Should Addiction Treatment Be Covered The Same Way as Heart Disease Treatment?

Elements | July 18, 2011

It's time to stop talking out of both sides of our mouth. Drug addiction is now recognized as a chronic medical disease just as heart disease and diabetes and cancer are chronic medical diseases. In that sense, addiction is a traditional disease. It should be covered the same way.

That's not the case today, however. Shouldn't it be?

What happens when a patient with heart disease, who's had several heart attacks, has another? Is he turned away from medical treatment because he's had too many heart attacks? Does his insurance no longer cover his treatment - again, because he's exceeded his quota? Of course he isn't - unless his health insurance premiums aren't paid, and even then the hospital will go through heroic measures in order to save the patient's life.

But when the patient is an addict - addicted to drugs or alcohol - the all-too-often attitude on the part of physicians is that the person should be referred to a psychiatrist or go to a 28-day treatment program.

Read more...

Parents: Give Your Kids Plenty to Do This Summer So They Don't Abuse Alcohol and Drugs

Teen Drug Abuse | July 11, 2011

When the lazy days of summer turn into every parent's nightmare of children caught up in drug and alcohol experimentation, it's often too late to get a handle on what could be prevented - with a little constructive effort ahead of time.

Worried that it's too late to start? Don't fret that you haven't figured out what your kids are going to do this summer just yet. But do sit down and gear up a slew of activities designed to keep them busy and out of trouble.

Continue reading for some things to think about as you start planning.

Book Review: Beautiful Boy, by David Sheff

Addiction Treatment Magazine | July 13, 2011

Imagine the heartbreak of a father learning that his son, his precious child who was always so smart, so cheerful, so full of life, is addicted. If you have never gone through the experience, it can be hard to understand the torment and unending anguish that such a parent - mother or father - would feel.

David Sheff knows all about such misery, however, since he wrote a book about his own son's personal journey from addiction to crystal meth to recovery. The book, Beautiful Boy, is at times a very tough read. Why? No matter who you are, whether you are a parent or not, you will be able to relate to the sorrow and suffering that this father - who is a writer, as it turns out - felt all through the growing up years of his son, Nic.

Read more...

5 Common Myths About Eating Disorders

The Ranch | July 18, 2011

Did you know that eating disorders of all kinds - anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder - are occurring with greater frequency worldwide? Did you also know that eating disorders have a 15% incidence rate in people between their teens and twenties? Or are you aware that eating disorders most often occur in conjunction with other forms of mental illness such as severe depression and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)?

Here are a few other things that you may not know about eating disorders which debunk some of the myths grounded in popular misunderstanding.

Read more...