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TEDxPioneerValley - Tom Stevens - Surviving Addictions Through Change

4,855 views · Published 25 February 2012 · 20:20 · Indexed 25 September 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2012 · Education

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The addicted person is often unaware of the mayhem caused by their substance use and abuse. It can take a brush with the law or perhaps disassociation from significant others for them to acknowledge that they have a problem. Many never can make that acknowledgement and change. They become periodically institutionalized or incarcerated; their lives may end by accident or by their own hand. The story Tom Stevens, a disabled United States Air Force veteran from Easthampton, Massachusetts,  tells is one of personal experience and personal tragedy. "It is my experience that those who are very bright or very talented have can have a powerful denial mechanism in place."


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