Alcohol Use Disorder: When Is Drinking a Problem?
Conversations about alcohol use have been center stage in the national news. Stories about underage drinking, blacking out and harmful behavior associated with alcohol use are quite common in many families around the world. The rise of the opioid epidemic in the U.S. has rightly caught our attention but overshadowed a much more common problem. […]
The Science of Addiction
Drugs, the brain and how to fix the cycle of substance abuse Taylor was a 14-year-old high school freshman when she unwittingly used OxyContin for the first time. The South Florida teen, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy, had been having menstrual cramps in math class when another student offered […]
When Gambling Might be a Problem
For most gamblers, betting on the outcome of a sporting event, lottery drawing, casino table game, or any event with an outcome determined by chance represents an entertaining recreational activity. However, for some, gambling can become an addiction. Excessive gambling recognized as an addiction Gambling disorder is now a part of the American Psychiatric Association’s […]
How to Welcome Back a Colleague in Recovery
It can be awkward or difficult to welcome back a colleague who has been absent for reasons related to mental health. These issues, historically, have been taboo, and are loaded with stigma. It is hard to know how to act toward a colleague in recovery who has returned from treatment for a mental health issue. […]
Be the Death of Me
Heroin deaths are rising as state-funded treatment falls in Illinois August 29, 2015 Nick Gore is sick. It’s like the flu, multiplied. His stomach is near eruption. Muscles and bones ache deeply. Tears stream down the 27-year-old’s face. He’s sneezing, dizzy, light-headed. Traffic on I-290 only makes it worse, as he drives the daily (or […]
Needles in the Cornfields
Heroin deaths are rising as state-funded treatment falls in Illinois Nick Gore is sick. It’s like the flu, multiplied. His stomach is near eruption. Muscles and bones ache deeply. Tears stream down the 27-year-old’s face. He’s sneezing, dizzy, light-headed. Traffic on I-290 only makes it worse, as he drives the daily (or more) 30-mile trip […]
Heroin Statistics
Statistics proving heroin deaths are on the rise
How Baby Boomers Are Killing the Pain—and More
Pictured above: Daniel H. Angres, MD. Photo by James Foster By Kate Silver When Daniel H. Angres, 66, reads the headlines about the growing numbers of baby boomers addicted to—and overdosing on—prescription pain pills, he’s grateful that he found help for his own pill addiction 33 years ago. “I was sort of a product of the ’60s and ’70s; I […]
Caught In The Web
Video game and Internet addictions can damage lives It’s a sign of our wired times; it seems that we’re all being increasingly sucked into cyberspace. But when online play turns pathological, it can harm a person’s family, school, work and psychological functioning. Too much time playing video games or surfing the Internet may seem harmless […]
Warning signs of video game/Internet addiction
1. Preoccupation with video games/Internet 2. Use of video games/Internet in increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction 3. Repeated, unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back or stop video game/Internet use 4. Feelings of restlessness, moodiness, depression or irritability when attempting to cut down use of video games/Internet 5. Jeopardizing or risking loss […]
Problematic Pills
Can pharma companies fight prescription drug abuse by making pills unabusable? Is this really the answer? Our culture has become very comfortable with declaring war on things. From the war on terror to the war on trans-fats, it seems we’re always battling something into submission. So it’s surprising that the war on prescription drug abuse […]
