Archive for October, 2006

Listed by most recent articles first.

• Committed Boyfriend World, to Match.com Land, to Single and Happy
  Somehow, I became the girl who almost always had a boyfriend. They weren’t always the greatest boyfriends, and I wasn’t always happy with the one I had at the time, but I was just ...
• Like Parent, Like Child: The Enduring Influence of Family
  Parents remain our touchstones even after death. They are both missing and present. So when I succeeded, I would glance sideways and see a snapshot of how my father handled success: with wry pleasure and ...
• Can Acne Drugs Cause Depression?
  A widely-used drug for severe acne can lead to depressive behavior in mice, according to researchers from Bath University, U.K. and the University of Texas at Austin. Researchers monitored mice injected with isotretinoin — sold ...
• Too Many Cats: A Call for Compassion
  From my files: When the Board of Health went into the home, they discovered 38 cats and three dogs living in squalor with an elderly brother and sister. Feces and urine covered the floor. Most of ...
• Finding the Right Alcohol Treatment
  It is possible to make changes before you become dependent on alcohol. Many people change their relationship with alcohol before it is too late. A variety of health and treatment professionals can help people who want ...
• The Dangers of Drinking on Campus
  Drinking and college go together like "love and marriage"—right? Wrong! Just as the love-marriage connection has increased in complexity over the years, so too has the drinking-college connection. Certainly, we have come a long way from ...
• Relapse Prevention
  Once you have made a change, how do you maintain it? What is the difference between a lapse and a relapse? How can you recognize when a relapse is likely? A lifestyle change is not easy ...
• Sobering Up: Recovery from Addiction
  What does it mean to be addicted? How do you get "clean" and sober? Is it possible to reduce cravings? Addiction and Habituation You are physically dependent upon alcohol or drugs when: you need the substance to reduce ...
• Lifting the Right Stones: Surviving Addiction in a Loved One
  Researchers estimate that substance abuse in the United States costs business and industry over $100 billion each year and that governments will soon be spending over $100 million every day to incarcerate individuals arrested for ...
• A Tale of Two Diseases
  In early 2000, Darryl Strawberry once again pleaded “no contest” to charges of cocaine possession and that, this time, he was suspended from baseball for one full year came as a surprise and disappointment to ...
• Are You a Responsible Drinker?
  While alcohol use is accepted in our society, it is critical for each of us to achieve a responsible approach to social drinking. This approach can best be achieved through several methods. These include: Thinking about ...
• An Introduction to Alcoholism
  What is alcoholism? According to the American Medical Association, "alcoholism is an illness characterized by significant impairment that is directly associated with persistent and excessive use of alcohol. Impairment may involve physiological, psychological or social ...
• Treatment of Alcoholism
  To understand treatment and make the right treatment choices, it helps to have an overview. Treatment is often seen as having four general phases: Getting started (assessment and evaluation of disease symptoms and accompanying life problems, ...
• Symptoms of Alcoholism
  DSM-IV Criteria for Alcohol Dependence A maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three (or more) of the following, occurring at any time in the same 12-month period: ...
• Stages of Change
  Almost 20 years ago, two well-known alcoholism researchers, Carlo C. DiClemente and J. O. Prochaska, introduced a five-stage model of change to help professionals understand their clients with addiction problems and motivate them to change. ...
• A Parent’s Guide to Spring Break
  Parents: If the words "spring break" bring to mind scenes of Gidget and Moondoggie waxing up their surfboards, then it's time for a reality check. If "spring break" conjures up images of days and nights ...
• My Parent Has a Problem with Alcohol
  If you are the child of an alcoholic, you are suffering from this disease as well. More than likely you have lived with the pain of a broken family that is full of secrets and ...
• Frequently Asked Questions about Alcoholism
  Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about alcoholism, and their answers. How can I have a drinking problem if I can hold my liquor? Anyone who drinks too much liquor in too short ...
• How to Help When Someone You Love Is Fifty and Out of Work
  It's a familiar story in my practice these days. In the past year, I've seen perhaps a dozen couples in which the husband has been laid off after 15 to 20 years with the same ...
• Dealing with Denial in Alcoholism
  Denial is a characteristic distortion in thinking experienced by people with alcoholism. For decades, people who treat alcoholics, and recovering alcoholics themselves, have puzzled over why alcoholics continue to drink when the link between alcohol ...
• Children of Alcoholics
  More than 28 million Americans have seen at least one parent suffer alcohol's serious adverse effects, leading to serious family problems. More than 78 million Americans, or 43 percent of the adult population, has been ...
• My Child Has a Problem with Alcohol
  Children see drinking all around them—at home, in restaurants, at family celebrations and on television—and they are naturally curious about alcohol and the way it affects people. You should always answer your child's questions honestly, ...
• Writing about Trauma Can Produce Health Benefits
  It's well established that talking about traumatic incidents with a therapist, supportive family or friends can be therapeutic, producing improvements in psychological and physical health. People who open up about traumatic events they have experienced ...
• Symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder
  Exactly when a short attention span or a high energy level becomes a psychiatric disorder is often debated. And ADHD symptoms may not be consistent. A student may remember to bring home school assignments one ...
• Treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder
  ADHD can take quite a toll. It is tough for the individual who must cope with daily frustrations. It is rough on family members whose lives are regularly disrupted by outbursts, temper tantrums or other ...