Though it’s not always the lead story these days, the epidemic of opioid addiction is still very much a lingering national health crisis. There were more than 70,000 fatal drug overdoses in 2017, the vast majority of which were opioid-related, according to the Centers for […]
There will always be critics of change and innovation. It happens in virtually every field and healthcare is no different. Some medical futurists believe generations from now, society will be as appalled at the idea of transplanting organs from one person to another because of […]
Even before the Temperance Movement took hold in the early 20th century or the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous shortly thereafter, most people considered addiction to be a moral failing. The thinking assumed that a lack of character and willpower was the spiritual germ that led […]
Though the scientific and medical communities came to the same consensus approximately 40 years ago, it bears repeating; that addiction is a chronic, sometimes fatal disease that alters the chemistry of the brain. It causes compulsive, drug-seeking behavior despite negative consequences or an individual’s intense […]
Advances in medicine and healthcare, even in the last 50 years, are far too numerous to name. People live longer, healthier lives than at any time in modern history. Treatment for mental health disorders, as well as substance abuse and addiction, has also benefitted from […]
For the estimated 2.2 million Americans suffering an addiction to prescription painkillers or heroin, federal regulations have it made it difficult to get legal access to a medication that can save their lives. Suboxone eases the physically painful squeeze of opiate addiction when administered properly […]
Society’s understanding and acceptance of addiction as a complex, chronic, relapsing disease of the brain has slowly begun to take hold. As researchers delve deeper into the neuroscience of drug dependence and alcoholism, the clearer it becomes that addiction is not a moral failing or […]
You put your life on hold for 30-days or more to live in a residential alcohol or addiction treatment center, you got clean, you feel great and you and your family are happy. Is that all there is? Not a chance. If you recovered at […]
We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. ~Galileo For many people addicted to drugs or alcohol, treating the addiction’s causes and symptoms will prove unsuccessful unless they are willing participants in their recovery. The first step should always […]
First, let’s thank those ancient geniuses for coming up with an alphabet. While they might not have realized it at the time (it was only an experiment after all), writing can be a powerful therapeutic tool to help us examine our feelings, change our behavior […]
