Men account for about two thirds of all people who suffer from depression, but they are much less likely than women are to talk about it with friends or seek professional help. Instead, men tend to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol, engage in risky behavior, or spend all their time working. Even worse, men are… Continue Reading Why Don’t Men Talk About Depression?
The company that helped start the opioid epidemic in the US may now be able to profit from fighting the opioid epidemic too. Richard Sackler is part of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin. He was once president of the company and was involved in marketing OxyContin in the 1990s.… Continue Reading The Maker of OxyContin has Patented an Anti-addiction medication
The belief that alcohol kills brain cells is a persistent myth. Although it is a myth, it is an understandable one. A few drinks can can impair your coordination, speech, and judgment. You might wake up with a headache so bad you would swear you lost some brain cells. Alcohol’s effects on the brain are… Continue Reading Does Alcohol Kill Brain Cells?
About 72,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2017, and at least two thirds of those deaths were opioid related. The opioid crisis has been driven by overprescription of opioid painkillers over the past 30 years. Opioid manufacturers convinced doctors that pain was being undertreated and that opioid medications were non-addictive and safe for… Continue Reading New Breakthrough in Non-addictive Pain Medication
The opioid epidemic in the US continues to get worse. In 2017, the number of opioid-related deaths in the US increased by about 16 percent–an acceleration in a decades-long trend. The opioid epidemic has been driven by the excessive prescription of opioid medication starting in the mid 1990s with a marketing campaign to convince doctors… Continue Reading Can Wisdom Tooth Extraction Lead to Opioid Addiction?
In the wake of the opioid crisis, the public is becoming more aware of the dangers of drug use and addiction. However, many misconceptions about drugs still persist. This is partly because of a rapidly changing drug scene. New drugs hit the streets all the time. Marijuana has become legal in some form in much… Continue Reading 3 Persistent Myths About Drugs
A recent study suggests that brain scans may someday be able to more accurately distinguish bipolar disorder from major depression. The researchers used an MRI machine to study how patients’ brains reacted to seeing various kinds of facial expressions. They were particularly interested in the amygdala, an area of the brain–technically two areas–which is responsible… Continue Reading Brain Scans May Diagnose Bipolar Disorder
Some jobs have much higher addiction risk than others. This is something to consider if you are struggling with addiction, or you have gone through treatment and are trying to stay sober. Factors that often increase addiction risk include high stress, irregular hours, and easy access to drugs and alcohol. Many people find that in… Continue Reading Does Your Job Increase Your Risk of Addiction?
We’ve come a long way in our understanding of addiction and addiction treatment and we’re still learning more all the time. Unfortunately, many myths and misconceptions still persist. These can create all kinds of problems for people struggling with addiction and the families of those people. These myths may lead people to take unnecessary risks… Continue Reading 7 Myths About Addiction and Recovery
Needle exchange programs have been around for decades, but they have never been popular with the public. The basic idea of needle exchange programs is that IV drug users can dispose of used needles and pick up sterile needles to replace them. This is meant to reduce the spread of bloodborne diseases such as HIV… Continue Reading Do Needle Exchange Programs Work?
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