Category: From Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Friendly little robots –  

Dec 24, 2020 – Online learning and being stuck at home can create more opportunities for technology addiction to set in for children. What are the warning signs, and what can parents do about it?

Joshua Andrus, an addiction specialist, says that there are a few methods to helping with a child’s addiction to screens.

He says that kids need a “pattern interruption.” The best example of this is by reading a book.

It breaks the child’s screen time, while also promoting human interaction and lessons outside of technology.

Andrus says that there are some signs of tech addiction that parents should watch for.

more@WDVM

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

It’s complicated… – 

Dec. 23, 2020 – Second, there’s been a noticeably larger percentage of individuals that come to us requiring intensive mental healthcare compared to previous years. On average, approximately 10 to 15 percent of our incoming clients are immediately redirected to a higher level of care. These individuals are carefully guided towards a program or facility that’s more appropriate for their (usually critical) clinical needs. This year, that rate has nearly tripled. Folks are coming to us extremely distressed after months of neglecting their mental health, and thus a more rigorous, closely monitored program is often required. Recent data from the CDC provides additional context behind this observation. A survey administered in June noted that 40 percent of adult respondents were struggling with mental health and/or substance use issues since the pandemic shutdowns began. Again, we’re seeing how mental health is being compromised by the isolation, anxiety, and distress that the pandemic and shutdowns create. Our society must take action and help get people in touch with the support they need in a timely manner. This all leads me to the third and perhaps most informative piece of information from our research. When we took a closer look at what our clients that successfully completed their treatment goals had in common, we found that those who attended treatment in person were almost twice as likely to complete their treatment goals compared to those who participated remotely. Does this mean that telehealth is deplorable? No. In fact, the expansion of telehealth has arguably saved our collective mental health from collapsing entirely. Telehealth gives us the opportunity to support immunocompromised clients, connect with those dealing with debilitating anxiety, and extend our reach from Los Angeles to all of California. However, the importance of attending treatment and group therapy in person must not be understated.  

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The post How Mental Healthcare and Rehab Changed During Pandemic by Mike Bayer appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.

Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Each one, teach one –  

Dec. 24, 2020 – Harper was one of the first mothers to move in and she is a success story. She eventually moved out with her son and now has a place of own and was recently hired by Crosspoint to work with the women going through the same thing she went through.

“Not only did she get what she got out of the program, but now, Tiffany, in her new role working at our Women’s Wellness Center, can help other women who also have experienced trauma, mental health and substance use issues,” Crosspoint President and CEO Dr. Kevin Downey said.

Harper said she is excited to be helping these mothers.

“I’m living proof. They could see, like, ‘Hey, she was homeless. She lived in Crosspoint. Now look at her. She works here. She has her so,’” Harper said. “I think that’s a big thing for people in recovery. You always think, ‘Oh, I can’t do it.’ But when you see other people that have done it, it’s like, ‘Hey, if they can do it, I can do it for sure.’”

more@KSAT

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

Where there’s smoke, there’s money – 

Dec. 23, 2020 – Feinstein’s bill amends the Jenkins Act of 1949, which requires that vendors who sell cigarettes to customers in other states register with the tax administrators in those states and notify them of all such sales so they can collect the taxes that the buyers are officially obligated to pay. In 2002, the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) found that online cigarette sellers routinely flouted the Jenkins Act and that the federal government had done virtually nothing to enforce it. Nine years later, Congress amended the law, beefing up its reporting requirements and extending it to cover roll-your-own tobacco. The Feinstein bill further expands the Jenkins Act, redefining cigarette to include “electronic nicotine delivery systems,” which are not cigarettes. It also counterintuitively defines electronic nicotine delivery system to include products that do not deliver nicotine: “any electronic device that, through an aerosolized solution, delivers nicotine, flavor, or any other substance to the user inhaling from the device” (emphasis added). That category includes e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, e-cigars, electronic pipes, vape pens, and refillable vaporizers, plus “any component, liquid, part, or accessory” used with those devices, whether shipped together with them or sold separately.

more@Reason

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

The most horrible time… –  

Dec. 23, 2020 – “Many people who are using substances, they may be hanging by a thread as is,” said Dr. Tom Jeanne, deputy health officer with the Oregon Health Authority. “Throw in a pandemic and all the disruptions, access to housing, access to health care and mental health services, stress from losing jobs and social isolation, all of those things just compound the already significant stressors that many of these people are facing. “The COVID crisis also interrupted ways people with substance use disorder can get help, such as mental health services, 12-step programs and ambulatory visits.”

The Oregon Health Authority is reporting a 63%t spike in drug overdose deaths during the second quarter of 2020. The deaths appear to have peaked in May and then returned to near-monthly averages in June and July. Death figures for more recent months have yet to be updated, but early data indicates a worrisome increase in November.

While most Oregon deaths from overdoses involve opioids, troubling contributors include methamphetamines and the synthetic opioid, fentanyl.

The state said it is taking several steps to try to reduce overdose deaths. For example, the state is distributing the overdose prevention drug naloxone. It’s using real-time overdose surveillance data to mount immediate responses to sudden increases in deaths. And it’s providing methadone to patients through opioid treatment providers and it’s using people who’ve recovered from drug addiction to mentor those currently using drugs.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

LISTEN – There is a way out… – 

Dec. 24, 2020 – As the sun rose in the sky, the gathered mob once again settled into respective groups. Barefoot kids peppered the paddock playing backyard cricket. The bar table was filled with dads talking about the drought and calling over to the other Dads nearby flipping sausages, clutching beers and laughing heartily across the gap.

Mums, grandmothers, expecting mums and all the little kids sat huddled and clumped under the shade of the trees.

It suddenly imprinted on my soul that everyone looked entirely comfortable and at home in their environment, like they belonged. And that I may as well have had scales — so out of place did I feel. 

I found myself mentally detaching and shrinking away from the crowd in my own mind.

The peripheral noises grew dim and the constant nagging reminder that I was an outcast sat like a stone in my chest. This feeling I’d been shadowed by since I was a kid at boarding school was as familiar to me as a missing limb. I suppose, over time, I’d grown used to it. But it never stopped being heartbreaking to realise that no matter what I did or didn’t do — or could not do (such as have my own kids) — it just ached endlessly.

For whatever reason, at some point, that day it was too much.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – Not to mention DUI’s –  

Dec. 25, 2020 – Perhaps one of the most known effects of drinking in excess is damage to the liver. The liver is responsible for breaking down and removing harmful substances and toxins from your body. However, regularly drinking alcohol (and a lot of it) can disrupt this all-important process, and it can also increase your risk of chronic liver inflammation and liver disease.

Liver disease can lead to toxins and waste building up in your body, which can be life-threatening.

Bottom line, you can drink alcohol if you want, just do so in moderation so you can dodge poor health outcomes. For more, be sure to read What Happens To Your Body When You Give Up Alcohol.

more@EatThis

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

And the children shall lead us… – 

Dec. 3, 2020 –

GR: My pop-culture news is actually MIT Tech Review. I read it constantly. I think that’s really where inspiration strikes: hearing about all these amazing people at schools like MIT and Harvard who are doing such amazing work with technology. And I try to connect it back to what I see out there and put it together in a way that no one’s seen before.

AJ: When you’re not doing all of these amazing things—because I feel like I’m speaking to a 60-year-old scientist in ­Geneva—what do you do that’s just a 15-year-old thing?

GR: Actually I spend more time doing 15-year-old things during quarantine. I bake an ungodly amount. It’s not good, but it’s baking. And, like, it’s science too.

AJ: So the science of the kitchen is not your specialty?

GR: I guess not, no. To be fair, most of the time we don’t have eggs at home, or like flour, so I have to like go online and search eggless, flourless, sugarless cookies, and then I try to make that. I made bread recently and it was good, so I’m proud of myself.

more@Time

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – A reason to believe –  

Dec. 29, 2020 – After moving to Los Angeles in 1965, he met actress Susan Yardley Morss (known professionally as Susan Yardley), and moved back to New York with her. He signed to the Verve Forecast label, and produced his first authorized album, Tim Hardin 1 in 1966 which contained “Reason To Believe” and the ballad “Misty Roses”, which received Top 40 radio play.

Tim Hardin 2 was released in 1967; it contained “If I Were a Carpenter”. A British tour was cut short after Hardin contracted pleurisy.

An album entitled This is Tim Hardin, featuring covers of “House of the Rising Sun”, Fred Neil’s “Blues on the Ceiling” and Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man”, among others, appeared in 1967, on the Atco label. The liner notes indicate that the songs were recorded in 1963–1964, well prior to the release of Tim Hardin 1. In 1968, Verve released Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, a collection of live recordings along with re-makes of previous songs. It was followed by Tim Hardin 4, another collection of blues-influenced tracks believed to date from the same period as This is Tim Hardin. In September 1968 he and Van Morrison shared a bill at the Cafe au Go Go, at which each performed an acoustic set.

In 1969, Hardin again signed with Columbia and had one of his few commercial successes, as a non-LP single of Bobby Darin’s “Simple Song of Freedom” reached the US Top 50. Hardin did not tour in support of this single—his heroin use and stage fright made his live performances erratic.

Also in 1969 he appeared at the Woodstock Festival, where he sang “If I Were a Carpenter” solo and played a set of his music while backed by a full band. None of his performances were included in the documentary film or the original soundtrack album. His performance of “If I Were a Carpenter” was included on the 1994 box-set Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music.

more@Wikipedia

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

One round at a time… – 

Dec. 27, 2020 – The incredible thing was he was coming up as an excellent MMA prospect at the same time. From 2011 to 2015, Gordon won the first nine fights of his MMA career before suffering his first career loss to Jeff Lentz. In the Lentz fight, Gordon suffered an eye injury that led him to once again being hooked on pain meds. Not long after suffering the first loss of his professional MMA career, Gordon suffered his third overdose, and that was what made him decided to finally get clean from drugs. He entered rehab after and has been sober for five years since. After winning three more fights after getting clean, the UFC signed him.

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