Addiction
The Benefits of Addiction Intervention
If you have a loved one who has been spiraling out of control with their addiction you have probably tried many times to get them to stop. Often this means a continuous cycle of threats, promises, reprieves, relapses, then new threats and promises. The cycle usually goes something like this:
Celebrity Deaths Highlight Power of Addiction
Addiction is hard to get over, no matter the drug of choice. The recent overdose and death of actor Corey Haim demonstrates the impact addition and drug use can have on a life, no matter what path the individual has taken.
ABC News posted a recent piece, highlighting the impact addiction can have even on an individual who claimed to be clean. Haim had struggled with a cocaine and Valium addiction and was reportedly admitted to rehab centers more than 15 times. In recent years, he had claimed he was clean.
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Study Examines Potential to Control Drug Dependence
For the millions of individuals who fight drug dependence every day, not all of them set out to develop a drug problem. Those who are desperate to find relief may benefit from work done by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
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Pipe and Cigar Smoke May Be More Harmful Than Once Thought
Pipe and cigar smoke may be more harmful than once thought. While some believe pipes and cigars are healthier than cigarettes, a major known cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study directly links pipe and cigar smoking to decreased lung function.
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Substance Abuse Problems Can Masquerade As Other Psychiatric Disorders
Getting an accurate diagnosis can be complicated, and even elusive, when substance use is involved. The effects of substance use can masquerade as other mental health issues and psychiatric disorders. For this reason, many substance users who seek treatment will be misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed at some point. This is often a frustrating process. It’s not uncommon, for example, for one’s diagnosis to be unclear for some time especially if there are significant symptoms that could be attributed to a condition other than substance use. Further, it is also not uncommon for diagnoses to change throughout the course of treatment.
One of the major difficulties in obtaining an accurate diagnosis is that substance users often have a very complicated history of symptoms and stressors. Individuals who have used substances over a long period of time may have symptoms directly related to substance use and another disorder simultaneously. Also, especially for people who have had only brief periods of sobriety, it is not always possible to understand where past symptoms have come from. In these cases, history — although perhaps given honestly — is not always enough. A substantial period of abstinence may be required before a thorough evaluation can be completed and other disorders are diagnosed or ruled out.
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Cambodian Refugees and Gambling Disorders
The Cambodian refugees that have settled in the United States may suffer high rates of trauma (Marshall, Schell, Elliott, Berthold & Chun, 2005). In order to treat this trauma, it is also important to understand how the trauma manifests itself in behaviors, such as substance abuse, employment dysfunction or gambling disorders.
Recent research examined the correlation between socio-demographic variables and trauma with disordered gambling. The study was conducted by Marshall, Elliott and Schell in 2009.
When You Can Ask Who Can Help Me Heal – The Time Is Right
Thoughts about quitting your addiction can pop up at any time. Usually, however, they creep in slowly, gradually taking root until the desire to quit your drug of choice becomes almost unbearable. While it would be wonderful to be able to predict when such an intention to change begins to command more and more of your attention, it just doesn’t happen that way. Some addicts need to lose everything – family, relationships with friends, home, car, job and health – before they grudgingly accept they have a problem. Others come to the realization more quickly after only a few negative consequences. While each person arrives at the decision differently, there’s one thing in common: when you can ask who can help me heal, the time is definitely right.
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Social Perceptions: Biological vs. Behavioral Diseases
Decades after behavioral disorders such as alcohol and drug addictions have been recognized by the medical community as diseases instead of simply a series of bad choices, social stigmas still play a role with these health issues.
Negative associations cause people to fear, reject, and discriminate against a person with a behavior-related disease, according to research by Shaffer done in 1987. In a recent edition of Addiction and Humanities, the author examined the work of Shaffer alongside a more recent study by Room in 2005. Room reviewed the literature on stigma and rejection involved with psychoactive substance abuse.
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Gambling Addiction Rapidly Growing Problem for Youth in Iowa
Gambling has become practically a national pastime. Recent reports suggest that more money is spent on gambling than other entertainment venues combined. Along with this love affair for risk has come a growing addiction.
In a recent Sioux City Journal article, gambling therapist Matt Cihak believes it is only a matter of time before his clientele takes on a younger average age. “Our gambling patients still tend to be in the late 40s or early 50s,” he said in the Journal. “But with an increase of poker on TV and a host of Internet sites available, kids have never been exposed to gambling more than they are now.”
Gambling is considered a form of risk-taking rebellion, according to Cihak. Family history can play a role in increasing the risk, much like it does in alcoholism and drug abuse. Warning signs can include a teen preoccupied with gambling. He or she will also be excited by the results and become irritable when asked to stop.
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Tracing the Pattern of Drug Use to Drug Dependence
What makes the difference between a casual drink and alcohol dependence? How do you know when someone goes from trying marijuana now and then to having a serious abuse problem? Scientists still do not know how all of the factors involved in substance abuse work together, but a series of studies provides insight into how age plays a factor in going from using a substance to abusing it.
Three studies provide related information with a glimpse at the patterns of drug abuse. In 1994, Anthony, Warner and Kessler provided information showing probabilities for drug use and drug dependence. A 2002 study by Wagner and Anthony compared the time difference between a first experimentation with a drug or alcohol and the progression to drug dependence. In 2007 Wagner & Anthony explored the gender differences in these patterns. All three studies used data from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) from 1990-1992.
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