VIDEO – HELPING SCHIZOPHRENICS – July 18, 2022 – Dr. Jonathan Meyer: Hi, this is Dr. Jonathan Meyer, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and psychopharmacology consultant to various state hospital and first-episode psychosis programs here to talk about how to tailor treatment regimens for patients with schizophrenia. The overarching statement is whether they are first episode or a more chronic schizophrenia patient, is to find out what are their goals of treatment? What is it that they want? Often, sometimes we as clinicians get locked into the mindset of symptom reduction as a…
Author: Leonard Buschel
VIDEO – ONE SONG AT A TIME – July 20, 2022 – “It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I had a problem with drinking because I was one of those drinkers where [it was all or nothing],” Welch told Bergdorf, 34. “If I enjoy my drinking, I can’t control it and if I control my drinking, I don’t enjoy it. That was a real wake-up call for me.” “During the Lungs era it was fine to be a chaotic mess, ‘cause that’s what that was,” said the musician of Florence and…
CAUGHT/FREE – July 19, 2022 – Following her release, Blakinger – who had long struggled with drug use – returned to Cornell and completed her degree in English. She has since gone on to a career in journalism, covering the prison system she experienced first-hand. “I approach reporting with an assumption that people in prison are people, with their own stories and truths and need for dignity,” she says. “I was one of them.” Blakinger chronicles her experiences, in unsparing detail and with utter candor, in her new memoir, “Corrections in Ink.” “If I told my story – on my…
IS ZOOM AN ACCOMPLICE? – July 2022 – “The cases announced today include charges against people who brazenly used Medicare funds to purchase luxury items, medical professionals who corruptly approved testing and equipment, and business owners who submitted false and fraudulent claims for services patients did not need,” Kenneth Polite, the head of the department’s criminal division, told Reuters in a statement. Separately, the Center for Medicare Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, took parallel administrative action against 52 companies involved in similar schemes. The alleged fraud schemes relate to both older and well-known billing…
NEW TO WHO? – July 18, 2022 – At the federal level, methadone, which has been prescribed for more than 40 years, is the most regulated drug in the country. There are strict guidelines on who can prescribe it (general practitioners cannot), the clinics that are allowed to use it, medication storage, counseling, urine testing and staffing. Only Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-certified opioid treatment programs can dispense methadone for OUD, and most states impose further restrictions on clinic locations, testing and patient medication pickup schedules. Although buprenorphine, which was approved by the FDA in 2002, can be…
AND MEDS TOO? – July 19, 2022 – Like many healthcare provider organizations, Groups, a value-based care provider of opioid addiction treatment, had to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic overnight. THE PROBLEM In order to keep members safe, the organization made the decision to close all 120 of its clinics across the country and transition to 100% virtual opioid use disorder treatment services. To accomplish this, Groups provided its members with a number of different digital health technologies that enabled them to continue their treatment virtually and do all of the form submissions, drug screens and insurance processes that…
ONLY 2,400? – July 22, 2022 – Graves, who is joined in the lawsuit by his wife, Sandi Jo, claims he was hospitalized several times after receiving his final prescription from Titus on Sept. 21, 2020 — shortly before the physician was charged with multiple felony counts over alleged unlawful prescribing — and that he continued to require medical care for his addiction to the opioids prescribed by Titus, according to the legal filing. In the court document, Graves claims that Titus “acted wantonly, recklessly and negligently by prescribing extreme amounts and combinations of dangerous and addictive narcotic medications…
VIDEO – EDUCATE US – Jun 27, 2022 – Ken Burns: I’m really proud of the film. I think it will save lives. It is so critically important because there is an epidemic, not just among young people, but across the board, as a result of the pandemic and just the challenges of a modern life. Also, my own history was instrumental in doing it. My mother got sick with cancer when I was 2 or 3 years old. There was never a moment when I was aware, a conscious being, when there wasn’t this looming shadow over my…
AUDIO – LOST AND FOUND – July 18, 2022 – The McShin Foundation, a recovery community organization in Henrico County, offered its facilities for Johnston’s stop in Virginia. The foundation provides services to recovering addicts including recovery and reentry to society programs, sober living facilities and court advocacy. John Shinholser, McShin’s president, says speakers like Johnston are crucial to his foundation’s participants who are struggling with addiction themselves, to show them they aren’t alone in their fight. “It’s critical for new participants to be exposed to these types of community events and the social connection that conveys a sense…
VIDEO – 365 DAYS of RELIEF – July 29, 2022 – Teigen first shared an update on her sobriety journey in 2017, telling Cosmopolitan that, at the time, she was “point blank, just drinking too much,” so she decided to take a break from alcohol. Then in December 2020, Teigen took to her Instagram Stories to share her recommitment to being sober after receiving the book “Quit Like a Woman” by Holly Whitaker from her doctor for her 35th birthday, according to US Magazine. And about a year ago, Teigen used a summer trip to Italy as an opportunity…
VIDEO – POWERLESS OVER ALCOHOL – July 22, 2022 – “For me, the most important thing to learn in recovery is that I’m powerless over drugs,” Macklemore, 39, told the outlet. “The disease is insidious. It’s constantly telling you lies in order for you to go off and go, ‘You know what? I think the best thing for me is to go off and get high’ — knowing damn well that’s the thing that kills me. That’s the insanity portion of the disease.” In January, the rapper opened up to PEOPLE about his relapse during the summer of 2020…
VIDEO – I SAY NO NO NO – July 23, 2022 – Winehouse was found dead in her flat in Camden on Saturday, July 23, 2011. The cause of death was alcohol poisoning, as the singer was found with 416mg of alcohol per decilitre in her blood, which was enough to make her comatose. Dr Shirley Radcliffe, the coroner, said: “She voluntarily consumed alcohol, a deliberate act that took an unexpected turn in that it caused her death.” Winehouse’s family released a statement following her death, writing that they had been left “bereft” by the loss of “a wonderful daughter,…
NO Pill, NO Surgery, NO Transplants – July 21, 2015 – Through the vivid, true stories of five people who journeyed into and out of addiction, a renowned neuroscientist explains why the “disease model” of addiction is wrong and illuminates the path to recovery. The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease based on evidence that brains change with drug use. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease and shows why the disease model has become…
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” – Oscar Wilde
THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT, YOU HAVE TO WEAR SHADES – July 12, 2022 – A legislative panel on Tuesday listened to advocates who hope to broaden the scope of medical treatment and research assisted by psilocybin, the psychedelic active ingredient in certain mushrooms. Oregon is so far the only state to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin. Recent studies indicate psilocybin could be useful in the treatment of major depression, including mental suffering among terminally ill patients, and for substance abuse including alcoholism, with low risks of addiction or overdose under medical supervision. Physician Lawrence Leeman, a medicine professor…
WE NEED NEW IDEAS – July 8, 2022 – As cocaine addiction rose in the 1980s, the concept of codependence offered a path to support and treatment. By the mid-1990s, treating it was an established part of therapy and residential facilities sprang up that specialized in it. A new 12-step group, Codependents Anonymous, formed in 1986. Soon, codependence became a household word, with publications musing on whether America was codependently enabling President Bill Clinton’s sex addiction. Its ideology about using tough love to fight addiction settled into conventional wisdom. more@NYTimes
OBSERVE DON’T ARREST – July 11, 2022 – For some ethnographic researchers, this means not simply recording the experiences of people who use drugs, but incorporating them into the research process. A recent paper co-authored by McNeil, from the Yale School of Medicine, was built around interviews at a supervised drug consumption site and relied in part on peer researchers who “lived in the neighborhood, had lived experience of criminalized drug use, and were trained in research.” Structuring research in this way, McNeil said, helps ensure that research findings adequately reflect the fast-changing reality on the street. This is especially…
THE ULTIMATE GIFT – July 4, 2022 – I grieved hard for my Latte, who was the dog equivalent of St. Francis of Assisi — a little hairy mammal (Latte, not Francis) who radiated universal benevolence. She was a consoling, healing presence during the worst of my struggles against depression and cancer. In a very real sense, Latte was a better person than I am — a daily practitioner of the hardest parts of the Sermon on the Mount. She was meek, merciful (except to those godless squirrels), peaceable and pure of heart. At her departure, I was the…
SWALLOWING DEATH? – July 6, 2022 – Gov. Jared Polis signed Colorado’s new “fentanyl accountability” bill at a ceremony at the state Capitol in May – the new law provides stricter criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of fentanyl and other drugs laced with it. “Every single bust, and I hate to use that term, is making a substantive community impact on the life-saving front,” Besser said. “If it saves one life, for me, it was worth the whole process.” Fentanyl pills are extremely cheap right now, officials said Wednesday. The drugs can go for as little as…
WEAR YOUR LOVE LIKE HEAVEN – July 9, 2022 – In 1996, I was making an album in LA and didn’t know what was meant to happen next. I just knew I couldn’t go home. My friend Ian Rogers, who was dating her best friend, invited to me to Ione’s house for a Christmas party in Laurel Canyon where I met her family. Bob Dylan’s Isis was playing, there were mushrooms. At one specific moment – I remember thinking “I want my life to be like this”. But there was no way I could have known that 10 years…
LIKE FATHER LOVES SON – July 17, 2022 – Trejo himself has been sober for more than 50 years and has been recognized by Los Angeles drug and alcohol treatment center CRI-Help for his work and advocacy of the recovery community. Along with Gilbert, Trejo’s daughter Danielle also got help at CRI-Help. She is also several years sober. Trejo attended his first 12-step meeting when he was just 15. When he’s not helping out his community or adding to the more than 400 screen credits to his name, the “villain” actor and restaurateur with a growing taco and doughnut…
LAND OF THE FREE NO MORE – July 13, 2022 – A new poll conducted by Generation Lab and Axios found that 50 percent of young people felt upset after the ruling came out. Forty-one percent felt mad, and 32 percent felt hopeless. Twenty-five percent said a state’s abortion law would “not at all” influence their decision to live there. More than a dozen states had abortion trigger laws in place — which took effect immediately or with quick state action following the fall of Roe — banning or severely restricting abortion access. More than half of all female…
“WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR WARRANTY” – July 13, 2022 – Beyond the financial repercussions, there’s a steep emotional cost for people who don’t lose a dollar, mental health experts say. Constant scam attempts can increase stress levels and strain relationships. Their negative impact on mental health is even worse when the scammers target people based on perceived weaknesses, like advanced age, loneliness or, in McCarroll’s case, an ongoing illness. That anxiety can spread to their worried family members, they say. Irene Kenyon’s family was in a good position to avoid scams. She’s the director…
HIPA SHIMIPA – July 13, 2022 – “The Company immediately suspended user access to impacted information technology applications, executed extensive cybersecurity protection protocols, and quickly took steps to restrict further unauthorized activity,” the statement said. According to the lawsuit, Contreras received a letter dated June 17 from Baptist Health, which operates a number of medical centers in San Antonio, notifying him that a third party accessed personal information from the health system’s network between March 31 and April 24. The letter said the information could have included demographic data, Social Security numbers and information about patients’ health insurance and billing…
BS? – July 13. 2022 – It’s not that the symptoms seen on video are feigned. Some psychologists suggest a kind of “mass psychogenic illness” is afoot, or a form of conversion disorder — neurological symptoms without a clear physical cause — or, potentially, simple panic attacks. Police officers have been told, by authorities including the Drug Enforcement Administration, that microscopic amounts of fentanyl can be deadly; they are taught to fear this substance. Their bodies may react accordingly, exhibiting symptoms, like rapid breathing, that are indicative of distress and panic. (Fentanyl produces the exact opposite effect; high doses result…
VIDEO – PLAYING FOR KEEPS – July 14, 2022 – Experts say the rise of sports betting has lead to a spike in gambling addiction in the U.S. more@YouTube
WHO’S MINDING THE KIDS? – July 14, 2022 – “They get afraid it will open the floodgates to frivolous claims,” Cunningham said. “They seem to be more comfortable letting this be handled by the public prosecutors, who already end up taking the lead on this kind of consumer protection type stuff.” While the revised bill might win more votes in the state Legislature, it hasn’t won over social media companies, many of which are based in California and remain opposed. TechNet, a group of technology CEOs and senior executives, says it is nearly impossible to separate social media content…
SANITY AT LAST? – July 14, 2022 – Amid a century-long drug war in the United States, things are getting worse. Currently, over 100,000 annual deaths are attributed to “overdose,” most involving more than one drug. That’s a 16-fold increase since I was born, in 1980, and the highest number in US history. Yet the people with the loudest voices promote the same ineffective responses: Lock sellers up and hire more police officers. Continue racist enforcement. And block people who use drugs from policy conversations. Each year, the US spends upwards of $300 billion on the criminal-legal system, much of…
ON THE JOB TRAINING – July 14, 2022 – Within five minutes, a colleague reached out to Nelson and explained that he was six days sober — his second time trying — and looking for support groups. She knew instantly that her personal risk was justified. “We always said that if we helped one person, it would be worth it, and I still get goosebumps when I tell this story, because the reaction was so swift,” says Nelson, now the VP of revenue at Visit.org. “This community is intended to be of service to people who are sober, sober-curious…
LIFE HAS A WAY – July 16, 2022 – Herndon ended up calling a friend for help that night, albeit he doesn’t remember the call. Twelve hours later, he remembers waking up in a Texas rehab facility and that’s when “a beautiful journey” began. “It was the most painful and hard journey I’ve ever taken, but trying to leave no stone unturned,” he said. Page Six reported Herndon, 60, has struggled with drug addiction since his 20s. While he has had a long and successful music career that started in the ‘90s, Herndon also battled a 1995 arrest, a 2021…