Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of addiction is being a witness to a family member or friend’s painful struggle with drug and alcohol dependency. Very often the shame and guilt that those trapped in a cycle of addiction feel about letting down their loved ones fuels the self-destructive symptoms of their disease. Community […]
Category: Alcohol Addiction
National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (NDAFW)
Monday, March 22 to Sunday, March 28, 2021 Among teenagers in the United States, the use of alcohol, prescription painkillers and cigarettes actually declined in 2014. This, however, is no time to get lazy as research suggests there’s a lack of perceived harm from youth where drugs like marijuana and e-cigarettes are concerned. The National […]
Avoid a DUI During National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
Tis the season for festive parties with coworkers and friends, as well as family get-togethers, to celebrate the holidays. A vast majority of these events will have alcohol on hand, which is why there are more DUI arrests between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day than any other time of the year. In an effort to […]
The High Stakes of Athletes and Alcoholism
Famous athletes who battled with alcoholism isn’t a new story. It’s widely known that Babe Ruth had a huge appetite for many things, including home runs and booze, but it didn’t seem to affect his home run count. Ironically, much of it came during prohibition, which might account for some of its secrecy. Years later, […]
Understanding Addiction Reward and Pleasure in The Brain
Learning how the brain responds to pleasure has blasted the doors of addiction research wide open. Though there’s still a vast amount of unknowns where the neuroscience of substance abuse is concerned, researchers understand how the brain’s reward and pleasure centers are hijacked by drugs and alcohol. In addition, doctors and scientists recognize addiction as […]
Have Texting and Driving Ads Replaced Drunk Driving Ads?
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 […]
Mad Men & The Evolution Of The Drinking Culture
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 […]
Patrick Kennedy Helps Quiet the Stigma of Alcoholism
Lesley Stahl recently interviewed Patrick Kennedy, the son of Ted Kennedy, on a 60 Minutes episode in which he opened 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 […]
Ignition Interlock Device to Prevent Driving While Intoxicated
Driving while intoxicated (DUI) has produced an epidemic of alcohol-related vehicle fatalities that spawned organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and raised public awareness in hopes of preventing and reducing the number of deaths each year. Since campaigns such as “friends don’t let friends drink and drive” started in the 1980s, driving under the […]
Do House Calls for Hangovers Enable Alcoholics?
Right or wrong, good or bad, a new reality has arrived at society’s front door, and it’s a nurse with a hangover treatment package complete with a vitamin-enriched IV drip. According to a Gallup Poll, in the United States, 66 percent of adults admit to drinking on a semi-regular basis, with 22 percent of those […]