Isn’t It Rich? – September 24, 2019 – “This cutting-edge facility offers luxurious accommodations and amenities, providing the customers a 5-star experience while receiving the highest quality treatment,” read Sackato’s marketing materials, which promise private tutors and outings to Chelsea Piers. Gatien Langue, listed in the community board presentation as the principal of Sackato Society, didn’t return an email seeking comment. Brian Feil, vice president of leasing at Feil Organization, declined to comment in an email. The West 57th Street neighborhood is known as Billionaires’ Row for its concentration of new condo towers aimed at wealthy investors, many of…
Author: Leonard Buschel
Where It’s Needed Most – September 27, 2019 – When a child is living with a parent who is addicted to drugs, they are likely experiencing a lot of emotional, or even physical, trauma and stress. When that’s happening, they’re not able to access their prefrontal cortex, which allows them to retain information and gain new information. So they’re not able to learn math or reading or writing during that school day,” Cram says. “They’re thinking about survival skills and getting enough food to eat or having their basic needs met. So the trauma is affecting their academic outcomes and…
Bit by Byte – Sept. 26, 2019 – Even so, the network of treatment and rehabilitation for those facing addiction remains far behind the curve. These limitations have been exposed recently, as the US contends with increasing rates of opioid addiction that stretch already-strained resources. The question has quickly become, are we doing enough? The answer, unfortunately, was no until now. That means the situation is rapidly evolving for the better. As local and state governments along with private treatment centres and organisations struggle to cope with increasing demand and stress, technology is the emerging catalyst lightening the load. As…
On the Borderline – September 26, 2019 – It’s fitting, then, that Bloom’s recent Emmy win for Best Original Music and Lyrics, alongside songwriter Jack Dolgen and composer Adam Schlesinger, was for a song that celebrated the “everydayness” of mental illness. “Anti-Depressants Are So Not a Big Deal,” featured in the show’s last season, was sung by Bunch’s therapist Dr. Akobian (played by Michael Heard, who originally auditioned for Donna Lynne Champlin’s role of Paula Proctor), with choreography by Kathryn Burns and direction by Stuart McDonald. The tongue-in-cheek song points to two of the show’s persistent messages: that mental illness…
Opioids. What Opioids? – September 27, 2019 – When prescribed appropriately, opioids can be vital tools in hospitals and clinics. The drugs make patients more comfortable and can speed recovery. At Gambia’s only teaching hospital, Dr. Kebba Marenah says managing pain is part of the challenge of practicing medicine in Gambia. “I think most of the things we do here orthopedic-wise cause pain,” says the 37-year-old orthopedic surgeon. When prescribed appropriately, opioids can be vital tools in hospitals and clinics. The drugs make patients more comfortable and can speed recovery. At Gambia’s only teaching hospital, Dr. Kebba Marenah says managing…
Just Guess? – September 28, 2019 – When compared to the national population, millennials are more affected by behavioral health conditions than physical, with the highest increases shown in rates of major depression and hyperactivity. “While we may be seeing moderate diagnosis impact across all generations for previously stigmatized behavioral health conditions, millennials are seeing higher growth in prevalence than either Gen X or baby boomers,” said Nelson. “Millennials are impacting not only their immediate health, but also their long-term health by not seeking preventative care,” said Nelson. “I would encourage all millennials to find and regularly consult a…
Grateful Obituary – SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 – Born Robert Burns in California in 1941, Hunter met Garcia in 1961 at a local production of the musical Damn Yankees, where they were introduced by Hunter’s ex-girlfriend, and Garcia’s then-girlfriend, Diane Huntsburger. The two didn’t immediately hit it off, their friendship took root a couple nights later when they saw each other at a local coffeehouse. Just one year apart in age (Garcia was 18 and Hunter 19 at the time they met), their bond was forged partly through the shared experience of losing a father — Garcia through death, Hunter through…
“science describes accurately from outside, poetry describes accurately from inside” —Ursula K. Le Guin
Shop Till You Drop – Sept. 26, 2019 – Experts agree that people with a shopping addiction find it difficult to stop and that it results in harm, showing that it is an involuntary and destructive kind of behaviour. People with the condition often try to hide it from friends and partners as they feel shame, alienating themselves from the people who are best placed to support them. But researchers do struggle to agree on a definition of the condition – largely due to a lack of comprehensive or conclusive research into the problem. ‘Shopping addiction, which is also known…
Better Safe Than Sorry – Sept. 22, 2019 – Rock, meet hard place. The 20-year-old’s family was showing tough love, a skill they had learned from the interventionist who had flown in from Pennsylvania a day earlier to help get Jenny off meth. (The family would only participate in this article if they were kept anonymous, so The Times is using a pseudonym for her.) She calmed down, as much as she could, and came back inside the house. Her relatives read letters, expressing how much they cared about her but pledging to enable her no more. She agreed…
All The Help We Can Get – Sept. 22, 2019 – The scenario may sound real enough but it is an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience designed to determine how prone the participant is to drug use by tracking their pulse, brainwaves and the electrical conductance of the skin. Using artificial intelligence that combines the responsive patterns from over 10,000 addiction cases, the system generates a drug craving score, according to Mr Li Dai, founder and chief executive of Beijing-based start-up WonderLab, developer of the technology. The company is working with rehabilitation centres in more than 10 Chinese provinces and…
Percodan Imposter – September 16, 2019 – The “pill mill” pharmacy allegedly dispensed the ninth highest amount of oxycodone in the nation, which was the second-most in the entire state of Texas. “One hundred percent of the oxycodone dispended by this pharmacy – every single oxycodone pill that left the premises – was in the highest available dosage strength of that drug.” the DOJ said. While Arif evidently had a licensed to practice medicine in the U.S., he posed as a physician at Aster, taking patients as if he actually were a doctor at the facility and writing addictive opioid…
Not A Part Time Job – Sept. 18, 2019 – On the face of it, sobriety slots in neatly alongside other wellness trends, like meditation apps, reiki and eating raw foods for breakfast. People write books about it that aren’t “addiction memoirs” based on horror stories of blackouts and absconding from rehab. Sober Instagram influencers boast thousands of followers, including regular drinkers and the “sober curious.” Alcohol-free bars, like Listen Bar in NYC and Sans Bar in Texas, are popping up all over the place (and hipsters are hanging out there). Nobody can deny that giving up (or at least…
Working Together – Sept. 14, 2019 – It is transformative and life-changing, and it is a positive experience. As a result of the efforts of the McShin Foundation and others, lives are being saved in Virginia, and, ultimately, that is what the fight against addiction is all about. Since becoming the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House, I have made saving lives my top priority and the top priority of my office. Addiction is not about cold, hard stats or impersonal numbers; instead, it is about people. We want those who are struggling…
He’s an a**hole – SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 – “Someone – he’ll be anonymous — and I were setting up arrangements for a date,” she told Weekend magazine. “I thought it might be good manners to mention the fact I don’t drink, because most people do like to drink on a date. And, just like that, he stopped making arrangements. It just ceased to be. A lot of people just think you’ll be no fun on a night out.” … While it may have put a damper on her love life, the 48-year-old has no regrets about being sober. Back in…
Save-A-Life – September/October 2019 – He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a red, swollen arm marked with scars, scabs, and infected puncture wounds. The damage was so alarming that I gasped. Another client, Sarah, drank alcohol and smoked marijuana every night to the point of blacking out. With no memory of how she’d gotten herself to bed, she’d wake up groggy with a splitting headache, take aspirin, drink a cup of coffee, and drive to a job that she hated. In her view, she drank and smoked to relax, but occasionally her hangovers caused grand mal seizures that hadn’t…
Being Proud – Sept. 19, 2019 – Matt Brown has been on a good path to rebuilding the relationship with his family, and now he’s on a good path for his personal health as he revealed he has been sober for over a year. The oldest of Billy and Ami Brown’s children, Matt had left the Discovery reality show after his battle with addiction became too much to handle. Matt struggles with alcoholism, and last year entered treatment for a second attempt at rehab. Full Story @ TheBlast.com
Only The Lonely – September 19, 2019 – She was also downing Adderall and Vyvanse like candy, medications prescribed for her ADHD but also used to maintain a relentless pace of work and life. Nicolaisen might have recognized some of the symptoms of her addiction—she had gone to rehab as a senior in high school for cocaine use, bouncing back with support from her family and going on to thrive at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. But unlike cocaine, Adderall and Vyvanse were legal. They were prescribed by a doctor. She was fine. That is, until she wasn’t.…
Money For Nothing – SEP 20, 2019 – Braccia, 58, of Hatfield, Montgomery County, also was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and more than $2.4 million in restitution. He was one of 11 people arrested in March and charged with state or federal crimes following a grand jury investigation of the company led by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and involving federal investigators. “We have consistently said that this case should send a message to those attempting to profit from fraud and the despair of individuals battling addiction,” U.S. First Assistant Jennifer Williams said in a press release.…
Who Pulled The Plug? – September 21, 2019 – This drove him to start researching addiction eight years ago, not realizing that research would turn into a 48,000-kilometre trip around the world, looking at the impacts of drug addiction and how different government policies impacted addiction rates. “I wanted to sit with people whose lives had been changed by addiction, by the drug war, by alternatives to the drug war. And I just learned that so much of what we think we know about the subject is wrong.” As part of his research, Hari spent a lot of time in…
Crazy for Fashion – September 22, 2019 – However, in a protest that a press officer confirmed was not planned, one of the models held up their hands on which the words “mental health is not fashion” had been written. The model, Ayesha Tan Jones, later posted a video from the show on their Instagram feed. The video was accompanied by a statement that read: “As an artist and model who has experienced my own struggles with mental health, as well as family members and loved ones who have been affected by depression, anxiety, bipolar and schizophrenia, is hurtful and…
A New Pair of Lenses – September 21, 2019 – “About a year ago, I was an active user of narcotics.,” Rivera said. “I was in a bad place mentally, struggled with mental illness, depression things like that, for most of my life.” His addiction cost him one of the most important things in his life, but it also was a blessing in disguise. “I ended up losing my job, which was probably the best thing for me, because it gave me that wake-up call of you need help, you need to get this done,” Rivera said. Now, he…
He’s a Good Man – September 22, 2019 – Around the time of the interview, Goodman’s depression wasn’t much of an issue thanks to a preoccupation with work and exercise. When the “Roseanne” reboot got canceled in 2018, though, it reared its ugly head again. The damage was done, however. ABC canceled the spinoff, triggering a bout of depression for Goodman. He told London’s Sunday Times that he went through a month of depression from the move. Goodman referred to himself as “a depressive,” and explained that he tends to use any excuse to lower himself. These days, his role…
So Am I – SEPT. 19, 2019 – She’s got something to say. Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent came clean about her sobriety and how “proud” she is of her accomplishment — despite the haters in her DMs. The sober Bravo TV star shared a lengthy post on her Instagram feed, captioned simply with “Heart️,” on September 18. “My sobriety is something I’m proud of and work on everyday [sic]. I’ve never done cocaine nor were any substances, other than alcohol, involved in my decision to get sober,” the Utah born babe revealed in the post. “I pride myself on…
The Truth Can Set You Free – September 23, 2019 – Moore’s mother attempted suicide “many, many times,” she said. The first time, when Moore was 12, she pulled the pills out of her mother’s mouth to save her. Along the way, Moore learned that Dan wasn’t her biological father, leading her to feel like she “wasn’t wanted” by her real dad. Not long after, Dan left, making Moore responsible for her unstable mother. That’s when the bar trips began and the rape occurred. Moore dropped out of high school not long after the assault, moved to L.A. and pursued…
Pro Life Posse – SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 – The opioid epidemic in Kensington has elicited many responses. The City’s all-hands Resilience Project has accomplished many of its goals but public use and its consequences persist, impacting the entire community so deeply, residents have taken their own measures. Operation Save a Life is one of the newer and more unusual ones. Its model of Narcan bike patrols is unconventional. Its structure is loose; there’s no set schedule for the patrols. It’s not affiliated with any formal organization though Morrisette says he’s in the process of getting 501c3 status. He is…
It’s About Time! – Sept 16, 2019 – Data compiled by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and DrugPolicy, showed that 8 per cent of young adults admitted to smoking cannabis over the last year in a 2017 study, while the number rose to 12.3 per cent in the UK. Meanwhile at 0.4 per cent, the Iberian country has a lower rate of high-risk opioid use among the population than the UK, where 0.8 per cent of people are affected. Labour MP David Lammy said he was pleased to see his party “commit to an evidence based approach on drug…
Bring ‘em young, bring ‘em often – SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 – Though Juul is not the only e-cigarette for sale in the U.S., it is largely blamed for the vaping explosion and controls about 50% of the market, putting a sharp focus on the company. On Sept. 9, the Food and Drug Administration sent Juul a warning letter accusing the company of violating federal regulations by promoting its e-cigarettes as a safer option than traditional cigarettes and threatening the company with fines and product seizures if it continued. Two days later, the Trump Administration said it planned to pull from…
What Privacy? – September 20, 2019 – An app for monitoring people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is so precise it can track when a patient steps outside for a cigarette break or starts a romantic relationship — and where that new partner lives. . While these smartphone trackers are being developed through academic research projects, which require patients to give informed consent before sharing intensely personal information, mental health apps without such safeguards are already on the market for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other conditions. Many of these apps have a common problem, say experts on health technology: They…
Emotional Intelligence – September 21, 2019 – “I think whenever we have any issues pertaining to students dealing with violence the first thing we hear is ‘mental health,’ but we don’t see a lot of changes when it comes to embracing the mental health of our students,” she said. Nebraska state law prohibits schools from using illness “that makes attendance impossible or impracticable” as a basis for referring students to the county attorney for possible truancy violations. “From our point of view, this is all around treating mental health like physical health and removing the stigma that keeps people from…