Alcohol

• HBO Addiction: An Interview with Nora Volkow- "Science has shown that the brain has a remarkable ability to recover from addiction. With continuing advances in medical and behavioral treatments, addiction will soon be commonly accepted as a manageable chronic disease."

  
  This summary statement is displayed at the end of the 30 minute interview with Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, done by HBO in its series on addiction. I agree whole heartedly that the brain has the remarkable ability to find ways around the damage caused by prolonged drug and alcohol abuse. However, the premise that addiction will soon be commonly accepted as a manageable chronic disease seems a little far-fetched to me.

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• Warning: Laws of the Universe Not Suspended Because You’re Sober-

  It may feel like the laws of the universe have ceased to exist once you have a month or two of sobriety under your belt after a lifetime of drinking. Be warned though, although it may seem like a brave new world to you, the rest of the world goes on as if nothing has changed.

  A forty-one year old Las Vegas resident working through AA's Step 9 recently found this out the hard way. Click here to read the whole story in the Las Vegas Weekly. William Nottingham Beebe found sobriety "sobering" when he learned that just because he's ready to make amends doesn't mean the victim he allegedly raped in college is as ready to forgive him!

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• Unstoppable-

  It really lasted the whole game, because I was really untouchable, unstoppable that game. ~ Marcus Allen Heisman Trophy Winner

  Unstoppable. Run this term through the search engines and you will come up with a long list of quotes from coaches, sports analysts, and players describing the commitment and talent of the superstars in every sport. It is used to describe special players that despite very long odds seem to pull victory out of thin air at the very last moments of a game despite all odds. But it also is the perfect description for an alcoholic because there are very few obstacles that will prevent a determined alcoholic from drinking. Ask any experienced caretaker from concerned moms, dispirited husbands, to stymied prison guards and they will all tell you that it is almost impossible to stop an alcoholic from getting to the sauce. I recently used the term to describe the absolute determination of an alcoholic or addict to drink and drug to a young man new to our recovery meetings. He was feeling a little down about how his father had told him to “man up” and “just stop”, that the whole recovering bit was just a cop out. It’s a common dilemma, the alcoholic or addict finally gets sober often to be ridiculed by even loved ones for being "weak" or taking so long to become “normal”. Click “Read more” to continue…
• Welcome to the Church of Addictions- I cannot tell you how many times friends, associates, and even casual acquaintances have asked me what exactly is alcoholism and/or drug addiction. It must be a question that is often pondered because, inevitably,half of those that ask me this question will follow up with this classic, “Do you think I have a problem?”
• Of Mice and Men… On Drugs-
  

  Take a look inside the brains of mice on drugs! Every drug of abuse has its own unique molecular mechanism. You’ll learn how these various drugs disrupt the synapse to make the user feel “high”~ The Genetics Science Learning Center at the University of Utah

  Want to know how cocaine, heroin, and alcohol affect your brain? Well this animated production produced by the University of Utah is by far one of the best learning tools I have seen explaining this complicated science. Make sure to turn your volume up, after you get past the 70’s retro-porn soundtrack a very nice lady will explain the progression of slides.

  Hat-tip to TheJunkysWife.com

• HBO Addiction: An Interview with Dr. Kathleen Brady- "Dr. Kathleen Brady is a professor of psychiatry at the Medical School of the University South Carolina, and an expert in addiction and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Here she discusses how underlying disorders like anxiety, depression or trauma can lead to addiction or relapse, stressing the necessity of treating these mental disorders and addiction simultaneously."

  Read the review by clicking on the “Read More” below…

• HBO Addiction: Cognitive Behavioral Training for Stimulant Addiction- " Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is considered the most effective treatment for stimulant addiction. No medical treatment currently exists for stimulant addiction, which include methamphetamine and cocaine. At the MATRIX Institute on Addictions in San Bernardino, CA, methamphetamine and cocaine addicts attend evidence-based (proven effective) behavioral therapy groups. The program includes participation in weekly recovery skills groups, individual and family counseling, drug testing and 12-step or other mutual support groups."

  Read the review by clicking on the “Read More” below…

• Antecedence to Injury?-

  The results, Vinson found, were anything but boring. In fact, he says, they were remarkably consistent. "The association of alcohol and injury is strong and clean and it's consistent over race and gender," And the risks kicked in much faster than Vinson expected.

  I think a better title for the Illumination’s Antecedence to Injury would be Scientist Spend $1.1 Million to Learn Drunks Go Boom!, but of course that would not sound quite as scholarly now would it. So let me get this straight, there is a clear correlation between drinking and falling down in both black and white men, and gasp, yes even women. I bet if we gave the University of Missouri $10 million they might even figure out that alcohol and drugs are major contributing factors to divorce, automobile accidents, child and spousal abuse, suicide, depression, school dropouts, crime, and missed work.

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• HBO Special: Addiction Episode #1- I am impressed. While I disagreed with a few things that were said by the medical professionals, the overall tone, tempo, and consideration of the first in this series was admirable.

  

  I did not subscribe to HBO before tonight, so I had not seen any television advertisements prior to its showing. The only preview scenes I had seen were from the the website, which by the way, is well worth the vist. You can visit the site here:

  Website for the Addiction Project by HBO

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• How Do You Explain an Addiction To Others?- How do you explain to someone, who has never been personally cursed with an addiction, the overwhelming desire for your drug of choice.

  The normal person cannot fathom the act of forsaking family, friends, and dignity in order to fulfill the demands of an addiction. My father who has two alcoholic sons (one is yours ;) truly) is one of the smartest and most compassionate people I know, and he still lacks the capacity to understand how his sons were not able just "to quit". In order to explain this absolute demand an addiction makes to my father, I resort to the use of an analogy of a drowning man fighting for air.

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• It’s Just a Phase- ”… it turned out that everything I put down on paper was eerily similar to the same thing I had heard in rehab”

  When I was about 2 or 3 years into my recovery I had convinced myself that I knew everything there was about staying sober. I just “knew” AA was a crock and that the only good thing to come out of a 12 step group meeting was free coffee. I went so far as to say that I was going to write a book, to tell people that I had the answer to all their problems. Then reality set in… it turned out that everything I put down on paper was eerily similar to the same thing I had heard in rehab, AA, NA, and group meetings of all sorts.

  Promoted from the user blogs by BBK- Click on "Read more" for the rest of the story

• Welcome to the Church of Addictions- I cannot tell you how many times friends, associates, and even casual acquaintances have asked me what exactly are alcoholism and/or drug addiction. It must be a question that is often pondered because, inevitably,half of those that ask me this question will follow up with this classic, “Do you think I have a problem?”
• From Pain, Humor-

  It is rare that I feel the need or even find the opportunity to praise someone in the entertainment industry, but Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show really knocked one out of the park last week with a monologue about alcoholism.

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• A Worthy Project?- HBO will begin a 14 part documentary this weekend on addictions. If the content lives up to the hype and marketing it could very well be a worthy project.

  I plan to watch and report as the episodes air.