Andrew’s mother was so happy that he had finally agreed to enter treatment for his drinking problem. He had been an excellent college student until his hard partying began to take over his nights, leading to missed classes and incomplete assignments. He still managed to get a decent job that
Tag: Substance dependence and addictions
Substance Abuse & Addictions
When treating clients struggling with substance abuse, Lindsey Chadwick would like her fellow counselors to keep in mind the toll that addiction takes on children. Addiction affects the whole household. Children feel the effects differently — but as acutely — as adults, says Chadwick, a licensed professional counselor and manager
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which researchers have estimated affect 2 to 5 percent of the U.S. population, are lifelong conditions that result from exposure to alcohol in utero. Kenneth L. Jones, David W. Smith and colleagues are credited with discovering the birth defects and long-term impacts on cognitive and
During a single afternoon this past August, 26 people overdosed on opioids in Huntington, a small city in West Virginia with a population of approximately 50,000. Bolstered by naloxone — an opioid antidote that often can revive overdose victims who have stopped breathing — and too much practice in overdose
When a person is prescribed medicine by a doctor, the common assumption is that it’s best to take the dosage until it’s gone. In most cases, that’s true. But with opioids, a class of powerful, addictive and frequently prescribed pain relievers, dependence on the drug can begin within five days.
Editor’s note: This online exclusive is a companion article to Counseling Today’s December feature “What counselors can do to help clients stop smoking,” http://wp.me/p2BxKN-4wQ Less than half of substance abuse treatment centers in the United States have tobacco cessation programs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Nearly half of the cigarettes consumed in the United States are smoked by people dealing with a mental illness, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The federal agency says that rates of smoking are disproportionately higher — a little more than double — among those diagnosed
Andrew never knew his father. At age 4, he witnessed the death of his mother from an overdose. She was heroin dependent, and they were living in a car at the time. After her death, Andrew entered the foster care system. Between the ages of 4 and 15, he experienced more
More Americans died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any previous year on record. The 2014 statistics, released last month, indicate that U.S. drug overdose deaths have reached an epidemic level, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2014, 47,055 drug overdose deaths occurred
Heroin addiction has been on the rise for the past several years. The majority of overdose cases involve people younger than 25, but it’s not unusual for individuals who are middle-aged to also be affected. Recently, a friend’s 50-year-old nephew died from an overdose, leaving behind a partner and two