Gambling Awareness, Culturally-tuned Treatment, Assessment and Signs of Addiction
We are in National Gambling Awareness Week – which hopes to remind people of the strongly addictive properties of compulsive or problem gambling. About 85% of people in the US gamble at some point (200 million+). Of those about 3-5% are estimated to have a problem … and of that number only a small percentage ever even believe they have a problem… Also Darryl discusses his experiences creating culture-specific treatment in the 70s and 80s and its value. And what are the signs of addiction, and how do we know if we, or people we are close to, are afflicted? PODCAST
Opioids: Pain, Reward, Play – what drives addiction?
What is the relationship between pain relief, stimulation of the reward-reinforcement circuit, and play and pleasure-seeking? … what combination leads to addiction? … we have increasingly given opioids for chronic pain, only to see the pain not get better – but worse! Also treatment discussions – highly functional, highly paid execs who are just resigned to addiction because the tradeoffs for treatment would be so high. And more on Dr Drew Pinsky’s Celebrity Rehab and latest death – the fifth – among the regulars on this reality show. PODCAST
ADHD and Prescription Drugs, Brain Shape and Stop Switch, Strange Addictions, and Chocolate
Early use of drugs for kids with ADHD may not be as benign as thought; other thoughts on the pill epidemic; also the shape of the brain may affect the Stop Switch works; strange addictions, and chocolate (for Valentines Day.) PODCAST.
Mental Health among College Students
College students are seeing high rates of depression and suicide, ever greater use and overuse of alcohol, and now the addition of common prescription drugs like the stimulants used for ADHD, anti-depression benzodiazepines, synthetic opioids, to accompany the and much more potent marijuana and heroin. We discuss issues of self-medication for depression, stress, isolation factors, strangely including Facebook and other neo-social context changes. PODCAST
Dr David Mee-Lee on his ASAM Patient Placement Criteria and the new DSM-5
Dr Mee-Lee joins Dr Inaba in reviewing and contrasting the new DSM-5 from the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s Patient Placement Criteria, for which he is one of the main authors. The difference between the two manuals is discussed, including the changes in categories and scope in the new DSM, the ongoing issue of public perception/acceptance of the addiction as disease model, and issues around treatment and relapse.
Addicted to Reality TV, Games, Junk Food, Technology?
A look at some different aspects of addiction: is Celebrity Rehab yet another addictive reality-TV show? Is it actually causing harm, and not promoting a positive view of treatment? Gamers, it seem, have larger reward hubs … expanding the dopamine pathway … are their brains wired differently … rats once addicted to junk food, will die rather than switch to a healthy diet. And a new name for our latest set of addictions: digital attention disorder.