The Health Risks of Binge Drinking
The Health Risks of Binge Drinking Drinkers generally understand how binge drinking alters behavior. However, more than behavior changes with intoxication. Binge drinking is a significant cause of accidents. It increases the risk of falls, burns, gunshot wounds, car accidents, arguments and poisoning. Consider these sobering facts about how we drink: About 90% of the […]
The Amazing Benefit of Animals on Health
The Amazing Benefit of Animals on Health Pet therapy is a broad term that includes animal-assisted therapy and other animal-assisted activities. Animal-assisted therapy is a growing field that uses dogs or other animals to help people recover from or better cope with health problems, such as heart disease, cancer and mental health disorders. Animal-assisted activities, […]
How Alcohol Affects Blood Chemistry and Diabetes
How Alcohol Affects Blood Chemistry and Diabetes Alcohol affects the body in many ways resulting in changes that can negatively impact some chronic conditions more than others. Not only can an alcoholic drink be a bad idea to mix with certain medications, but it can also change the blood chemistry. This can be life threatening […]
Addiction and Mental Health Treatment under the Affordable Care Act
Addiction and Mental Health Treatment under the Affordable Care Act Part of addiction recovery is dealing appropriately and concurrently with any co-occurring mental illnesses that may be present. Yet, estimates suggest that more than 23 million Americans are addicted to drugs or alcohol, but only 10 percent of them are seeking treatment. Why is that? […]
Can You Thrive After Childhood Trauma?
Can You Thrive After Childhood Trauma? Recovery from traumatic events is never easy. However, humans are amazingly adaptable. Unfortunately, survival does not mean thriving. A person can survive traumatic events and be scarred for the rest of their life. Trauma affects children particularly profoundly. Children do not just get over trauma; they live with the […]
Proving the Benefits of Meditation
Proving the Benefits of Meditation Mindful meditation is a type of meditation (which is an exercise of deep, prolonged concentration) during which any feelings, emotions or thoughts are experienced as and when they arise during the exercise, opposed to after the meditation finishes. This practice teaches us about our unresolved issues that prick us when […]
“Magic Mushrooms” Might Be More Magic than We First Thought
“Magic Mushrooms” Might Be More Magic than We First Thought In 1960, two promising young psychologists at Harvard, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, began to explore the effects of psychotropic substances on the human mind. They believed that psilocybin, the active chemical in “magic” mushrooms, had the power to change people’s brains for the better. They […]
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Helps Suicidal Individuals and Addicts Recover
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Helps Suicidal Individuals and Addicts Recover Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a research-based, cognitive-behavioral treatment. It was originally developed by Marsha Linehan at the University of Washington, to help clients with the suicidal and self-harm behaviors often seen in Borderline Personality Disorder. DBT has since been modified as a treatment for other complex […]
On the Cutting Edge of Addiction Treatment: The Global Addiction Conference
On the Cutting Edge of Addiction Treatment: The Global Addiction Conference I have spent the past week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Global Addiction Conference. There were presentations over several days on all sorts of topics, from country reports on incarceration of addicts and drug use statistics to research studies on co-occurring mental […]
Society’s Perception of Addiction: Addicts Have a Moral Failing
Society’s Perception of Addiction: Addicts Have a Moral Failing A new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study suggests that people are significantly more likely to have negative attitudes toward those dealing with drug addiction than those with mental illness. In addition, people generally do not support insurance, housing, and employment policies that benefit […]