove

Key Takeaways: Post-deployment drinking escalation is a documented clinical pattern—not a character flaw or a phase—rooted in the stress of combat exposure,

Key Takeaways: Self-referral to substance abuse treatment is explicitly protected under DoD policy and generally cannot be used as the basis for

Key Takeaways: Self-referral is the most protective path. A military self-referral for substance abuse—made before your command identifies a problem—triggers limited-use protections

Key Takeaways: Alcohol abuse in the military has structural causes, not personal ones. Deployment cycles, unit social norms, combat trauma, and reintegration

Key Takeaways: Alcohol use disorder is a clinical diagnosis, not a narrative one. The DSM-5 identifies 11 specific criteria; two or more

Key Takeaways: Alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal can become life-threatening within 24 to 72 hours of stopping—seizures and delirium tremens are genuine medical

Key Takeaways: Addiction treatment is organized into five sequential levels of care—medical detox, residential, PHP, IOP, and outpatient—each defined by the ASAM

Key Takeaways: Six terms determine what you pay for any covered healthcare, including addiction treatment: premium, deductible, coinsurance, copay, out-of-pocket maximum, and

Key Takeaways: Federal parity law (MHPAEA) makes coverage the legal default. Most health insurers are legally prohibited from imposing more restrictive limits

Key Takeaways: In-network and out-of-network deductibles run on separate tracks — meeting one does not reduce what you owe toward the other,