Year: 2011

Combating Depression After the Holidays

Depression affects millions of Americans every year, but none more so than in the immediacy following the holiday season. Feeling depressed and let down after the holidays come to an end is so common in our society that it has its own nickname – the post-holiday blues.

A substantial number of people experience these post-holiday blues, only to shake them off after a brief period of time by focusing on other things. Things aren’t quite so simple for the recovering addict. The depression that can sink into the brain of the former user, as a result of “the big let down”, can be devastating and enough to push them over the edge into substance abuse again. We are going to examine the different causes of the post-holiday blues, as well as an effective strategy to combat them.

Over the Counter Medication Abuse On the Rise With Teens

Over-the-counter medication abuse is one of the fastest-growing categories of drugs abused by teenagers in the United States today. There are a variety of explanations as to why this abuse is so common and continues to grow, but of course, no one can be certain of the predominant cause.

For starters, these drugs are about as readily available as they come. As their name indicates, they can be purchased over the counter (OTC), which means without a prescription. In addition, in comparison to street drugs, this class of medication is relatively inexpensive, as you can purchase a large bottle of cough syrup, for example, from anywhere between eight to twelve dollars.

37% of Teens Abused Alcohol or Drugs Last Year

Effective substance abuse treatment is back at the forefront of the minds of parents, law enforcement and addiction specialists, as an alarming 37 percent of American teens were revealed to have abused drugs or alcohol over the past year.

What makes this study considerably scarier is that one out of twelve teens was reported to experience symptoms that fall in line with chemical dependence or addiction, with regard to the substance that they were abusing. Of all of the ethnic groups studied, Caucasians, Hispanics and Native Americans had the highest propensity toward substance abuse and addiction among teenagers. The study revealed that African Americans and Asians had the lowest.

Text Messaging As An Alcoholism Treatment Tool

Alcohol abuse treatment facilities have been known to have great success with helping those with alcoholism recover from their disease. There is one giant caveat of this success though, and that’s getting them to admit that they have a problem and to enter treatment. How are you supposed to help someone change their detrimental and dangerous ways when they’re not actively looking for help?

Family Therapy De-Standardized

Family therapy is a part of just about every drug and alcohol rehab facility’s treatment plan in the country. Some are effective, some are less effective, but everyone’s intentions are justified and honorable when incorporating family into treatment. Traditionally, most rehab centers focus the majority of their treatment on the individual.

That is the standard medical model. Clinicians will deal with the substance abuse, depression or anxiety, and then, later on, delve into the secondary issues affecting the person like their family, job, finances, friends, etc. After residential treatment, they’ll leave and go to a sober living facility and the focus will stay the same all the way through, based on the individual. The goal of most of these rehab facilities is to make the individual healthy enough to go back into their old environment and be okay.

What to Give at the Holidays When Money is an Obstacle

Florida drug rehab facility, Destination Hope, fully understands the stresses the holidays can bring about for a recovering addict. A huge stress factor is that of gift-giving.

Let’s face it, the holidays have been completely commercialized and we are now made to feel like it is bad form to not purchase gifts for our loved ones this time of year. Recovering addicts unfortunately often take their guilt one step further and think it’s their responsibility to lavish their family members with presents, in an attempt to make up for all the damage that their drug or alcohol addiction has caused.

Rohypnol: Club Drug or Date Rape Drug?

Rohypnol, or better known to popular culture by its nickname “roofies,” is illegal in the United States, and yet still manages to make quite the splash in our society.

While you’d have to have been living under a rock not to hear stories about the incredibly scary and dangerous date rape drug Rohypnol, you probably haven’t heard a fraction of the number of stories about its more common use, a recreational party drug belonging to the family of “club drugs”. In fact, Rohypnol is regularly used by high school and college-aged kids, ravers, clubbers, as well as heroin and cocaine users.

The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meth Addiction

Meth addiction is one of the uglier chemical dependencies you’ll run into on the street, in terms of the physical toll it takes on the body. We’ve all seen the billboards of the effects of meth addiction. Methamphetamine is highly addictive and it can happen very quickly.

Users report feeling an incredibly intense high and rush of euphoria when ingesting the drug. Additional reported side effects are increased energy, focus, confidence, sexual prowess and feelings of desirability. Just like many other illicit substances, more and more of the drug is required to achieve that same high that was experienced in the beginning, and before you know it, you’ve succumbed to this nasty disease of meth addiction.

Alcoholism Now Connected to HIV

Alcoholism and alcohol abuse have always been thought to be linked to practices of unsafe sex, but a new study conducted at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Ontario, Canada has now confirmed it. Unsafe sex is the number one cause of new HIV infections in North America.

Stress Management and Substance Abuse

Substance abuse and stress management have always had a very complicated and intertwined relationship. Most addiction experts agree that a recovering addict’s risk for relapse is related directly to the individual’s ability to process and manage stress.

Stress and anxiety remain two of the biggest triggers for substance abuse. By that logic, when you can effectively manage your stress, you increase your likelihood for maintaining your sobriety exponentially.

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