VIDEO – SID’S NOT VICIOUS ANYMORE – March 31, 2022 – Having won an Oscar for his role in Darkest Hour, where he portrayed Winston Churchill, the 64-year-old actor is set to star in Apple TV+ spy drama Slow Horses this year. Back in March 2021, Oldman gave an interview where he reflected on his past drinking habits and how at the time this affected his life. In a time which he said he “wouldn’t wish on [his] worst enemy,” Oldman described some of his bizarre side effects and why he started to drink in the first place. The…
Author: Leonard Buschel
INERTIA IS NOT KOSHER – April 2, 2022 – It was at his little brother’s funeral in Georgia that 39 year-old Tripp Freeman had a sobering realization. If he were to die that day, the only constant in his life would have been drugs. He wanted that to change. “I saw the way my brother was talked about at his funeral and it made me change my whole thinking,” said Freeman, who had spent 12 years in prison before becoming a personal trainer. “That’s how I want to be remembered and have a positive legacy.” Freeman became addicted to…
TRIBUTES LIVE ON – April 2, 2022 – “I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family,” John said. “I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more. Ryan was the spark that helped me to recover from my addictions and start the AIDS foundation. Within six months (of White’s death) I became sober, and clean, and have been for 27 years.” White, a Kokomo native who contracted HIV as a child through a contaminated blood transfusion, died on April 8, 1990. John visited White at Riley Hospital for Children on, April 2,…
IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT – April 1, 2022 – Alcohol has always been a central character on reality TV. Tables have been flipped, torches in the Hamptons have been tossed, and plenty of fists thrown by cast members under the influence. Many reality stars have encountered the law, have been arrested and sat in jail cells after imbibing. It’s become so normalized, it’s almost expected some cast members will drink and chaos will follow. So what happens when you’re appearing on reality TV and you’re sober? Fears of becoming boring, not having a “storyline,” or falling off the…
PHONING IT IN – March 31, 2022 – UCF clinical psychologist and Professor Lidia Meshesha works tirelessly to help improve the lives of people afflicted by addiction. She knows from previous studies, that many people relapse after treatment. “I have seen too many patients who struggle with addiction, and despite going to treatment and reporting that they don’t want to use alcohol or drugs anymore, they find themselves back in the same situation year after year,” Meshesha says. “I want to find ways that can help them escape this unwanted vicious cycle.”Meshesha was born in Ethiopia and moved to the…
IN THE SCHMOOZE – March 31, 2022 – On that episode from November 2021, Fox said, “Leah was my sponsor in AA. We were both so sick and suffering.” McSweeney added, “I have the coolest sponsees though. I mean, I really was in no shape to help anybody.” The Uncut Gems star assured her however that her sponsorship was enormously helpful to her back then, recalling, “You told me something that I still think all the time: ‘Tire the body and the mind will follow.’ If I’m feeling depressed or stressed, I’m just like, ‘Let’s get busy.’ I’ll workout and…
AUDIO – SHE’S DEFINITELY AWARE! – April 2, 2022 – This month is a chance to spread awareness of alcohol consumption and reduce the stigma of reducing alcohol consumption. This year’s theme is “For The Health of It,” with a focus on Early Education on Alcoholism and Addiction. Achieving Recovery Together wants to empower you to speak with the young people in your life about alcohol. People who aren’t parents or guardians can benefit, too. We encourage everyone to examine their own habits and decide how alcohol affects their life goals. First, let’s define what a standard drink is. Different…
AUDIO – HOW ABOUT A THIMBLEFUL? – March 31, 2022 – The investigators used analyses of genetic and medical data of over 371,000 people, averaging 57 years of age and reportedly consumed nine drinks per week, who participated in the U.K. Biobank (a British database used by scientists and investigators to study genes and their association with health), according to a news release. The authors also said the finding showing the link between heart risk and drinking was exponential rather than linear was supported by their additional analysis of data from more than 30,000 U.S. participants in the Mass…
VIDEO – ONE DAY AT A TIME – April 2, 2022 – “The abrupt cessation of alcohol consumption following prolonged excessive use can lead to a life-threatening withdrawal syndrome,” Koob said. He lists the three phases of alcohol withdrawal as: Acute Lasting roughly one week, the individual will experience anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, increased heart rate; stress circuitry rebounds, seizure peaks by 48 hours; delirium tremens (a rapid onset of confusion) peaks by the 72-hour mark. Early abstinence Lasting about three to six weeks, the person will experience anxiety and insomnia. Post-acute withdrawal The patient experiences dysphoria (a deep sense of…
By Christopher Dale THE SAD DEMISE OF THE FIX – April 4, 2022 – As a writer and recovering addict, the highest praise I can give a media outlet is it made me better at each. TheFix.com, which suddenly and surprisingly ended its longstanding run on April 1st was a rare example that accomplished both. I began reading ‘“The Fix”’ shortly after getting clean and sober in late 2011. I’d always been as aspiring writer and was now an aspiring teetotaler. Addicts are often “aspiring everythings” and, while Alcoholics Anonymous had begun showing me how to live sober, as a…
THEY’RE DEAD? – Mar. 24, 2022 – Any list of the great authors and poets of the 20th century would include countless addicts: Lucia Berlin, Elizabeth Bishop, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, Jean Rhys, William Styron, John Williams and poet John Berryman (pictured here) — all experienced varying degrees of addiction, which they explored over the course of their respective careers. Artist-addicts continue to inspire curiosity and obsession, but as we move farther from the 20th century and toward a reinterpretation of substance abuse that places it in the context of wellness…
DOES SMOG HELP YOUR BREATHING? – March 29, 2022 – Some researchers have reported that drinking modestly protects the heart because moderate drinkers as a group have less heart disease than those who drink heavily or those who abstain. Dr. Aragam and his colleagues also saw that effect. But the reason, they report, is not that alcohol protects the heart. It is that light to moderate drinkers — those who consume up to 14 drinks a week — tend to have other characteristics that decrease their risk, like smoking less, exercising more and weighing less than those who drink…
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN – March 31, 2022 – “The old rule of thumb is that one-third of people get better, one-third stay the same, and one-third continue to get worse,” said Dr. Michael Bogenschutz, a psychiatrist at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine studying psilocybin-assisted therapy as a treatment for alcohol abuse. “What’s fascinating to me about this whole process is how many different kinds of experiences people can have, which ultimately help them make these profound changes in their behavior.” Take Aimée Jamison, who several years ago wanted to kick her cigarette habit before her…
VIDEO – GO SEE A PLAY, ANY PLAY – March 30, 2022 – What the playwright lacks in tech savvy, she makes up for in her portrayal of a Latinx family from Philly. The play’s strongest moments are when cousins Elliot and Yazmin are alone, joking and reminiscing the way only close family members can. Part-time actor Elliot is repeatedly taunted by Yazmin for a Colgate commercial he did, and Elliot seems equally amused by how the family still loves Yazmin’s ex-husband. DeAngeles and Maria have a great sibling chemistry that makes these moments feel real. Still, one has to…
SUPER HERO PROBLEMS – Mar. 30, 2022 – In a cinematic universe populated by gods, aliens, supersoldiers, galactic guardians, witches, androids and immortals, Moon Knight journeys into a previously uncharted territory of the mind. Head writer Jeremy Slater and lead actor Oscar Isaac take on arguably one of the MCU’s biggest challenges yet: dissociative identity disorder (DID). While looking at mental illness through the lens of comic book characters has a long, and admittedly messy, history, it’s something that Marvel adaptations have rarely touched on outright in any precise way until recently through WandaVision’s exploration of grief and The…
AUDIO – BLACK BEDROOMS MATTER – April 1, 2022 – The findings tie into a broader body of evidence that indicates being exposed to light at night may be harmful in a variety of ways and could predispose people to chronic diseases. The small, 20-person study conducted by Zee and her team at Northwestern was designed to measure the physiological effects of 100 lux of artificial light on healthy adults while they were sleeping. “This is about enough light that you could maybe see your way around, but it’s not enough light to really read comfortably,” says Zee. For the…
“Everything’s funny — in the right context and done by the right person.” —Chris Rock
READ THE LABELS – March 25, 2022 – Front-of-package warning labels that alert consumers to unhealthy levels of sodium, as pioneered by Chile and now implemented in Israel, Mexico and elsewhere, give consumers the information they need to make healthier food choices. Even more important, they motivate food manufacturers to reduce sodium levels to avoid a symbol emblazoned on the front of their packaging that says their product is unhealthy. Current legal rulings in the U.S. make it unlikely that, without new legislation, front-of-pack warnings would survive well-funded resistance from the food industry. Even if we succeed in reducing…
PRINCE CHARMING TINA – March 30, 2022 – By August 2020 when Sally fled the relationship the man she loved was ‘no where to be found’. The man that had replaced him was psychotic, irrational and had a $3000-per-week ice habit. The separation sparked her husband’s final spiral, he lost his job, ran their business into the ground, lost their home and became so terrifying courts stepped in with protection orders for Sally and the two young girls. Sally admitted her heart has continued breaking since the breakup as she watched her ex husband’s fall from grace and said she…
WHEN, WHERE, WHO AND IT DOESN’T, WHY – March 26, 2022 – “All day every day, people were demanding Adderall,” she said, adding that “you can’t diagnose people in a half hour.” Cerebral said it encourages proper treatment and its clinicians aren’t required to reach a diagnosis in a half hour. “We simply want to make the right diagnosis and develop the right treatment plan for the safety and quality of care for each patient,” it said. Digital health startups that provide diagnoses and medications online for ADHD are following a familiar Silicon Valley playbook: They’re using software and…
ADDICTED TO EVERYTHING – Mar. 23, 2022 – The parents of a 13-year-old middle school student brought their son to a counselor of my acquaintance. “He spends all of his time after school—night after night—playing Mortal Kombat,” they said. “He has no friends and has fallen behind in all of his courses.” They were beside themselves with worry. It’s a familiar tale. And our analysis of such behaviors pervades modern addiction theory—raised once again by Evaluating the Brain Disease Model of Addiction, a monumental collective work published this month.Non-substance addictions are important to understand and mitigate in their own right.…
VIDEO – PASSION PLAY – March 23, 2022 – From TEDx Talks: “As a medical doctor, I work in Vancouver, Canada, and I have worked with some very, very addicted people. People who use heroin, they inject cocaine, they drink alcohol, crystal meth and every drug known to man. And these people suffer . . . [and] lose everything. And yet, nothing shakes them from their addiction. Nothing can force them to give up their addiction. The addictions are powerful and the question is: why? . . . if you want to understand addiction, you can’t look at what’s…
VIDEO – HALLUCINOGENICS GO MAINSTREAM – March 22, 2022 – Jacqueline L. von Salm’s team is working on a patch that would provide a micro-dose of the hallucinogenic drug DMT at levels low enough to avoid hallucinations, she told audiences at the virtual WSJ Health Forum this week. more@WSJ
VIDEO – POLITICIAN WITH HEART – March 19, 2022 – San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin joins TYT to discuss drug addiction in San Francisco and how to remedy the problems associated with it. more@YouTube
“CAN I BE HIM?” – March 20, 2022 – The airline confirmed in a statement: “Our customers have expressed that having these options onboard is important to their experience with us.” The prices for inflight alcohol in the main cabin have also been shared and are the same as before the pandemic: $8 for a beer and $9 for spirits—gin, rum, vodka, and whiskey— and wine. Snacks are also coming back and prices range from $4 to $6. The first alcohol restriction started in March 2020, after that, only first-class had access to alcoholic beverages. Starting in April, passengers…
SOMETIMES IT HURTS LIKE ONE – Mar. 22, 2022 – It’s typical to find your mind preoccupied with a love interest during the “honeymoon phase,” when you’re first falling for someone, explains Omar Ruiz, licensed therapist and founder of TalkThinkThrive. But if pervasive thoughts about a particular person, or the idea of love in general, start to negatively affect your job, schoolwork, sleep, or any other areas of your life, that may pose some cause for concern. Missing a partner is very common. But if you feel unbearable distress when they’re not around, Ruiz says that may signal what some…
BOLDLY OR SPARINGLY? – Mar. 21, 2022 – It’s a challenging balance—and I probably tip the scales more than I care to admit—but when our mindset starts to shift, “that’s when I think it’s time to step back a little bit,” she says. Beauty can be a very useful tool to take care of your full well-being; just ask psychologist Chloe Carmichael, Ph.D. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, I chat with Carmichael about just how connected grooming habits and mental health are. She notes that, for example, neglecting hygiene routines like washing your hair can be…
BE YOUR OWN PEN PAL – March 2, 2022 – Does it matter whether you keep your journal on a computer or other digital device, or write with traditional pen and paper? Chronister shares that it all comes down to the method you’re most likely to stick with. Writing using pen and paper may pose fewer distractions than using a computer, while also allowing you the flexibility to sketch images if you want to express yourself artistically. On the other hand, journaling on a computer may offer more convenience if you type faster than you write. You can also back…
A VISIONARY? – March 23, 2022 – He warned that some of the solutions would “require political capital” and were “not necessarily going to be immediately popular”. Prof Whitty said the temptation was to “always pull the money towards curative services…because of the fact we didn’t do prevention 10 years ago”. He called for a “very long term view” to be taken of the need for prevention, and claimed local leaders were “very good at thinking about the long term, because they’ll be living in the region where they make decisions for the rest of their lives very often”. He…
VIDEO – DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS – Mar. 23, 2022 – Fentanyl testing strips can be used to test drugs, powders and pills for the presence of fentanyl, which is often more potent than other drugs and can be fatal. The strips allow people to take extra steps to protect themselves or to not take the drugs altogether. But under the Texas Controlled Substances Act, drug testing equipment is classified as drug paraphernalia which, you guessed it, makes it illegal for people to recreationally test. It’s something Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from Dallas, tried to change last year…