Depression is a state of low moods and aversion to activity.  It is a medical condition that can affect anyone of any age, ethnic background, gender, or status.  Depression sometimes goes unrecognized but can be very serious.

There are many symptoms to all of kinds of depression such as sadness, anxiousness, empty moods, feelings of hopelessness, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, loss of interest in things that one may have enjoyed before such as sports or hobbies, difficulties with concentration or memory, hard time with making decisions, loss of sleep, thoughts of suicide, and physical symptoms such as headaches or digestive disorders.

Depression is common in both men and women.  Most men are willing to report fatigue, loss of interests, and sleep disturbances.  In some cases they may not be as willing to report feelings of guilt, sadness, and worthlessness.  For women, depression is actually quite common and may affect their social life, family life, career, self-worth and purpose.  Women with depression may also struggle with weight and appetite changes.

If you or a loved one is suffering from depression and would like to discuss treatment options, please call out hotline at 800-370-9520.

1. Invite God to help you.  There is no force or being that can be there to support and help you more than God.
2. Make a plan.  Know what your triggers are and how to stay away from them.  Stay connected with others who can support you.  It does not have to be your close friend or a partner. Your sponsor, your counselor, therapist or someone who has had a few years of sobriety can also be quite helpful.  Complete and carry a list of phone numbers for people who can support you in case of an emergency.
3. Plan on attending or having a clean and sober gathering.  Doing this will help give you more control over potential triggers.
4. Go to “Meetings”, spending time with people who are going through the same thing will help to motivate you.  Also, many meeting locations hold clean and sober celebrations during the holiday season.
5. Avoid going to parties or places where drugs or alcohol will be present.  If you are unsure, have a plan so that you can leave if there is a problem.
6. Avoid spending time with those people you know are going to be drunk or high.
7. Practice refusing an offer of drugs or alcohol.  Stay strong!
8. Imagine what your ideal Holiday would look like.
9. Focus on the things you are grateful for.
10. Celebrate Life

The holidays can be a time of great joy and celebration, or a time of great pain, sorrow and depression. These can be particularly dangerous times for people who are in recovery, especially those in early recovery.  If you or a loved one would like help with an addiction or need someone to talk to during this holiday season please call our addiction hotline at 800-370-9520.

When everyday pressures become too much to handle and life becomes too overwhelming, a person may turn to injuring themselves as a way to cope and find relief.  Cutting, burning, scratching, skin-picking, hair-pulling, hitting, and other purposeful injuries to oneself are all ways that some people attempt to distract from or diminish the emotional pain they feel in their lives.

The physical harm a person causes themselves can also be their effort at having some type of control over their body, or they may be trying to punish themselves for some traumatic event for which they hold the blame.  It is their way of releasing the pent up emotions that they don’t know how to release in any other way.  A person who is purposely hurting themselves may go overboard on the injury, and cause too much damage or release too much blood, and the results may be cause for hospitalization, or even death.

For the most part, however, those inflicting harm to themselves will try to keep their injuries a secret, so it may be harder to discover and identify their injuries at all.  A person with unexplained cuts, bruises, or burns, generally on their wrists, arms, thighs, or chest may try to cover their injuries up or try to explain them as clumsiness or accidents.

Self-harm is a companion to depression, eating disorders and addictions.  Most people inflicting injury to themselves will be having severe mood alterations, as well as rapid weight gain or loss.   If you recognize any of these signs for a loved one or yourself, get help now.

Breathing is something that all creatures on earth do.  It is an instinct that we rarely think about.  If one cannot breathe, one cannot live.  Yet, many people knowingly disrupt this most important bodily function.

Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. Due to the euphoric feelings that result when an addictive drug is present ,  as well as the negative feelings that come with its absence, breaking an addiction to tobacco is extremely difficult.  Nicotine addiction is shown statistically to be one of the hardest addictions to break.

When a person smokes even a single cigarette, over 4,000 chemicals are emitted into their body, including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar.  The nicotine and carbon monoxide enter the blood stream and are carried throughout the body in that manner, while the tar is carried straight into the lungs.

Tar causes the lungs and airways to become swollen and inflamed, resulting in labored and reduced air flow.  The cilia (the lung’s filtering hairs) slow down, and mucus increases, this causes coughing and irritation.  With the cilia unable to properly to their job, the body’s immune system deteriorates, causing the chances for pneumonia and bronchitis to be drastically increased.  In addition, the tar will slowly cause the lung tissue to rot and disintegrate, enabling many incurable diseases such as emphysema or lung cancer to form.

The more one continues to smoke and take in the toxic chemicals that a cigarette contains, the more one puts themselves at risk for destroying and losing their breathing organs, the lungs, which are so essential to life.

Please call our addiction hotline at 800-370-9520 or contact us if you have any questions regarding tobacco or any other drug addiction.

In America alone, there are an estimated 17.5 million people who are affected by some form of depression.  Depression isn’t uncommon, but it is painful and damaging.  As scientists research better treatments, they also endeavor to discover more of the causes of this wide-spread, devastating illness.

Depression can be caused by a broad range of factors, including biochemical deficiencies, genetics, serious illnesses, traumatic events, and more.  In the brain, there are chemicals called neurotransmitters.  An abnormality in these neurotransmitters creates a hormone imbalance that can result in depression.  Some forms of depression are also genetic and tend to be hereditary in some families, while statistics show that people with certain personality traits, such as pessimism, low self-esteem, overdependence on others, and excessive worriers, are more likely to be depressed.  In some cases, medical conditions may trigger depression, especially if they are long-term illnesses.  Traumatic events, such as sexual or emotional abuse, death or loss, major events, personal conflicts, and other personal events can also cause depression in one’s life.  Medications taken for other illnesses have been known to cause depression, as well as all forms of substance abuse.  Although there are many ways one can develop depression, it is in no way an absolute result of any of these factors.

If you feel depressed, or see a loved one suffering the symptoms of depression, contact us or call our 24 hour hotline at 1-800-370-9520.

Tolerance and Physical Dependence:

Continued exposure to drug and alcohol abuse induces adaptive changes in an individual’s brain cells and neural functioning. The changes vary depending on the drug of abuse and are not completely understood. The term “neuroadaptation” is often used to refer to these changes. One result of neuroadaptation is drug tolerance; that is, increasing the amounts of the drug that are required to produce the same effect. A second consequence of neuroadaptation is physical dependence; the brain cells require the drug in order to function.

Drug Withdrawal:

Sudden removal of alcohol or drugs of abuse from the system of a person who is physically dependent produces either an abstinence or withdrawal syndrome. The abstinence syndrome for each drug follows a predictable time course and has predictable signs and symptoms. The signs and symptoms of drug withdrawal are usually the reverse of the direct pharmacological effects of the drug. Heroin use commonly produces elevation of mood (euphoria), a decrease in anxiety, insensitivity to pain (analgesia), and a decrease in the activity of the large intestine, often causing constipation. Heroin withdrawal, on the other hand, produces an unpleasant mood (dysphoria), pain, anxiety, and over activity of the large intestine, often resulting in diarrhea. Alcohol usually reduces anxiety and causes sedation; large quantities may produce sleep, coma, or even death by respiratory depression. In a person who is physically dependent, cessation of alcohol use produces anxiety, insomnia, hallucinations, and seizures.

The signs and symptoms of drug withdrawal are usually the reverse of the direct pharmacological effects of the drug. For short-acting drugs such as alcohol and heroin, the most severe signs and symptoms of withdrawal usually begin within hours of the individual’s last use. With a long-acting drug or medication, such as diazepam (Valium), withdrawal symptoms may not begin for several days and usually reach peak intensity after 5 to 10 days. The most severe drug-withdrawal symptoms, during the initial stages of detoxification, constitute the acute withdrawal syndrome.

The Role of Detoxification in Substance Abuse Treatment:

Detoxification is one component of a comprehensive addiction treatment strategy. For many drug-dependent clients, detoxification is the beginning phase of treatment. It can entail more than a period of physical readjustment. It can also be a time when clients begin to make the psychological readjustments and choices necessary for ongoing treatment. Offering detoxification alone, without follow up to an appropriate level of care, is an inadequate use of limited resources and clinically ineffective. People who have severe problems that predate their drug dependence or addiction such as family disintegration, lack of job skills, illiteracy, or psychiatric disorders may continue to have these problems after detoxification unless specific services are available to help them deal with these issues.

Immediate Goals of Detoxification:

• To provide a safe withdrawal from the drug(s) of dependence and enable the client to become drug free
• To provide withdrawal that is humane and protects the client’s dignity
• To prepare the client for ongoing treatment of his or her drug dependence

Many risks are associated with withdrawal, some influenced by the setting. For persons who are severely dependent on alcohol, abrupt, unsupervised cessation of drinking may result in delirium tremens or death. Other sedative-hypnotics may produce life-threatening withdrawal syndromes. Withdrawal from opioids produces severe discomfort, but is not generally life threatening. However, risks to the client and society are not limited to the severity of the client’s physical problems, particularly when the detoxification is conducted in an outpatient setting.

Outpatient clients experiencing withdrawal symptoms may self-medicate with street drugs. The resulting interaction between prescribed medication and street drugs may result in an overdose. Less severe side effects include sedation or a drop in blood pressure. It is imperative that detoxification be provided, regardless of the setting, with medical/physical safety as a paramount issue.

A caring staff, a supportive environment, sensitivity to cultural issues, confidentiality, and the selection of appropriate detoxification medication (if needed) are all important to providing humane withdrawal.

During detoxification, clients may form therapeutic relationships with treatment staff or other clients, and may become aware of alternatives to a drug abusing lifestyle. Detoxification is an opportunity to offer clients information and to motivate them for longer term treatment. They may be more amenable to seeking further help because they are in a crisis, providing a window of opportunity to acknowledge substance abuse problem and seek treatment. Research also shows that detox is often followed by a reduction in drug use and a desire to seek treatment. An ongoing goal of detox services is to foster and maintain abstinence.

Length of Detoxification:

Because detoxification often entails a more intensive level of care than other types of substance abuse treatment, there is a practical value in defining a period during which a person is “in detoxification.” There is no simple way to do this. Usually, the detoxification period is defined as the period during which the patient receives detoxification medications.

Another way of defining the detoxification period is by measuring the duration of withdrawal signs or symptoms. However, the duration of these symptoms may be difficult to determine in a correctly medicated patient because symptoms of withdrawal are largely suppressed by the medication.

Repeated Detoxification:

Those not familiar with the chronic nature of addictive disorders often characterize detoxification programs as ‘revolving doors’ through which patients come and go in an endless cycle, and which have little or no impact on the recovery process. Although it is true that many people undergo detoxification more than once, and some do so many times, the assumption that little or no progress has been made is often false. (Alling, F. A. Detoxification and treatment of acute sequelae. Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, J. Lowinson, P. Ruiz, R. B. Millman, J. G. Langood, 1992). Alling described a pattern in individuals who return for several detoxification episodes, observing that young people with a history of drug dependence of short duration (a year or less) “often are unrealistically optimistic about being able to remain drug free following detoxification.” When recently drug dependent persons return after several months for repeat detoxification, it is usually with a more realistic expectation about what is needed to remain free from alcohol and drugs. Individuals who subsequently relapse and return for detoxification a third time may have an even clearer understanding of what is required to sustain recovery. (Alling, 1992).

During certain expected and predictable phases of recovery, addicted persons are at increased risk of relapse. However, relapse can occur at any point in recovery. Thus, relapse prevention is a legitimate area for client education, and the relapsed client is appropriate for clinical treatment. Treatment services designed precisely for this stage of the disease may facilitate the individual’s return to abstinence.

Issues in Post-detoxification Treatment:

Few addicted persons enter detoxification or seek further treatment with the idea of maintaining lifelong abstinence. They may still believe they can control their abuse of alcohol/drugs. Some persons enter detoxification and other treatment to satisfy the demands of their families, employers, or the courts. They may be motivated to seek treatment because attempts to relieve pressure through other means have proved futile. Clinicians should consider client motivation when deciding upon appropriate treatment placement.

Families suffer severe consequences from the drug abuse of their loved ones. The consequences may include obvious problems such as lost income, domestic violence, or divorce. Less obvious consequences may also occur, such as issues concerning trust and children’s mirroring maladaptive ways to deal with problems encountered in everyday living. Addiction is a family disease because of the seriousness of its effects on family members and family functioning. Just as the person who abuses drugs needs support, education, and counseling, so too does the family. It is appropriate and important for treatment providers to engage the family in treatment as early as possible, even while the individual is undergoing detoxification.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Paula Bruce

Heroin causes both psychological and physical dependence and therefore is one of the hardest addictions to overcome. With proper care, counseling and a positive attitude the heroin addict can overcome their addiction. In order for an addict to overcome his/her addiction they must first go through detoxification. It is important that a heroin addict receive treatment in a detox center to assist in easing their withdrawal symptoms in a safe and controlled environment.

Cravings for heroin can become intense during a withdrawal period. In a hospital environment medications can be used to manage withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms may include anxiety, chills, muscle aches and spasms, nausea, and sleeplessness. Once the addict has gone through detox and the physical dependence is eliminated the treatment for the psychological recovery can begin.

Because heroin is such an addictive drug, heroin addicts relapse more often than any other addict. Their treatment often takes much longer than someone who is addicted to other drugs. If you are seeking treatment for yourself or a loved one and would like more information on either detoxification or treatment for heroin addiction, please call our drug hotline at 800-370-9520.

Methamphetamine (Meth) abuse has infiltrated nearly every city in the United States. It has reached epidemic proportions in many areas nationally and globally. Methamphetamine use has taken its toll on our crime rate and justice system, welfare system, foster care, and health care industry. Methamphetamine and the highly toxic chemicals that are used to produce it affect families, neighbors, communities, innocent children, and the environment. Meth is a highly toxic and extremely addictive substance causing considerable health risks and devastating effects in the lives of Methamphetamine abusers.

Description

Methamphetamine is powerful central nervous system stimulant. It was originally known as the “Poor Man’s Cocaine” because it was less expensive than cocaine or crack and the high lasted much longer because it metabolizes slower. An intense rush is felt instantaneously when a user smokes or injects Meth. Snorting the drug takes approximately five minutes for the user to feel the effects. If the user ingests the drug, it takes up to twenty minutes to begin to feel the rush.

Most users report that initially the drug produces a feeling of euphoria, alertness, full of energy, and self-confidence. Meredith, Jaffe, Ang-Lee, and Saxon, (2005) state, “In addition to euphoria, desired effects include a heightened sense of attentiveness, increased energy, heightened curiosity, elevated interest in environmental stimuli, and, initially, hyper-sexuality and decreased anxiety. It brings intense feelings of pleasure due to the flood of dopamine the brain is releasing. Continued use of Methamphetamine begins to create a tolerance for the drug, meaning the use needs more and more to achieve the same effect. They begin to use larger quantities more frequently and different, more efficient ways to get it into their system such as smoking or injecting it. After prolonged use, the euphoria goes away, the user tends to become extremely agitated, and their behavior becomes extremely unpredictable.

Behaviors

Methamphetamine users have many behaviors in common. They will repeat behaviors over and over such as taking things apart and putting them back together again, and spend hours on menial tasks. They will also begin to pluck their eyebrows, pull out their hair, and pick at their skin to get at the imaginary bugs infesting them. Meredith et al, (2005) writes, “This presentation can manifest as euphoric dis-inihibition, extremely impaired judgment, grandiosity, extreme psychomotor agitation, and even bizarre stereotypes such as the repeated disassembling and reassembling of electrical objects and appliances, and formication (i.e., scratching of imagined insects perceived under skin).”
As their tolerance increases, they begin to commit crimes to support their habit. Some of these include robbery, burglary, prostitution, selling the drug, to making and producing their own in a clandestine lab, thus, the raising the crime rate, and taxing the legal system across the United States. As they cook or produce their own Methamphetamine, they are exposed to extremely toxic chemicals, putting themselves and the community in danger from exposure as well as explosions.

Ingredients in Methamphetamine

All the essentials needed to produce Meth can be found in a suitcase or a truck of a car. In fact law enforcement has even found travel Methamphetamine labs. Ingredients used might include toluene, iodine, red phosphorus (used in road flares), sodium hydroxide, lithium/sodiunra metal, hydrochloric acid, anhydrous ammonia (a fertilizer), drain cleaner, battery acid, lye, pool acid, and antifreeze. Manufacturing Methamphetamine always produces toxic waste. (Scholastic Choices, 2005) This toxic waste is dumped into community rivers, ditches, yards, and drains, exposing the public to the toxic chemicals.
It is easy to learn to cook Meth. Recipes and instructions are posted on the Internet. Lineberry and Bostwick (2006) explain the process as follows:
Using methods reminiscent of a college chemistry class, Methamphetamine “cookers” brew Methamphetamine from ingredients readily available in farm implement, hardware, and convenience stores. The most common recipes include steps that extract ephedrine from over-the-counter pseudoephedrine-containing cold preparations, create hydroiodic acid from water and iodine, and mix both products with red phosphorus. The resulting series of chemical reactions replace a hydroxyl group on the ephedrine with a hydrogen atom to yield Methamphetamine. If red phosphorus is unavailable and hypophosphoric acid must be used as a phosphorus source instead, the process is especially dangerous because of the production of highly toxic phosphine gas. A farm country variation of the phosphorus-hydroiodic acid step uses lithium found in batteries and anhydrous ammonia from fertilizer tanks.

Methamphetamine is sold on the street under several different names

These include: Blue Meth, Chalk, Chickenfeed, Cinnamon, Crank, Crink, Crystal, Crystal Meth, Desocsins Geep, Glass, Granulated Orange, Hillbilly Crack, Hot Ice, Ice, Kaksonjae, L.A. Glass, Lemon Drop, Meth, Ozs, Peanut Butter, Sketch, Speed, Spoosh, Stove Top, Super Ice, Tick Tick, Trash, Wash, Working or Poor Man’s Cocaine, Yaba, Yellow Barn, and Yellow Powder, as well as many others (Lineberry & Bostwick, 2006).

Medical and Psychological Complications

Methamphetamine abuse causes psychotic behavior of otherwise normal people. This psychosis is virtually indistinguishable from full-blown paranoid schizophrenia. Symptoms include auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions or persecution, delusions of grandeur, hostility, violence, and a paranoid belief that danger is imminent (McKim, 2007). Along with the psychiatric problems, medical complications and health problems are common among Meth users.

Brain Damage

Studies have shown significant structural changes in the brain due to Methamphetamine use. One study shows the brain shrinking with chronic Meth use. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been used to look at the brains of Meth abusers and found structural changes in the limbic regions of the brain. The limbic region is responsible for feelings, emotions, and cravings. The hippocampus, responsible for memory also showed structural changes. Researchers also found fewer dopamine receptors and dopamine transporters in the brain resulting in problems with the striatum, a part of the brain associated with control of movement, attention, motivation, and reward (Neal, 2006).

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive toxic drug that is running rapid through the United States. Meth is dangerous to the abusers, causing psychological, physical, and social consequences. It is also equally dangerous to the public from toxic waste and residue exposure to injurious explosions and the health risks involved. The Meth epidemic has left its mark in communities throughout our country. It has had devastating effects on the abusers, families, community it has poisoned.

References
Lineberry, T., & Bostwick, J. (2006). Methamphetamine Abuse: A Perfect Storm of Complications. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 81(1), 77-84. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
McKim, W. (2007). Drugs and Behavior: An Introduction to Behavioral Pharmacology, Sixth Ed. Ch 11, pg 241-260.
Meredith, C., Jaffe, C., Ang-Lee, K., & Saxon, A. (2005). Implications of Chronic Methamphetamine Use: A Literature Review. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 13(3), 141-154. doi:10.1080/10673220591003605.
Neal, A. (2006). DRUG-WAR: AN AMERICAN EPIDEMIC. Saturday Evening Post, 278(1), 70-71. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

What is Addiction?

The moral stigma that people who suffer from addiction face can be devastating and shameful. It is often what keeps people from admitting they have a problem and asking for help. It still is perplexing to me that there is a perception that addiction is a choice or a moral failing. When I see someone’s life falling apart at the seams, it is hard for me to conceive that they are choosing to destroy themselves and everyone around them. That is where I have to put myself in the shoes of someone who does not have the disease of addiction and see it from their eyes.
There were several different models presented including the moral, psychological, social/cultural, spiritual, and medical models. I think they have all added to our understanding of addiction along the way. Thus far, the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model makes the most sense to me. I think the disease of addiction is multifaceted. There are several different pieces to the pie call addiction and each piece serves its part in the addiction. Therefore, it is important for us to gain an understanding of the disease of addiction by tasting every piece of the pie rather than just focusing on one.
I agree that nicotine and caffeine must be considered in the addiction equation. I feel like more treatment facilities need to take a stand and treat addiction as a whole rather than in piecemeal. When I went into treatment, I smoked a pack a day and had for several years. Because they are a non-smoking facility, I reluctantly quit smoking and I am extremely grateful for that today, as I am still clean and sober and that includes nicotine. In fact, this facility treats nicotine like any other drug and I think more of us need to make a stand and fight nicotine addiction along with the others.

Paula

Are you tired of living a meaningless existence separated from God?  Are you tired of the everyday struggles that come with a life controlled by addiction?  Are you ready to make a change?

The Ark of little Cottonwood is a dual diagnosis treatment facility that provides treatment for addiction and mental illness.

There are all kinds of addictions, from drugs to cigarettes, to alcohol, to eating disorders, and even sex.  The Ark specializes in treating individuals with all of these addictions and many more not listed here.  If you are ready to make a change and want a life that is no longer controlled by addiction, call our Drug Addiction Hotline: 800-840-8098 or contact us.