The Alcoholic, Addict Behaviors

Through out the acquisition of addiction people adopt a common set of behaviors to cope.

This is important; These behaviors are coping mechanisms not personality traits. They have emerged through drinking and drugging with a disease that changes the way they think and act. Nor did they ‘choose’ to ruin their lives.

Most alcoholics and addicts become responsible, sensitive, compassionate and honest people in recovery through the 12 Steps of their Fellowship.

Denial. Addicts often deny that there is an addiction. Denial is a way to ignore or dismiss the idea of addiction and avoid seeing a problem. Sometimes, addicts will acknowledge being addicted, but nevertheless dismiss the significance of the addiction. Cigarette smoking is a good example of an addiction that people readily acknowledge, but frequently do nothing about. They deny the reality of the addiction. Overcoming denial is always the first step in treatment of addictions.

Selfishness. Addictions make people selfish and blind them. Nothing is more important than the addiction itself. Everything is geared towards getting the dependence met, and the deeper into addiction the greater the selfishness.

Covert Behavior. Addictive behaviors eventually become a source of concern for others. Consequently, in order to meet the needs of the addiction, addicts often hide their behaviors from others. Addicts are often sneaky, running the gamut from hidden drug use and illicit sex, to drinkers who hide their alcohol, smokers who sneak cigarettes, and people who hide their eating.

Irresponsible and Undependable. In the throes of addiction, addicts must pay far more attention to the needs of their addiction than the needs of anyone or anything else. Accordingly, addicts often become unable to meet social expectations and responsibilities, whether in school, work, relationships, or social roles.

Illegal and Criminal Behaviors. Of course, many addictions are against the law in the first place. In addition, in the case of certain addictions the addict has to commit criminal acts in order to get the substance or engage in the activity. Much street, computer, and white collar crime is directed toward meeting the needs of addiction.

Dangerous and Risky Behaviors. Because of the antisocial, and sometimes illegal, nature of many addictions, addicts often have to engage in dangerous behaviors to satisfy their needs. This may mean using a dirty needle, getting street drugs, going to an unsafe part of town, interacting with dangerous people, or engaging in some other activity that is inherently dangerous in order to support the addiction. And this also means using substances like nicotine which are carcinogenic and have a major impact on respiration and the cardiovascular system, and eating in a way that paves the way for, and directly causes, multiple physical problems. These too are dangerous and risky behaviors.

These are behaviors they subconsciously improvise to grapple with their deteriorating lives.

New Alcohol Guidelines Welcomed

Nurses welcome new alcohol guidelines

The British Royal College of Nursing today (17th December 2009) welcomed the launch of new guidance for parents, children and young people on alcohol consumption, published by the Chief Medical Officer.

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the RCN, said:

“Both in A&E departments and in classrooms nurses see the devastating effects alcohol is having on young people everyday – it is damaging not just their health but also their education, development and general wellbeing. It is vital that adults and children understand the serious short and long-term harm that alcohol can cause.

“We welcome the news that the Government is publishing guidance for parents and children on alcohol. However, we are calling on all political parties to repair the nation’s turbulent relationship with alcohol. We need stronger regulation of the labelling, sale and advertising of alcoholic drinks as well as widespread education campaigns. We simply cannot continue down a road where more and more children are being rushed to A&E as a result of binge drinking, and increasing numbers of people in their twenties are dying as a result of alcohol related illnesses.”

See; http://www.rcn.org.uk/

Teens & Alcohol Shops

Alcohol Shops Affect Teen Drinking

Alcohol outlets lead to specific problems among youth and young adults

Alcohol research has clearly demonstrated a connection between alcohol outlets and alcohol-related problems.

A new study focuses on the effects of alcohol outlets on underage youth and young adults.

Findings show that alcohol-related injuries among underage youth and young adults are shaped by the density and types of alcohol outlets in neighbourhoods.

Prior studies have not only demonstrated a clear connection between alcohol outlets and alcohol-related problems, they have also shown that certain types of outlets are associated with different types of problem outcomes. A new study shows that a particular group, underage youth and young adults, have specific problems – injury accidents, traffic crashes, and assaults that are related to specific types of alcohol outlets – off-premise outlets, bars and restaurants.

Results will be published in the March 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

“Over the past four decades, public health researchers have come to recognize that although most drinkers safely purchase and enjoy alcohol from alcohol outlets, these places are also associated with serious alcohol-related problems among young people and adults,” said Paul J. Gruenewald, senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center and corresponding author for the study.

“In the early studies, researchers believed associations were due to increased alcohol consumption related to higher alcohol outlet densities,” added Richard Scribner, D’Angelo Professor of Alcohol Research at the LSU School of Public Health. “However, as the research area has matured, the relations appear to be far more complex. It seems that alcohol outlets represent an important social institution within a neighbourhood. As a result, their effects are not limited to merely the consequences of the sale of alcohol.”

For this study, researchers obtained non-public hospital discharge data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, including residential zip code and patient age for all patients discharged. Ninety-nine percent of the injury records were successfully mapped to zip codes. Population demographics, place characteristics, and data related to alcohol outlets were also collected from various sources, and modelled in relation to two age groups: underage youth between 18 and 20 years of age, and of-age young adults 21 to 29 years of age.

“Greater numbers of off-premise outlets such as take-out establishments were associated with greater injuries from accidents, assaults, and traffic crashes for both underage and of-age young adults,” said Gruenewald. “But only among of-age young adults were greater number of restaurants related to traffic crash injuries and greater numbers of bars related to assault injuries. These findings confirm previous observations that drinking at bars may be a particular risk for aggression and alcohol-related assaults while drinking at restaurants may be a particular risk for drunken driving and alcohol-related traffic crashes. The findings also confirm prior studies that indicate underage risks are uniquely associated with off-premise establishments.”

“In other words,” said Scribner, “the pattern of alcohol-related injuries among underage youth and young adults is not random; their occurrence is shaped by the density and type of alcohol outlets in a neighbourhood. For example, when young adults reach the minimum legal drinking age, they begin legally drinking in bars where events such as bar fights are relatively common, and more likely when the density of bars increases. A little more complex is the strong association between an increasing density of off-premise outlets such as convenience stores and liquor stores, and higher rates of all injury outcomes among both underage youth and young adults. The authors indicate this association may be related to broader social factors where the concentration of these types of alcohol outlets in a neighbourhood influences the social networks of both youth and young adults by reinforcing high-risk drinking practices. Clearly this type of research can help to develop informed policy in areas where high rates of youth injuries are considered a problem.”

The key message, said both Gruenewald and Scribner, is that a neighbourhood’s alcohol environment plays a role in regulating the risks that youth and young adults will be exposed to as they mature.

“From a prevention perspective, this represents an important refocusing of priorities, away from targeting the individual to targeting the community,” said Scribner. “This is hopeful because a community-based approach that addresses the over concentration of alcohol outlets in a neighbourhood where youth injuries are a problem is relatively easy compared with interventions targeting each youth individually.”

Teen Survival Guide; Free eBook download

The Teen Survival Guide to Dating and Relating: Real-World Advice on Guys, Girls, Growing Up, and Getting Along

When my daughter became a senior in high school, I knew it wouldn’t be long before she left for college. I felt happy that she was about to start a new chapter in her life and proud of her success in getting to this point. But I also felt sad.Not only was I going to miss having my smart, funny, talkative, wildly creative daughter living at home, but I was also going to miss her wonderful friends. I wouldn’t hear what was going on in their day-to-day lives anymore, and I wouldn’t be able to help them sort things out

This book includes more than one hundred letters from teens who wrote tome for advice. (To protect the teens’ privacy, I decided not to use real names or any specific details that might identify a particular letter writer. Still, the letters and situations are absolutely real.) The letters let you find out what other teens are going through and see how their experiences are similar to your own

Maybe you’re thinking, “What makes her such an expert on relationships?”I don’t claim to be an expert (and neither does Terra!). But, just like you, I’ve had experiences that have taught me about myself and life. As a student, a teacher, a writer, a traveller, an actor, a director, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a mom, and a wife, I’ve spent years becoming comfortable with who I am and learning what it takes to get along with others. My advice is always based on what I know about healthy relationships, which are the only kind worth having.

Download the free copy of the Teen Survival Guide below.

The Teen Survival Guide to Dating and Relating: Real-World Advice on Guys, Girls, Growing Up, and Getting Along –

Addiction Inbox: Addicted to Bad Reporting

Addiction Inbox: Addicted to Bad Reporting.

How should we cover drug dependence?

Journalists usually learn it early: Drug stories are crime stories. Articles about alcoholism and assorted “hard” drug addictions are typically sourced by law enforcement, and the frequently lurid results tend to dump recreational, illegal, and prescription drugs into the same stew.

Dangers of Opioid Pain Medications

Opioid pain medications include a broad range of drugs, such as morphine, codeine and oxycodone. They are marketed under many different brand names, including Percocet®, OxyContin®, and Tylenol No.1®.

When used as directed, opioid pain medications are effective and the side effects (e.g., drowsiness, nausea, constipation, etc.) are generally manageable. However, abuse of these medications can have serious health effects and may lead to addiction.

Opioid pain medications are generally used to manage moderate to severe pain, which may be acute (e.g., short-term pain following surgery) or chronic (e.g., long-term pain associated with a medical condition, such as different types of cancers). They may also be used to control moderate to severe cough, control diarrhea, and treat addictions to other opioids, including street drugs like heroin.

Potential for Abuse and Addiction

In addition to treating pain, opioid medications can also cause euphoria (a "high"), and this makes them prone to abuse. Patients taking opioid medication for pain may or may not experience a high. However, all opioids have the potential to be addictive. Addiction refers to the compulsive use of a substance, despite its negative consequences. People with a personal or family history of substance abuse, including alcohol, may be at higher risk of addiction to opioid pain medications.

Over the past decade, abuse of and addiction to opioid pain medication has emerged as a public health issue. Abuse of these medicines can cause serious health effects for the user, including a risk of death from an overdose. Drug abuse and addiction to any substance may also cause problems at work or school, and can result in the breakdown of family relationships. In addition, drug abuse can result in financial costs to society for things like healthcare, crime, and lost productivity.

Other subjects in this article include;

• Side Effects of Opioid Pain Medications
• Other Safety Concerns
• Overdose
• Drug Interaction
• Physical Dependence / Withdrawal
• Minimizing Your Risk
• Health Canada’s Role

Need More Info?

And, visit the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and search for these resources: "Do You Know…Opioids," "Oxycontin: Straight Talk" and "Is it Safe for My Baby – Pain Medications."

Full article at; Health Canada

See also; Narcotics Anonymous

Good Parenting Can Prevent Drug Use

Research Shows Parenting Can Prevent Drug Use, Aid Brain Development.

From the founding of National Families in Action during the height of the War on Drugs to Joseph A. Califano’s book, How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid, parents and communities have been touted as the keys to preventing alcohol and other drug problems among youth, and research now shows that environmental and genetic risk factors can be trumped by parental engagement during the critical adolescent years, according to Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

"Parents are incredibly important in raising drug-free kids, but in many instances they are not there or are not involved" — absences that can have measurable effects on brain development as well as other aspects of growing up — said Volkow. For example, studies of orphans have demonstrated that the brains of children who lack connections to parents actually mature more slowly, raising the risk of drug use and other impulsive behaviors.

Half of all vulnerability to addiction can be traced to an individual’s genetic background, but that hardly means that a child’s fate is sealed if they have a family history of addiction. Rather, Volkow said that addiction is, in many ways, a developmental disorder that is intimately linked to the maturation of the brain from childhood through adolescence and into early adulthood.

Full story at; http://www.jointogether.org/news/features/2009/research-shows-parenting-can.html

Parent’s Guide to the Teen Brain

A Parent’s Guide to the Teen Brain

The Partnership for a Drug Free America has made fostering the parent-teen connection easier with the release of "A Parent’s Guide to the Teen Brain," a digital, science-based resource for parents that explains adolescent brain processes and offers tips for communicating and helping teens make good decisions.

With video, humorous interactive segments, role-playing and advice from experts, parents learn that ongoing brain development contributes to the vexing teen behaviors that confound and often put parents off – impulsiveness, rebellion, high emotions, questionable judgment and risk-taking.

The resource also includes tips to help parents establish (or re-create) the parent-teen relationship so essential to guiding teens through any one of the number of challenges they face, alcohol and drug temptations included.

http://www.drugfree.org/teenbrain

Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA)
Website: http://www.drugfreeamerica.org