Addiction Recovery News

The C.A.G.E. assessment is a preliminary tool used by clinicians in screening for alcohol or drug addiction. The evaluation is based on a simple questionnaire consisting of four questions. In fact, C.A.G.E. is an acronym that stands for the following subjects of the four questions that comprise the test that is used for the assessment:

C – Cutting down on alcohol use

A – Annoyance from criticism about alcohol use

G – Guilt feelings about alcohol use

E – Eye-opening by having a drink in the morning to overcome a hangover

Alcohol is today’s most used addictive substance in the United States. Consequently, around 14 million people (about 8% of all adults) are struggling with alcohol dependence. Millions more have habits of frequent binge drinking, which is unhealthy and can lead to addiction and the need for alcoholism treatment. But why is alcohol addictive? What is in alcohol that makes it addictive, and how does it work to cause dependency in victims of the disease?

Seek medical treatment of alcoholic liver disease as soon as you discover early signs of liver damage from alcohol. As cirrhosis advances, with more and more scar tissue forming, it continues to reduce the liver’s functionality until ultimately the condition becomes life-threatening.

Contact our alcohol rehab in Gilbert, AZ, to get help answering any questions or schedule a free assessment at (480) 526-7738.

An expectant mother consuming alcohol during pregnancy puts her newborn baby at extremely high risk of devastating harm. The potential effects of fetal alcohol exposure include disabling brain damage and birth defects. From these terrible impacts are many severe complications a child may suffer throughout his or her lifetime. Affliction with one or more of these serious medical effects is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
 

Fentanyl is far more potent and potentially deadly than heroin. Drug dependence and other serious consequences of misusing the drug, even in very small amounts, are more life-threatening than risks from heroin or other opioid abuse. So, awareness of the unusually great danger in this type of drug misuse is critical for its users.

People who were young teens in the 1980s or ’90s may remember their experience with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, which started in 1983 in the spirit of the war on drugs. The program was instituted in most schools nationwide. For around 15 years, DARE remained a prominent program but had peaked public interest by the early 1990s. Despite all its promotion by politicians and school systems, the praise lavished on the program by parents, and funding estimated to be as high as $750 million, DARE did not work. Why?

Many people who look back on their period(s) of alcohol or drug abuse years or decades later discover that their substance addiction recovery has not really fit into the traditional model. The lifelong patterns indicating an “addictive personality type” have not characterized their recovery experience. The ongoing substitution of one addiction for another, albeit perhaps a constructive one, has not happened. On the contrary, often people find themselves thriving and satisfied with life beyond addiction. But, what are the most common recovery outcomes across the population of people who have gone through addiction treatment?

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has impacted everyone and this is particularly true for those who are battling addiction and substance abuse disorders. Financial difficulties, shelter in place orders, and the public health crisis have led to a significant spike in mental health concerns. The good news is that there are a few helpful tips that you can follow to battle addiction and substance abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.