When people think about addiction, drugs, alcohol or such impulsive activities as gambling often come to mind. Illicit drugs are commonly considered to be risky in any quantity, while substances like alcohol and prescription drugs are not necessarily inherently dangerous, but can be harmful if used incorrectly or to excess. Gambling can be regarded in…
Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that is characterized by the inability to control strong negative feelings or impulses that often result in destruction of, or interference with, interpersonal relationships. People with borderline personality disorder lack the ability to let things roll off their backs and often experience unwarranted paranoia and jealousy. People on…
Unlike doctors in the early days of HIV/AIDS, today’s doctors have potent medical tools to limit the spread of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and suspend the progression toward AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). The frontline tool used for this purpose, known as antiretroviral therapy or ART, involves the simultaneous use of multiple medications designed to…
Children born to HIV-positive mothers can contract the virus at any one of several points between pregnancy and the postpartum period, including during pregnancy, childbirth or while breastfeeding. Although there are numerous ways to prevent the spread of the virus in these situations, mother-to-child HIV transmission still occurs in a significant number of cases. According…
Researchers have known for some time that people who display impulsive behaviors and focus on short-term rewards have significantly higher chances of becoming substance abusers than those who control their short-term impulses and focus on long-term rewards. Teenagers exhibit this tendency just as much as adults, if not more so. Current evidence indicates that both…
People who suffer from anxiety sometimes feel as if they are cats in a room full of rocking chairs. We worry about our jobs, our appearance, weight, families and social lives. We want to be as happy and comfortable as our grandparents, yet our grandparents did not face the type and scope of worries that…
A huge closet full of clothes. An endless array of shoes. Multiple pets. In popular culture, it’s common to accuse women of “hoarding” certain types of objects. While oftentimes the female pack rat image is merely a joke, there are many instances in which the behavior indicates a serious disorder. Compulsive hoarding, which is often…
Does being unable to make a sad face ease the symptoms of depression?
The legal side of “designer drugs” is a little bit like an arms race. On one side, the government brings in new regulations to ban specific compounds or entire classes of chemicals, whilst on the other side clandestine chemists tweak their existing molecular structures to circumvent the current laws. One drug caught up in this…
The 2012 “Monitoring the Future” study, which looks at the rates of drug use, ease of availability, and perceived risk amongst teens, revealed that the vast majority of teens who abuse prescription medicines get them for free from friends and family. Although the overall use of the drugs has decreased, their use is still at…