Some Addiction Treatment Practices are Making Me Sick
03/13/2017 – by Dr. Deni Carise Need sober living but can’t afford it? Some programs will offer free rent and other amenities, then bill your insurance excessively for unnecessary drug testing and other services to make up the cost. Sadly, many unregulated sober living homes have become unsafe and overcrowded “flophouses” where crimes like theft, human trafficking, prostitution, and illegal drug use are commonplace. It’s an exploitation of some of our nation’s most vulnerable individuals and it needs to stop. Excuses and rationalizations abound, including those about just wanting to help people who are struggling with addiction no matter what it takes. It should never take a bribe. Or fraud. These actions cannot be justified. The biggest issue I have with these unethical practices is that, when it comes down to it, the patients are likely to lose the most by not getting the right treatment when they’ve just been sold to the highest bidder. We say we care about outcomes and evidence. We need to do better.
Mar 17, 2017 – Consider alcoholism. There is no doubt that this condition can be fatal. An overuse of alcohol destroys the liver and rots out the brain. This is physiological damage of the worst sort that can indeed benefit from medical treatment. But does this demonstrate that we are dealing with a disease? I submit not. Let me start with a pair of analogies. If a person swallows a bottle of poison, is she sick? Going to a hospital to get her stomach pumped out is a good idea, but was she ill? Isn’t it more accurate to describe her as having injured herself and then required assistance in mending this wound? … by Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Kennesaw State University.
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Daughter of Anarchy & Sobriety
Katey Sagal Reveals 15-Year Battle with Addiction in Memoir VIDEO
MARCH 20, 2017 – Katey Sagal writes in a new memoir that iconic actress Judy Garland’s well-documented struggle with drug abuse – as well as her own mother’s – in part, set the stage for her personal battle with addiction, according to Page Six. The Sons of Anarchy actress says in Grace Notes: My Recollections – out Tuesday – that she was friends with Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft during their youth, bonding over their mothers’ behaviors … “When I was 12, we lived on the same block as Judy Garland,” Page Six says Sagal writes. “Her daughter Lorna Luft and I became neighborhood buddies. Lorna’s mom had a lot of pills on her bedside table and slept past noon just like my mom.” She reportedly says, “We hung tight. And, of course, I thought everyone’s mom took a lot of pills.” Sagal writes that her childhood in Los Angeles led to her 15-year battle against diet pill, cocaine and alcohol addiction, reported Page Six.
Ben Affleck Reveals He Recently Completed Rehab for Alcoholism
MARCH 14, 2017 – “I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I’ve dealt with in the past and will continue to confront. I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be. I want my kids to know there is no shame in getting help when you need it, and to be a source of strength for anyone out there who needs help but is afraid to take the first step. I’m lucky to have the love of my family and friends, including my co-parent, Jen, who has supported me and cared for our kids as I’ve done the work I set out to do.”
The Use of Psychodrama in Treating Sexual Addiction by Dr. Tian Dayton
03/09/2017 – Exploring new ways of being, is part of what heals us in psychodrama. I often invite protagonists to choose new parents, or their own parents the way they wished them to be, or to rearrange the family as they wish it had been; to experiment in other words with different ways of relating, to experience getting what they didn’t get and giving what they felt too blocked to give … Role-play allows us to practice new behaviors, to “role train”. Trauma tends to lock us into behaviors that become repetitive and rigid. J.L. Moreno the father of psychodrama, put it this way in a conversation with Freud. The difference between psychoanalysis and psychodrama; “Dr. Freud, you analyze their dreams, I give them courage to dream again.”
March 14, 2017 – As deaths from painkillers and heroin abuse spiked and street crimes increased, the mayor of Everett took major steps to tackle the opioid epidemic devastating this working-class city north of Seattle. Mayor Ray Stephanson stepped up patrols, hired social workers to ride with officers and pushed for more permanent housing for chronically homeless people. The city says it has spent millions combating OxyContin and heroin abuse – and expects the tab to rise. So Everett is suing Purdue Pharma…
Treating trauma that creates addicts by Dr. Gabor Maté
…What engenders such unbearable pain in human beings that they would knowingly risk their very lives to escape it? The answer is trauma: deep, unresolved trauma that imposes a lifetime of suffering, fear of reality, isolation, hopelessness and an urgency to alter one’s experience. This is where addiction comes in … In confronting the current epidemic, there exists well-tested, internationally proven harm reduction measures, including supervised injections sites and the provision of pure heroin to confirmed addicts. But for these measures to be widely adopted, as they must be, we need a fundamental change in the social view of addiction.
Recent studies show gambling addiction can be much like alcoholism VIDEO
The chime of a gambling machine may be just as enticing to a gambler as the swoosh of a beer bottle is to an alcoholic, and the effects of both vices can be overwhelming to those addicted. Bradley University Associate Professor of Psychology Amy Bacon said things have changed in the past few years in how gambling is viewed by the medical community.
New Tool to Detect Stoned Drivers Unveiled in San Diego VIDEO
March 16, 2017 – The device, the Drager 5000, will use a sample of saliva to detect drugs in a person’s system. SDPD will be the first law enforcement agency to use the devices in San Diego County … Two units cost $12,000 total, Zimmerman added, and were paid for by the San Diego Police Foundation. The plan is to use them at checkpoints, but Zimmerman said they are easily mobile and may be used in the field when checkpoints are not being conducted … DUI Defense Attorney Vik Monder said the test is voluntary. Also, he said because there is not set limitations on the amount of marijuana a person can legally consume before becomming intoxicated, drugged driving cases are difficult to prosecute.
Gomez canceled more than 30 concerts to focus on her health. she flew to Tennessee, gave up her cell phone to undergo equine therapy, group therapy and individual therapy. “You have no idea how incredible it felt to just be with six girls, real people who couldn’t give two s–ts about who I was, who were fighting for their lives,” she says. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve done, but it was the best thing I’ve done.” She stayed for 90 days, making her first post-rehab appearance at the American Music Awards, where was named Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist.
John Grayken-founder of the global private equity firm Lone Star-and his wife Eilene recently made a $25 million pledge to Boston Medical Center (BMC) to create the BMC Grayken Center of Addiction. The Grayken’s donation is the largest gift received by the Boston Medical Center to date … For six-decades, Smithers’ has been one of the few funders out there paying attention to addiction medicine, mainly the prevention and treatment of alcoholism. Recently the foundation has become increasingly dedicated to fighting the growing heroin and opioid epidemic, having increased its funding to outfits like Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD) and taking out a full-page ad in the NY Times. (Photo: John Grayken)
Parents fought for 41 days to get their daughter treatment
Taylor’s overdose was the first of 28 that would be reported in this small city on the Ohio River in the span of five hours on Aug. 15, 2016. Frantic calls flooded in to 911: Heroin users were passed out on dining room floors and in convenience store bathrooms … They sought out medicine to curb her cravings. They even wrestled with whether to have their daughter involuntarily committed to a hospital…the doctors who discouraged Taylor from inpatient treatment, saying she could do without it. Her dad had found her after her first, back in the summer of 2015. He’d heard a loud thump in the lower level of his house. Taylor was unconscious. After her second, in March of last year, Leigh Ann had received an anonymous call saying Taylor had recently entered cardiac arrest and almost died. “If you don’t pick your daughter up,” the caller said, “you’re going to get her back in a pine box.”
Denver Public Library staff equipped with opioid overdose antidote VIDEO
“As the whole nation is experiencing right now, we have an opoid epidemic. We see all kinds of customers coming in, struggling with all kinds of life challenges, including drug addiction,” said the central library’s administrator Rachel Fewell. Fewell said since the library started tracking the incidents in February, staff has counted six overdoses … “We know that that has happened, yes, so is that a problem? Yes. If it’s happened once, it’s a problem,” said Knowles.
Lawyer Paul Farrell last week filed a legal suit for Cabell and a neighbouring county, Kanawha, seeking damages from drug companies for dumping massive amounts of addictive opioids into the state, fuelling the addiction epidemic. “My community is dying on a daily basis,” said Mr Farrell … Every sixth baby born locally suffers from neonatal abstinence syndrome, in which a mother’s addiction is passed on to her child…” Everybody is starting to see a slowdown of prescription opiates. As you see supply drop, what we are seeing is an equal rise in heroin,” said Mr Farrell.
Duckless is a licensed clinical social worker with the National Alliance of Mental Illness-New Hampshire. She spoke to a crowd of about 40 people on the importance of understanding mental illness and how it can often manifest into substance abuse. “Let’s say you lose a friend to suicide and it puts all these emotions into play, and now you start to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs,” she said. “You start doing it because it feels good, but you’re not treating what’s underlying. You may not cope very well with a loss like this until you get help.”
Watch out Spring Breakers! FAKE Xanax pill which is 50 times stronger than heroin kills nine in Florida VIDEO
‘People need to immediately stop buying Xanax on the street because their life literally depends on it,’ Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a news conference on Monday. ‘You don’t have to take a handful of them. All you gotta do is take one, and you’re dead.’ The killer pills claimed their latest victim over the weekend after a 25-year-old woman died from an overdose … The counterfeit drug, sold on the streets as ‘Super Pill’ for as little as $5, contains a lethal mix of Xanax and powerful pain medication Fentanyl with has been responsible for the overdoses of nine people in Pinellas County this year. And with thousands of college students descending on the state for Spring Break, police have issued an emergency warning not to buy Xanax on the street.
Ketamine For Severe Depression: ‘How Do You Not Offer This Drug to People?’ NPR AUDIO
Dozens of clinics now offer ketamine to patients with depression. And a survey of providers in the U.S. and Canada showed that “well over 3,000” patients have been treated so far, Sanacora says. A number of small studies have found that ketamine can do something no other drug can: it often relieves even suicidal depression in a matter of hours in patients who have not responded to other treatments.
To our Readers and Advertisers: An Open Letter from Leonard Buschel Publisher/Editor of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin
Gratitude is always in season, and as we begin 2017, I want to thank our readers and astute progressive advertisers for your loyalty and confidence. The Addiction/ Recovery eBulletin is approaching four and a half years of continued growth and influence. This would not have been possible without the support of “The Good Guys” – our sponsors who continually stand on the side of truth, integrity and Best Practices. It is an honor to serve our readers and a responsibility I do not take lightly.
is a social, educational, networking and recovery forum showcasing first-time filmmakers and experienced professionals who make films about addiction and recovery. Our audience is treatment professionals, people in recovery, members of the entertainment industry, media representatives, educated moviegoers & the general public.
The dangerous behaviors of teens who use synthetic weedVIDEO
March 13, 2017 – Clayton and her colleagues discovered that students partial to synthetic cannabinoids were significantly more likely to perform risky sexual behaviors compared with students who limited themselves to marijuana … Violence was also more prevalent among teens partial to fake weed. A third of fake weed users had carried a weapon, compared with 12% of nonusers and about 19% of weed users. Meanwhile, more than half of fake weed users had been in physical fights and a quarter drove while drinking, compared with nonusers (15% and 2%, respectively) and weed users (29% and 12%, respectively).
Street plays are effective in reforming alcoholics
March 13, 2017: Alcoholism is a social menace draining the human resources. Meanwhile, the street plays are effective in reforming the society by changing the mindset of people, said Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade … Youth are the precious human resources of our country, while the street plays are effective in changing their mindset to shun alcohol and live a decent life. The artistes presented street play that was indeed realistic in conveying the message to reform life.
Correlation Between Trauma and Addiction by Johanna O’Flaherty, PhD. VIDEO
A succinct and compelling talk on the bio-psycho-social effects of trauma, and the connections between trauma and addiction, as well as how these conditions facilitate each other. The challenges of working effectively with those struggling with trauma and co-occurring addiction in treatment settings are presented, along with recommended approaches for those in treatment and early addiction recovery.
Former Drug Czar Says GOP Health Bill Would Cut Access To Addiction Treatment NPR AUDIO
March 15, 2017 – Michael Botticelli served as President Obama’s director of National Drug Control Policy, and pushed Congress to pass a funding measure last year making more money available for the treatment of opioid addiction. Now he’s concerned that the proposed Republican health plan will reduce access to health services for people with addiction … I think it’s not hyperbolic to forecast that we’re going to see dramatic increases in mortality associated with drug overdose deaths [if the bill goes into effect.] I think we’re likely to see a significant impact on our emergency departments.
“I reached a point where I realized that I had stopped having any hopes, dreams or goals.” The biggest misconception in any addict’s mind is that they are alone. The community of AA, NA, and Alanon is right on your doorstep, and without the people at AA I wouldn’t be here now. Getting sober is very hard to do one one’s own, but it never has to be like that. There are meetings every day, everywhere. The help, love and support is there. And all you have to do is reach out.
READ MORE @ Vice.com
It Works if It Works VIDEO
Man celebrates year of sobriety after medical treatment takes drug cravings away VIDEO
Last year, FOX59 met the first patient at Emerald Neuro-Recover Center, where addicts undergo treatments to take cravings away. We recently checked back in with Greg Holman to see how he’s doing after receiving a treatment called NAD Infusion Therapy … the cloud has been lifted. After battling with drugs for more than a decade, the 30-year-old has been clean and sober for one year now. He’s in a loving relationship and spending more time with his family. NAD Therapy is a 10-day IV treatment that replenishes patients with a naturally occurring compound called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. It targets the area of the brain that deals with cravings … The center has treated 24 patients with an 87% success rate. The treatment is around $15,000, so they’re working with insurance companies to try to get it covered and other local groups that could help them get grant money.
Mar. 15, 2017 – Today, those years are described in past tense as Lovato celebrates five years of sobriety. However, that road to recovery was neither straight nor narrow. Her personal battles became a matter of public scrutiny in 2010 when she punched backup dancer Alex Welch while on tour with the Jonas Brothers. She subsequently checked into rehab for three months for unspecified medical issues … According to a source, the star still has some struggles, but has the support of many people in her life. She has not had any slip-ups with substances and continues to stay on her course. “It just gets better with each day. Demi has a strong mind and determination to keep it up,” the insider added. “Each day is a celebration.”
Sean Penn’s Son Hopper Talks Crystal Meth Addiction
MARCH 16, 2017 – Hopper – who will appear in the upcoming Brad Pitt film War Machine, out later this year – discussed how he got involved with drugs, which led to his dad giving him a painful choice. According to Hopper’s interview, Penn gave him the option between a rehab bed or the bus stop … The 23-year-old model, who is also the son of House Of Cards actress Robin Wright, told ES Magazine that he really “fell into the wrong crowd.” Though he previously described himself as a “pothead,” the actor told the magazine that “meth was the main [drug]” that brought him to a place where he desperately needed help…
Attorney general says marijuana is “only slightly less awful” than heroin. Sessions has no facts on his side. The use of medical pot as a painkiller can provide an alternative to opioids, and many in recovery cite cannabis as lessening the agony of opiate withdrawal … Insisting that the federal government should return to a Nancy Reagan-style, 1980s anti-drug campaign – “educating people and telling them the terrible truth” about controlled substances – Sessions conflated the nation’s opioid addiction and overdose crisis, which now claims 140 lives a day, with marijuana, a drug he said will “destroy your life.”
Which suburbs are heroin hot spots? The answer might surprise you VIDEO
MARCH 16, 2017 – Heroin, made from opium poppy, is an old drug. In ancient writing samples – it was referred to as the ‘joy plant.’ … And like morphine, heroin was once widely administered – legally – as a pain reliever for patients with respiratory ailments. Scientists at German company Bayer, the aspirin maker, said the drug made them feel ‘heroisch!’ That’s where the name comes from … In the last decade – more people have used illegal drugs than ever before in American history. Since 2010, American heroin use has quadrupled.
March 18, 2017 – The study lists risk factors – such as emotional, physical or sexual abuse; violence, mental illness or drug abuse in the household; and physical or emotional neglect – which can increase a person’s likelihood of drug abuse, school delinquency or violence, as well as adverse health outcomes later in life. “They have dealt with it in various ways,” Johnson said of students who have not succeeded in traditional high schools due to behavioral problems or drug abuse. “We know that this is what happens with toxic stress. We need to help the brain reroute itself.”
The West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders is one of C4 Recovery Solutions’ premier addiction conferences. WCSAD is dedicated to continuing education and networking in the field of addictions. WCSAD hosts more than 1,000 addiction professionals from across the country.
Our political system is not working to help opiod addicts
Mar 18, 2017 By John Shinholser Some in high office speak eloquent words of redemption and second chances. What the heck? We don’t offer second chances or redemption to type 2 diabetics. That’s because we don’t shame and stigmatize diabetics, even though they may not choose to be type 2 diabetics – but they usually chose to engage in risky behavior that leads to the illness. They, too, must undergo lifestyle changes in order to recover and navigate the challenges that come with this illness, just like addictRecovery is best delivered by recovering people, so stop the idiotic barriers implemented by bureaucrats and special-interest groups. We got this. Provide us half the support you provide the “do-little agencies” and our “overdose state of emergency” and addiction epidemic problem goes away. It’s OK to let addicts live and recover to become useful, productive members of our community.
READ MORE @ Richmond.com
No Cell Phones, TV, or Hooking Up?
Top 10 Attributes of An Excellent Drug Rehab
With that said, if you are looking into rehab for yourself or a loved one (I use this term “rehab” broadly to include detox, residential inpatient, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs), here are the top 10 characteristics of an excellent drug rehab.
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