Substance dependence

The Secret To Releasing Any Addiction

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“Not everything that is faced can be changed, yet nothing can be changed until it is faced.” ~ James Baldwin

The Secret To Releasing Any AddictionJafree Ozwald – Life is meant to be filled with challenges, which are simply opportunities in disguise. This is the cosmic set up which causes everyone to evolve and grow. The real battles you are here to fight are not outside your body with another person, organization or country. This is old school, and how the Neanderthal mind thinks.

The evolved being is a deeply responsible and sensitive creature, who knows the real war is fought and won within themselves, wherever their own personal inner conflict resides. Once you find this true sustainable inner peace that remains regardless of the situation or circumstances you’re given, then you’ve found something that will allow you to truly master this world. Continue reading →

The 10 Most Addictive Substances: Guess Which is Not on the List?

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marijuana
Opium

There are so many addictive substances in our society that we humans love to portray as evil. We label them as such because of our tendencies and repetition towards anything that is considered to have negative consequences. We are never to be accountable for our actions or behavior–it’s always the drug or plant that is responsible and at fault for all our problems. Out of all the addictive substances we love to demonize, guess which one is rarely if ever a type of substance dependent drug?

In the mental health profession’s “bible,” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a diagnosis of cannabis dependence (a type of substance dependence) requires a person to meet a specific set of criteria. Continue reading →

Food Addiction And The Obesity Epidemic

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Wake Up World  February 19 2014

Have you ever heard someone describe a certain food as addictive? Of course you have. Certainly when we eat specific foods, it feels like we can’t seem to get enough. And we also have a tendency to turn to those foods for emotional comfort.

We also understand that binge eating is considered an eating disorder – it is categorized as a mental-emotional disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). However, the bigger question is whether binge eating is addictive? And is food addiction contributing to the obesity epidemic?

Food addiction is real

According to Dr. S. Dickson, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying the uncontrolled intake of food and the development of obesity. She remarked that “brain reward pathways that are involved in alcohol and drug addiction are also essential elements of the ghrelin responsive circuit. And ghrelin has been shown to both signal hunger and increase food intake”.

Ghrelin is a hormone secreted by the stomach and pancreas which stimulates areas of the brain responsible for hunger – and it might be responsible for food addiction, making some people more prone to obesity.

Dr. Dickson also added, “based on these and other recent findings, could obesity be a food addiction? A subgroup of obese patients indeed show ‘addictive-like’ properties with regard to overeating…. but this does not automatically mean they are addicted”.

“We don’t completely understand why certain vulnerable individuals become addicted, transferring something rewarding to becoming addicted to it,” she noted. “For now, we need to ask: in our modern environment where food is so plentiful, has food no longer become our friend when it is something we can become addicted to?”

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Prescription Drugs Are More Dangerous Than Street Drugs Like Heroin

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IntelliHub  February 10 2014

drugAbusePrescription opioids are killing Americans at more than five times the rate that heroin is, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prescription painkillers are among the most abused narcotics in the United States.  These drugs are just as addictive and harmful as the hardest street drugs, but because they are legal and prescribed by doctors they are greatly underestimated by our society.  This is what makes these drugs so dangerous, since they are socially acceptable many people ignore or overlook their addiction until it becomes a serious problem.

In most cases when someone finally faces their problem they go right back to the doctor that got them hooked on the drugs in the first place to ask for help.  At that point they are usually just given different drugs, instead of a real solution.  This is seen in the popular but ineffective methadone and suboxone programs, which are responsible for keeping millions of addicts dependent on synthetic drugs.

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