Addiction Recovery

About Heroin

Heroin is diacetylmorphine and it is made by the chemical conversion of morphine, which is extracted from the seedpod of certain varieties of poppy plants. Heroin was synthesized in the 1870s, shelved, then mass marketed from the 1890s until the 1920s.

Heroin is no longer the drug of back alleys in big cities; it is more socially accepted by today’s youth and widely available in communities across the country. Heroin, illegal and highly addictive, is abused more than any other opiate.

Heroin is typically sold as a white or brownish powder or as the black sticky substance known on the streets as “black tar” heroin. Pure heroin is usually white, whereas street heroin is usually brown from impurities and adulterants. When sold at street level heroin is likely to have been diluted or cut with a variety of similar powders. However, there is no way to gauge the purity of heroin by its color.

Heroin Use

Heroin is usually injected, sniffed (snorted), or smoked. When heroin is sniffed or smoked, peak effects are usually felt within 10 to 15 minutes. When injected, peak effects are felt immediately.

The brain converts heroin into morphine, which then binds the endorphin receptors all over the body, creating a powerful and pleasurable warm ‘cotton wool’ effect. Suppressing the middle part of the brain, the locus coeruleus, heroin provides the user with feelings of safety and contentment.

Regular heroin use can lead to physical and psychological dependence. Typically, an abuser may inject up to four times a day.

Heroin Overdose

Heroin use escalates as the body’s tolerance for the drug increases. This increased tolerance is the cause of many overdose deaths, given that the heroin user may be injecting 3 to 5 times the lethal dose in order to maintain their high.

Because heroin abus Read the rest of this entry »

When the news broke about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s alleged involvement with a prostitute the nation was inundated with newspaper reports expressing shock and confusion. Politicians, corporate executives, and various other pundits were outraged by Spitzer’s behavior? And healthcare providers began scratching their heads at the apparent level of ignorance about addictive behavior that these responses demonstrated.

In fact, Spitzer’s behavior is a classic reflection of a particular kind of addiction known as sex addiction.

In the addictions recovery field providers refer to the “insanity” of the addict. They define this as a way of thinking that compels the addict to continually make choices harmful to self and others yet denying consciously or unconsciously to self that such choices will have any significantly negative impact. In Spitzer’s case he continually made choices despite the enormous risks involved– risks that included divorce, alienation from children, loss of employment, legal charges, disease, blackmail, and personal humiliation.

Obviously from the news this kind of behavior now confounds many people. They do not understand what propels a person to act so irresponsibly that he ends up egregiously hurting self and loved ones. Many are casting criticisms, judgment and expressions of glee with no understanding or interest that Spitzer’s behavior reflects a deeply painful and unmanageable internal state of being very likely driven by formative experiences that compromised a healthy sense of self and others.

Such a painful state is at the root of sexual addiction. Healthy individuals need to feel a positive sense of connection with self and to know that they are able to manage their lives. Our ability to experience this grows out of our interactions throughout childhood with our primary caretakers and ar Read the rest of this entry »

“Hey, its time to shut the computer down,” you hear a voice coming from the other room. There was a time you used to respond and care, but the was a long time ago. After all there is a game to be played and you and your cyber buddies have made it to the next round hoping to conquer cyberspace or at least this small piece of it.

Internet Addiction: Are you for Real?

Internet Addiction is not an officially recognized addiction, yet it has been said to cause tremendous damage in marriages, families and work. The hard part about identifying Internet Addiction is that it manifests itself in so many different ways. Some people become addicted to gaming and others to Cyber Sex and still others to chat rooms. These activities become more and more time consuming, drawing the person into a virtual reality, which ends up holding them hostage from the real reality existing around them.

There is a clear escape mechanism at play with Internet Addiction and in a sense that is what makes no more unique than another type of addiction. Yet, despite the similarity to other addictions, Internet Addiction is unique in the sense that the Internet as a medium is not dangerous in the slightest. Those that have succumbed to some sort of Web dependency have no way to over dose on the Internet, rather Web addicts suffer social reclusion, financial loss, and a distorted sense of reality.

Who is at Risk?

The more society becomes “wired” to the Internet the more people will become pulled into a world largely made up of zeros and ones. The scary thing about Internet Addiction is that it can affect almost anyone. Although there is a comparison to substance abuse, the fact that anyone can become an Internet addict even if they don’t have a predisposition to addictions, separates it from other addictions.

Leading research ind Read the rest of this entry »