Dealing with Addiction

B'SD

4 Av, 5777

Several mental health practitioners or practices are mentioned in the Global Resources section of the EMPOWER Yourself book. I urge you to make use of them, or the ones you prefer, especially if you or a loved one are dealing with any sort of addiction.

Unlike medical problems which can traced back to a definite cause or two, treated with medication, diet, lifestyle changes and/or surgery, the cause of an addiction is hard to identify. It is as much a physical problem as it is a mental health matter. That makes the situation even more complicated to understand and to treat. The overall problem is quite hard for lay people to understand. 

The situation is all the harder for the addict to overcome.

They suffer from the addiction, and from the lack of

awareness as to what is amiss in their minds.

Read on to learn of a subtle but powerful factor driving addiction. Educate yourself a bit, and do what you can to learn more in your quest to help an addict to move beyond it into a more productive, satisfying life. 

The article below is a simple starter kit, hardly the last word on how to overcome addictions. Keep in mind that every journey begins with the first step.

Why People Consistently Fall Short of Overcoming Addiction | E-Counseling.com

A years-ago television drama called ER showed its audience some of the ramifications of drug addiction, and confronting it. A hard-working, conscientious d

E-COUNSELING.COM

Read that Global Resources section and find out where to get help.

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge directly from the publisher for fast delivery.. 





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your heart and mind with facts, compassion and good sense.

Coping with Adversity Beats the Alternative

B'SD

27 Cheshvan, 5776

It's been a while since I made remarks, here. Today I have quite a powerful statement to make regarding an article featured below: "Coping with Adversity Beats the Alternative."

I've spoken about that in public appearances. It means that people can choose to forthrightly admit their problems and practice sensible ways to minimize or to end them.

The alternative to doing so? Drowning your sorrows in counterproductive behaviors that bring on more problems: Gambling, substance abuse, wasting time and opportunities, etc. You and I could spend the day listing more alternatives to coping efforts. But let's do something sensible, instead: Think clearly about the issues involved.

Here's what prompted my blogpost today:

How Doctors Helped Drive the Addiction Crisis

NOV. 7, 2015

Photo

CreditBjorn Rune Lie

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Richard A. Friedman

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THERE has been an alarming and steady increase in the mortality rate of middle-aged white Americans since 1999, according to a study published last week. This increase — half a percent annually — contrasts starkly with decreasing death rates in all other age and ethnic groups and with middle-aged people in other developed countries.

So what is killing middle-aged white Americans? Much of the excess death is attributable to suicide and drug and alcohol poisonings. Opioid painkillers like OxyContin prescribed by physicians contribute significantly to these drug overdoses.

Thus, it seems that an opioid overdose epidemic is at the heart of this rise in white middle-age mortality. The rate of death from prescription opioids in the United States increased more than fourfold between 1999 and 2010, dwarfing the combined mortality from heroin and cocaine. In 2013 alone, opioids were involved in 37 percent of all fatal drug overdoses.

Driving this opioid epidemic, in large part, is...

I disagree with the writer's conclusion, "WHAT is really needed is a sea change within the medical profession itself. We should be educating and training our medical students and residents about the risks and limited benefits of opioids in treating pain. All medical professional organizations should back mandated education about safe opioid treatment as a prerequisite for licensure and prescribing."

Society at large ALSO needs to re-evaluate its ability to deal with discomfort, not only the medical establishment. Medicating your life away so that you need not confront your fears, limitations, aches and other disappointments is immature, a failure to use the executive thinking skills GOD gave you. Exercise your tolerance for inner and outer pain. Hiding it under an onslaught of drugs is not a problem-solver. And NO, I do not advocate letting people in astonishing physical or emotional anguish linger in it. I'm addressing the everyday issues of life, not the exceptional problems that indeed require pain-killers (e.g., post-surgical pain, clinical mental health issues).






Want some solutions to inner and outer pain? 

Find several in the doctor-recommended E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

I have lived the tale and proven to many people that once a person decides to face their pain, they need not become addicted to anything.





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Fill your mind and heart with pro-health choices.

Integrity. SEX. And YOU.

17 Shvat 5768

Integrity. That word occupies the titles of my two novels. The concept drives my life.

Humanity has a visceral need for privacy, honesty, compassion and for being trustworthy: fundamental decency. They keep us safe.

There is no need to surrender our nobler values and our sense of personal worth in order to have a "better" life. Mental health rests upon and is sustained by good character traits. Friendships, family, employment and all relationships go better with fine character and excellent behavior.

Good character traits result in the positive way others perceive us. We are regarded as "likable, friendly, loyal, fair," et cetera. We are left with a sense of enduring happiness, pride in who we are. Everyone concerned shares MUTUAL RESPECT.

Want to be such a person? Are you troubled by someone pressuring you to behave in ways that make you nervous? Need a way to get out of your situation?

I'm posting today's message due to danger signs in the social and mental health worlds. As cell phones seduce us to discuss private matters in public, as Internet sites beg us to surrender our very identities to strangers of unknown moral standards, and as peer pressure mounts to "Hook Up" with some momentarily sexy oddball, the numbers of emotionally distraught men, women and teens in medical and mental health offices are SKYROCKETING!!!

Murders AND SUICIDES are happening to unsuspecting, defenseless sex partners who "Hooked Up" after being manipulated by scoundels.

Folks, sex is for loving,

permanent relationships called MARRIAGE.

Yes sex feels wonderful. It's supposed to. It's some of the glue that bonds loving individuals together.

The rest of that glue is made of shared values, exclusivity with the one sex partner who appreciates your personal worth so much that they committed a lifetime to you with MARRIAGE. And the rest of that glue is an enduring devotion to and by your spouse PLUS unconditional love for your children.

But the "Hooking Up" phenom is swallowing whole lives. It is a disastrous trend. The creeps pressuring you for meaningless sex are sickos. You are not a sicko. You do not have to become someone's victim. You will be a decent human being by REJECTING the idea that indiscriminate sex makes you "normal."

I hope to ease the nightmare filling, and threatening to fill, so many lives.

Please read these items for emotional relief. The concepts can fill you with courage to restrict your sexual activity to your marriage partner. Learn how to walk away from meaningless encounters before they begin to ruin the rest of your life:

Website articles UNPROTECTED,

Sex, Sadness, and the City by Wendy Shalit, City Journal Autumn 1999,

DYING FOR SEX

Modestly Yours: Wendy Shalit,

Lazer Beams: Child Abuse: The Worst Sin

and "Romantically Perplexed," a book I edited a few years ago. The author is Dr. Lisa Aiken:

UPDATE: If you or someone you know has a problem with pornography, click here for help to overcome it: Overcome Addiction to Pornography

***

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More than 1160 votes of praise have been made for my book since December 2 2007, when the Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research declared It’s MY Crisis to be “Recommended Reading.” You can vote for It's MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To on the Musella site daily. Once you’ve read It’s MY Crisis! And I’ll Cry if I Need To, vote for it at http://www.virtualtrials.com/books.cfm. I hope you choose a 9 or a 10.

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life.