It’s no accident that Americans are addicted to salty, crunchy chips and surgery soft drinks. Scientists and “crave experts” in the processed-food industry have been working for decades to make it so.
Alcoholism can be tricky. Maybe you have a friend who seems to drink a lot, but you cannot imagine that she is really an alcoholic. She has a good job. She takes care of her responsibilities. She always seems put together. So is it possible that she is dependent on alcohol? The answer is yes.…
OxyContin (also known simply as Oxy) is a branded form of oxycodone, an opioid prescription medication with a strong chemical resemblance to codeine. Unlike most other forms of oxycodone, it contains an extended-release formula that remains active in the body for as long as 12 hours. When OxyContin first entered the US market in the…
Called K2, Spice, Incense, or Mr. Smiley among many others, synthetic cannabis is actually a collection of dry herbs and plant pieces sprayed with a chemical that is up to 100 times stronger than natural marijuana. It sounds so innocuous, yet on the back of the colorful packaging is printed a warning – “Not for…
Alcoholism and addiction recognize no boundaries. These equal opportunity killers of mind, body, and spirit certainly do not discriminate based on age or gender, and alcoholism in particular cuts a deep, broad swath across the entire demographic landscape.
Successful treatment of bipolar disorder largely depends upon finding the right combination of medication and therapy and adhering to it. Bipolar disorder is comorbid with drug abuse, meaning that people with a history of active bipolar disorder are at higher risk than the general population. This is partly a function of the disorder’s manic phases,…
Much of the focus on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption has been concentrated on the campaign to reduce drunk driving; and rightly so, as more than 10,000 Americans lose their lives each year in automobile accidents involving intoxicated drivers. But there is another hazard associated with drinking to excess that has gotten short shrift,…
Pregorexia is a modern term used to describe the presence of anorexia-like symptoms in pregnant women. Women with the disorder have an excessive fear of pregnancy-related weight gain and use various methods, including extreme exercise routines and calorie restriction, to avoid the weight increases that mark the course of a normal, healthy pregnancy. Potential consequences…
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, resulting in roughly 35,000 fatalities every year. In addition, nearly 11,000,000 American adults attempt suicide without success at some point in their lives. Altogether, people who abuse alcohol and/or drugs attempt to kill themselves nearly six times as frequently as people who…
There are two stages of withdrawal that every addict in recovery will have to go through before they can truly move beyond their dependency on drugs or alcohol. First comes the acute stage, which will begin as soon as an addict stops using and will continue for several weeks after that. During this period of…