Time to Develop Alcoholism

How Long Does It Take Alcohol Dependence To Develop?

• About 1 in 7 adults who have had alcohol dependence, commonly known as alcoholism, developed it less than a year after having their first drink, according to a nationwide survey of U.S. adults aged 18 or older.
• About a quarter of people who have had alcohol dependence developed it less than 2 years after their first drink,
• about a third in less than 3 years, and
• about half in less than 5 years.

In the United States, most people have had their first drink by the time they leave high school. This fact, combined with the relatively rapid onset of dependence in many drinkers, helps to explain why alcohol dependence is found most commonly in young adults. About 1 in 9 people aged 18–24 have alcohol dependence, more than twice the proportion of any other age group.

The survey also shows that alcohol dependence occurs only rarely among drinkers who always stay within the following limits:

• for men, no more than 4 drinks on any single day and 14 per week;
• for women, no more than 3 drinks on any day and 7 per week.

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• Alcoholism in women (twelvestepfacilitation.com)
• Survey finds that many recover from alcoholism (recoveryissexy.com)
• Anti-craving Drugs (twelvestepfacilitation.com)

Nine Quick Tips to Identify Clutter

Nine Quick Tips to Identify Clutter | zen habits.

Lately, I’ve been on a clutter-clearing frenzy. For me, as for most people, outer order contributes to inner calm, and sweeping away a bunch of unloved, unused stuff has given me a huge happiness boost.

As I sifted through our possessions, I identified nine questions to ask myself when I was confronted with a questionable object. This list helped me decide what to keep and what to toss, recycle, or give away.

Nine Quick Tips to Identify Clutter | zen habits

Denial Makes the World Go Round :Recovery Is Sexy.com

Everyone is in denial about something; just try denying it and watch friends make a list.

Varieties of denial include inattention, passive acknowledgment, reframing and willful blindness.

For Sigmund Freud, denial was a defense against external realities that threaten the ego, and many psychologists today would argue that it can be a protective defense in the face of unbearable news, like a cancer or addictive diagnosis.

D - Don’t

E - Even

N – Notice

I – I

A – Am

L – Lying

In the modern vernacular, to say someone is “in denial” is to deliver a savage combination punch: one shot to the belly for the cheating or drinking or bad behavior, and another slap to the head for the cowardly self-deception of pretending it’s not a problem.

Yet recent studies from fields as diverse as psychology and anthropology suggest that the ability to look the other way, while potentially destructive, is also critically important to forming and nourishing close relationships.

The psychological tricks that people use to ignore a festering problem in their own households are the same ones that they need to live with everyday human dishonesty and betrayal, their own and others’.

And it is these highly evolved abilities, research suggests, that provide the foundation for that most disarming of all human invitations, forgiveness.

• via recoveryissexy.com

Alcohol-Related Deaths

ALCOHOL REPORTS: Indicator Report – Alcohol-Related Deaths.

Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to many different poor health outcomes. Chronic heavy drinking (defined as drinking more than two drinks a day for men and more than one drink a day for women) contributes to a variety of alcohol-related chronic diseases, including liver cirrhosis and alcohol dependence.

Episodic heavy (or binge) drinking (defined as drinking five or more drinks on a single occasion for men and four or more drinks on a single occasion for women) contributes to a variety of alcohol-related injuries, including motor vehicle crashes, poisonings, falls, homicides, and suicides.

Full story at; Alcohol-Related Deaths.

Bath Salts’ Warning

Drug Czar Issues Bath Salts‘ Warning

February 7, 2011. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issued a nationwide warning about the dangers of legal synthetic drugs often marketed as bath salts while various states moved to ban them, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The powdered stimulants — sold online, in gas stations and drug paraphernalia stores as bath salts and plant food under names like "Ivory Wave" — are said to produce highs like cocaine, ecstasy, and methamphetamines. Active ingredients include 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (known as MPDV) and mephedrone. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved them for human consumption, but they have not been banned by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said the so-called "bath salts" can cause "chest pains, increased blood pressure and heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia and delusions," according to the AP. So far this year, 251 calls have been made about them to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, compared to 236 similar calls for all of last year.

"They pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of young people and anyone who uses them," said Kerlikowske.

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill that would put the chemicals on the federal list of controlled substances, Reuters reported Jan. 31.

"These so-called bath salts contain ingredients that are nothing more than legally sanctioned narcotics, and they are being sold cheaply to all comers, with no questions asked, at store counters around the country," Schumer said. 

The European Union, Australia, Canada, Israel, as well as several states — Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, North Dakota, and West Virginia — have already banned the substances or are considering legislation to do so. 

In West Virginia, lawmakers were also moving to ban any future variations of the synthetic drugs, according to the Herald-Dispatch Jan. 31.

"We’ve tried to use generic language to cover those situations where a knowledgeable person could change the formulation on new designer drugs. As such, with the wording, that will be covered under the code as well," Delegate Don Perdue (D-Wayne) explained.

"We may not be able to burst the balloon, but we can at least push on it and deflate it a little to the point where it’s less threatening," he said.

The DEA is reviewing data on abuse of the synthetic stimulants but does not currently have plans to ban them. Spokesman Rusty Payne recommended that people avoid the drugs.

"Just because something is not illegal does not mean it’s safe," he said.

From Join Together

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My Last Cup

No longer a slave to the poker machines

For finally, I have broken their wicked spell

And each time temptation tries to lure me back

I just remember ‘my living hell.’

The tangled web of lies, ‘constant’ and ugly deceit

Sleepless nights of ‘frantic worry’

‘No food left to eat.’

The fear of opening up my mail box to find another

‘I can’t pay it bill’

Eventually they stole it all

No longer giving me ‘that thrill.’

The tormented thoughts of ‘self hatred’

Of the longing to ‘simply die’

Empty, guilt filled nights

‘No tears left to cry.’

‘Yes’, in the beginning the pokies helped me feel

‘Exhilarated, happy, content and alive’

The ‘sounds of lights, the free spins’

‘So much pleasure’ I derived.

The atmosphere ‘most welcoming’

Giving me a sense of security, comfort

I felt a ‘warmth all around’

And as the coffee, cakes and biscuits flowed

I felt ‘so safe and sound.’

The endless ‘jackpots’ and ‘giveaways’

I actually believed I had the ‘Midas touch’

But in the end I lost all sense of reality

And ‘my self, pretty much.’

And all of my old friendships

I had pushed aside ‘long ago’

I think to myself…‘if only’ I knew back then

‘What today I now know.’

I remember clearly that day

When I finally reached into ‘my last cup’

‘I looked down and saw it bare’

And I realised in that moment

‘What I needed, I would never find it there.’

Jen

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When Helping Hurts: A Lesson on Enabling

When Helping Hurts: A Lesson on Enabling.

When Helping Hurts

Helping aids progression, creates an environment of positivity, adds value to the life of another human being. Helping lifts you up, but doesn’t hold you up; it allows you to hold yourself up as best you can. Helping at its best is supportive, not controlling; strengthening, not debilitating; mobilizing, not paralyzing. When helping hurts, it is no longer helping. It is enabling.

Enabling is often disguised as helping, but it’s quite the opposite. Enabling creates a sense of powerlessness, often discouraging and de-motivating the person who needs help.