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NEWS AUGUST 20, 2010

Church, Clergy Helping Addicts
Source: Join Together/University of Michigan
About 15 percent of people seeking recovery from alcoholism turn to clergy members for support, a University of Michigan study finds. A survey of 1,910 individuals with alcohol-related problems found that while many people seek help from clergy, most do so in conjunction with professional services. Just 0.5 percent sought to recover through counseling with a priest or other clergy member alone."Clergy are in a unique position to notice changes in behavior over time," said study co-author Brian Perron. "Their roles as senior leaders of churches, their embodiment of important tenants of their faiths, and their formal roles as caregivers of their congregations also lend clergy considerable credibility, particularly within African-American communities. Clergy are often seen as being deeply committed to their congregants and willing to honor desires for confidentiality."

Watch What You Say!
Source: Science Daily
Stereotyping has a lasting effect. Aggression. Over-eating. Inability to focus. Difficulty making rational decisions. New research out of the University of Toronto Scarborough shows prejudice has a lasting negative impact on those who experience it. "Past studies have shown that people perform poorly in situations where they feel they are being stereotyped," says Associate Professor of Psychology Michael Inzlicht, who led the study, published in this month's edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "What we wanted to do was look at what happens afterwards. Are there lingering effects of prejudice? Does being stereotyped have an impact beyond the moment when stereotyping happens?"
In order to determine whether negative stereotyping in a particular situation had lasting effects, Inzlicht's team performed a series of tests. First, they placed participants in situations where they had to perform a task in the face of negative stereotyping. After the participants were removed from the prejudicial situation, researchers measured their ability to control their aggression, eat appropriate amounts, make rational decisions, and stay focused.
Their results show that prejudice and stereotyping have lingering adverse impacts.
"Even after a person leaves a situation where they faced negative stereotypes, the effects of coping with that situation remain," says Inzlicht. "People are more likely to be aggressive after they've faced prejudice in a given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of self control. They have trouble making good, rational decisions. And they are more likely to over-indulge on unhealthy foods."
In one portion of the study, researchers had a group of women write a math test. They told the women this test would determine whether or not they were capable and smart in math, subtly injecting stereotypes about women and math skills "into the air," says Inzlicht. A separate group of women wrote the same test, except this group was given support and coping strategies to deal with the stress they'd face when writing the test.
After completing the math test, the two groups performed another series of tasks designed to gauge their aggression levels, their ability to focus and to exercise self control.
"In these follow-up tests, the women who felt discriminated against ate more than their peers in the control group. They showed more hostility than the control group. And they performed more poorly on tests that measured their cognitive skills," says Inzlicht.
The pattern remained the same, regardless of the test groups. People who felt they were discriminated against -- whether based on gender, age, race or religion -- all experienced significant impacts even after they were removed from the situation, says Inzlicht.
"These lingering effects hurt people in a very real way, leaving them at a disadvantage," says Inzlicht. "Even many steps removed from a prejudicial situation, people are carrying around this baggage that negatively impacts their lives."
Editorial: I have long felt the power of words, the words we choose can be crippling. As long as certain words remain acceptable we will only be able to go so far with a recovery movement. Challenge yourself to watch what you say, words hurt. When we place labels on people we are only recognizing and identifying one single part of a bigger whole. People in recovery themselves often do this as well identifying themselves by first name followed by the word addict or alcoholic. Interestingly enough I cannot recall my grandfather or anyone else for that matter ever referring to himself as Cancer yet it’s also a progressive, fatal disease if it goes untreated. Recovering people are so much more than what they are addicted to/recovering from, they are mothers, fathers, sisters, and our brothers so please reconsider your choice of words before you open your mouth when having dialogue with a person suffering with this disease called addiction. Furthermore when talking to anyone in general because you never know who you are talking to, it may be someone in need of help so don’t be an obstacle be the opportunity!

Teens And Their Internet…Addiction, Depression?
Source: MSNBC.COM/Reuters
HONG KONG — Teenagers who spend excessive amounts of time on the Internet are one and a half times more likely to develop depression than moderate web users, a study in China has found. Researcher Lawrence Lam described some of the signs of excessive use spending at least five to more than 10 hours a day on the Web, agitation when the teens is not in front of the computer and loss of interest in social interaction."Some spend more than 10 hours a day, they are really problematic users and they show signs and symptoms of addictive behavior ... browsing the Internet, playing games," said Lam, co-author of the paper which was published on Tuesday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine."They can't get their minds off the Internet, they feel agitated if they don't get back on after a short period of being away," the psychologist at Sydney's University of Notre Dame's School of Medicine said in a telephone interview."They don't want to see friends, don't want to join family gatherings, don't want to spend time with parents or siblings."
The study involved 1,041 teenagers aged between 13 and 18 years in China's southern Guangzhou city who were free of depression at the start of the investigation.Nine months later, 84 of them were assessed as suffering from depression and those who were on the Internet excessively were one-and-a-half times more vulnerable than moderate users."Results suggested that young people who are initially free of mental health problems but use the Internet pathologically could develop depression as a consequence," wrote Lam, who co-authored the paper with Zi-wen Peng at the Sun Yat-Sen University's School of Public Health in Guangzhou.The depression might be a result of lack of sleep and stress from competitive online games, he explained."People who spend so much time on the Internet will lose sleep and it is a very well established fact that the less one sleeps, the higher the chances of depression," Lam said.Lam said this was the first study looking into pathological use of the Internet as a possible cause for depression.A previous study pointed to depression as a possible causal factor for Internet addiction, while several other studies showed a link between the two without clearly pointing which was the cause and which one the result.Lam called for schools to screen students for Internet addiction, so they may receive counseling and treatment.

New Report Pinpoints Substance Abuse Across The Country
Source: Medical News Today/SAMHSA
A new report shows that behavioral health problems affect every community throughout America but in unique, and sometimes surprising ways. The report, based on a nationwide survey commissioned by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), offers detailed analyses of the substance use problems occurring within these smaller geographical areas.
Since various regions of a state can experience significantly different types of behavioral health problems this type of information is helpful in targeting behavioral health services to where they are most needed. For example, in Ohio alcohol use disorders range from 6.4 percent in a region in the south central part of the state (Adams, Fayette, Gallia, Highland, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, and Scioto counties) to 9.5 percent in Franklin County.
"This report provides insight into the different behavioral health needs of communities across the nation," SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. said. "States and communities can use the data to inform and target the delivery of prevention and treatment services to meet their unique needs."
The report was developed as part of the agency's strategic initiative on prevention as well as data, outcomes, and quality an effort to create an integrated data strategy that informs policy makers and service providers on the nature and scope of behavioral health issues.
Entitled, Substate Estimates from the 2006-2008 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, the report measures and analyzes 21 substance use behaviors in 344 substate regions representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In most states, the substate regions are defined in terms of counties or groups of counties. In a few states, these areas are defined in terms of census tracts, parishes (in Louisiana), or boroughs/census areas (in Alaska).
The report's results were based on the combined data from the 2006 to 2008 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and involved responses from more than 200,000 people age 12 or older throughout the United States.

The Power Of Perceptions
Source: Wake Forest University
So is the glass half empty or half full? Is it an obstacle or and opportunity for growth? Do you see things as problems or challenges? A new study has shed some light on how the power of perceptions in particular your own relates to your happiness.
"Your perceptions of others reveal so much about your own personality," says Dustin Wood, assistant professor of psychology at Wake Forest and lead author of the study, about his findings. By asking study participants to each rate positive and negative characteristics of just three people, the researchers were able to find out important information about the rater's well-being, mental health, social attitudes and how they were judged by others.
The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Peter Harms at the University of Nebraska and Simine Vazire of Washington University in St. Louis co-authored the study.
The researchers found a person's tendency to describe others in positive terms is an important indicator of the positivity of the person's own personality traits. They discovered particularly strong associations between positively judging others and how enthusiastic, happy, kind-hearted, courteous, emotionally stable and capable the person describes oneself and is described by others.
"Seeing others positively reveals our own positive traits," Wood says.
The study also found that how positively you see other people shows how satisfied you are with your own life, and how much you are liked by others.
In contrast, negative perceptions of others are linked to higher levels of narcissism and antisocial behavior. "A huge suite of negative personality traits are associated with viewing others negatively," Wood says. "The simple tendency to see people negatively indicates a greater likelihood of depression and various personality disorders." Given that negative perceptions of others may underlie several personality disorders, finding techniques to get people to see others more positively could promote the cessation of behavior patterns associated with several different personality disorders simultaneously, Wood says.
This research suggests that when you ask someone to rate the personality of a particular coworker or acquaintance, you may learn as much about the rater providing the personality description as the person they are describing. The level of negativity the rater uses in describing the other person may indeed indicate that the other person has negative characteristics, but may also be a tip off that the rater is unhappy, disagreeable, neurotic -- or has other negative personality traits.
Raters in the study consisted of friends rating one another, college freshmen rating others they knew in their dormitories, and fraternity and sorority members rating others in their organization. In all samples, participants rated real people and the positivity of their ratings were found to be associated with the participant's own characteristics.
By evaluating the raters and how they evaluated their peers again one year later, Wood found compelling evidence that how positively we tend to perceive others in our social environment is a highly stable trait that does not change substantially over time.

So again I ask you to challenge your thought process and remember conceive it, believe it, achieve it! You can do whatever you put your mind to!

Meth Admissions Go Down Thanks To With Drug Control Efforts
Source: Medical News Today/Addiction Journal
A study published in the scientific journal Addiction shows that the Mexican government's recent efforts to control the manufacture of methamphetamine have caused a drop in methamphetamine treatment admissions in Mexico and in neighbouring Texas.

In 2005 Mexico began controlling its imports of pseudoephedrine (a precursor chemical used in the manufacture of methamphetamine), and in 2008 it became the first country in North America to ban all imports of pseudoephedrine as well as ephedrine, another important precursor chemical. Researchers estimate that the 2005 import controls caused a 12% drop in voluntary methamphetamine treatment admissions in Mexico, with similar reductions in Texas.

An even larger drop in voluntary admissions occurred following the 2007 closure of a commercial chemical company suspected of illicitly importing more than 60 tons of pseudoephedrine into Mexico. The head of the company fled Mexico but was eventually arrested in the United States. Methamphetamine treatment admissions in Mexico decreased by 56% following the closure of the company, with Texas showing similar results.

All decreases in admissions appeared to be specific to methamphetamine, as researchers found no concurrent changes in cocaine, heroin, and alcohol treatment admissions during the same period. The study wound up shortly after the 2008 bans on precursor chemicals came into effect, so researchers weren't able to examine fully the impact of those bans; however, the researchers noted that treatment admissions in Mexico showed signs of declining in the first few months following the bans.
Says lead researcher James Cunningham, a Fulbright Scholar at The University of Arizona: "These findings constitute the first evidence outside the United States that a country's precursor chemical controls can have positive public health results both domestically and internationally."

New York State Showcases Talents Of People In Recovery
Source: NYS OASAS
OASAS is sponsoring the seventh annual New York State Recovery Fine Arts Festival in conjunction with the 2010 National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery month. This year’s theme is New York Celebrates Recovery.
Art submissions will be on display at the Albany Empire State Plaza for the month of September for an exhibit that is dedicated to the power of recovery. Judges will select the art work which best depicts this year’s theme, New York Celebrates Recovery, from each of the following categories:
VISUAL ART: photography, pen and ink, pencil, watercolor, oil/pastel, acrylic, mixed media
POETRY (English or Spanish): traditional poetry, performance or hip-hop poetry
MULTI-MEDIA (electronic video, audio or graphic design)
Questions: Direct all questions to OASAS Bureau of Recovery Services, 518-485-1495 or e-mail ArtFestival@oasas.state.ny.us.
Artists can submit only one piece in each category (photography, pen and ink, pencil, watercolor, oil/pastel, acrylic, mixed media, traditional poetry, performance or hip hop poetry, electronic multi-media).
Entrants must be New York state residents who are self-identified in recovery. All submissions must be original work (no slides, copies, etc.) without the use of any brand names or other copywrited or trademarked images, graphics, copy or sound. Only one submission can be entered per person.
Deadline for submissions is August 25, 2010.

United States of Recovery (Coast to Coast Who's Gained The Most)
Share your story!
Inside Addiction will be embarking on a new project, the making of a documentary. We will be putting together clips of people in recovery from the state of Washington to Washington D.C. and everywhere in between. Our goal is to find someone from every state and perhaps expand worldwide who have gotten their life back through the miracle of recovery. We Need Your Help! If you know someone who would be willing to share their experience, strength, and hope in video form we want to hear from you and them! It's as easy a using your iPhone or home videocamera and emailing or sending us your story! This documentary will show it doesn't matter where you are from big city, small town no one is immune to addiction but recovery can be contagious! So if you would like to be part of this NEVER before attempted opportunity and share your story, putting a face on addiction and recovery from coast to coast.
Email me at dhale@insideaddiction.org

Personalized Recovery Jewelry: www.insideaddiction.org/cleanslates

Watch Episodes of Inside Addiction online anytime: www.youtube.com/insideaddiction

Contact us:
dhale@insideaddiction.org

Update: INSIDE ADDICTION the magazine… COMING SOON!
This will be a bi-monthly magazine starting September (Recovery Month!) with all the latest headlines, news, and views about addiction and recovery. It will include behind the scenes interviews with guests from past and future episodes of our show sharing their experience, strength, and hope. Each magazine will feature options for substance abuse treatment and recovery as we go “inside” detox, inpatient rehab, outpatient, halfway, ¾ supportive living houses and more! We’ll put to rest some of the facts and fiction about addiction and give you the opportunity to ask us your questions. Recovery can be fun and each magazine will feature word searches and crossword puzzles too. The latest in recovery jewelry and apparel are all included in each magazine so keep an eye out for INSIDE ADDICTION the magazine.
For more information or to pre-order your yearly subscription email us info@insideaddiction.org

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