Alcoholics Anonymous Members Really Do Reduce Their Cravings Through Prayer
Galanter’s research team has studied the role of spirituality in the lives of AA members for the past 10 years. Data has shown that long-term members undergo a transition, commonly referred to as a spiritual awakening, that leads to a significant reduction in cravings. This transition is marked by a change in attitude toward drinking. “Our current findings open up a new field of inquiry into physiologic changes that may accompany spiritual awakening and perspective changes in AA members and others,” added Galanter.
Marc Maron on ‘Dire Circumstances’ That Led to His Sobriety: ‘I Was Dealing with Some Fairly Serious Psychotic Delusions’
One of the last times used was with comedian Mitch Hedberg, who died of a drug overdose in 2005 at 37. “Eventually with the help of a woman, who I eventually married, I got the nature of recovery in my head and I stayed with it,” says Maron. He says sending his Maron character to rehab after years of sobriety was about “creating a cautionary tale that was not outside of the wheelhouse of the possibilities.” “I see guys who have been sober decades go out, and it’s a horrible reality,” says Maron.
Sky Toxicology is no more: The Texas offices of the once high-flying urine testing business are shuttered. All that’s left of the company is a voice mail message directing callers to a San Antonio post office box. But that hasn’t stopped UnitedHealthcare from suing Sky and its affiliated companies, making it the second insurance giant to challenge what critics say was a sprawling urine-for-cash scheme stretching from California to South Florida. Among those named: Delray Beach-based health care attorney Jeffrey Cohen, an indirect investor in Sky…
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Movies Can Heal VIDEO
Rob Reiner discusses ‘Being Charlie,’ making a movie inspired by son’s addiction battle VIDEO
Nick Reiner underwent 17 rehab stays and a bout of homelessness before he got clean at 19. As he told People last month: “That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff. I met crazy great people there, so out of my element.
Government Says Big Pharma Kills More People Than All Illegal Drugs Combined
A new study has shown that pharmaceutical drugs cause more overdoses and more deaths than all of the illegal drugs on the market combined. According to the government’s own statistics, listed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, deaths relating to pharmaceutical drugs rose to roughly 23,000 last year,
CONTINUED @ HealthCarePlan.com
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Extremism or Realism?
Why Drug Rehab Is Outdated, Expensive, and Deadly
Unless you’ve been in treatment yourself (as I have) or have a friend or family member who’s been addicted to opiates, you probably have no idea what a mess America has made of treating opioid addiction. The vast majority of addicts who enter treatment programs fail multiple times-not because they are incapable of recovery, but because they’ve been largely denied the therapeutic interventions most likely to produce success … Buprenorphine is what’s known as a “partial opioid agonist” meaning it stimulates some of the same brain receptors as drugs like heroin and oxycodone. In proper doses it eliminates craving for opiates.
Drug lockboxes could prevent kids from getting narcotics VIDEO
More than 50 percent of teens who abuse opioids said they had access to a family member’s or friend’s prescriptions. Opioid overdose killed more than 1,200 teens in Tennessee last year. Doctors are urging parents to lockup prescription opioids and safely dispose of any leftover narcotic prescription pain medication to prevent the abuse of the drugs by teens.
Here’s how new FDA rules could wipe out e-cigarettes
The U.S. government is finally regulating the e-cigarette industry. That has e-cigarette companies worried they could disappear altogether. E-cigarettes are easily the most cyberpunk change to the American visual landscape in the last decade. Where once nicotine users roamed the night with the red specks of burning tobacco floating a few inches from their lips, trailing noxious smoke, now multicolored LEDs light their faces as they puff huge clouds of vapor like bad perfume…
Overlord Taketh, Overlord Giveth Again: Costa Mesa Sober Living Home Edition
Recently, the City of Costa Mesa City announced that 33 sober living homes on residential streets will be closing over the next two to three years following negotiations with a recovery company. That’s a drop in the bucket to critics who claim there are more than 300 such homes in the city.
CONTINUED @ OCWeekly.com
Bill Maher’s Round Table Quests VIDEO
Bill Maher Talks DRUGS with Richard Taite, Dan Savage, Bryan Cranston etc. VIDEO
According to a recent WalletHub analysis – which compared 13 metrics that compared “gambling friendliness” with “gambling problem and treatment” – Nevada, home to Las Vegas, was in fact the worst state in the union for gambling addiction..
The 45-year-old actor – who has four children Clara, 19, Jamyan, 15, Esther, 14, and Anouk, five, with his wife Eve Mavrakis – hasn’t touched a drop of booze for 15 years but he has admitted quitting his bad habit was really tough at first and he relied heavily on the counseling sessions. He explained: “I didn’t go straight to AA. And I had a therapist, a sort of alcoholic specialist whom I spoke to for a while and that helped me give up and now I don’t do anything. I don’t drink at all. That’s it. It’s a nicer life.”
CONTINUED @ WinnipegFreePress.com
Only 50% ?
50% of Teens Say They’re ‘Addicted’ to Their Phones
Last week, the nonprofit Common Sense Media released the findings of a new poll on mobile device usage and family conflict. Of over 1,200 parents and teenagers surveyed, 50% of teens said they “feel addicted” to their mobile devices. Though these teens were self-diagnosing, cell phone addiction, like internet addiction before it, is a very real thing. Social media may be particularly entrancing, with notifications from apps like Facebook and Twitter providing jolts of pleasure in some ways similar to the effects of drugs and gambling.
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 and the general public.
Samuel L. Jackson ‘not planning’ on going back to drugs
Samuel L. Jackson has likened alcoholism to cancer. The star – who has been open about his previous battle with alcohol and drugs – says he is under no illusion that those tendencies may return but insists he is “not planning on it”. He told Men’s Health magazine: “I didn’t drink yesterday and I’m not planning on it today. People treated for cancer might go into remission, but there’s a chance it will come back. I feel the same about alcoholism. I still have drug dreams. I hear the weed is awesome now!”
Jamie Lee Curtis Reflects On Her Opioid Addiction After Prince’s Death
The actor, who’s been in recovery for over 17 years, was dependent on prescription painkillers … The Los Angeles Times recently reported that there could be another serious reason for the painkiller addiction epidemic. OxyContin, a bestselling painkiller that is the brand name for oxycodone, often fails to deliver on its promise of relieving pain for 12 hours straight, “more than twice as long as generic medications,” according to a May 5 Los Angeles Times investigation.
VIDEO: The Inner Fix by Persia Lawson and Joey Bradford
It’s supposed to be the time of your life, but many 20-somethings are struggling with anxiety, addiction, depression and destructive relationships. Having survived their own crises.
‘Free Refills’ tells a doctor’s story of opiate addiction
To understand addiction and find effective solutions, we have to understand the nature of addiction on a personal level. Dr. Peter Grinspoon describes his personal experience as an addicted physician in “Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction,” a fast-paced account of his descent into drug use and his slow and uneven path to recovery, and included relapses.
There may be an inexpensive way to reduce the risky use of pain medications by people at high risk of overdosing: using trained therapists in the emergency department (ED) to provide motivational interviews. In a pilot study, half-hour sessions during a visit to the ED were found to be enough to motivate people who misused prescription opioid painkillers to reduce their use as well as their riskiest behaviors. The sessions with the trained therapist included receiving brochures about how to prevent or respond to overdoses and how to find local resources for treatment and suicide prevention.
RIVER EDGE, N.J. – Lisa Gladwell wanted to change the conversation about addiction. Gladwell received a Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award Friday. The awards are distributed by Ramapo College, and honor Garden State residents whose community service and charitable contributions have made a substantial impact on the lives of others…She has brought 12 Step meetings to men and women in halfway houses and the Bergen County Jail’s drug rehabilitation program.
Parents of overdose victim sue Reno doctor held on drug charges VIDEO
The indictment identifies the victim only by his initials. But Edward and Cyndi Yenick say he was their son, a former Nevada football player and prep star at Reno’s Bishop Manogue High School before he died in October at age 33. Their civil lawsuit in Washoe District Court says Rand routinely wrote prescriptions without obtaining patients’ complete medical history or conducting proper physical exams. It says he knowingly prescribed “excessive dosages of narcotics … which created a foreseeable risk of overdose.”
Lamar Odom seen drinking again months after overdose … as Kris Jenner includes him in heartfelt Mother’s Day post
Interesting: Lamar Odom – pictured in a recent episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians – was seen drinking at a bar according to a Sunday report from TMZ … Lamar was chatting it up with a few women before leaving $60 in cash and carrying on with his day claim TMZ’s sources. st.
The new eugenics: Why blaming mental illness and addiction on genetics is so damaging
Addiction therapist Adi Jaffe has described Carl Hart, Bruce Alexander and myself as “radical environmentalists,” by which he doesn’t mean that we blow up power plants. Rather, we three believe that addiction is culturally, situationally and experientially caused. Bruce created the seminal Rat Park experiment, where animals previously habituated (“addicted”) to morphine solution simply switched to drinking water when allowed to roam free with other rats of both sexes.
Airline staff test positive for cocaine, cannabis and methamphetamine on the job
A number of critical airline staff have tested positive for hardcore drugs and alcohol while on the job, leaving passengers concerned about the protocols in place to keep them safe in the air. At least 14 Australian airline and airport employees operating in ‘safety sensitive’ roles came to work affected by alcohol and drugs in 2015, according to The Daily Telegraph. Three ground staff were found with traces of cannabis and methamphetamine in their system, an engineer tested positive for cocaine and a student pilot tested positive for cannabis. Nine other workers – including an aircraft engineer, four cabin crew and three ground staff – all failed alcohol tests.
Corinne Bailey Rae’s heartbreak at losing husband to accidental overdose
Jason Rae died of an accidental overdose when he tried methadone while drunk. He passed away in a flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds aged 31. Corinne was left devastated by his death, and the hardest thing for her to accept was the fact it was a silly mistake that led to him losing his life. Jason, a saxophonist who played in the backing bands of Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson, had tried methadone as a one off, but sadly, with the mixture of alcohol, it stopped him breathing and he passed away in his sleep.
Oxycontin is one of the most popular pain medications in the U.S. If you have a sore back or are recovering from surgery, chances are you may get a prescription. But according to a new investigation by the Los Angeles Times, the highly-addictive drug has also been a major player in the nation’s struggle with abuse and drug-related death.
Brits Using Amazonian Frog Poison to Fight Depression and Alcohol Abuse
Beth had decided to undertake the ceremony – part of a growing fashion for “life-changing” Amazonian medicine drugs such as the hallucinogenic plant infusion ayahuasca – because she had heard that kambo could help her stop getting drunk all the time. Over the last five years, a serious addiction to GBL had turned into a destructive relationship with alcohol; she had passed out on dance floors after drinking ten Jagermeisters too many times. “The ceremony was quite nice at the beginning. We were in someone’s living room, it was dimly lit and I was kneeling in front of a small shrine with a glass frog,
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