Are You an Addict?

teenager-drug addicts
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There are a lot of different ways to tell if a person is addicted. Usually, however, we can mentally disconnect ourselves from that particular type of identification. It is in our nature to think that we are in some way “different” or “better” than all of “those people” who would be in any given type or class. It is often the case when you speak with someone about a problem that you have to make exceptions for them. “Oh, no! You don’t breathe air! it’s just ‘those people’ who do deviant things like that!” And it really is pretty ridiculous, when a person does not have sufficient self knowledge (or humility) to know (or admit to) having what could be called a problem.

Granted, if you are one of the people in this world who just loves to argue, we are all addicts. Every last one of us is an addict of some kind. If you are breathing, you are most likely addicted to doing so – and if you are not, you have the freedom to quit at any time that you desire… and you will soon be addicted to rotting. We are all addicted to eating food and drinking water. So in a sense, yes, you are most definitely an addict.

But what about the kind of addiction that most people think of? How do you know you are an addict in the sense of “it’s a bad thing to be addicted to this?” The simple litmus test that you need to run your addiction through is, “Does this hurt my life?” If the answer involves a yes, you are most likely addicted to something generally harmful. But perhaps you can rephrase the question to, “Would my life be better without this thing in it?” If that is a yes, then you have your answer.

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Women’s Rehab Is Help for Feeling Helpless

'A pain stabbed my heart as it did every time ...
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A woman who is dealing with substance abuse is also dealing with a certain amount of shame and embarrassment. Often they keep their addictions a secret and begin to cut themselves off from their friends and family. This becomes a self perpetuating cycle of addictive behavior as the woman seeks to ease her emotional pain through even more substance abuse. As anyone who has been through recovery will tell them, you’re never going to find any answers with a bottle or a pill. Women’s Rehab is designed specifically by women and for women to help them cope with the same level of struggles we all have to cope with in our daily lives.

A person going through a recovery process is in a very fragile state. If they have asked for help it’s time to provide them with a safe place to get that help. They will be confronting a lot of deep and potentially painful emotional issues as they learn to cope with their addictions. As a result, the space they need to find themselves in needs to be equal parts challenging and nurturing. At a women’s rehab, the patients know they can share their troubles without facing any ridicule or scorn. It is essential for the recovery process that women be allowed to openly express themselves. Sometimes that can only be accomplished when surrounded by other caring women.

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it also takes a village to help the mother of that child get better when she stumbles. Womens rehab is structured around the individual needs of the female addict who is desperate to take back her life. Great strength can be found in a circle of caring women. When you know you’re safe, the healing can truly begin.

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Prescription Drug Abuse on the Rise (Drugs Rx)

Prescription medication (or drugs Rx) is generally used correctly and by the people who have been prescribed those drugs. However, statistics show that approximately 20 percent of people in America have used prescription drugs for reasons other than the conditions for which they were prescribed. This is considered abuse of prescription drugs. And it is a growing trend that is dangerous.

This could be the young woman who takes her brother’s ADHD medication as an appetite suppressant or the young man who finds painkillers prescribed to his father after a surgical procedure. Both assume that because these drugs were prescribed they must be safe. There’s also the assumption that because they are prescription drugs there’s no risk of addiction. However, there’s a very high risk of addiction especially with narcotic painkillers, stimulants, sedatives, and tranquilizers.

Additionally, some people experiment with these prescription drugs thinking it’s fun, they will help them lose weight, or they will help them to be accepted by their peers. And these drugs can be easier to obtain than illegal street drugs. These drugs can be obtained from friends and family. There are also many illicit websites that will sell these drugs online, even to youngsters.

Unfortunately many people who abuse these drugs ignore the fact that they are placing themselves in danger. These drugs are only safe for those for whom the prescription was written because a doctor examined that person and gave him or her the correct dosage for his or her specific condition. Doctors also usually monitor the patients for potential side effects and other complications.

While overdosing on drugs is a major risk, the chemicals and compounds in the prescription drugs can interact badly when taken in combination with other substances. Pharmacists and physicians can monitor any possible dangerous interaction of drugs, and this monitor cannot happen with people who are abusing drugs not prescribed for them.

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The More Things Change…

Yokosuka, Japan (Sept. 22, 2005) – Sailo...
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. While this saying has been quoted into being a trite cliche, its truth is hidden beneath the obvious meaning. It is obvious that, new things under the Sun notwithstanding, there is very little change in this world. Life forms are actually designed to preserve homeostasis when it is possible. And whether or not this stasis is a good thing rarely matters at all to the life forms involved. After all, a past that we just barely lived through is still a past that we survived. And now that we know more about it, we could probably live better.

Consider how well you could live if you went back to high school. Maybe you were something of a non entity back in those days, where the beautiful and the socially adept either picked on you or ignored you. We can let the scholars debate which one of those is the worse fate. But consider how well you would likely do if you were able to go back to that stage of life, knowing all of the things you know today – and we are not even talking about which stocks to buy here.

The concept of change also relates to the use of drugs. How many people a hundred years ago “broke” the cocaine addiction, just by switching to morphine? And by the same token, how many alcoholics “sober up,” just to go on to do any number of different drugs instead of tipping the bottle? If the statistics were thoroughly tested, the number would most likely be higher than a mathematician would theorize. The idea of “changing” one part of life, while preserving the underlying lifestyle, is an area that is rarely talked about in the drug community. But we need to break the mindset of addiction, if we are ever to conquer it.

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