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MEDIA – Film Diagnosis  

Sex Addiction Expert Diagnoses Lars Von Trier’s ‘Nymphomaniac’

This lack of affect or emotion is very typical of sex addicts. She doesn’t have any sense of worth because it was never given to her. She learns how to get men to want her, and that is much more important than orgasm. Her excitement is in getting men to attend to her-the only way she’s guaranteed that sense of worth. It’s also not uncommon for female sex addicts to gauge their worth on their desirability.

Is Alcoholism a Disease?

The Addiction Paradox   
Evidence that addiction is a solvable coping problem rather than a chronic, recurring disease seems like encouraging news. But it’s highly controversial. Neuroscientists and many clinicians regard drug addictions as brain illnesses best vanquished with the help of medications that fight cravings and withdrawal. Surveys and long-term studies of the general population, however, observe that addicts typically spend their youth in a substance-induced haze but drastically cut back or quit using drugs altogether by early adulthood. Most of those who renounce the “high” life do so without formal treatment.

Nurture vs. Nature
Alcoholism and Drug Addiction:
A Psychological Disorder or a Physical Addiction

From the charts, it is clearly visible that substance abuse it more of psychological dependence rather than physical. Hence, in most of the cases the person feels like he must consume the drug or else something will happen to him. There are various ways to stop or at least reduce these addictions and psychological misinterpretations.

Law Enforcement

I Hate Being
Sober: Chief
Keef Gets
Arrested … Again
The Chicago rapper was pulled over in Highland Park, IL on March 5th for having expired tags on his 2010 Jeep Cherokee. When approached by the police, Chief keef smelled of marijuana and admitted to smoking before driving. After failing several sobriety tests, Keef was arrested. In addition to (another) DUI, he was also charged with driving with a suspended license and was cited for having no proof of insurance. Read More
Private Prisons to Protest
Crack & Powder Cocaine Convicts Would Get Same Prison Time Under New Bill
A Westside Democratic state Senator wants to reduce the length of state prison sentences handed out to people convicted of selling crack cocaine. Her office notes that crack actually contains less active narcotic than regular cocaine and that its use “is approximately equal among all ethnic and racial groups.” Yet … people of color account for more than 98 percent of those imprisoned for crack sales, her office says. More than 77 percent of the people put behind state bars for selling crack are African American. The white state prison population of crack convicts? Two percent. Read More
The Bigger Picture?   Forbes 
Want To Balance The Budget? Get Everyone Drunk

 

Did you know the government makes money from alcoholism? It’s true, at least in France, according to a new report by the French Senate. The Senate looked at various types of “vice” legislation and how it affected the public purse. And it turns out, alcoholism is profitable for the government.

And it’s not so much from the sin taxes. It’s all the money the government saves in end-of-life care and pensions given that alcoholics tend to die early (and, one surmises, violently.)  Read More  

Music Does Not Always Soothe…
Band Teacher Sells
Kids’ Instruments to
Buy Heroin !
New York music teacher has been arrested and charged with stealing instruments from her classroom, pawning them and using the money to feed her heroin addiction. According to New York State Police, Conner-Willowglade admitted to taking up to 50 instruments from the school and selling them in pawn shops for cash in order to buy heroin. Read More  
Family of Origin
Addiction: A
Family’s Story

When Tim’s parents sent him to get treatment after the overdose, he was quick to deny he even had a problem. He said, “They hinted I was a drug addict. I thought that was garbage. I didn’t believe them. I was just a kid that liked to smoke weed, and get high, and do other things that made me feel nice. But within two hours of being home, I got high.”  Read More  

Past Issues
EVERY Past Issue of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin 

 
VIDEO of the WEEK
Refuge Recovery:
A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction
Bestselling author and renowned Buddhist teacher Noah Levine adapts the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path into a proven and systematic approach to recovery from alcohol and drug addiction-an indispensable alternative to the 12-step program.

See Video  

Join me at…
When Buzzes Collide
Starbucks Adds Baileys Irish Cream
and Kahlua to Coffee
at More Locations

It’s part of Starbucks’ push to boost sales after the morning rush hour. It’s a common concept in the restaurant industry – figuring out ways to maximize sales throughout the day since stores have to pay for rent and labour anyway. The drinks are now in about 26 cafes, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year. The cafes with alcohol also serve a variety of small dishes, such as bacon-wrapped dates and flatbreads.

Read More

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Government Policy

Does Obamacare Hinder or Help Addiction Treatment?
When the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, was implemented the White House said all health insurance, sold on Health Insurance Exchanges or provided by Medicaid, to certain newly eligible adults starting in 2014, must include services for substance use disorders. Read More
Hold Your P’s and Q’s    

Dry Bars –                 Is England
Sobering Up?

Britain may be falling out of love with alcohol. As more and more dry bars open across the country, could it be that we are entering a new age of temperance?
Salway is 40, and the founder of a new “gastrobar” called Redemption, located at the foot of the Trellick Tower on Golborne Road, west London. The food here is “pretty much” vegan, but what really sets the place apart is a completely alcohol-free drinks menu. The basic idea, Salway tells me, is to offer people a chance to “spoil yourself without spoiling yourself”, and provide a sanctuary of sober calm in the midst of a booze-dominated culture.

Important Study – Why?

Underage Youth and Adults
Differ in Their Alcohol Brand Preferences
The top brand for youth in terms of prevalence and market share compared with adults was Smirnoff Malt Beverages: Seventeen percent of youth drinkers (ages 13-20) reported drinking Smirnoff Malt Beverages in the past month (the highest of any brand).

Read More  

From Bongs to Books

After Rehab Stay, Amanda Bynes is ‘Grade A Student’
“She’s a great student who always participated and really cared about her classes,”a source tells E! News. “She really fit in and loves her school.” The source adds if the “Hairspray” actress was offered an acting job, “she may not take it because she’s so focused on school.”While at the Los Angeles-based college – which boasts Lauren Conrad and Monique Lhuillier as alumnae – Bynes, 27, has expressed her academic excitement via Twitter, posting updates and sharing sketches.

Thank God They Weren’t for Contraception

Cocaine-filled Condoms Sent
to Vatican
 

The narcotics, posted from an unnamed South American country, were in liquid form and had been poured into the condoms and placed in the package addressed to the main postal centre at the Vatican. The Bild am Sonntag said that a box packed with 340 grammes of cocaine valued at 40,000 euros ($55,200) were seized at the international airport in the eastern city of Leipzig in January.  Read More  

Health Warning    Scientific American      

The Hidden Dangers
of Going Under

Anesthesia comes in three main types. Local anesthesia, the mildest form, merely numbs a very small area, such as a single tooth. Regional anesthesia desensitizes a large section of someone’s body by injecting drugs into the spine that block nerve signals to the brain. Often a patient getting regional anesthesia also takes a relatively small dose of a powerful sedative drug.

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Writers In Treatment

AA Doesn’t Work! Except for Millions     AUDIO

A Moron Speaks –
Doctor Debunks 12-Step Recovery AUDIO

Since its founding in the 1930s, Alcoholics Anonymous has become part of the fabric of American society. AA and the many 12-step groups it inspired have become the country’s go-to solution for addiction in all of its forms. These recovery programs are mandated by drug courts, prescribed by doctors and widely praised by reformed addicts. Dr. Lance Dodes tells NPR’s Arun Rath that 12-step recovery simply doesn’t work, despite its successes. Read More  

Through the Looking Glass   

Kate Major Ordered Into Rehab, But Michael Lohan Fears His Baby Mama
May Wind Up Behind
Bars After All

The 34-year-old has been behind bars since her March 14 arrest for DUI, domestic battery, and probation violation after fighting with Lohan in their Florida home, but Tuesday morning at her preliminary hearing her attorney Michelle Suskauer successfully argued that sending her to rehab would be the best place for her client, telling Radar the “judge set a bond and many conditions for her release.” 

MEDIA: Book of the Week

A Daring Approach for 
 Substance Abuser                   in Your Life     

 

“My wife is a serous alcoholic. I’ve tried begging, nagging, scolding, cajoling and threatening. Nothing works.” I get calls like this all the time. My response: “Then I suggest you go for help.” That’s the premise of Dr. Robert J. Meyers’ new book, Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening.
Read More

Abroad    

One of the Worst Places for Prescription
Drug Abuse 

 

Dr O’Neil said most addicts are accessing the drugs through someone else who has a prescription or “picking it up in the mail as well. The drug is almost equivalent to heroin so there are some groups who smoke it and some who inject it intravenously.” Read More

MEDIA – 12-Stepping Theater   VIDEO    

Pass it On at Recovery Theater
in Texas VIDEO
    

A different kind of Broadway production is in San Antonio this weekend. “Pass It On,” presented by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, looks at the two men who founded alcoholics anonymous.  Gary Kimble does it again to rave reviewsSee VIDEO

Teen in Trouble?
Treating PTSD with MDMA-Asssited Psychotherapy

Rachel Hope Talks with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
of CNN   VIDEO

Along the way, she tried cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis and acupuncture. She tried an established therapy called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, where a therapist used physical stimuli-light tapping and guided eye movements-to try to retrain her brain. It made her eyeballs feel like they would burst out of her head. She tried gestalt therapy, screaming out her rage. “Nothing worked,” she says. “I got to the point where I just said, ‘I’m handicapped. I’m just going to have to live my life like this.’ It was pretty horrible.”

See VIDEO

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SAVE A LIFEWriters In Treatment
501 (c)(3) nonprofit
WIT gets treatment for individuals who suffer from alcoholism, drug addiction or other self-destructive behaviors.
Publisher: Leonard Buschel
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Meditation-Center for Healthy Sex – NARRATIVE
“Each has his past shut
in him like the leaves of
a book known to him by heart and his friends
can only read the title.”

~ Virginia Woolf

Studies have shown that those who learn to express a “coherent affective narrative”- a clear story of their emotional life-can earn a secure attachment, psychological health, and happiness. Read More

2013 Highlight Reel from RRFF    VIDEO
REEL Recovery Film Festival HIGHLIGHT
Reel 2013
See clips from last year’s Award Winning REEL Recovery Film Festivalwith Paul Williams, Russell Brand, Robert Blake, Barbara Eden and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. See VIDEO
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   Looking for One Good Interventionist     
Not Just for Alcoholics     
5 Timeless Truths From The Serenity Prayer That Offer Wisdom In The Modern Age

If you are familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous, have ever read Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ or saw the recent Denzel Washington movie ‘Flight,’ then you have encountered the Serenity Prayer. The prayer has worked its way into so many cultural outlets that many non-Christians know it, or at least the beginning, by heart:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change

MEDIA: Finally-AA the Musical
Alcoholics Anonymous Musical
Jerry Springer the Opera creator Richard Thomas has revealed he is working with the National Theatre on a new musical set within an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.Thomas, whose controversial Jerry Springer the Opera production was staged at the NT in 2003, said his new musical had been inspired by his own experience of attending an AA meeting, but I remember thinking there is a show in this. It’s turned out very different to that thought, however. Read More
Sharing the Message

Every Sober Day
is a Victory for
an Alcoholic  

Every week there are 4,377 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings in Britain. Fifteen of them are in Blackpool. Alcoholism is a recognized health problem in the UK, and costs communities millions of pounds each year. That’s why AA exists – to help alcoholics make not only their lives better, but also the lives of all the people around them. “Most people would have used that as a turning point and cut down on the drink. My alcoholic decision was to get rid of the day job and I went full time into the wonderful world of showbiz. And it was.”Three recovering addicts speak out about their long road to recovery.
Read More

Successful Recovering Alcoholic

A.A Taught Me To Love Bumper Stickers   

“Practise an attitude of gratitude.” “Make amends.” “If you feel depressed, give service.” And of all events, both good and bad: “This too will pass.Yet it’s the broader philosophy that I have found helped me to think about focus and purpose, and in a wider sense. One of the slogans is “First Things First”: concentrate on what you’re there for. If you’re at a meeting about addiction problems, leave your politics at the door. Focus on the job in hand.

Drinking and Driving     

Alcohol’s Role
in Traffic
Deaths Vastly Underreported,
Study Shows    

While much progress has been made in the fight against drunk driving, a new study from U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism indicates that alcohol-related traffic deaths are still vastly under-reported on death certificates. “Alcohol misuse is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, it accounts for 89,000 deaths annually and of those, 49,500 are acute causes – they are injuries or poisonings.” Read More 

What’s Old Is New Again

Betty Ford Center
Making a Big Comeback

Many experts praise the Betty Ford Center for being a trailblazer. But they say it’s seen by some as too old-school and not keeping up with some medical advances. Even Hazelden allows certain medications to reduce cravings during initial treatment, while the Betty Ford Center staunchly resisted the notion of giving drugs to addicts.

Holding Up the Mirror

What Those Arrested for Drugs Look Like

In an effort to increase substance abuse awareness, Recovery.org decided to compile 100 mugshots from marijuana, DUI, and methamphetamine arrests to see what the average face looks like on drugs. While it is unlikely that a user’s basic facial structure depends on the substance they were arrested for.”  And what better way to illustrate that than through gifs? Read More  

Please Support…
STUDY – Substance Use Disorders (SUD)    

Collegiate Recovery: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know? – STUDY

As science is increasingly supporting the conceptualization of substance use disorders (SUD) as chronic conditions, the SUD field is gradually moving from the prevalent acute care service model to a continuum of care paradigm on par with that used for other chronic conditions such as diabetes or asthma. While chronic conditions cannot be cured, the symptoms can be arrested and the condition managed using a mix of professional and peer-driven services and supports supplemented with self-management, based on the individual’s needs, resources and recovery stage.