MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'New Recovery' source. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:51:54 +0100 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/11/end-stage.html Is nothing sacred? Michael Shermer, Scientific American's Skeptic columnist, reports in the November issue that one of the icons of psychology, the five stages of grief, has been debunked.Launched by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying (1969), the model of denial-anger-bargaining-depression-acceptance is one of the most widely known paradigms in modern psychology. But, according to Shermer's sources, there appears to be no evidence that most people most of the time go through most of those stages in that order, or any other order.The five stages of grief, along with similar "stage" theories, Shermer says, satisfy people's craving for simplicity and predictability. Unfortunately, the scientific basis for them is just not there. And they can also impose feelings of guilt and... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1926586 Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:02:00 +0100 1926586 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/10/genetics-of-mental-illnesses-more-is.html Genetic research into psychiatic disorders appears to be undergoing a systemic deflation not unlike that in the financial markets.  As I posted a couple of weeks ago, a survey article in the then-current Scientific American showed that genetic studies of human intelligence had labored mountainously and brought forth a 0.4 per cent mouse.  Today comes a special issue of Nature Neuroscience dedicated to the neuropsychiatric diseases, and it's the same story.  The initial radiant hope that today's mega-billion dollar genetic research apparatus would nail the culprit genes responsible for schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, or depression, has dimmed to a faint glimmer.  The more we can see, the less we find.  In the roundup article, Steven Hyman (Department of Neurobiology, Harvard) ... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1914792 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:34:00 +0100 1914792 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/10/genetics-more-we-see-less-there-is.html In the concluding chapter of my forthcoming book (link), I look at the evidence for an alcoholism gene.  My research showed that the more powerful our tools become, the less we find in the way of genetic causality.  Modern genetic research has wiped away any basis for the idea that alcoholism is a genetically transmitted disease.  The most that can be said is that some people appear to inherit a lower responsiveness to alcohol, so that if they drink, they must drink more to get the same high.  For details, see my book, due out in April.  Now comes an article in Scientific American, by science journalist Carl Zimmer,  reporting on modern research into the genetics of intelligence.  Here too, the conventional wisdom has been that genes play a major role.  But when the most powerful c... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883424 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:30:00 +0100 1883424 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/10/spirituality-strikes-out.html Two controlled trials of the effect of spirituality on addiction recovery showed no improvement for the patients given spiritual guidance as part of the usual treatment regimen, either in their addiction recovery or in their spiritual practices.  In fact, in one trial, the patients provided with spiritual guidance made less progress in overcoming depression and anxiety than the patients not given spiritual treatment.Details are in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, July 25 2008.  The abstract is here.  Thanks to David Kaiser Ph.D. for flagging the item.   (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883425 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:57:00 +0100 1883425 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/02/invitation-to-guest-authors.html Guest authors are invited to contribute to this blog. I have to take another break until the end of June. I'm working on a book with a June 30 deadline. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1253279 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:45:00 +0100 1253279 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/02/confrontation-therapy-rip.html Two of my favorite scholars have combined to write a powerhouse of an article that everyone interested in addiction treatment will want to read. William R. Miller, co-author of the Handbook of Alcoholism Treatment Approaches (reviewed here), and William L. White, author of the monumental history Slaying the Dragon (reviewed here), have written what hopefully will be an obituary for an era, entitled "Confrontation in Addiction Treatment." It's in Counselor Magazine. Here are a few snippets from this substantial, strongly researched and comprehensive treatment:The use of confrontational strategies in individual, group and family substance abuse counseling emerged through a confluence of cultural factors in U.S. history, pre-dating the development of methods for reliably evaluating the effect... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1243497 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:31:00 +0100 1243497 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/02/abstinence-leads-to-rapid-brain-repair.html Abstinence leads to rapid repair of gross brain damage seen in alcohol dependent persons, according to a review of neuroimaging studies by a group of Japanese researchers. In uncomplicated alcoholic patients, a high incidence of cortical shrinkage and ventricular dilatation were reported using brain CT scans. In older alcoholics, prefrontal gray matter deficits were especially marked when compared with younger alcoholics. Reversibility of brain shrinkage is a common neuroimaging finding in patients with alcohol dependence.Regrowth of shrunken brain areas was particularly vigorous during the first month of abstinence, the scans showed. Besides the gray matter, areas "with significantly greater recovery in abstainers were the temporal lobes, thalamus, brainstem, cerebellum, corpus callosum, ... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1207604 Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:01:00 +0100 1207604 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/02/brazil-study-does-aa-really-work.html "Do Alcoholics Anonymous groups really work? Factors of adherence in a Brazilian sample of hospitalized alcohol dependents." -- That's the title of a study in the current issue of the American Journal of Addiction, published by a American Academy of Psychiatrists in Alcoholism and Addiction. A team of researchers headed by M.B. Terra followed 300 alcoholics committed to three hospitals in Puerto Allegre, Brazil. Results (from the abstract): AA adherence was below 20%. The main factors reported by patients as reasons for non-adherence to AA were relapse, lack of identification with the method, lack of need, and lack of credibility. The factors reported by patients as reasons for adherence were identification with the method and a way to avoid relapse. Although AA is considered an effective... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1207605 Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:36:00 +0100 1207605 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/01/2007-darwin-award-nominee-alcohol.html Michael was an alcoholic. And not an ordinary alcoholic, but an alcoholic who liked to take his liquor... well, rectally. His wife said he was "addicted to enemas" and often used alcohol in this manner. The result was the same: inebriation.The machine shop owner couldn't imbibe alcohol by mouth due to a painful throat ailment, so he elected to receive his favourite beverage via enema. And tonight, Michael was in for one hell of a party. Two 1.5 litre bottles of sherry, more than 100 fluid ounces, right up the old address!When the rest of us have had enough, we either stop drinking or pass out. When Michael had had enough (and subsequently passed out) the alcohol remaining in his rectal cavity continued to be absorbed. The next morning, Michael was dead.The 58-year-old did a pretty good job... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1176150 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:55:00 +0100 1176150 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/01/humility-r-us-not.html It's been six years since AA Trustee Dr. George Vaillant's article in the AA Grapevine, saying that "It doesn't hurt at the level of the GSO for AA to have humility and understand that 60 per cent do it without AA." Source. He was talking about the research finding that 60 per cent of alcoholics who achieve at least five years of abstinence do it without using AA.It's been six years, and Vaillant's plea for humility has either not been heard or already forgotten. In this months' issue of Addiction Professional, columnist Carlton Erickson reports that "fourteen experts" recently met at a "consensus conference" in Rancho Mirage CA to define "recovery," and came up with a definition that embodies "peer support groups such as AA and practices consistent with the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions."In ... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1148218 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:50:00 +0100 1148218 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2008/01/alcohol-killed-prophet.html The excellent New Yorker continues its literary war on the alcohol-as-muse delusion. In the Jan. 7 issue is a thumbnail bio of Kahlil Gibran, author of the huge bestseller, The Prophet. After the success of this book, Gibran took to drinking heavily. Eight years after The Prophet, having produced nothing further of note, he died of cirrhosis of the liver, at age 48. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1133950 Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:43:00 +0100 1133950 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/bankrupt-tobacco-firm-floats-whiskey.html Whiskey-flavored cigarettes and cigarette papers dosed with vanilla to disguise the stink of the smoke are among the "new technology" being marketed now in Quebec by JTI MacDonald, a Japan-based cigarette company that is in bankruptcy proceedings.Public health advocates are up in arms. Read more here. Thanks, Michael W., for the item. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1120832 Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:50:00 +0100 1120832 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/if-liquor-doesnt-get-you-nicotine-will.html Last week's New Yorker had a bio of Malcolm Lowry, a lauded writer whose alcoholism claimed him at age 47; see my blog note, "Alcoholocaust," below. This week's mag covers iconic short story writer Raymond Carver (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love), also an alcoholic, but one who got sober in 1977, and stayed that way. But he kept smoking. He once said that he was only "a cigarette with a body attached to it." Lung cancer claimed him at age 50.The mag's Lowry story took the author down a notch or two by suggesting that his wife was actually responsible for much of the greatness in Under the Volcano. The mag continues on its debunking tear by demonstrating beyond reasonable doubt that the savage blue pencil of Carver's editor Gordon Lish was responsible for creating the terse, mini... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1112693 Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:15:00 +0100 1112693 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/let-them-drink-grand-marnier.html A proposal out of Tacoma to "treat" chronic street alcoholics by banning the sale of cheap wine caught the fancy of S.F. Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius last week. The scheme is simple: in a defined "alcohol impact zone," stores are banned from stocking Thunderbird, Boone's Farm, Royal Gate, Takaa, and similar cheap rotgut. If the homeless alkies want to buy Cabernet Sauvignon or Grey Goose, that's ok. Public health authorities in Tacoma laud the idea, citing reduced emergency room admissions and other medical costs. That's not surprising. The same thing happened nationwide during Prohibition. The logic by which Nevius calls this simple class-based Prohibition scheme "treatment" escapes me. It's just one more aspect of the ubiquitous economic bias that Prof. Merrill Singer describes so viv... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1112694 Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:43:00 +0100 1112694 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/back-from-iraq-with-monkey-on-their.html Jon Marshall's News Gems website writes:"ABC News' investigative team, led by Brian Ross, worked with six graduate journalism students to discover whether troops returning home after serving in Iraq are facing the same battles with drug addiction as soldiers did when they came back from Vietnam. For their series, "Coming Home: Soldiers and Drugs," the students traveled across the country from Fort Carson in Colorado to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to examine the accuracy of the Army's assurances that drug abuse among ex-combatants isn't growing. Their findings: Many of this country's bravest men and women who volunteered to defend America in a time of war have come home wounded -- physically and mentally -- and are turning to illicit drugs as they adjust to normal life, according to soldie... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098852 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:26:00 +0100 1098852 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/afghan-farmers-see-through-drug-war.html Recent U.S. initiatives to eradicate poppy fields in selected areas of Afghanistan, on the Colombian model, have met with growing resistance by Afghan farmers, according to a briefing paper by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (link):"The view that the government is willing to deepen the poverty of some of its rural population for the sake of a ban on opium poppy cultivation further alienates the rural population. The belief of many farmers that those enforcing the ban and eradicating their crop are themselves actively involved in the opium trade makes matters worse; so does the perception of widespread bribery and the sense that eradication targets the vulnerable and ignores the crops of those in positions of power and influence."Afghan farmers are seeing that the eradication e... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098853 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:04:00 +0100 1098853 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/girl-8-asks-cops-for-help-with-drunken.html "Help me. My mother is drunk, and she crashed her car," said an 8-year old Tampa FL girl to troopers last week who were checking on a car wreck. With the girl inside, the mother had sideswiped two other vehicles before hitting a parked car head-on and coming to a stop. The girl got out of the wreck, unhurt, and approached the first officer on the scene. "Ever time she drinks she gets like this," said the girl. The mother was booked for drunk driving, child abuse, and related charges. Source. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098854 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:21:00 +0100 1098854 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/sponsors-rat-on-snitch.html Two Alcoholics Anonymous sponsors took the witness stand in federal court in Des Moines IA recently to denounce their former sponsee, Thomas Vasquez, as "a pathological liar" lacking "the capacity to be honest." Source.Vasquez probably deserved the slams. He was a paid government informer trying to build a case of extortion against incumbent Democratic state senator Matt McCoy. A Bushie federal prosecutor brought the transparently political case. The jury threw it out after less than two hours of deliberation, including lunch.But ... should AA sponsors be testifying as character witnesses against their former sponsee? Isn't that against some rule? (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098855 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:18:00 +0100 1098855 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/war-of-drugged.html From the Guardian (U.K.):The army today admitted that cocaine was becoming the "drug of choice" for British service personnel.Colonel John Donnelly, who has responsibility for army discipline, said a significant increase in drug taking by soldiers could be linked to stress induced by the demands of combat operations.More on this topic. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098856 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:57:00 +0100 1098856 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/whine-tasting.html It had to come to this. The California Republican Party issued two press releases attacking the California Democratic Party for spending campaign money on a wine tasting fundraiser.The Democrats shot back, pointing out that the Republicans spent four times as much on wine for their events, plus sending untallied bottles of a rare vintage to major donors. Source. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098857 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:51:00 +0100 1098857 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/dual-diagnoses-have-same-root.html Substance abuse and mental illness very commonly go together. One hypothesis to explain the correlation is to see the patient using alcohol/drugs to medicate the mental disorder. Another view sees the mental disorders as the symptoms of excessive drug/alcohol ingestion. Now comes Dr. Andrew Chambers and his researchers at the U of Indiana Medical school with a study that suggests both theories are wrong. Based on experiments with adult rats, Chambers found that both substance abuse and mental disorders probably stem from a malfunction in the amygdala, a small region within the brain that plays a role in numerous processes, including the memory of emotionally charged events. Read details. Read blogger Jason Schwartz's piece on the same issue, here. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098858 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:17:00 +0100 1098858 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/dont-wait-till-kids-are-in-middle.html A study of underage drinking finds a big jump in alcohol use in children between the fifth and sixth grades, and suggests that waiting to deal with an alcohol issue in the home until the child is in middle school is too late. Source. The researchers urge parents to "talk to their kids about alcohol" when the kids are ten or eleven, or earlier. But talking alone isn't going to cut it, if the parents themselves are setting bad models of alcohol use in the home. The research really suggests that if one or both of the parents have an alcohol problem, the time to deal with it (at the latest) is when the kid is still in primary school. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098859 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:42:00 +0100 1098859 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/marijuana-smoke-nastier-than-cigs.html Dec. 14, 2007 -- New research from Canada shows that some toxins may be more abundant in marijuana cigarettes than tobacco cigarettes. The researchers burned 30 marijuana cigarettes and 30 tobacco cigarettes on a machine in their lab, measuring levels of chemicals in the smoke. Ammonia levels were up to 20 times higher in marijuana smoke than in tobacco smoke. Levels of hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen-related chemicals were three to five times higher in marijuana smoke than in tobacco smoke. Read more. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097733 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:36:00 +0100 1097733 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/99-per-cent-wouldnt-use-drugs-if-legal.html A recent poll of 1000 U.S. adults asked if they would use "hard" drugs such as cocaine or heroin if they were sold legally. More than 99 per cent said they would not. Source.The numbers undercut the argument of "war on drugs" supporters that drug prohibition is a necessary dam against widespread drug use. Quite the contrary, says David Borden, CEO of StopTheDrugWar.org. For example, rates of marijuana use in the Netherlands, where it's sold legally in "coffee shops," are only about half those in nearby France, where marijuana use is an arrestable offense. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097734 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:26:00 +0100 1097734 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/be-careful-where-you-poke-it.html A drunk man in Thailand stopped to urinate and poked his member through a crack in a fence.On the other side of the fence, a puppy thought this was an interesting new chew toy and proceeded to sink its teeth into it.Doctors at the hospital said the member "should still be useful" to the man in the future. Source. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097735 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:02:00 +0100 1097735 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/good-question.html A new policy in New Jersey allows cops to ask drinking drivers who served them their last drink. Source. Some bar owners are upset because existing law already makes barkeepers liable for serving patients who are drunk. Cops answer that the question helps them spot bars that ignore the law. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097736 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:56:00 +0100 1097736 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/surprising-finding-about-youth-drinking.html A study of 11,000 persons in London found that teens who drank to excess (4 drinks or more per session, once a week or more often) were twice as likely to snag a criminal conviction by age 30. They were also much more likely to become alcoholics, to use hard drugs, and to become homeless. Source. The study is being used as fodder for an Australian provincial government campaign to crack down on youth drinking. A worthy cause, no doubt, but did the study control for factors such as family income, education, and environment? (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097737 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:43:00 +0100 1097737 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/college-profs-modeling-alcoholism-for.html College students' drinking excesses continue to make news. A prof at R.Y.S. (wherever that may be) points out in his or her blog that the students may just be copying their profs. "Can we acknowledge that there is a huge amount of alcoholism in academia? Not the cute Dudley Moore kind, but the kind that makes us less sharp and ends our lives early? I'd imagine every one of us knows a colleague who needs a mid-morning 'refresher' or who always smells slightly of drink. I remember seeing my supervisor trying to be inconspicuous checking all the (empty) wine bottles at a reception, hoping there was a glass left in one of them, and finally making a glass by combining all the remnants red and white wine that were left. I remember drinking with him at a local bar until well past midnight (having... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097738 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:25:00 +0100 1097738 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/cia-up-to-its-old-tricks.html A tantalizing hint that the CIA is up to its old tricks (flying drugs from conflict zones) surfaced in the crash landing of a Gulfstream II business jet in Mexico Sept. 24.The Florida-based craft carried somewhere between three and six tons of powder cocaine, and either no heroin or up to one ton of heroin, depending on which estimates one believes.The flight originated in Colombia and was destined for Florida with a stopover in Cancun.Blogger FrostFireZoo.com matched the serial number of the craft to a plane used by the CIA on at least three occasions in the rendition of terrorism suspects from the U.S. to other countries to be tortured.A Mexican journal accused Mexican and U.S. political authorities of hypocrisy for waging a so-called "war on drugs" on the one hand, and being heavily inv... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097739 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:58:00 +0100 1097739 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/12/alcoholocaust.html OK, The New Yorker again. I do read lots of other stuff but time has been short and TNY manages more consistently than any other mag I know to push the envelope. If you have illusions about the role of alcohol in creativity, read "Day of the Dead" by D.T. Max on p. 76 of the Dec. 17th issue. It's a thumbnail bio of Malcom Lowry, author of "Under the Volcano" (1947), hailed as one of the top twelve English novels of all time; he was considered the heir of James Joyce. He died ten years afterward, after passing out from massive quantities of alcohol and barbiturates. He was 47. The chronicle of his marriage and collaboration with Margerie Bonner is a tortuous, gruesome story of love, hate, help, hurt, rescue and revenge. Bonner, who edited and rewrote Lowry's texts daily, almost certainly co... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1097279 Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:54:00 +0100 1097279 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/cartoon-of-week.html From the Nov. 12 New Yorker (which consistently, over time, has published the best addiction cartoons, to my knowledge): (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1019409 Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:08:00 +0100 1019409 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/well-said.html Sometimes fiction writers (but aren't we all?) say it better than authors of solemn research monographs. In the Fiction section of the current New Yorker, writer Alice Mattison describes a character, Jerry, who, at dinner with his ex-wife and his daughter, shook his head when they suggested a glass of wine:"... he so enjoyed being exactly as he was that he didn't want even the mild alteration in mood brought on by a glass of Chardonnay." Well said! "So enjoyed being exactly as he was"! On this topic, see also Katharine Hepburn, and (much more obliquely) Stereo Sue, or the Quale of Sobriety, both below. Thank you, writer Alice Mattison, for this brilliant little gem, one of several in her story. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1019410 Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:31:00 +0100 1019410 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/triggers-in-your-ear.html Recovering people trying to minimize environmental cues about drinking and drugging should consider staying away from rap music and country music. Rock music, once believed the major gateway to drug abuse, is relatively safe.Researchers who looked at the bestselling songs in several genres from 2005 found that 37 percent of top country songs featured references to drugs or alcohol, compared to just 14 percent of rock songs. Rap was worst with 77 percent. Source. A short list of songs about drinking/drugging and NOT drinking/drugging is here, and a long collection of the same is here.Researchers didn't, but should, look at classical music also. Item No. 1 for my mute-button list is Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde -- an operetta that celebrates being drunk and depressed. Oh, and what about th... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1015024 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:56:00 +0100 1015024 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/choice-philosophy.html A new publication by William L. White and Ernest Kurtz gives a boost to the principle that persons in recovery deserve a choice. Read about it in the LifeRing Convenor blog, here. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1013421 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:27:00 +0100 1013421 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/mile-wide-and-inch-deep.html Someone said Baptism in the South is a mile wide and an inch deep. Here's an example:The cleaned-up version:JOHNSON CITY – A Bristol Virginia Baptist preacher arrested in Johnson City in July pleaded guilty Thursday to driving under the influence. Tommy Tester, 58, of 17425 Hobbs Road, Bristol, Va., was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days, suspended to 24 hours in jail, 16 hours of which he has already served. He will also have to spend 24 hours picking up litter. Tester, the minister of Gospel Baptist Church, also entered a “best interest” plea to a charge of indecent exposure and was sentenced to five months and 29 days, suspended to probation. Police said Tester, who was wearing a skirt, pulled up in his vehicle to Belmont Carwash, got out and urinated in a wash bay in view of chil... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1002540 Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:02:00 +0100 1002540 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/gender-specific-response-even-in-rats.html As if to illustrate again what Women for Sobriety founder Jean Kirkpatrick preached decades ago about people, a recent study found different responses to alcohol in female v. male rats. A group of rats selectively bred to be heavy drinkers were exposed to changes in their lights-on v. lights-off schedule, like employees who work rotating shifts, to test the effect of this stress on their drinking. The male rats subjected to the shifting schedule decreased their alcohol intake; the female rats slightly increased theirs. Details. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1002541 Sun, 04 Nov 2007 07:47:00 +0100 1002541 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/recovery-of-cognitive-abilities.html A study of sober alcoholics in their sixties or later, who had been abstinent for an average of about 15 years, found no cognitive impairment or other brain functioning defect. Details in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, November '07. -- Thanks, Deena B., for the tip. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1002542 Sun, 04 Nov 2007 07:11:00 +0100 1002542 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/11/rays-of-hope-from-recovery-summit.html A Recovery Summit under the auspices of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) convened with little fanfare in the winter of 2005, and its report has now been released. Among the "Guiding Principles":There are many pathways to recovery. Individuals are unique with specific needs, strengths, goals, health attitudes, behaviors and expectations for recovery. Pathways to recovery are highly personal, and generally involve a redefinition of identity in the face of crisis or a process of progressive change. Furthermore, pathways are often social, grounded in cultural beliefs or traditions and involve informal community resources, which provide support for sobriety. The pathway to recovery may include one or more episodes of psychosocial and/or pharmacologi... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1002543 Sun, 04 Nov 2007 06:46:00 +0100 1002543 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/09/why-some-alcoholics-find-it-hard-to.html Joe P. from New Jersey said in an email to unhooked.com:"The reason most Alcoholics find it so hard (to quit smoking) is because they get NO support from AA members, they tell them not to worry, just don't drink. That way of AA (Majority members, mostly Nicotine Addicts, even though there are a lot of others who say the same thing) is the way of Death!"Joe should know, he is a long time member of AA who supports Nicotine Anonymous. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=900931 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:52:00 +0100 900931 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/09/another-court-rules-that-aana-are.html A recent court case ruled that a parolee can sue a parole officer for damages if the parole officer requires the parolee to attend 12-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous when this violates the parolee's religious or non-religious beliefs.The case is titled Inouye v. Kemna, issued Sept. 7, 2007. The full text of the opinion is here. The court that issued the decision is the Ninth Circuit of the United States Courts of Appeal. The court's ruling is the law in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Ricky Inouye was imprisoned in Hawaii after conviction on drug charges, and served his time. As a Buddhist, he objected to participating in 12-step treatment programs because of their relig... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=869589 Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:49:00 +0100 869589 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/04/on-spring-break.html Sometimes life overwhelms blogging. These past few weeks my days and nights have been so filled with work, love, and remodeling -- not necessarily in that order -- that there hasn't been time to keep up with the blog. I haven't even had time to watch the 14-part HBO addiction marathon. I'll be back when things settle down. -- Marty N. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730473 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:13:00 +0100 730473 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/canada-prof-surprised-by-12-step.html Prof. Larry Moran in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto (photo) wrote in his blog that he read the articles about Alcoholics Anonymous in the March issue of Readers Digest (Canada) and then read the text of the twelve steps, and was "surprised at how religious AA must be. They must think that most alcoholics are Christians." This led to a lively exchange of comments, which see. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730474 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:25:00 +0100 730474 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/ny-post-pans-bill-w-bio-play.html March 6, 2007, N.Y. Post:Who would have guessed a drama about the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous would be the laugh riot of the year? But that's the unfortunate result of "Bill W. and Dr. Bob," the well-intentioned but haplessly executed effort written by novelist Stephen Bergman and clinical psychologist Janet Surrey that opened last night.What should have been a powerful and inspirational story plays instead like a drunken road-show version of "The Producers." Read full reviewBroadway World.Com's reviewer writes:A program note for Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey's Bill W. and Dr. Bob advises us that performance of the work does not imply affiliation with nor approval or endorsement from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.Smart move, A.A.Doing for alcoholism what Reefer Madness d... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730475 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:59:00 +0100 730475 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/belgium-ups-ante-with-cig-warnings.html Cigarette packs sold in Belgium will soon have vivid pictures of the harm that smoking does, along with text warnings. The pictures are not for the faint-hearted. One shows a man with a swollen-red tumour protruding from his neck. "Smoking can lead to a slow and painful death," reads the advice underneath. Another shows a smoker in a prison cell clutching bars made of cigarettes. The moral of the story? "Smoking is addictive. Don't start." Other pictures the Belgian government plans to rotate over the next three years show toothless gums, blackened lungs and open-heart surgery.Canada already uses pictorial warnings along with text. Other European countries are expected to follow suit.EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, introducing the new policy, said: "Pictorial warnings are a cost... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730476 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:36:00 +0100 730476 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/drug-problem-in-afghanistan-getting.html NEW YORK: Despite efforts by the Afghan government and the international community, the drug control situation in the country is worsening, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report.The production of illicit opium poppy in Afghanistan reached a record 6,100 tons in 2006, up almost 50 percent from the previous year, the report said.Due to a rising level of Afghan opiate trafficking, the Vienna-based UN drug control watchdog added, the neighbouring countries are now faced with a wide range of problems, "such as organized crime, corruption and relatively high illicit demand for opiates."Moreover, the drug abuse by injection is increasingly becoming one of the main factors behind the widely spread of HIV/AIDS in some areas of the region. Source. (Source: New Re... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730477 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:15:00 +0100 730477 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/prisoners-take-hostage-for-nicotine.html JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee -- Two inmates housed in a smoke-free prison took a guard hostage and then released him and returned to their cells when given cigarettes. Billy Grubb, 32, and Bradley Johnson, 25, attacked the guard Monday night, said Howard Carlton, warden of the Northeast Correctional Complex. Both are in prison for murder.Prisons across the state are instituting no-smoking policies after the Legislature passed a law banning smoking in state buildings. -- Source (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730478 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:07:00 +0100 730478 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/anonymity-is-only-for-anonymous.html Once again Alcoholics Anonymous has lent its name to the publicity thirst of another bratty celebrity. This time it's Britney Spears, whose publicist let the world know that she was given a pass from her upscale Malibu treatment program to attend an AA meeting. E.g. Source. Millions of 7-year old girls will now make a mental note to become alcoholics and get their names in the paper by going into rehab and to AA. It's great promotion for AA and for the celebs. But it reinforces the two-class system in AA. If you're in the celebrity class, your AA membership glitters like a glass pebble in a brightly lit goldfish bowl. If you're not a "name," you're in the dark. Anonymity is only for the anonymous. What would Bill W. say? (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730479 Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:17:00 +0100 730479 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/bhutan-south-asias-alcoholism-capital.html Bhutan has the highest per capital alcohol consumption of any country in South Asia, says a World Health Organization report, and alcoholism is becoming one of the leading causes of death there. Source. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730480 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 08:11:00 +0100 730480 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/state-dept-drug-report-plays-politics.html The U.S. State Department report on the worldwide illegal drugs trade issued March 1 reads like a political propaganda bulletin more than a real research report. Regimes that have Bush administration support, such as Colombia and Afghanistan, get patted on the head for their alleged drug control efforts, while heads of state that give Bush hell (as in Venezuela, Bolivia, and others) get blasted for alleged complicity in the dirty business. The facts remain -- and the report admits -- that Colombia produces 90 per cent of the world supply of cocaine, and Afghanistan supplies more than 90 per cent of the heroin, and both are close allies of the Bush administration. Neither Colombia nor Afghanistan could achieve anything remotely near this kind of market domination without at least the activ... New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730481 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 07:09:00 +0100 730481 http://newrecovery.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-drug-turns-meth-to-almond-extract.html A newly discovered drug with the catchy name YX1-40H10 can convert methamphetamine to benzaldehyde, a common food additive with an almond flavor, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in California claim. If it passes a series of safety and efficacy tests, the new compound could be administered to people who have taken methamphetamine to neutralize the drug in the body. Source. (Source: New Recovery) New Recovery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=730482 Sat, 10 Mar 2007 06:49:00 +0100 730482