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5 reasons why you should consider sober living housing after rehab
2007-08-20 20:45:00
The period right after the successful completion of a rehab stay is one of the biggest risk periods for relapse, and to minimize the risks and stress of a transition out of rehab, a lot of people very sensibly consider moving out of a residential rehab into a sober living housing environment. A sober housing environment, sometimes called a halfway house, offers a less structured facility with less intensive therapeutic treatments than a rehab environment; but insulates somewhat against the temptations and shock of renewed exposure to the triggers to abuse and the stresses in the environment that can lead to temptation. Sober housing can vary dramatically in the intensity of therapies offered, and some may offer only drug and alcohol free housing and demand only minimal rent and an agreement to abide by a strict code of conduct in return. Whatever the level of involvement, all sober living facilities offer a number of very concrete benefits to recovering addicts rejoining the communi...
More About: Living , Rehab , Housing , Reasons , Cons

Support group therapy breaks down the walls of denial
2007-08-20 20:12:00
Your family has never suffered through withdrawal and recovery?they don?t understand. Your therapist doesn?t really now what it's like to crave a drink so badly it hurts; and your sober friends think that will power alone will keep you abstinent. It's easy for us in recovery to minimize the advice and concern of those that care and try to help; dismissing their efforts because they don?t know what it's really like! But the honesty demanded and advice offered by a peer recovery therapy group is a very different thing, and you can?t deny the truth of what is said by others going through the similar trials of addiction and recovery. There is a shared expertise within a group of addicts recovering together, and it can be very tough for a recovering addict to deny what is offered from the communal wisdom of a group who knows exactly what it means to get and stay sober. We may be less than honest with ourselves, but trying to pass off anything less than the truth to a group of concerne...
More About: Support , Therapy , Breaks , Group , Erap

The truth about rehab recovery statistics...and why you should make your ow
2007-08-19 19:08:00
75%...85%...are these types of recovery statistics really even possible, and how can we know whether the relapse rates as advertised by different drug rehab programs are accurate representations of reality? I read a lot of rehab centers boasting of some pretty astonishing recovery rates, and while I can?t say for sure that these numbers are not accurate, understanding the nature of addiction as I do all too well; I can?t help but be a little skeptical. Recovery is a process, and part of that process is sometimes a slip back into use and abuse; and a needed second?third?.even fourth crack at the lessons of rehab. Just because a drug rehab doesn?t offer every person that passes through its doors a miraculous recovery doesn't mean that it's not a quality and beneficial facility; and perhaps we should look more favorably at facilities that do release more realistic figures of relapse and recovery, more in line with nationally released relapse rates as compiled by agencies such as NIDA...
More About: Truth , Rehab , Statistics , Make

Occasional crystal meth use in adolescence can accelerate the progression o
2007-08-19 18:20:00
Even occasional crystal meth binges during adolescence may accelerate the progression of brain aging diseases decades later in life. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina looked at the long term behavioral deficit effects of binge crystal meth use in an animal study; and they found that a single binge administration of crystal meth in adolescent rats with a predisposition to develop a Parkinson's like disease led to an accelerated presentation of this disorder a few months later, when the rats were approaching old age. The rats in the study had a gene sequence altered presentation of the Parkinson's causing GDNF protein. This protein, which repairs and restores dopaminergic cells in the brain, was less present in the genetically altered rats, as the protein is less present in humans predisposed to the development of Parkinson like neuro muscular conditions. The rats that were given the dose of methamphetamine developed the neuro muscular symptoms of the disease m...
More About: Crystal , Adolescence , Rate , Dole , Accelerate

Depression in teen girls often a result of substance abuse
2007-08-16 16:09:00
Mental health professionals have long been aware of an increased prevalence of depression amongst teenage girls as compared to teenage boys, but researchers have now determined that this increase in sex dependent depression seem to be largely a function of the influence of substance abuse and dependence. Increases in depression incidences actually caused by substance abuse Researchers at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation have determined that teen girls who drink or abuse drugs are two and a half times more likely to exhibit the signs of depression than non abusing girls, and when this statistical deviation of abusing girls is removed, the incidence rates of depression amongst teen boys and girls are largely the same. This is certainly not good news in the face of White House drug studies that report that teenaged girls have now surpassed their male peers in drug abuse participation. Parents need to get teenaged girls intervention quickly to offset the destruction of ...
More About: Abuse , Girls , Depression , Result , Subs

Party schools and the risks of substance abuse during the college years
2007-08-16 14:28:00
As much as school administrators try to minimize the negative repercussions of a "party school" reputation, there is a statistical correlation between greater rates of alcohol and drug abuse and dependencies at these so called party schools than at other comparable colleges. Substance abuse in college College alcohol and drug abuse is a pretty big problem, and the percentage of alcohol and drug abusing people at colleges statistically exceeds the levels of abuse in non academic environments. There are a number of factors that contribute to increasing substance use and abuse during the formative transitional years out of the family home through college, but one of these is certainly a persistent collegiate culture which promotes binge drinking and recreational drug abuse. With as many as 33% (Harvard medical school reporting) of college students meeting the criteria for substance abuse, and a significant percentage of these students meeting the more serious criteria for alcohol or dr...
More About: Abuse , Party , Schools , Years