Standing Still in the Moment Wednesday, December 17, 2014
7-8 PM CST

Join us for a free webinar where author of Rein In Your Brain, Cynthia Moreno Tuohy, will dig into big idea one in her new book on how to move from impulsivity to thoughtful living. Key discussion points:
    * Understanding why we react to things uniquely 
    * A brief lesson in neuroscience
    * Importance of standing still in the moment
    * Understanding conflict styles
    * Six steps to become more collaborative

“It’s estimated that 18 million Americans have [an] existing alcohol use disorder and more than 38 million binge drink, which for men is five or more drinks in two hours and four for women. Celebrating with alcohol is an acceptable social activity and a time-honored holiday tradition,” he said. “For a person struggling with alcohol dependency or one who may binge drink to overcome anxiety, it is a confusing message. Recognizing that you or a loved one has a problem and making a plan is the best first step. After that, build a program that will work for you.”

While a major public health campaign has had some success in reducing the number of people who take potentially addictive narcotic painkillers, those patients who are prescribed the drugs are getting more of them for a longer time. Overdoses involving prescription drugs are a leading cause of accidental death in the United States, and opioid painkillers play a role in about 70 percent of such cases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioid overdoses led to 16,000 deaths in 2012, the agency said.

Getting honest and frank about things, Demi said that she’d slipped into old habits again. “It was difficult. I almost went back to rehab for my eating disorder last summer. I was obsessing over food and terrified of it at the same time,” she explained.  “Wilmer noticed and called me out on it, which was a relief. I was done being afraid of food and so tired of overeating and not knowing why I did it.”

There are more than 14,500 specialized drug treatment facilities in the United States providing care for substance use disorders, Reuters reports. Currently the industry is very fragmented, with even the largest operators owning no more than several dozen treatment centers. The average facility has no more than 150 beds. Investors are eager to consolidate facilities to increase efficiencies of scale and profits.

The Fort Plain, NY kid was rushed to a hospital in Little Falls, New York., after he was discovered lethargic at a home. Police are calling the event a “tragic accident” and haven’t said if the nicotine was linked with an e-cigarette gadget. Liquid nicotine can be fatal for kids in dosages as little as a teaspoon. Poison Control centers said in an announcement today “One teaspoon of fluid nicotine could be deadly to a kid, and small doses can result in extreme sickness, frequently obliging trips to the hospital.”

All Chris Evers knew was he wanted to get clean. By the time he embraced that thought, it was 2011, and the court already had sent Evers to treatment three times instead of prison. Evers decided he wanted to try Suboxone, a drug used to aid treatment of opiate addiction, but couldn’t afford it legally. So he began buying it illegally on the streets. “I’m not so sure we’ve accomplished anything,” Donini said earlier this year, noting pain clinics have been replaced by Suboxone clinics. “It seems like all the money and resources being pumped into drug addiction, they’re fighting drugs with drugs. I don’t think they’re solving the issue. ”

4-part series examines Oregon’s addiction treatment system by Les Zaitz. A months-long investigation by The Oregonian discovered troubling failures in Oregon’s addiction treatment system. Substance abusers are paying the price – and so are Oregonians who continue to be their victims. The estimated annual cost to taxpayers: $6 billion. Audry Hall, a working mom in Medford, has finally escaped “that little demon in my head” – her addiction to methamphetamine. Her story makes a person shudder. She was a straight A, two-sport student until age 13, when she became hooked. A long struggle, jail time and repeated treatment followed and finally took hold. CONTINUED @ Oregon Live

“The best ‘formula’ for recovery is the combination of 12-step programs and treatment, and medication if indicated. This has been shown to have the best results for recovery.”
“Consequences of excessive and underage drinking affect virtually all college campuses, college communities, and college students, whether they choose to drink or not.”
About 25 percent of college students report having academic issues that relate to their drinking including: “missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.”

A woman with pink highlights in long, blond hair leaned onto a lectern at the front of the courtroom and smiled at her father in the front row. He was crying. She told the packed courtroom that for the first time since she was 13, her life wasn’t run by meth and cocaine. Later came a middle-aged man with close-cropped hair who said he’d finally learned to stop hating everyone he knew, including himself. Another man cried as he explained a recent realization: His life wouldn’t end with an overdose.

Author and recovering alcoholic Augusten Burroughs, in his memoir Dry, sums up this state of denial: “And in my mind, this settles the issue. I would never drink cologne, and am therefore not an alcoholic.” But the truth is many alcoholics are high functioning; able to perform well at work and manage the home; and yet still be alcohol dependent. Their in-control veneer masks the strong compulsion they have to drink, their irritability when they cannot, and their increased worries that they are on a slippery slope.

When the regular session of the state legislature begins in January, a national group will be in West Virginia asking lawmakers to look at bills which take a different look at the problem of drug addiction. Gary Mendell is the founder and CEO of Shatterproof, an organization which aims to protect children from drug addiction and erase the stigma accompanying those who suffer from addiction. Mendell attributes last year’s defeat to legislators not having the time to look over the proposal and fully understand than lawmakers being against the idea completely. He hopes with the success of nolaxone in states that have passed the bill, West Virginia will not be far behind. CONTINUED @ wvMetroNews

Do e-cigarettes lure teens into a world of vice that turns them into smokers of regular cigarettes? This is the big fear of anti-smoking activists, and new data from Hawaii suggest they may be right. Compared with kids who had never used e-cigarettes, the ones who had used both e-cigarettes and regular were more likely to take risks and less likely to score well on measures of “behavioral and emotional self-control,” the researchers found.