Sobriety Home – Page 19 – Sobriety Home, Recovery Lives Here

Can ADHD Drugs Boost the Rate of Addiction Recovery?

Prescribing cognitive enhancing drugs as an addiction treatment strategy may seem counter-intuitive, but leaders in recovery research are increasingly supporting its use as a valuable tool in the struggle against substance abuse.

COGNITIVE ENHANCERS AND ADDICTION TREATMENT

As addiction severely compromises cognitive abilities, it has been theorised that the administration of cognitive enhancers can significantly improve both the efficiency and success of recovery.

Drugs such as Ritalin (methylphenidate), Concerta (an extended-release form of methylphenidate) Adderall (amphetamine and dextroamphetamine), and Provigil (modafinil), are well-known cognitive enhancers used primarily to treat the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They function by stimulating the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area responsible for rationalising, exerting willpower, learning and motivation. Since this is the area of the brain that becomes compromised through substance abuse, it has been theorised that these drugs would support individuals in recovery to improve their cognitive functions, and therefore increase the rate of successful recovery.

Addiction Treatment Drug Addiction Recovery June 23, 2012 0Comments

Addiction Treatment Alcohol Addiction Recovery

Healing Touch of Animals

R.I.P. Harvey, was our resident and first pet at Sobriety Home and a “cuddly member” of our Clinical Team for four years.

It has been long believed that animals have a healing effect upon humans. In recent years, this theory has been proven true as witnessed by those that receive comfort, calmness and sense of purpose from their pets. Several facilities across the country incorporate animals into their therapeutic regimens. This is the story of one place the Gentle Barn, located in Santa Clarita, California. The facility is successful in rescuing abused animals and letting them interact with young people with emotional or physical challenges. The effect is a simultaneous start of the healing process for the both young person and the animal.

One young lady felt life was not worth living before coming to the facility. She suffered from depression as well as eating disorders; which eventually led to an attempt on her own life. Today, at 21, she is a volunteer at Gentle Barn who loves to tell her story. She is especially fond of Sophie, a goat that the facility rescued from a petting zoo. The young lady reads books to Sophie a few days each week. She says Sophie prefers to hear best sellers such as The Hunger Games. Sophie indicates her preferences by trying to eat books she doesn’t like, such as Animal Liberation. Sophie is credited with providing the hope that led to her recovery and the desire to live. She is quoted as saying that the love exchanged between she and the animal was the emotion that she felt had was missing in her life. In fact, she says that Sophie’s companionship is what has kept her alive.

Addiction Treatment Alcohol Addiction Recovery January 2, 2012 0Comments

News Recovery Medicine Research

Food for Thought: Important New Scientific Findings That May Alter Addiction

A nutritious diet of grains and vegetables speeds addiction recovery. Important New Scientific Findings:

Vegetable MicroRNA Actually Changes Our Genes! Can This Possibly Mean that it Can Help Ward off Drug and Alcohol Addiction?

Professor Chenyu Zhang, Nanjing University’s Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, set out with his team to find out whether it is our cells or it is plants that make up some of the microRNA in our bodies.

What he discovered was revolutionary, and points to the possibility that scientists may be able to make us even healthier—thanks to the micro-genetics of some plants to alter human gene expression.

Comprised of limited number (19 to 24) nucleotides, microRNA is genetic material, which as a kind of orchestral director controls the body’s genes’ “expression”—muffling or amplifying the activity of a gene.

News Recovery Medicine Research December 18, 2011 0Comments

Drug Addiction News Personal Stories Substance Abuse Recovery Neurology Medicine Alcohol Addiction Book Review

Science and Emotion and Drug Addiction Exposed: A Review of Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs by Dr. Marc Lewis

Dr. Marc Lewis’ book, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs, has only been out a few weeks and already the reviews are rolling in praising the work as a both a literary and a scientific achievement:

Ian Brown of the Globe and Mail calls it a “…picture of addiction as an unavoidable urge of human nature.” Dr. Gaber Maté, author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, notes the book is “…illuminating to experts, accessible to all.” And Dr. Evan Thompson, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, claims that “Great writers create new genres, and that’s exactly what Lewis has done.”

Lay audiences and recovering addicts alike agree. Lewis, now a developmental neuroscientist, has presented an autobiographical odyssey that first off, details the “what” and expresses the “how” of the life of an addict who started with booze as a kid and made his way through LSD and opium and heroin. Two, explains the “why” of the addicted brain on alcohol, on psychedelics and psychotropics, and on opiates.

Drug Addiction News Personal Stories Substance Abuse Recovery Neurology Medicine Alcohol Addiction Book Review December 4, 2011 0Comments

Drug Addiction Substance Abuse

Adult ADD – linked to Addiction and Substance Abuse

Among adult suffers from substance abuse disorder (SUD), adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adult ADHD or ADD) is a common diagnosis with a prevalence of 15-30%. There is mounting evidence that ADHD is an important risk factor in the development and persistence of addiction. ADHD is associated with an early onset of substance abuse, a more rapid transition into severe types of substance abuse and a problematic course of SUD, including more difficulty in reaching remission.

Data on ADHD prevalence in EU countries are scarce. A systematic prevalence study has not yet been executed. Until recently, the majority of ADHD patients would remain undiagnosed due to a lack of recognition of the disorder and lack of treatment expertise. Controlled long term studies of the effect of ADHD treatment on the prognosis of addiction are also still lacking. ICASA increases knowledge and awareness on the subject of ADHD and SUD.

Drug Addiction Substance Abuse September 16, 2010 0Comments

Drug Addiction

New Report on Canada’s War on Drugs

Report from UBC’s Urban Health Research Initiative finds that Canada’s so-called war on drugs has not stopped the supply of drugs in the streets.

According to the new report released in Ottawa last week, our war on drugs has only served to increase drug-related violence.

Authors reviewed international research and concluded that 87% of studies linked strict law enforcement with an increased “drug-market violence”.

Dr. Evan Wood, the reports co-author, said that the “gun violence that we’ve seen in B.C., as in Mexico and the U.S., appears to be directly attributable to drug prohibition.”

He explains that prohibition simply drives up the value of drugs, thus creating an extremely lucrative market.

The report, thus, concludes that drug issues should be addressed as public health issues, and not as law and order, advocating that money should be spent on health measures that have better results than costly law-enforcement that don’t actually address drug addiction.

Drug Addiction April 2, 2010 0Comments

Drug Addiction Prescription Drugs

New OxyContin Policies for Manitoba

According to an official news release from the Health Living, Youth and Seniors Minister Jim Rondeau additional safeguards for the use of OxyContin will soon be placed in Manitoba.

The province is planning “aggressive action on OxyContin misuse”.

This includes moving the prescription drug to part three of the Provincial Drug Program Formulary, which includes an education campaign and funding for training to facilitate an increase in the number of physicians with a methadone license.

The Provincial Drug Program Formulary consists of three parts, each with an increasing number of controls. Moving OxyContin to the third part means the highest level of controls on the prescribing of the drug in addition to the existing controls.

Existing controls include the Manitoba Prescribing Practices Program, which is used to monitor and control the prescription and dispensation of certain restricted drugs.

Drug Addiction Prescription Drugs March 29, 2010 0Comments

Drug Addiction

US Children are Huffing

According to a new study from the US Department of Health and Human Services, inhalants have become the drug of choice.

According to the study, using data collected from 2006-08 surveys on drug use and health, more 12-year olds admit to using inhalants to get high than prescription medications, marijuana, cocaine and hallucinogens. Alcohol, on other hand, is the only other substance used more among the age group.

Huffing is the act of inhaling vapours to get high. Children huff such common household products as gasoline, nail polish, bleach, paint solvents, and cleaning sprays making it a difficult problem to combat.

Huffing can cause cardiac arrest, lead to brain, heart, liver kidney damage, and addiction.

Drug Addiction March 22, 2010 0Comments

Addiction Treatment Cocaine

Rehabilitation for Cocaine Addiction Works, According to New Study

According to a new study from the UK’s National Treatment Agency for Substance Abuse (NTA), cocaine addiction recovery is very possible with addiction treatment that includes individual psychotherapy.

According to a recent study, an astounding one in ten entering drug addiction treatment in England are entering forcocaine addiction, a four-percent increase in the last four years.

Of these, more than one-third are 18-24 year olds from a broad spectrum of social backgrounds. They are also more likely to have jobs and are less likely to have housing problems.

According to Paul Hayes, NTA chief executive, although there has been an increase in the number of people using cocaine, they are also seeing more people seeking addiction treatment. Very good news indeed.

Addiction Treatment Cocaine March 15, 2010 0Comments