Cluster addiction and co-occurring disorders, or a combination of multiple addictions and mental health disorders are quite common among persons seeking addiction treatment. Based on recent and ongoing research, we now know that eating disorders and substance abuse share some very important characteristics. These characteristics point not only to commonalities between the two, but also [...]
They’re everywhere you look – millions of Americans, in fact – hooked on instantly communicating with their friends via social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Friendster, and others. Driver inattention while texting or sending messages to these sites causes untold numbers of accidents on the highway. Students furiously typing away [...]
Anyone who’s beginning treatment or living in early recovery recognizes that this is a whole new chapter in their life. Not all of those initial chapters are either predictable or pre-ordained. Much like a novel, what happens next is often quite surprising. It’s certainly filled with challenges. Using the book analogy to your journey to [...]
If you’ve made the difficult decision to stop drinking, you’ve already taken the all-important first step. Nothing happens without conscious intent – especially when it comes to altering behavior involving alcohol. Whether you were a moderate drinker who has stepped over the line and become a problem drinker or someone who has been abusing alcohol [...]
It’s no surprise to anyone who smokes cigarettes today that the additives in the tobacco are stronger than they were a decade or so ago. That some people can smoke a cigarette now and then without becoming a pack or more smokers a day is actually a rarity. The reality is that it’s far more [...]
Before any new drug can be marketed to the public, it has to go through a complicated and lengthy testing and approval process through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This process entails successful completion of various stages, including clinical trials. At any point along the way, testing may be stalled, halted, or lengthened due [...]
Prison is a tough place to be. For inmates, deserved or not, who are serving their time as mandated by the criminal justice system, it can be a festering stew, an unending cauldron of violence, or a time for reshaping their lives, coming clean, and learning how to live a life free of substance abuse [...]
Anyone who’s heard of Alcoholics Anonymous knows the name of Bill W., one of the co-founders of the organization, along with Dr. Bob. But the story of Bill W. or, better yet, the story of Lois Wilson, Bill’s wife, is little known. But watch the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie – When Love Is Not [...]
Once you complete treatment for dependence or addiction to alcohol, drugs, or other addictive behaviors, it’s a whole new world ahead. This can also be a pretty frightening time if you fail to prepare yourself for a range of new emotions, challenges, obstacles and opportunities. Let’s face it, while treatment itself wasn’t easy at times, [...]
Science writer Dirk Hanson takes readers on a journey of understanding about addiction in The Chemical Carousel: What Science Tells Us About Beating Addiction. In a conversational tone, Hanson acts as teacher and storyteller as he sheds considerable light on the still-largely unknown field of addiction science. Some may wonder that there actually is such [...]
