Tag: Addiction

The telephone. The thing you scream at and screams back at you. Other than the ol’ ball and chain, of course. Infinitely faster and cheaper than paying the neighbour boy to run to the other side of town with a message on a piece of paper, a lot less dirty than carrier pigeons, and as long as y...

The language in this article may trigger anyone who has ever struggled with opiates. Sitting at the back of the bus, I’m both excited and afraid. Am I going to die from a heroin overdose? Or am I going to have the best night of my life? I was the one who insisted we should try heroin, so I ...

When I was stuck in a deep rut and YouTube rabbit hole a few months ago, I randomly came across an interview with Dr. Anna Lembke — a psychiatrist, author, and addiction specialist. Unexpectedly, I heard her say something that pierced through my apathetic slumber: &ldq...

Presidential candidates from both major parties have blamed violent video games for contributing to mass shootings, a notion shared by many Americans. Yet researchers at the Stanford Brainstorm Lab were the latest to study all of the available evidence and conclude...

Nowadays, social media has expanded a lot, and many people use it for different purposes, sometimes positive and sometimes negative, whereas most of the social media users are badly addicted, and this addiction leads to many negative impacts on them, but it can be very useful in order to learn or ma...

In the digital age, social media has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, permeating every facet of our daily lives. From the moment we wake to the last scroll before sleep, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok command our attention, shaping not just how we communicate but ...

Lauren and I have always enjoyed having a few drinks. Sometimes, a few drinks can lead to a few more drinks. I was never a heavy drinker because I didn’t like the hangover. So as her drinking became heavier over the last six months, I followed along and smoked more pot. I’m not saying it...

When we take a closer look at those at Beyond Sober and Sober Not Sober, we discover that they possess a profound intelligence and charisma. They are some of the most heartfelt, empathetic, understanding, kind, and genuine people you will ever encounter. These individuals are not d...

Did you know that the average person spends more time gaming each week than they do on a part-time job? It’s time to reconsider how you invest it! You can read this article for free with this link. Enjoy. Your tether to the digital realm might be holding you back from a life-ch...

As a college student looking back at my own childhood and remembering the good old times when I was running around outside on the grass or inventing new games to play, whether it was alone or with the people around me, I look at the generation experiencing early youth now and see the generic iPad ki...

Like many people, I was gutted when I heard about actor Matthew Perry’s death on Saturday night. Of all my parasocial relationships, this was one of the longest and deepest. I loved him from the first time I watched the TV show Friends. I can repeat some of his quips from that show note f...

The line between addiction and recovery can be tenuous and fragile. Though I have years of hard-fought sobriety, I walked right up to the edge of substance use the other week. I stood at the edge of that yawning abyss of nothingness and reveled in a moment of thrill-seeking defiance. My addict...

“Do you have a boyfriend?” My then-husband, who I’ll call Simon, wanted to know. Why would he ask me such a thing? Maybe because I went salsa dancing three to five times a week over in San Francisco. By day I worked in hospital finances, and by night I was the quirky Gr...

My head was pounding. I reached over to turn the volume down on the car stereo. “I’m so tired of listening to this EDM stuff!” I thought to myself. I didn’t dare express my discontent with the driver. The three of us in the car were hungry, tired, and crashing. I knew...

Presidential candidates from both major parties have blamed violent video games for contributing to mass shootings, a notion shared by many Americans. Yet researchers at the Stanford Brainstorm Lab were the latest to study all of the available evidence and conclude...

Ever found yourself trapped in a cycle you couldn’t escape? That was me, not too long ago. My name is Dr. Richard Matthews, and today, I might stand before you as the founder and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of RHEM Labs, but the road to this point was anything but straightforward....

I met Jane the same way you did — through Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction. And even if you’re not a JA fan and you have no idea who Perry is, you’ve heard the song… Jane says I’m done with Sergio He treats me like a ragdoll&hellip...

Something clicked when I heard her say that. The world has become a place that is mismatched for our basic neurology. I found this message so timely that I didn’t just buy Dr. Lembke’s book, Dopamine Nation, but also made it the first pick of my book club, The Bibliosopher...

Walking around my university campus, it’s clear how addicted people are to their phones. Many have no sense of their surroundings because their faces are glued to their screens or the music from their headphones traps their ears. Socializing and making friends is harder than ever because every...

The complicated illness known as addiction is a brain disorder characterized by obsessive substance use despite negative outcomes. Knowing the psychology of addiction can help us treat it more successfully and understand why some people develop an addiction while others do not. Addiction’s ...

Whether it is the latest iPhone, a new piece of clothing, or even food, we have all felt the urge to splurge now and again. This comes as little surprise because we are constantly bombarded with online, print, and media ads that reinforce the shopping mentality. Indulging in occasional spending is n...

Our AA brother said, “Victimhood is at the heart of a claim to being complicated. Like the famous comedian saying, the devil made me do it, we whine; you must understand; we are complicated. “We addicts are no more complicated than anyone else. We are simple, and our problem is s...

It’s counterintuitive, I know. In a world where we often measure success by the size of our bank accounts, winning money should be the pinnacle of achievement. But for gamblers, it’s complicated. The thrill of winning, the jolt of joy that shoots through your body as you watch the sel...

I was still a teenager. But I was a bit of a wild child. I would always go a little too far. Take a little too much. And never think about the consequences. Alcohol was a way for me to rebel. To set myself free from all of life’s pressures. It started off as drinking only in the weekends. B...

Ah, sugar — you were the best frenemy I ever had. Whenever I had a stressful day, you were there to calm my nerves. You stood by my side through breakups, late-night study sessions, financial troubles, and cancer treatments. Not only that, you were always there to help me celebrate! ...

I’ve gone through this cycle before. Far into my depression/addictions, and then I try and get my shit together for a while. Whenever I am working at getting it together, I have typically gone at it full force. I want to be “perfect” at fixing myself. I push to grow, grow, grow. Th...

Everyone knows a recovering addict. I know several. Some are friends and some are family members. I do my best to support all of them — to be there for them — but I’m always just winging it. That’s why I wanted to speak with Travis Thompson. Thompson is a...

What are the dangers of fentanyl? Fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid that can lead to overdose and death, even in small amounts. It is important to handle fentanyl with extreme caution and under the guidance of a healthcare professional. How is fentanyl different from other painkillers? ...

I began shooting heroin and Dilaudid in 1976 and I used for 35 years. During the first 13 years I used occasionally, never enough to develop a problem. The last 22 years I was strung out, living an addiction. And the world we live in, those of us with an opioid addiction, is very different from the ...

One of my favorite rap songs as a child was about a 15 year old junkie trying to shake his drug habit. The title was “Doing Bad” by Cash Money rapper B.G. As a child I couldn’t fully comprehend the lyrics. I didn’t know what heroin was, nor did I understand the graveness of a...

Here’s why I tell people I care about to steer clear of Kratom: Kratom binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids. So, although it does not contain opiates, it works the same way on the brain. I admit I never have tried Kratom. And I never would, based on what I have read and...

Starting in 1996, Purdue Pharma introduced OxyContin to Appalachia for the first time. The drug was heavily marketed and promoted very frequently. It was supposed to be used as a tool for helping the miners deal with chronic pain that resulted from the strenuous labor that mining demands. A big fact...

The scientific construction of addiction is continually evolving and even the etymology of the word “addiction” is more complex than we know, says this 2017 study. The medical community now uses the term substance use disorder, in lieu of addiction, to describe the disorder in behav...

Samantha had always been a social butterfly. She was the life of every party, and her infectious laughter could fill any room. However, as she got older, Samantha started to experiment with drugs. It started with just a little weed, but soon she was dabbling in cocaine and other harder substances. ...

When I was tapering off opioids, it was insanely hard. But I pushed through, thinking, when I finally get off these pills for good, everything will be alright again. Everything will be better. Life will go back to normal. And things did slowly start to improve, which was a relief, given that t...

Oh my friend, let me tell you….for over two decades of my life, I was enslaved by food and my body image. I would starve, binge, purge — anything to numb and escape. I despised myself and could not break free from this vicious cycle no matter how hard I tried. In my darkest moments a...