Growing Up With An Addicted Parent

I remember, as a twelve-year-old, sitting alone in our living room after one of our then-typical family meltdowns…trying to make sense of the pain and general devastation of our once very happy family…trying to understand how kind, decent and loving people could cause each other such unrelenting pain, how we… Read More

Alcohol Awareness Month: “Changing Attitudes: It’s not a rite of passage”

The National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence (NCADD) is promoting its 32nd Annual Alcohol Awareness month this April.  The theme for this year encompasses the idea of drinking as a rite of passage.  This immediately makes me think of a case that I have been following regarding a fraternity… Read More

Webinar Recap: Addiction Interaction Explained

Dr. Erica Sarr, primary therapist at Gentle Path at The Meadows, facilitated an educational webinar titled Addiction Interaction in Young Adults: Drugs, Sex & Tech for clinical professionals on August 24, 2017. Dr. Sarr, who specializes in the intersection of sexuality, mental health, and technology, touched on topics such as porn use in young adults, gaming addictions, drug abuse, and age-normative behaviors for young adults during the 45-minute presentation. Read More

Repeated Exposure to Porn in Childhood Increases Risk of Sex Addiction

By Joe Turner In a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on the internet, exposure to the explicit sexual content lurking in its dark corner is inevitable. The fact that we have a world of information at our fingertips is as harmful as it is useful, especially to curious youngsters who are just beginning to become aware of their sexuality. Read More

U.S. Surgeon General Issues a Call to Action on Addiction

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s release of Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health at yesterday’s Facing Addiction Summit was an unprecedented moment in our country’s fight against addiction and substance misuse. It is the first time in history that a U.S. surgeon general has issued a report focused on drug and alcohol addiction. The report comes at a time when more and more Americans are struggling with the effects of addiction to opioids and heroin. One person dies every 19 minutes from an opioid or heroin overdose. And, the statistics related to other addictions are no less grim. One in seven people in the United States will face a substance misuse disorder, and only 10 percent will get the treatment they need to overcome it. Read More

Marijuana Addiction is No Joke

Can a person really become addicted to marijuana? You never hear of any dying from daily pot use. You certainly don’t hear about it in the same way you hear about deaths and other tragedies caused by alcohol and other “harder” drugs. And, there are some serious medical conditions for which marijuana is now believed to be an effective treatment. Additionally, the movement to legalize marijuana seems to be growing—25 states have legalized medical marijuana, while four states plus Washington, D.C. have gone even further and legalized recreational use of pot. So, what’s the big deal? Read More

Addiction and Eating Disorders Often Linked in Young Adults

In a recently published Recovery Campus magazine article, Remuda Ranch at The Meadows Senior Fellow Jessica Setnick takes a closer look at the Collegiate Recovery Community (CRC) eating disorder program at Texas Tech University. It is one of the first communities of its kind to recognize the need for eating disorder support services among students who are also struggling with drug or alcohol addiction. Read More

The Downward Spiral of Self-Harm and Drug Abuse

When a person has no healthy outlet for emotions like anger, frustration, self-hatred and sadness, he or she may turn to acts of self-harm as a way of expressing and dealing with distress. Self-harm, also known as self-mutilation or non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), is a type of self-inflicted bodily injury that causes pain, bruising, or bleeding. Cutting is the most common form of self-harm, but hair pulling, biting, burning, head-butting, hitting, carving, scratching, skin picking, poisoning, and intentional interference with wound healing are also typical. Read More

Video Game Addiction Can Signal Larger Problems

Do you or someone you know play a lot of video games? Probably! The Pew Research Center says that “Two-thirds of those aged 18 to 29 say they play video games, and 22 percent say the term “gamer” describes them well. But how much gaming is too much? Video games, like most things in life, should be consumed in moderation. Even the bravest heroes must take a break now and then from saving Azeroth, or adventuring through the land of Skyrim. Read More

August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day

Drug overdose is now the leading cause of deaths from injury in the United States. According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention deaths caused by drug overdose are on the rise. Deaths of women who overdosed on benzodiazepines have risen a staggering 640 percent over the last 12 years, while deaths for both men and women from prescription drug overdose have risen 340 percent. Read More