New drug testing technology? Cocaine and saliva

October 30th, 2011

A recent development (check it out here) might lead the way to a quicker, more easily administered drug test. Instead of the lab analysis of urine, blood, or other fluids, this recent technology might allow first responders, such as EMTs, to assess a person’s exposure to drugs (prescription and otherwise) by simply dipping this device (think pregnancy test) into their saliva.

As of right now, the researchers have been able to demonstrate the success of the technology with cocaine, but it shouldn’t be too long before they can provide similar devices for many different drugs.

Now, it’s true that I usually focus on abused drugs in this blog, but this technology could help medical professionals identify dangerous drug interactions common to many prescribed, properly taken, medications. Given the huge increases in prescription medication abuse in the United States, that could be extremely useful and might save some of the 12,000 lives annually lost to accidental overdoses.

Maybe when these devices get cheap enough they can be used in addiction treatment centers to provide more immediate testing results.

Who knows, one day, the technology might be widespread enough to make home drug-testing a simple reality. Whether that’s a good or bad thing should probably be left to another post…

Posted in:  Education Tags: cocaine, devices, drug, drug test, Drugs, emergency, EMT, Medications, prescription, prescription drug abuse, rehab, saliva, technology, treatment

Addiction stories: Hellish Heroin – Bambi’s heroin addiction story

May 14th, 2011

Addiction stories seem to have an impact that objective research can never have. This is another in a series of addiction stories submitted by our readers. I hope that everyone will benefit from learning about others’ experiences. There’s no doubt that Bambi’s experience of escalation in use from what seemed initially innocent is a common one. If you, or someone you know, needs help with their opiate addiction, try our rehab-finder for the best way to get reliable, verified, rehab recommendations.

A harrowing tale of heroin addiction:

When most people hear the word heroin, some things come to mind. Those of you who have never even thought of doing a drug like heroin, would never understand. And for those of you who you know who you are, whether you have found your way out, or are slowly still slipping away… Believe me, if you know who you are, then you know how it is. Realizing you’re addicted to something doesn’t hit you, until you mentally find your way out by accepting what has happened and letting go with only one hell of a memory. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Addiction Stories, Drugs, Opiates Tags: addiction help, addiction stories, dope, drug withdrawal, finder, heroin, heroin addiction, heroin addiction stories, hydrocodone, hydrocodone withdrawal, methadone, methadone treatment, OC, opiate addiction, opiate addiction stories, opiate withdrawal, oxy, oxycodone, oxycodone addiction stories, oxycontin, oxycontin addiction, oxycontin addiction stories, rehab, rehab-finder, suboxone, suboxone treatment, time

Rehabing Rehab – How we can fix America’s addiction treatment system

April 3rd, 2011

When Charlie Sheen finally entered rehab, it wasn’t terribly shocking news. But what most people did find surprising was that instead of checking into a swanky Malibu addiction treatment center as he has done in the past, Sheen opted to receive in-home rehab. Immediately the media began criticizing his choice and questioning his commitment to getting sober.

There are undoubtedly certain challenges related to in-home rehab, but are you really guaranteed better care if you check into a treatment center?

Absolutely not, thanks to the lack of standardization in our current rehab system.

Seeking addiction treatment in The U.S.

Each year, about three million Americans seek help from a seemingly endless list of addiction treatment facilities. But who is ensuring these treatment centers are qualified to effectively treat them?

With a lax application process for state licensure and certification, there is little accountability placed on facilities, or their ownership, to ensure proper treatment is being offered. With more than 12,000 rehab centers in the country, the odds of finding the one that best fits your needs are next to impossible.

When treatment fails, which it often does, it is then assumed to be the addict who failed, when in reality it was often the addict who was failed by a flawed system.

This leads to a vicious cycle of relapse — a story all too familiar to families struggling with addiction, not to mention one we’ve seen repeatedly played out by Hollywood stars.

It is true that some don’t take advantage of their treatment and fail at sobriety on their own, but others simply weren’t given a chance to succeed.

The whole story is made worse by the fact that most rehab clinics market themselves as “all inclusive” — able to treat any type of addiction disorder — which most are certainly not. Addicts and their families are often so desperate to get help that they select a rehab clinic based on cost and availability, without understanding whether or not the care providers are properly certified in the type of addiction that affects them or are qualified to fulfill any additional needs they might have (including mental health needs).

This is especially true of first-timers (over 60 percent of those seeking addiction treatment are doing so for the first time). They don’t know what questions to ask or even what they are looking for out of a treatment center, making it nearly impossible to find the right option for their individual needs.

How to set standards for addiction treatment

We need to try and get some measure of standardization into the addiction treatment system so that we are able to match those looking for treatment with providers that fit their needs. Currently, there is essentially no oversight regarding the services addiction treatment providers report and their actual capabilities for providing those services.

In the place of a centralized federal or state-level vetting system, there are some private groups that provide directories. But it is not easy to tell how well these directories actually vet the treatment centers listed. It is critical for treatment candidates to know exactly what type of credentialed treatment services are provided. This should be provided by the public health departments, but until that happens, it’s basically “every man for himself.” (Here All About Addiction, we recently launched our own “rehab finder,” to provide a vetting system we think can help.)

We believe this is a crucial element for successful treatment; especially when you consider that more than 50 percent of addicts suffer from mental health issues, meaning they need special care by a trained professional. And while some may promise this, there is no verification process to ensure they are able to deliver on their promise.

In fact, a huge survey of the addiction treatment industry found that more than 20 percent of addicts entering treatment were missing crucial mental health services that they needed. (About 50 percent were missing other necessary medical services.)

Rehab is a business — a booming one, at that — and right now it is too easy to sell the idea of recovery. Because there is no model of care to follow, the system is compromised with clinics that don’t know how to do things better, some that limit their treatment due to dogma and other centers that are actually trying to “game” the system.

The bottom line is, without some level of standardization, treatment becomes nothing more than a crapshoot. You are left at the mercy of a broken system and never know what kind of treatment you are going to receive until it is too late.

Right now, you could easily check into rehab facility and find they offer nothing more than an expensive 12-step program. This is unacceptable. We have tools, like cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational enhancement therapy, which we know are effective, we just need to ensure they are part of the treatment model being offered to patients.

Add to that some very effective, if poorly utilized, medications and it’s clear we’re handicapping our patients, pun and all.

However, there is hope, and a better way of doing things, but it will require us to adopt a more progressive model of treatment.

Our society has too readily accepted the supposed “fact” that recidivism rates are high, and will always be high, for addicts. The fact of the matter is that the treatment process itself is deeply flawed and until we fix the model of care for recovering addicts, we will never be able to truthfully tell how many of them can recover. Addiction isn’t a death sentence. It is a treatable disease; we need to acknowledge that the way we are doing things doesn’t work and do something to change it.

After many years of trial and error, researchers and doctors have finally begun to grasp what works and what doesn’t in terms of treating addiction.

It is now our job and our responsibility to start developing a system that gets the proper treatment to the people who need it.

Any doctor will tell you, there are no guarantees with addiction. All we can do is give people the best shot at treatment, and sadly, right now, our system is failing at that.

Posted in:  Education, Treatment Tags: addiction, addicts, mental health, rehab, seeking addiction treatment, treatment, treatment center

Don’t walk this road alone – Tips for those still struggling

February 14th, 2011

Trying to quit an addiction can be challenging for many reasons. One of the biggest problems, especially at first, is the faulty learning that has taken place while using (or engaging in addictive behavior). For this reason, finding a long term residential addiction treatment option is ideal for people with severe and long addiction problems. And yet, for many, this solution is simply impractical.

If you can’t remove yourself from your everyday life for long enough to change your now addictive patterns, make sure to enlist the help of others around you.

Be honest with people who are close to you and are not using (at least not abusively) and ask them if they’d be willing to act as de-facto chaperons (or sober buddies). I’ve talked about it on here before, but if you’re anything like me, your addiction permeates your life. Make sure that you have planned activities that fill up your free time with those who are willing to help you. Read my treatment-related posts for specific ideas on things to fill up your time with (exercise, reading, gardening, etc.).

While you may have forgotten what going to the movies when not stoned feels like, trust me, it all comes back in time. Just make sure you have someone there to help you along the way in the beginning…

Like so much else, the biggest first step is asking for that help. Once that’s done, so much of the rest gets easier!

Posted in:  Education, For addicts, Tips Tags: addiction, addiction help, help, learning, rehab, residential, stoned, treatment, using

About Alfred Adler – One psychoanalytic view of alcohol and drug addiction

November 16th, 2010

In a previous post (see A Million Ways to Treat an Addict) I had mentioned that there are many ways to approach the treatment of addiction to drugs and alcohol. I mentioned methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing (MI), and a growing number of medications (like Vivitrol) and possibly some preventative measures (like an upcoming nicotine vaccine). The reason its important to know about the options for addiction treatment is that even if one treatment doesn’t work, there’s nothing to indicate that another will not and I believe that it’s the duty of those who treat alcohol and drug addiction to be aware, and make use, of multiple therapies to give their clients the best chance at treatment success. However, even within specific categories of treatment methods, like psychoanalysis, there are several schools that approach the individual problem differently.Here I think that an individual therapist’s discretion is the best tool we have in terms of therapy selection, at least for now.

Alfred Adler and addiction

While he was part of the group that started the school of psychoanalysis along with Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler had his own ideas about psychology. I’ll let you read more about the man and his history on your own time, but I want to point out his emphasis on family structure, dynamic, rank, and power structure as a main source for later psychopathology.

His concept of ‘inferiority complex‘ is one that is especially familiar to addicts. Feeling somehow incompetent, many addicts compensate by attempting to prove their worth at every possible chance. The overcompensation can make them seem cold, competitive, and insensitive. This often alienates them more, straining relationships and making them withdraw further. This is at least one of the reasons for the necessity of ‘drug buddies’ or ‘using friends’ to make up for the loss of many other social relationships.

Adler stressed equality as important for the prevention of pathology. Adlerian therapy establishes equality from the start with a therapist-client relationship that is collaborative rather than one in which the therapist is a teacher or master. Some clients will find this method more suitable, while other will need a more confrontational therapy, which we will address soon.

Overall, Adler’s approach seems very much in line with motivational interviewing methods whereby the therapist and client move together to find appropriate solutions that come from the client’s own resolution of ambiguity and indecision. I personally believe that such non-confrontational methods are important for many clients as they avoid the accusations, finger pointing, and blaming that normally goes along with trying to direct addicts to treatment. Still, there are many options out there, and being aware of what is available allows clients, and their loved ones, find the right treatment and produce much better choices.

Drug, alcohol, and other addiction help from All About Addiction

If you need help finding treatment for your own, or a loved one’s sex addiction, make sure to give our Rehab-Finder a try: It’s the only evidence-based, scientifically created, tool for finding rehab anywhere in the United States!

Posted in:  Education, For addicts, For others, Tips, Treatment Tags: about addiction, adler, alfred adler, clients, equality, find rehab, inferiority, methods, motivational interviewing, psychodynamic, psychotherapy, rehab, rehab-finder, therapy, treatment

Choice and control in addiction – Genetics and neuroscience of drug abuse

October 23rd, 2010

Dr. Jaffe recently gave an online lecture (webinar) for HealthCentral on the processes involved in choice and control of behavior during addiction and drug abuse. We’ve written quite a bit on here about the neuroscience of impulsivity issues and the genetic predisposition to addiction and this talk really covers some of the most important aspects of this topic. I’m also attaching a link to the presentation materials that go along with this talk so that you can follow along (Wellsphere Webinar 1 – Choice Vs. Control). There was definitely quite a bit of material (on both neuroscience and genetics) that we couldn’t get to, so hopefully having the presentation will help you follow along and learn.

We hope you enjoy!

Control Versus Choice in addiction

Watch live video from HealthCentral on Justin.tv

If you need help finding treatment for your own, or a loved one’s addiction, make sure to give our Rehab-Finder a try: It’s the only evidence-based, scientifically created, tool for finding rehab anywhere in the United States!

Posted in:  Education Tags: addiction, choice, control, drug abuse, finding, finding rehab, genetics, HealthCentral, impulsivity, neuroscience, rehab, rehab-finder, webinar, wellinar, wellsphere

Anonymous No More: Jennie Ketcham and her sex addiction story

July 22nd, 2010

As part of our Anonymous No More series, we bring addiction stories of addicts who are in different stages of recovery and are willing to share their take with you without the veil of anonymity. The point is to once and for all humanize addiction, and addicts, and reduce the stigma of addiction as a condition that leaves people hopeless forever. Jennie Ketcham has already publicly shared some of her story with the world, and if her recovery from sex addiction isn’t an example of humanizing and de-stigmatizing the addict, I don’t know what is. From her humble beginnings, through her porn career, to her role on Dr. Drew’s show “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew,” Jennie has been leaving her mark on this world for years. I know her story will leave a mark on you.

Jennie Ketcham – Sex Addiction is a slippery disease

Like in alcoholism or drug addiction, the sex addict must hit rock bottom before any change can be made. The biggest problem with this particular addiction is the intrinsically shame-based nature of the disease, with core issues making that first step into recovery the biggest and most difficult step one could ever take. To say, “I am a sex addict,” is to admit total and utter defeat in an arena that is most private and sacred.

My name is Jennie Ketcham, and I am a sex addict. My bottom line behavior, behavior I absolutely cannot participate in if I wish to lead a healthy and happy life, is compulsive masturbation, porn, sex with strangers, sex outside my committed relationship, selling sex for money, and sexualizing people, places and things when I feel uncomfortable. For most people, these behaviors are already unacceptable. For a sex addict however, it’s regular Tuesday night. I am 27 years old, my sexual sobriety date is April 6th, 2009, and I ended up in the program of recovery by mistake, but it was the best mistake I ever made. And believe me, I’ve made plenty.

Up to April 6th, 2009, I was a Porn Star. I’d been in the adult business since 2001, and had worked my way to the upper echelons of porn. By the time I quit, I was managing a webcam studio, directing and producing my own content, and working whenever I wanted. I had heard about Dr. Drew and his new rehab show, “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew,” and thought it would be the perfect publicity stunt for my webcam studio. I figured if I could get national press, the studio would take off and I’d be able to retire a happy woman. This is the superficial line of thinking that led me to rehab. These are the reasons I actually needed to be there.

Jennie the sexually addicted porn star

When I lost my virginity at thirteen, I realized I have something boys want, and decided to use my sexuality as a means of getting what I want. From my first sexual experience to my last pre-recovery, I was detached, emotionless, and cruel: it was a power struggle and I wanted to win. However, it never appeared as such, always the actress, and I played my sexual exploits off as curiosity and apathy. I’d have sex because I was curious. I wouldn’t call them (him/her) again because I didn’t care. When I joined the porn business it felt like the perfect career. I could have sex with as many people as I wanted, and didn’t have to care about any of them. And they wouldn’t care about me. I’ve never been able to accept love, and this is one of my biggest problems.

I’ve been a compulsive cheater since my first boyfriend, have never been able to maintain a monogamous relationship, and never felt any guilt about my extra-curricular activities. The problem isn’t that I lacked a conscience, it’s that I never felt significant enough to make an impact on any one person’s life. When I joined the porn industry I was no longer required to be monogamous, as it was my job to have sex. It became harder and harder to care about anybody I had sex with, and if feelings of love did start, I’d shut the relationship down before I could destroy it with my behavior.

I’ve been a compulsive masturbator since I started performing in hardcore boy/girl scenes. I decided to train myself to orgasm to non-sexual things, and nearing the end of the behavior, found myself masturbating upwards of 6 hours every day I wasn’t working. At the time I thought I was bored. In recovery, I am able to see the underlying issues, and have found a solution that works for me.

Sex Rehab with Jennie Ketcham

In rehab with Dr. Drew, I was prohibited from masturbating, sexualizing, having sex, drinking, drugging, every numbing device I’d become accustomed to using. When the effects of these behaviors wore off, when my oxytocin levels started to even out, when the alcohol and marijuana drained from my system, I was left with uncomfortable feelings I couldn’t identify or process. With the help of trained specialists, I started to understand what was going on behind my compulsive, dangerous behavior, and with the program of recovery I’ve learned how to deal with life. I am powerless over compulsive sexual behavior, and my life had become unmanageable. I came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity. I made a decision to turn my will and my life over to that power, and every day since has been better than before.

I was celibate for over nine months, trying to get back in touch with the Jennie pre-sex. I attend bi-weekly therapy sessions, and follow every direction given by either therapist or sponsor. I trust in the program of recovery, and have learned how to treat myself like the precious young woman I am. I have become a woman of grace and integrity, I have dreams that aren’t pornographic, and my first healthy committed relationship with a man I love. I have a relationship with my family, something that had fallen off in addiction, and am someone who does what she says she will do. There isn’t a single moment that goes by that I don’t worry about falling back into my destructive cycle, but now I have the tools necessary to live a healthy and productive life.

When I walked into rehab wanting publicity for my company, the joke was on me. I had accidentally walked into the first day of the rest of my life, and one minute in recovery is worth a thousand days in addiction. I am blessed through and through, and I take it one day at a time.

A final word on sex addiction recovery from Adi

You’ll notice that Jennie’s bottom-line behaviors are very far from the often stigmatized view of the sex-addict as a rapist, or pedophile. While there’s little doubt that there are sex addicts that fall into those categories, the vast majority of addict engage in activity that might, for others, be relatively benign but that has become compulsive in their own lives. My issues with sex addiction revolved around seeking sexual partners outside my marriage and migrated from my bedroom to online chat sites after I got caught cheating. What’s also very clear when reading about the recovery experienced by Jennie is that with the proper guidance, treatment, and time, addicts can go on to become fully functional in ways that many out there believe are nearly impossible. As Jennie mentioned in her reference to Oxytocin levels, a huge aspect of addiction recovery is letting the body reset, or at least attempt to re-establish, its  functioning to pre-addictive-behavior levels in the brain and elsewhere.

Jennie Ketcham used to live a life that left her unattached and cold, though for her, it didn’t seem like much was wrong until she saw the other side thanks to her stint on “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew.” Most other addict’s aren’t very likely to end up on a reality show that specifically addresses their problem (though A&E’s intervention may help some of them), but the knowledge that others with similar problems have recovered and are living full productive lives that would have been unthinkable should give hope to every struggling addict. It’s what works in group therapy everywhere and what gets some people into treatment in the first place. By living her recovery without anonymity, Jennie is showing endless other addicts that life with addiction is possible. That’s what addiction stories do – they give hope.

Posted in:  Addiction Stories, Anonymous No More, Sex Tags: addict, addiction, addiction stories, celebrity, Dr. Drew, jennie, jennie ketcham, porn, recovery, rehab, Sex, sex addiction, sex rehab, sex rehab with dr. drew