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Applying Lip Balm – Trendy or Sign of Addiction?

Rehab for lip balm…? A fellowship of…addicts who can’t stay away from Cherry Chapstick? I can’t figure out whether or not half the websites on Lip Balm Addiction have been created in jest or if they have an element of seriouness to them. For example, iVillage, a popular multifaceted website with the latest buzz, has a quiz for readers to assess whether or not they should consider themselves “officially” addicted to lip balm. The ways in which the questions are phrased make me wonder if it’s a widespread joke, and I’m just being too thick-headed to catch on. “#2, In terms of lip balm artillery, you own…. a) One or two b) One tube for the office, one for your bedroom, one for your purse, one for your boyfriend’s apartment, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Addiction, Conditions and Disorders, Latest News, Life

Teens Turns to Internet for Depression Self-Help

Lately there have been discussions about whether or not WebMD is becoming a replacement for actual visits to the doctor’s office. There’s been a buzz and controversy over whether teenagers and young adults, are putting too much stock in Internet self-help sites. There is no concrete way to tell exactly how many people are seeking treatment from their primary care physician before self-diagnosing. In some cases of physical ailments, people may diagnose themselves incorrectly and set themselves up for potentially dangerous, life-threatening consequences. However in the case of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, and general mood disorders, the Internet as a resource is starting to be seen as more positive than negative. Part of this theory is derived from a recent study conducted in Australia. Researchers followed young people and … Read entire article »

Filed under: Conditions and Disorders, Latest News, Life, Recovery, Treatment

Teens Self Mutilating by Putting Objects in Skin

A recent study in the Journal of Radiology found a new form of self-mutilation that is slowly become more common among teenagers today. Doctors are calling this new type of self-mutilation “self-embedding” behavior. This form of self-mutilation involves people taking items like small sharp pieces of metal, plastic, or crayon and puncturing their skin with the objects and/or putting the objects in the wounds after cutting. The study looked at 600 patients who had received treatment for removing foreign objects embedded in soft tissue and found that 11 of these patients ranging from ages 14 to 18 were found to have engaged in this type of destructive behavior. Among the 11 patients, doctors found a total of 76 foreign objects that had been embedded in the patients’ arms, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Conditions and Disorders, Latest News

Link Between Gambling Addiction and Mental Disorders

A recent study conducted in Hong Kong found that over 60 percent of pathological gamblers also suffer from at least one type of mental disorder such as anxiety and/or depression. The study was conducted via a combined effort by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the Department of Applied Social Science of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Divisions of Addictions affiliated to Harvard Medical School. Over the course of the 9-month study, the groups collected information from 201 pathological gamblers who sought help from social service organizations in Honk Kong. The results of the study showed that 63.7 percent of the subjects were diagnosed as having at least one type of mental disorder. In addition, results showed that 30.8 percent suffered from substance abuse disorder while 29.4 … Read entire article »

Filed under: Addiction, Conditions and Disorders, Latest News

Sleep Deprivation may Lead to Mental Illness

The phrase, “We can sleep when we’re dead!”, is a phrase that is being thrown around all the time by teenagers. As much as teens and young adults may want to believe that they can function properly without sleep, new studies are showing that being sleep-deprived may lead to mental illness. You might ask yourself, what exactly constitutes sleep deprivation? People who sleep less than five hours fall within a high-risk category for sleep deprivation and a higher probability of becoming mentally ill. Clinically speaking, people who rest for eight to nine hours per night are considered to have normal sleeping patterns. One of the things keeping people from getting the recommended rest is modern technology. Young adults between the ages of 17 and 24 are becoming more and more distracted by … Read entire article »

Filed under: Addiction, Conditions and Disorders, Latest News, Life

Actor Chris Klein Accepts Responsibility for his Actions

The actor, Chris Klein, pleads no contest to a DUI charge on Friday. This charge was involved with his June 16th arrest on the 101 Freeway. We all know Chris is famous for his appearance on “American Pie”, but his ability to cope with the court system is what catches the media’s attention. Chris stated to the judge,“ I apologize for my wrongdoing and I really appreciate that the court gave me the opportunity to prove how seriously I took all of this.” To me, this statement means a lot, a celebrity being able to realize his actions and take responsibility for them, is definitely surprising in today’s media. He has served four days in jail already but he is on four years of probation and 18 months in an alcohol … Read entire article »

Filed under: Celebrity, Latest News

Marijuana Is Not a Gateway Drug – Really?

Most of us have sat through D.A.R.E. classes in elementary school or a variation of drug awareness programs over the years. Grandparents, teachers, mentors and the like have wagged their fingers and said “You know not to smoke pot! If someone offers you a hit, say no. It’s a gateway drug to other drugs.” According to new research published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, this may not necessarily be factual. I have to say that I wouldn’t call up your old middle school health teacher with a snide remark just yet. The study was conducted based on 1,300 Hispanic, white and African-American young adults who attended south Florida public schools between 1990 and 2000. Van Gundy co-researched the group of students with Cesar J. Rebellon from the time … Read entire article »

Filed under: Addiction, Drugs, Latest News, Life

Michael Douglas: Throat Cancer from Booze & Butts

Oscar Winner Michael Douglas effortlessly exuded sheen style sipping expensive whiskey in his 1997 thriller The Game. Viewers glamorized his ambition in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps that he debonairly portrayed in between drags of imported cigars. Behind the scenes he admitted to smoking more cigarettes than usual during One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a way to destress during production of an Academy-Award winning film. No doubt Douglas’ vices bypassed routine scrutiny based on time and circumstance; fit to center in Hollywood. With the combination of Michael’s diagnosis and phenomenon of hindsight 20/20, we wonder if he weighed the health risks against the fame and expected glory, and considered the pay-off worth the risk? Is physical deterioration no doubt a byproduct of a career path riddled with unhealthy temptations … Read entire article »

Filed under: Addiction, Celebrity, Drugs, Latest News

Websites Promoting Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are no joke, and today’s world is working hard on providing resources for getting help with this disorder. As we all know, suffering from bulimia or anorexia can be fatal. That is why there are websites or treatment centers to help. Having resources available online allows the user to be in complete privacy and learn more about the disorder as well as get outside help. Also there are people who turn away from the recovery sites. They go to the pro-eating sites that promote eating disorders. The Internet world classifies these websites as “Pro-Ana” (pro-anorexia) and “Pro-Mia”(pro-bulimia).These websites provide extreme dieting, exercise tips, and dangerous weight loss secrets all designed to help readers look skeletal or be extremely thin. Most of the sites promote “thinspiration”, a term used … Read entire article »

Filed under: Eating disorders

Web Addicts Have A Hard Time Finding Help

Who would have thought that there could an addiction with Mafia Wars, a Facebook game. Well, there is and here is the story about it. Michael Polomny, an addict who is located in Clay County, Florida, spends anywhere between twelve to sixteen hours a day, uses three computers, and switches between five to seven facebook accounts, just to play Mafia Wars. His addiction began to take over his desire to go to work and started to break up the relationship between his family. Michael’s addiction went so far to where he ended up getting in a fight that landed him up with charges of domestic assault. Luckily on his behalf, he was found not guilty in the Clay County trial that ended on Wednesday. To some people, this addiction may not … Read entire article »

Filed under: Addiction, Conditions and Disorders, Treatment