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"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."

Marie Curie








 




 
Featured Addictions Articles

"Don't Bore Me! Give Your Ezine "Personality"!
All right, I confess. I'm an ezine junkie. I love 'em. Allshapes, all sizes; I subscribe to hundreds. You might say I'man addict. Anyway, as I scan the subject line of my preciousbeauties when they hit my inbox, there are only certain ones I'm chomping at ...

Mind Your Food!
Motivate and Lose the WeightOne of the biggest challenges when it comes to dieting is maintaining your level of motivation. To help keep your regimen on the straight and narrow, try weighing yourself just once a week instead of every day (daily weigh-ins ...

The Horror of WorkZilla (Or, How To Handle A Nightmare Employee)
Although self-employed for many years, I have been a regular visitor to workplaces small and large as a Business Consultant, Staff Trainer or Special Event Speaker. When the purpose for my visit has to do with business consultation, it doesn't take long ...




Addiction; Desperate Maladies Require Desperate Remedies
 
An addiction is an uncontrollable strong craving for something, or to be abnormally dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming. There are many types of addiction, the most common are alcohol addiction, narcotic addiction, and drug addiction; also known as substance dependence.

Drug addiction is the compulsive use of drugs, to the extreme point where the user has no other choice but to continue to use them. A drug addict might address his beloved drug in De Quincey's words, "thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh, just, subtle, and mighty opium!" An addict's paradise is an inferno in disguise.

The demon of drug abuse has engulfed the entire world. It has clutched the youth of society in its deadly jaws.

The range of addictive drugs or substances and widely abused drugs include Alcohol, Anabolic steroids, Analgetics, Barbiturates, Buprenorphine, Butorphanol, Chloral hydrate, trichloroethanol & derivatives, Cocaine, Codeine, Dextroproxyp, Dextromethorphan, Ethchlorvynol, Fentanyl & its analogs, Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), Glutethimide, Heroin (Diacetylmorphine), Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone (Dilaudid), Ketamine, Laxatives, Levo-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM), Meperidine, Meprobamate, Methamphetamine & other Amphetamines, Methaqualone & related sedative-hypnotics, Methadone, Methcathinone, Morphine, Nicotine, Oxycodone, Opium, Xanax, Paraldehyde (Paral), Phencyclidine (PCP), and Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol).

Drugs have dragged the addicts to the deep dungeons of oblivion. The whole international community that is direly worried about the problem of drug abuse, has given a loud and clear call to medical institutes and organizations to liberate the victims of drug addiction.

Psychological experts and researchers are always raking their minds to know why people fall prey to drugs. Their studies have divulged that drugs and intoxicants are used to forget or negate the frustrations of life, failures in life, dejected love affairs, depression, or sometimes for fun or adventure.

"Thank the Lord, there's a ray of hope!" Doctors and researchers have been able to invent some treatments for drug addiction.

Standard drug addiction treatment may include behavioral therapy, medications, or a combination of both. Medication therapy includes medical treatment to beat drug addiction. Behavioral therapy consists of counseling, cognitive therapy, or psychotherapy. The third method, the combination of both, is proving to be the most effective treatment for addiction recovery.

In medication therapy, for instance, addiction treatment like methadone, LAAM, and naltrexone are helpful for opium addicted people. Nicotine replacement therapy, nicotine patches, gum, nasal spray and bupropion are quite effective for people addicted to nicotine. Antidepressants, mood stabilizers, or neuroleptics, are helpful for treatment of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or psychosis.

As drug addiction is a chronic disorder, there's no effective short-term treatment for it. It requires a long-term treatment to beat drug addiction.

Finally, strong will power plays a key role in addiction treatment and addiction recovery. Psychotherapists can play an important role in building up the patients' will to beat drug addiction.

Martin H. Fischer says, "There is only one reason why men become addicted to drugs, they are weak men. Only strong men are cured, and they cure themselves."







Addictions News


HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell Is Still an Addict and Has "Issues" With John Edwards
Huffington Post
According to Webster to be addicted is: to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively addicted to something. Admittedly, she was a high-functioning alcoholic, who was "spiritually bankrupt." Yet, she experienced "a miracle" on ...

and more »

Judy Collins: Singer and book addict
Boston Globe
I'm an addict, a complete addict. Some of the most exciting reading I do I have to do in the morning. I have to do it just a couple of pages at a time so I can really concentrate and I underline as I go. That's one reason why I prefer a book.


New York Times

Addiction Diagnoses May Rise Under Guideline Changes
New York Times
WASHINGTON — In what could prove to be one of their most far-reaching decisions, psychiatrists and other specialists who are rewriting the manual that serves as the nation's arbiter of mental illness have agreed to revise the definition of addiction, ...
Revised definition of 'addiction' may spur hike in number of addictsMiamiHerald.com
Revised guidelines might sharply increase addiction diagnosesAustin American-Statesman
You could be addicted but not know itOmaha World-Herald

all 40 news articles »

Are We Addicted to Facebook? It's Complicated.
New York Times (blog)
But does the research suggest that we are addicted to it? Is our obsession with the social network bordering on unhealthy? Can we resist the siren call of the glowing blue icon? Dr. Rosen said the average person was not addicted to Facebook.

and more »

Definition of addiction changing
Herald and News
That — in its simplest terms — is at the heart of a change in a psychiatric manual that could have a major effect on diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism and other addictions. An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety.