It is well-known that drug abuse and alcoholism have devastating effects on a person. It’s not unusual for someone to lose their job, friends, and family because of an addiction. Some people, however, hit rock bottom, as many would consider it, when they lose everything and become homeless on the streets.

Homeless Camps

Hundreds of homeless people live around nearly every large city on our country. Some areas have become havens for those that are down and out, and sometimes these people form camps or colonies for safety and companionship. Alaska has a group of homeless that live in large parks, hidden among the trees. Other large groups can be found in San Francisco, Denver, and Washington D.C. These camps are not legal, but some municipalities or counties tolerate them simply because they don’t have a better place for these people to go, and if they are kicked out of one area, they will move to another.

These people hide out in forests, or in parks, eating scraps, or begging for food or money. Their beds are benches, or the ground, and they may build fires in garbage cans to keep warm. A few lucky ones will have tents to live in.

Homeless people around the country come from all different backgrounds. Not all were born homeless or even poor. Many of them at one time held decent jobs, some had families; none of them expected to be where they are today. Many of these individuals have something else in common: substance abuse. Statistics are hard to come by, but substance abuse and mental illness play a huge role in many of these people being homeless. Some people got caught up with drugs or alcohol, causing them to lose their jobs, family, and eventually homes. Others spent all their money and energy on getting alcohol, and soon found themselves out on the street. Still others have a form of mental illness that keeps them from living a stable life. In all these situations, these people could not find or would not accept the support and help that would have allowed them to overcome substance abuse or mental illness and lead normal lives.

Help for the Homeless

In order to help these people, we need to provide them with housing, food, and treatment for substance abuse and mental disorders. Once the person is living indoors and does not have to worry about their own personal safety or where their next meal will come from, they can start working on their future.

Many of these people, however, don’t get the treatment they need to get clean when they are homeless. Lack of resources from local authorities has led to poor facilities and programs for these groups. Many homeless people go through the motions of staying at a shelter until their time is used up there, then they move back out to the streets. With the right kind of help, these people can break the cycle and begin putting their lives together.

Sources 

Storyteller takes look at Anchorage’s homeless

Mental illness problems common among homeless

Pastor seeks housing for men living in Montgomery County woods

Virginia Tech has cracked down a bit on underage student drinking. A new policy has been put in place this semester which requires school officials to contact a student’s parents whenever the underage student is caught with alcohol. The change in policy comes after much debate, and people are divided over the policy.

Underage drinking at colleges is a growing problem, despite the efforts of colleges, parents, and authorities. Virginia Tech and other schools with the same views are hoping that by getting parents more involved, colleges and universities can reduce the number of alcohol-related injuries, crimes, and deaths among their students. School officials at Virginia Tech will now call or send a letter to parents the first time their child under 21 is caught drinking, drunk, or in the possession of alcohol.

Parents Want to Know

For the most part, parents are happy about the change. Many parents have been frustrated by the lack of communication over matters of substance abuse with their child’s college. Most parents want to know about their child’s alcohol abuse before something serious happens. Many parents still have a close relationship with their college children, and many are even paying for their kids’ education. Parents think they have a right to know what their child is up to.

Against the Policy

Other colleges are not so quick to offer this service to parents. Some colleges have a more lenient policy about notifying parents. According to administrators at many of these schools, alcohol violations are not routinely reported to parents because college students should be treated like adults. The view on this side is that college age students are old enough to make decisions for themselves. However, in recent years, college students have obviously been making the choice regularly to use alcohol and binge drink.

Many students, naturally, are also against the new policies, saying college students’ parents shouldn’t be brought into matters that happen at school. For many students, having their parents find out about trouble they’ve gotten in may be a real deterrent. Apparently, kids do actually care what their parents think. Schools have found that more students are concerned about telling their parents about getting busted for underage drinking than they are about the legal consequences for it.

Schools Working with Parents

Underage and binge drinking on college campuses has gotten out of hand. It seems that more students are at school to party and drink than to get an education. Schools like Virginia Tech are taking some first steps to reverse the trend of college drinking. Early intervention is important to keep these students from a long struggle with alcohol abuse or alcoholism, and notifying parents may help. Whether students like to think so or not, their parents care about them, probably more than anyone, and are willing to do what it takes to straighten their kids out. Parents, however, may not know the west way to handle their grown kids’ problem drinking, so some schools even provide parents with educational tools to help them talk to their kids in the most effective way.

Sources 

Lynchburg-area colleges vary on alcohol policies

Tech notifies parents about student alcohol offenses

Parent notification policies for underage drinking evolve

Parent notification policies for alcohol violations

We certainly don’t want to live our lives as always suspicious or paranoid, but there are times when it would be helpful to know if someone we love has a problem with an addiction. Maybe then we’d be able to help them, or offer them support, or at least we could encourage them try to stay away from the drug or drink or activity that is causing the problem. The best thing to do if you have reason to believe someone is caught up in an addiction is to talk honestly with them and encourage them to seek professional help.  Below are four signs that a loved one may have an addiction.

Separation from close family and friends. Someone with an addiction will often become more reserved and avoid family and close friends. Part of the reason behind this is that they are embarrassed of the addiction, and they are afraid a loved one will be disappointed if they find out.

Dependence on a substance or activity. Someone with an addiction will not be able to go long without the substance. If you suspect a friend is an alcoholic because they are always talking about drinking, but they can go for days without a drink, they are not dependent on alcohol. They might very well have a problem with alcohol abuse, but not alcoholism yet. In the same way, anorexic and bulimic individuals cannot turn their disease on and off for a day any more than a drug addict can go more than a day without their drug. However, anyone that is abusing a substance like a drug or alcohol, or is experimenting with harmful activities needs help too. Addiction has to start somewhere, and it often begins when people are just “trying” the substance to see what it’s like. Getting help early, before an addiction has taken hold, is the best chance for recovery.

Loss of interest and focus. Addicts lose interest in things they used to care about. As the addiction takes over their life, nothing else will seem as important to them, including the basic necessities of life. In the same way, they will become irresponsible with things like family commitments or work, as they devote all their time and energy to the addiction.

Change in daily patterns. Addicts may show a change in eating and sleeping patterns. They know their addiction is wrong and hurting their lives and the lives of those close to them, but once the addiction has taken hold, it can’t easily be stopped. Sleepless nights, lack of desire to eat, and depression are all common results of many addictions.

Family members of addicts will often know that something is wrong with their loved one, but they might not always know what it is. While someone with an addiction problem may be able to hide their problem for some time, eventually those around them will start noticing the change. It is important for loved ones to take the time to confront them about an addiction, and offer to help them get professional help.

Sources

http://helpguide.org/mental/drug_substance_abuse_addiction_signs_effects_treatment.htm

http://www.theantidrug.com/pdfs/resources/teen-rx/CADCA_Strategizer52.pdf

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2004/04/07/354.aspx

This topic is critical for clinicians and those in recovery alike. Paradoxically, there are both simple and complicated answers to this question. But let’s first understand how alcohol use, especially prolonged alcohol use, affects the body.

When one ingests alcohol, what happens? Simply speaking, alcohol is not digested like other foods. Instead of being broken down and absorbed like other foods, alcohol avoids the normal digestive process and goes directly to the blood stream. About 20 percent of the alcohol is absorbed directly into the blood through the stomach walls and 80 percent is absorbed into the bloodstream through the small intestine. The brain, liver, heart, pancreas, lungs, kidneys, and every other organ and tissue system are infiltrated by alcohol within minutes after it passes into the blood stream. The strength of the drink will have a significant effect on absorption rates, with higher concentrations of alcohol resulting in more rapid absorption. Elimination of alcohol from a healthy adult body occurs at an average rate of approximately ½ to 3/4 ounce per hour, the equivalent of 1 ounce of 100-proof whiskey, one large beer, or about 3 to 4 ounces of wine. Are you still with me?

Addressing nutrition in recovery is crucial. Those who use alcohol excessively deprive their bodies of essential nutrients. The hormonal response that occurs with alcohol consumption is a rapid rise in insulin from the pancreas to manage sky rocketing blood sugar levels. As insulin brings blood sugar down, the body goes through a state of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). There are a number of physiological consequences that occur. As a person goes through a state of hyperglycemia to hypoglycemia, symptoms may occur even before a state of hypoglycemia is reached. These symptoms can present as anxiety, anger, irritability, fatigue, and CRAVINGS for alcohol. Thus, addressing nutrition by maintaining a stable and level blood sugar is a key factor in preventing symptoms that may lead to relapse in the alcohol dependent individual.

Why can this contribute to a relapse? Because very simply, the body of someone addicted to alcohol will crave something else to replace the alcohol. That choice tends to be processed foods or foods with a high sugar content. Therefore, many individuals new in recovery may reach for donuts, cookies, ice cream and any other high sugar content food or beverage in sight. On the surface this may seem benign, but it can also lead to a craving for alcohol if level blood sugar is not maintained.

So now the alcohol is removed from the diet and I am suggesting removing the sweets too? No, I am not a sadist, but it is important to address the entire system and create homeostasis in all areas of life, especially when someone is just beginning the recovery journey. If this is not understood, disaster could loom without the person realizing what they are doing. Ignorance is definitely not bliss when you are dealing with the deadly disease of addiction.

Let’s say you are a couple of months sober, excited and want to start an exercise program to lose some unwanted pounds while getting “healthy.” That’s great and I applaud you. You join a gym and buy a package of sessions from a personal trainer. Again, awesome… I wish more people would address their fitness and nutrition in recovery. However, not everyone in the fitness industry, let alone the average person new in recovery, understands how to properly balance blood sugar and thus minimize cravings, posits Robert Yang, a licensed nutritionist and certified Metabolic Typing professional based out of Encinitas, California who also works as part of the LifeSkills Authorities Recovery Team.

Now this excited newly sober person begins to workout and their personal trainer tells them to “eat a lot of protein to build more lean muscle mass,” without doing a Metabolic Type assessment and not knowing the entire composite of this person. Being alcoholic, the addicted person figures even more protein would be better, right? Yet if they do not balance ALL the macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) properly, they could have disastrous effects. Simply put, if there is no healthy fat (organic olive oil, organic avocadoes, or organic coconut oil) in this equation, an earnest attempt to eat “healthy,” will create ravenous cravings for fat disguised as sugar cravings for our poor sober friend. This could be a very bad thing for a recovering alcoholic. Basically, it could actually create an unintentional craving for alcohol. Yang proposes that through proper use of balancing your own Metabolic Type, you could eliminate the potential nightmarish situation that was just described.

LifeSkills Authorities can help you learn your ideal Metabolic Type or balance of macronutrients that will help you avoid cravings. This is just another example of the depth to which we take the recovery journey and our relationship with our clients.

Michael Plahn is a guest writer for the Treatment Solutions Network Blog. When you choose Treatment Solutions Network, innovative and effective aftercare programs are all part of the package you receive. Michael and his company Life Skills Authorities is one of many services we recommend for ongoing care during recovery. Please contact Michael at http://www.lifeskillsauthorities.com to learn more. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you maximize the enjoyment of your life in recovery and taking the guesswork out of the many areas of the journey.

Once an alcoholic has taken steps to become sober and has received treatment for their disease, many think the hard work is over. While the act of getting someone to admit to a problem and start treatment is usually very difficult and emotional, the work is not completed simply because treatment has begun. Both the alcoholic and their family will most likely face years of difficult times when it comes to alcoholism.

Recovery for Life

Alcoholism is a disease that affects people for life. An alcoholic cannot get sober with treatment and then expect everything to be fine. There is always the temptation to drink. Most treatment professionals will stress that total abstinence from alcohol is important. Even with counseling and therapy, it is very difficult to not take a drink again, especially when alcohol has controlled someone’s life for so long. Recovering alcoholics will also struggle with family relationships. They may have had marriages that failed or were hanging on by a thread. Most likely, roles will change a bit as an alcoholic goes from typically out-of-control to a more passive role in the family. Recovering alcoholics may need to relearn how to function in society. If they were out of work because of their disease or out of touch with reality in general, this is something they need to reconnect with. Alcoholics Anonymous is a very helpful resource for recovering alcoholics, as they gain strength and knowledge from others going through the same thing.

Recovery for Family

Alcoholism is also a disease that affects the whole family. Children and spouses of alcoholics learn to tread carefully around them, or to ignore them when they get aggressive. Resentment is often a big part of family members’ feelings. Once the alcoholic in the family is sober, the family may want to breathe a sigh of relief, but sometimes things don’t go back to a normal way of life. Maybe the recovering alcoholic will become withdrawn and want to be left out of family functions. Maybe the alcoholic feels like their family is critical of them and this causes conflict. Maybe the recovering alcoholic’s personality itself seems to be different after going through recovery. Other family members of alcoholics have experienced all these concerns. Families can get help through Al-Anon and Alateen, which provide support to spouses and children of alcoholics.

It is important for both the recovering alcoholic and their family to get help. Family members can learn how to be encouraging rather than resentful, and the recovering alcoholic can learn how to reconnect with their family. Family togetherness and family therapy will help aid in sobriety.

Sources

Spouse’s Attitude Can Affect Alcoholic’s Relapse

The Female Partner of the Recovering Male Alcoholic

Al-Anon

No Intimate Relationships During the First Year of Sobriety!

We think of holidays as a happy time when people are full of cheer and love. But don’t be surprised if you are one of the millions of Americans that find this time of year to be a little miserable and hard to get through. Depression plagues many, and the pressures and craziness of the Christmas season keep numerous people from enjoying themselves.

In order to have a happy holiday season this year, follow these 7 steps:

Find free time: It may seem impossible at this time of year, but taking a break away will give you the rest you need to get through the season. Even if it is one hour a day, we need to find time for ourselves, to renew our minds and spirits.

Forget the gifts: It isn’t necessary to give everyone you know a present. While we like to show our love and appreciation, we as a country put too much emphasis on material things. Imagine a Christmas season without shopping and we may be able to picture a population with much less stress. Quite frankly, many people aren’t even expecting a gift from you and wouldn’t miss it anyway if you decided to skip it.

Go healthy: Holidays are filled with sweets, food, and drinking. For those that struggle with alcohol abuse or alcoholism, this time of year can be a battle. Cut the alcohol from the parties, don’t overdo it with food, and you’ll find that you aren’t so filled with regret afterwards. Many other people would appreciate an alcohol-free party as well.

Enjoy the holidays: We often let this beautiful time slip past us without appreciating it. Take the time to see the lights, or take in a Christmas service, or decorate your house. Don’t be too frustrated with what the season has become to enjoy it, because it only comes along once a year.

Focus on what’s important: What’s important is not the hustle and bustle and materialism. What is important is family, friends, and the people we love. Our stuff can be taken away from us so quickly by fire or theft or disaster, but our loved ones are what really matter.

Limit time with difficult family: We shouldn’t feel obligated, however, to spend hours and hours with family or friends, especially those that cause us grief. While family is important at this time of year, it’s not necessary to overdo it and spend too much time together. Spend some good time with those you enjoy being with, but don’t feel pressured to mingle with those you’d rather avoid. Conflicts between family members can cause a great deal of stress at this time, and sometimes it is better to keep a bit of a distance.

Help others: We can often find others that have a hard time dragging themselves through the holidays too. If you know someone that is dealing with alcoholism, or substance abuse, or depression, take the time to encourage them, or lend a listening ear.

Sources

Many Drug Addicts and Alcoholics See Holidays as a Trigger

Holiday Stress: How To Cope

Happy Holidays? Not if You Suffer From Depression

More and more women are getting caught up in substance abuse, despite our best efforts to educate and prevent drug abuse and alcoholism. Substance abuse is no longer a disease that affects certain demographics of people because we are seeing it occur across the board.

The Difference between Men and Women

More women are now entering the workforce, and the pressures and stress of a career have driven many women to look for relief through drugs or alcohol. A common reason that both men and women start using drugs or drinking is stress. But in many other ways women abuse drugs and alcohol differently and for different reasons than men do.

Women may use drugs as a result of abuse or trauma that occurred when they were younger. These events, particularly sexual abuse or violence, stay with a woman for life, lowering her self-esteem, causing stress, and leading her to turn to substances for comfort. Women also get caught up in drugs or alcohol because of the loneliness they may feel staying home with their children. Without the company of another adult, many stay-at-home moms feel abandoned and alone, yet pulled in many different directions by their children and housework. Another reason women may become increasingly addicted to drugs and alcohol is their body chemistry. Women don’t metabolize drugs or alcohol as well as men, which leads to them feeling the effects more dramatically. It may be easier for women to become addicted more quickly because of this. Another study suggests that women’s hormone cycles cause stronger cravings for drugs at certain times of their monthly cycle.

Women Abuse Drugs and Alcohol Differently

Women abuse drugs and alcohol in different ways then men. Women tend to do it while they are alone, so they can hide their problem. Drug abuse is often connected to mental illness with women. Women suffer from anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, most of which have to do with feeling inferior when comparing themselves to others.

Once women start with drug or alcohol abuse, the problem develops rather quickly, and they go from experimenting to addiction to treatment in a shorter amount of time than men typically do. When women get treatment, they are more likely to stay sober than men.

If they don’t get treatment, women are very good at hiding their addiction, and often times even family members and friends don’t realize there is a problem. Sometimes women will go for treatment for their emotional or mental illness first. They are more likely to visit a primary care doctor or psychiatrist instead of a substance abuse treatment provider. Sometimes the substance abuse is overlooked even by the doctors, and the addiction is allowed to continue.

Women, like the rest of the population, need to work on learning prevention techniques to stay clean from drugs and alcohol. Our challenge as women is to learn to battle physical and emotional stress in a more healthy way.

Sources

Women and Substance Abuse

Substance Abuse in Women: Does Gender Matter?

Experts: More Women Hiding Alcohol, Drug Abuse

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is awarding grants to organizations that run programs for people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. St. Louis University has received one such grant, and they intend to provide help to older children and adults that have been diagnosed with this disorder.

The Cause of FASD

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy, and it affects many people in our country today. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, the alcohol passes from the mother’s blood to the developing baby through the placenta. The alcohol in an unborn baby’s blood can do irreversible damage. Some of these babies are stillborn and some end up with physical abnormalities such as low body weight, a small head, or underdeveloped facial features. Many children end up having poor memory and coordination, speech delays, learning disabilities, and vision problems, among other things. These problems make the child’s early years of life very difficult, but the problems don’t go away as they get older. Many adults still suffer from these difficulties, only there are not as many programs to help adults with FASD. The St. Louis University grant will be working to provide programs for adults with FASD, because it is a disorder that lasts a lifetime.

FASD is the leading cause of developmental disabilities in children born in the United States. Those with the most severe disabilities are those with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which affects 1 or 2 out of 1000 babies born. In essence, the baby with FAS has a brain that has not fully developed, leaving the child with serious developmental disabilities.

A Preventable Condition

This condition, though devastating, can be prevented completely if a pregnant woman doesn’t drink. For women that only drink occasionally, the fear of a baby with FASD should motivate them to cut out drinking if they are trying to get pregnant or if they could be pregnant already. Most women don’t find out they are expecting a child until weeks into the pregnancy, and unless these women modify their lifestyle, their baby could be affected before they even know it.

For women that struggle with alcoholism, it is extremely important that they take all precautions necessary to not become pregnant until they are able to stay sober. The effects on the unborn baby of a mother’s alcohol addiction are devastating, and will cause a lifetime of pain for their child.

It is important for women to be educated about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy. Those that aren’t able to stop drinking should seek help from a physician or a treatment facility. Support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous will be beneficial in maintaining sobriety.

Sources

Many with FASD suffer for years before being diagnosed

Smoking in pregnancy link to drugs

Help young adults manage Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

CDC- FASD, alcohol use in pregnancy

We all struggle with pressure and stress, regardless of the profession we are in. We can spend our time classifying people in countless different ways and say why they are more at risk for developing substance abuse or alcoholism, but really we all are rushed along in our lives, face problems, and wish we had a way to make things easier. What we should focus on, however, is how to best treat these different groups of people in order to successfully help them get clean.

Hospitality Personnel and Substance Abuse

The George Washington University Medical Center recently concluded that workers in the hotel and restaurant sector were among the top employees to suffer from alcoholism. These hospitality personnel, along with miners and construction workers, make up the top three professions whose employees are at risk for alcoholism. And those working in the food service industry are said to be more likely to smoke than those at other jobs.

It makes sense that those serving alcohol at bars and restaurants all night long may tend to get caught up with the drinking scene. Hotel workers and waiters and waitresses are asked to give all of their effort to please their customers the entire time they are working, and standards are set high for them to perform well.

Other Professions at Risk for Substance Abuse

Pro sports players and celebrities also seem to have a higher tendency to abuse drugs and alcohol. For these individuals, money is often readily available to buy drugs, and there seems to be a lifestyle of night clubbing and drinking that goes along with the spotlight. Add to this the stress of being in the public eye, and it is easy to see why so many celebrities and athletes are on their way to rehab.

Anyone Can be at Risk

Studies like the George Washington University one shouldn’t undermine the struggles that we all face, however. Our world is a busy one these days, and let’s not forget the businessmen that are pressured by work, or mothers that are pressured by toddlers and a busy schedule, or students that are pressured to perform well in school. Let’s also not forget those that have lost their jobs and sit at home all day wishing they were busier, or the elderly who are lonely. All of these things can cause some people to turn to drugs to block the pain, or to alcohol to wash troubles away.

Providing the Best Treatment Possible

It may be helpful in some ways to study demographics and professions to determine risk factors for substance abuse. This way, the employers in these professions can be equipped to screen for substance abuse problems among employees and ready to provide treatment if needed. But really, all employers should do this, not just those whose profession has been deemed “risky”. Treatment for individuals in different industries may need to be different. For example, firefighters and public safety officers often find treatment more effective if it is done with their own kind. Bartenders and those surrounded by alcohol for their job may need additional counseling or a job change in order to maintain sobriety. But each individual really requires their own kind of treatment in order to be successful.

Sources

The Drinking Dilemma

Workplace Study: 45% of Foodservice Workers Smoke

Disasters and Substance Abuse or Dependence

Alcohol is one of those substances that can be used in moderation with very little adverse effects, or it can be abused in large amounts. And, many people over time that abuse alcohol also become addicted to it. There is a difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, or alcoholism.

Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol abuse is often seen among young people and college students, who binge drink at parties or bars. Any time someone consumes too much alcohol and gets drunk, the potential is there for alcohol abuse to occur. The large amount of alcohol in the body impairs judgment, distorts thinking, and increases aggression. Those people that abuse alcohol may put themselves in danger because of their use of alcohol and may get into trouble with the law, or may take part in high-risk behavior such as drunk driving. But alcohol abusers are not alcoholics, and they remain in control of their drinking habits. They are not physically dependent on alcohol and can go for days or weeks without a drink. Sooner or later, though, they will abuse alcohol again, and many alcohol abusers eventually end up being alcoholics.

Alcoholism

Alcoholics, on the other hand, have developed a dependence on alcohol through continual use of the substance. They lose control over their alcohol intake until their bodies physically need it in order to function. Their need for alcohol will usually increase over time, until they have built up a tolerance for it and a strong craving for it. Their addiction eventually becomes so bad that they can’t live without alcohol, and if they try to quit cold turkey or even abstain for one day, they suffer serious withdrawal symptoms. Alcoholics can often be found drinking in the morning to relieve withdrawal side-effects. Those that are dependent on alcohol may often drink alone, sneak more drinks in when others aren’t watching, and drink to cope with life’s problems. Alcoholics have a hard time staying sober on their own, and the process of getting clean is actually dangerous if the person’s body is extremely dependent on alcohol.

Treatment for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Because of the dangerous withdrawal symptoms associated with alcoholism, medical detox is necessary to ensure the patient’s safety. Once the body is clean from alcohol, a person with alcoholism or alcohol abuse will need therapy and counseling to help them work through the psychological aspects of their drinking. They will need to examine the reasons why they drink and resolve other issues in their life before they can stay sober. Support groups are a great way to help those recovering from alcohol abuse or dependence to stay sober.

Sources

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/ospp/securityguide/Eap/Alcohol.htm

http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/effect/a/aa000510a.htm

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/briefs/addictions/hb041208.htm