Government Web Site Offers a Wealth of Information About Substance Abuse

Once someone realizes that they have a drug problem, they are already heading in the right direction. However, knowing what to do after admitting that a problem exists can be difficult. There are questions like ‘Which type of treatment center is right for me?’ or even ‘Where can I go for treatment?’ The United States Department of Health and Human Services has a very easy to use web site that can be a great place to check out to get the answers that you are looking for.

The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (www.samhsa.gov), or SAMHSA, is designed to get people moving in the right direction when they are seeking treatment for substance abuse. They have an easily navigable map that provides information about all the substance abuse treatment facilities in the United States. You can easily locate and research all the facilities near you and contact them for more information. SAMHSA also has a 24-hour helpline, in case you have specific questions and can’t find the information on the web site.

This site is a great resource for anyone who has questions about treatment for substance abuse. This government site offers tons of reliable information that you can privately review before deciding what options are best for you. If you have decided to seek treatment or know someone who needs it, SAMHSA is great place to begin your journey towards finding the help that you need. You can log on to their site today and continue heading in the right direction.

Filed Under: Addiction, Drugs Tagged With: , ,

Substance Abuse Can Cause Mental Anguish

If you’re abusing a substance – whether it’s an illegal drug, a legal drug (like a prescription, whether for you or for someone else), or alcohol – there is help out there for you. What’s important to realize is that you might need more than just physical help. You may also want to consider your mental and emotional state. If you’ve been involved in substance abuse for a while, or even if you’ve only been using for a short time, it may cause severe feelings of worthlessness and other problems. You can work through these kinds of feelings with some help and support, though.

The first thing to do, once you realize that you have a problem, is to seek help. Don’t put it off, or feel that acknowledging it will be enough to get through it. Instead, you’ll need to put your focus into getting clean and also into getting a better understanding of your value as a person. It can be hard to feel valuable if you’re abusing drugs and alcohol, but once you begin to get clean you should involve yourself with counseling that can help you see that you have worth and importance. Giving back to others is another good way to feel as though you have value.

If you work with people who need to get clean once you’ve gotten clean, you can show them that they can do what you did – get and stay clean, and have value and purpose in their life. You can’t reach everyone, of course, and some people really don’t want to be helped. Some people also respond to help in different ways, so you may have to try different tactics. The bottom line, though, is that you’ll be able to work on your mental and emotional state once you’re free of the drugs and/or alcohol that are trying to control you.

Filed Under: Drugs Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Inpatient Treatments for Substance Abuse

One of the best ways to conquer an addiction to illegal and dangerous substances is to get set up in an inpatient treatment program. There are outpatient options, of course, but they can be harder to succeed with. If you’re part of an inpatient program, you don’t have to worry about going home to a family or friends who will tempt you. Instead, you’ll just be in a clean, healthy environment, for as long as your treatment takes. Whether that’s a few days, a few weeks, or even a few months is up to you and your counselor.

Unless you’re ordered there by the court, you’ll generally have the option to leave at any time – but it’s very important that you stay until your treatment is complete. If you don’t, you may have a much higher chance of relapsing and ending up back in treatment again. That happens a lot with people in Hollywood and you hear about it in the news, but it happens to ‘normal’ people often, too. The only difference is that the average person’s struggles generally aren’t publicized, so not as many people know about them. Whether you’re a public figure or an average, everyday person, getting clean should still be your top priority.

If you aren’t interested in doing it for you, you should do it for the people who care about you – like your family and friends. Stay as long as you need to, and make sure that you get the help you really need. When you leave the inpatient treatment program, consider staying away from people and places that you associate with drug or alcohol use or abuse. You may even want to move to a new neighborhood or a new town. Take the steps you need to get and stay clean, and you’ll have a bright future.

Filed Under: Drugs Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Constant Vigilance Is A Must To Prevent Substance Addiction In Children

It is a well established fact that lack of cohesiveness in the family often leads to mental problems in the child. Although statistics can be misinterpreted in many ways, there is no denying that lack of family support is often a factor for substance abuse and other such problems. However, this does not mean that all substance abuse victims have come from broken families or dysfunctional families.

There are innumerable instances where individuals who were brought up in model families have become victims of substance abuse. Hence, to look at this issue from a class perspective and to conclude that it cannot happen to a family like yours does not make sense.

Substance abuse can start out of innocent acts like consumption of certain stimulants by the child to study better. Excessive stress to perform well in academics and other fields often causes the individual to push beyond physical limits. Popping a few pills or consuming certain drinks may help the individual stay awake longer.

Of course, the effect of such drugs and substances after the high comes down is equally bad. However, shortsighted approach and focus on short term benefits leads to introduction to such substances. Once these substances enter the body, it is just a question of time before the individual becomes a victim of addiction.

Once the mind is set on the belief that consumption of a particular substance leads to better concentration, the individual will find it difficult to concentrate without the same. This is the hallmark of addiction. From control and choice, the individual moves on to compulsion.

Soon, the individual starts showing withdrawal symptoms when he or she is weaned away from the substance. This can happen in perfectly happy families and for no negative reason. Hence, constant vigilance and friendly relations with the child will help you intercede at the right moment and prevent the problem from growing beyond control.

Filed Under: Addiction, Drugs Tagged With: , , , ,

Enabling

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A drug addict doesn’t live in a vacuum. Often, an addict’s friends and family become what has been termed enablers — that is, their behavior enables the drug addict to continue the addictive behavior.

Enablers often do not even know that their behavior is contributing to the addiction. Usually, the enabler is trying to do what he or she believes is the right thing by being understanding. For instance, if your son or husband is drinking and doesn’t get up in the morning for work, a mother or wife may wake him. This behavior allows the addict to escape the consequences of his actions and his addiction.

Other common enabling behaviors include loaning an addict money repeatedly, even though the addict most often uses it to buy the addictive substance.

Often, enablers are said to be in denial because they believe the addict’s lies about their substance abuse.

As enablers continue their behaviors, they usually become very frustrated and angry. Enablers often feel that whatever they do will not help the situation, and they don’t know what to do or where to turn. They fear that refusing to help the addict is mean or unloving.

What they don’t realize is that stopping the enabling behavior is the best thing to do to help an addict. Enabling an addict just perpetuates the cycle of addiction, and no one will ever get off. The addict won’t stop if there are no consequences to actions.

Changing behavior is difficult for enablers, but there is support out there. Check out an organization such as Al-Anon, which will provide you with a sponsor to help you change enabling behavior. Counselors can also help.

Don’t delay any longer. By helping yourself and learning how to change, you are helping the addict in your life change as well.

Filed Under: Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Treating Addiction Online

In this technological age of email and the Internet, addicts can find treatment online. Online group treatment is now available through the Internet.

Traditional group therapy is combined with cutting-edge technology to provide the addict with an effective and pioneering treatment program. The interactive program
occurs in real time on a computer monitor with a counselor and group members able to communicate through headsets and microphones. No matter where the addict, the treatment is accessible.

An experienced drug treatment counselor will guide the group, getting members to work with each other to kick the habit. Based on the traditional 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, online treatment is a great option for the addict cannot get to a more traditional program. Often, the program is also used by addicts who have already completed a treatment program and are in recovery, but feel they need additional support.

Participants laud the convenience and privacy of the program, as well as the affordable cost. Many also like the fact that they can continue to access the program.

During the group sessions, the counselors will discuss recovery and what it is. Participants are able to share their stories and feelings, and the difficulties they had or have in staying sober.

The program offered is 24 sessions in two months. After this program is completes, 52 weeks of followup care is offered, which features a weekly chat supervised by a counselor. The followup care does not cost extra, and discussion centers on how to prevent a relapse and keeping those coping skills sharp!

One hour of one-one-one counseling is also included. Issues discussed include motivation for using drugs, feelings, families, consequences of substance abuse, and, of course, how to stop. The atmosphere is supportive and non-threatening so that the addict can feel safe and able to talk without judgement being passed.

Filed Under: Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Gender Differences in Smokers

A 21 mg dose Nicoderm CQ patch applied to the ...
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Are there differences between women and men smokers?

Studies indicate that there are some differences, with the men coming out ahead. Studies of people trying to quit smoking indicate that it is the fairer sex who has a harder time quitting.

Fewer women attempt to quit, and those that do tend to relapse more than the men.On the plus side for women, they do not smoke as many cigarettes daily as the men and enjoy cigarettes that have less nicotine. And, like President Clinton, they don’t inhale at least not as deeply as the men.

The whys of these differences are not known. Scientists postulate that there nicotine affects women in a different manner then it affects men. Women could be more sensitive to the addictive substance, or their choices could be made because of myriad reasons. Perhaps, there are social nuances that lead women to smoke less, but not quit entirely.

Smoking has declined in the United States since the 1970s, as people became more educated about the consequences of the substance. This decline occurred primarily in men, and, today, there are almost an equal number of women smokers as men smokers.

Some treatments do not work as well for women trying to quit, such as the nicotine patch. Even when using the patch, women still crave nicotine. Psychologists also theorize that the possibility of gaining weight when they quit smoking is a big deterrent for women. Women are more fearful of being overweight than they are of diseases caused by smoking. The withdrawal for women may also be worse than it is for men.

Usually, an individual who quits smoking gains five to 10 pounds — a not insignificant amount of weight for women watching their pounds. If concerns about weight gain are taken into consideration before and during a program, women are more likely to succeed in quitting and in not experiencing a relapse.

Filed Under: Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Tobacco Addiction

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It is no secret that it is hard to quit tobacco — whether it is smoked or chewed.
Even though kids and teens are educated today about the dangers of smoking and the horrible diseases caused by nicotine, teens continue to become addicted.

And of those who try to quit, about 35 million individuals annually, according to research, most give up the fight in seven days. The nicotine that a smoker inhales from a cigarette — maybe one to two milligrams — is enough to hook someone for life.

In addition to nicotine, cigarettes and other nicotine products contain many other chemicals — up to 4,000 — many of which are considered toxins. Substances like tar and nitrosamines. It is actually the tar in cigarettes that leads to many of the debilitating conditions associated with smoking, such as emphysema and lung cancer. Heart problems can occur from carbon monoxide.

People get their tobacco fix in myriad forms — smoking a pipe, a cigar or the ubiquitous cigarettes. Many athletes, particularly baseball players, chew tobacco, spitting it out after the flavor is gone in a long stream of brown juice. This form of tobacco use is more prevalent in the Southern part of the United States, where spittoons can be found for users to deposit their spit.

A popular form of tobacco use with teens is the Indian bidi, which are rolled by hand and come in many flavors. The bidis have even more nicotine than regular cigarettes. Teens are also experimenting with the hookah — think about the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The hookah is usually passed around in a group and again, teens like it because it has many flavors and is a social activity. Don’t be fooled though, this water pipe smoking is just as addictive as smoking cigarettes.

Fortunately, education is doing its work. Smoking had continued to decline and is currently at an all-time low for middle and high schoolers.

Filed Under: Addiction Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Tobacco Use in Teens

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While the good news is that smoking continues to decline in America, there are still upwards of 3 million teens from 12 to 17 who are trying tobacco. Statistics report that approximately 60 percent of new tobacco users were teens when they first lit up — they tried their first tobacco when they were younger than 18 years of age.

In a sobering statistic, research indicates that approximately 6 million smokers who are under the age of 18 will die early from smoking. And diseases caused by smoking are particularly horrible, as those ads to prevent smoking testify.

Teens start to smoke for a variety of reasons. Most parents are award that there may be peer pressure to smoke, but may not be aware that scientists have discovered that biological sources are also at play. Research on animals indicated that teens are more vulnerable than adults to the nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products, increasing their likelihood of becoming addicted even if the teen smokes only occasionally. Young rats proved to ingest more nicotine than adult rats, and were more vulnerable to nicotine’s pleasurable effects on the brain.

In addition, researchers found that the acetaldehyde in cigarettes increased the addictive power of nicotine when smoked by teens. This chemical does not act the same way in adults, probably because the teen brain is still developing.

Studies are under way that propose a genetic component to teen addiction to smoking. The studies report that individuals with certain genes may be at a higher risk of becoming addicted if they start smoking as teens.

Specific prevention and treatment programs are being studies that are specifically geared to teens. The best treatment, of course, is prevention. One of the best ways to prevent smoking by teens is by hammering home the danger of the substance.

Filed Under: General, Medication Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

What Makes a Leader?

the 44th President of the United States...Bara...
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The qualities that make a good leader are debated by many. Some are listed below, so take a look to see if you or a family member might qualify to be the next president of the United States.

Most leaders need to have a vision of where they want to go — the future they want to create for their organization or country, if we are sticking to the president analogy. A good leader will know that crafting and communicating a vision is key to getting buy in from clients, partners and employees.

A good leader should be able to inspire people to carry out the vision. You need to be passionate about what you do and what you want others to do. Otherwise, everything will fall flat. There are many ways to inspire others, including public speaking and leading by example. Ronald Reagan was a great example of an inspirational leader.

Good leaders are generally very focused on achieving their goals. They often think in a linear fashion and set out to finish one task before starting on another. Good leaders know what their priorities are and don’t lose focus.

In addition, leaders are often results oriented. In their minds, it is not the process that counts, but the results. Just get it done is their motto!

Good leaders know how to persuade people and how to encourage people to see things their way. One thing that often trips up individuals hoping to be leaders is that they don’t realize that it is more effective to lead by persuading than to force people through intimidation. That is a strategy that often backfires when people eventually rebel.

Other qualities in a good leader include charm — an ability to appeal to all types of people and be liked. Think of a Bill Clinton — his affability made him likable.

Filed Under: General, Medication Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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