In October, President Obama traveled to Charleston, West Virginia, a region where fatal heroin overdoses are more than double the national average, to announce new federal initiatives aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic. The president listened to stories from a police chief, a healthcare worker and the mother of an addict before speaking to the […]
Since the launch of drunk driving campaigns in the late 1970’s, public awareness surrounding the deadly consequences of operating a vehicle while under the influence (DUI) of alcohol has been high. Other measures, such as open-container laws, the more modern DUI checkpoints and greater access to driving services, like Lyft and Uber, have brought the […]
In the same way that public awareness has changed society’s behavior regarding cigarette smoking, America’s consumption of alcohol is also evolving. The AMC Network show “Mad Men,” which revolved around the life of Don Draper, an executive at a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the ’60s, shined a spotlight on the bygone culture of acceptable […]
Drug abuse prevention is the most effective method of reducing the emotional and financial toll that results from illicit drug use and addiction. In 2011, the government designated October as National Substance Abuse Prevention Month in order to raise awareness and lessen the stigma surrounding these issues, especially as it concerns country’s population of kids […]
Lesley Stahl recently interviewed Patrick Kennedy, the son of Ted Kennedy, on a 60 Minutes episode in which he opens up about his own alcoholism and how addiction affected his family. In an era when there is still a stigma and shame that surrounds people and families with an alcohol or substance abuse addiction, many […]
Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) is not the opposite of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD), but rather a positive psychological change born out of a stressful or traumatic circumstance in a person’s life. Survivors are not only able to manage the trauma, they actually thrive because of it. In the last several decades, science has begun to redefine health […]
