Senior Citizen’s Need for Drug and Alcohol Rehab On Upward Climb
Drug and alcohol rehab facilities are not necessarily places that come to mind when you think of America’s senior citizens. However, according to a recent report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “the number of US adults age 50 or older needing substance abuse treatment is expected to double from […]
Binge Drinking: The Most Serious Problem on College Campuses Today
Binge drinking has an alarming impact on those enrolled in colleges across America. Most of us send our kids to college hoping to expand their minds, educations and most importantly, better prepare them for a future in this ever-changing world. It’s probably safe to say that parents in the United States are not sending their […]
The Prevalence of Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is defined by the American Psychological Association as unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent. The month of April, 2012 has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so we here at Destination Hope: The Women’s Program felt this was a […]
Tips For Dealing With Depression
Depression by definition is a mood disorder in which intense feelings of sadness, loss, anger or frustration interfere with everyday life for weeks or longer. It can drain your energy, be incredibly self-defeating, suck up your motivation and leave you wondering how on earth you’re going to make it through the day. If you’re feeling […]
Effects of Drug Abuse on the Liver
Drug abuse and its effects, while considerably less well-known than the effects of alcohol abuse, can wreak equally harmful havoc on the liver. When you think about it, it’s very simple. The liver is responsible for breaking down all things ingested or absorbed into the bloodstream and filtering out the toxins so the body can absorb the healthy nutrients that remain. This normal function for this organ becomes problematic when we start putting extreme amounts of toxins into our bodies, essentially making the liver work overtime to remove all of the poison so it doesn’t have adverse effects on the rest of our system. And as you can probably guess, there are not many things out there that can cause the buildup of toxins in the body the way that drug abuse can.
Women’s Drug Rehab Reminds Us All to be Grateful
People wind up in women’s drug rehab for a variety of reasons. Some suffer from a dual diagnosis and turn to drugs and alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate their symptoms. Some were victims of domestic violence and tried to cope with what happened to them through substance abuse. And others still were just following […]
Tips to Promote Healthy Nutrition in Recovery
The role of nutrition in recovery is an understated one. As we said in our last nutritional blog, addicts right off the bat are very regularly malnourished. Whether you’re choosing to spend your money on illicit drugs instead of food, or you’re avoiding eating to refrain from killing your buzz, addicts with poor nutritional habits […]
U.S. Last to Know on Increasing Drug Abuse of Kratom
Drug abuse of the herbal substance known as Kratom is making its presence known in emergency rooms across the United States, according to a recent report by MSNBC. Kratom is derived from an opiate-like leaf found in Southeast Asia, and it has been utilized for many years in the realm of alternative medicine, as well […]
The Role of Genetics in Alcohol Addiction
Alcohol addiction and an individual’s propensity towards addiction has several contributing factors. One of the most controversial of them has been genetics. Is there an addiction gene? Can the disease of addiction be passed down genetically from one generation to the next? Can it skip a generation like other diseases? If you do have the so called addiction gene, is that pretty much a life sentence that you are going to develop a chemical dependency at some point in your life? These are all normal questions that we’re asked fairly regularly and it’s completely understandable. Drug and alcohol addiction is a terrible disease that seems to always leave us with tons of questions, and not always very many answers. Because this is an issue with a lot of interest and misinformation surrounding it, we wanted to take the time to shed some light on it.
The Effects of Alcohol and Drug Abuse on the Brain
Alcohol and drug abuse can have an extremely devastating effect on the user. There are physical implications that can damage just about every organ in the body. There are mental and emotional implications that can cause you to develop serious psychological conditions. Many people falsely believe that since alcohol is legal, it must be safer and less harmful to our fragile beings. That would be wonderful if it were true, but unfortunately for all those suffering from alcoholism around the world, it’s not. Alcohol is equally as detrimental to the mind and body as most illicit substances. This blog will serve as the first in a series to examine the specific effects of alcohol and drug abuse on different organs in the body. This month we begin with the brain.