Body image is a term used to describe the way you perceive the shape and size of your body in relation to others. People with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa have heavily distorted body images that cause them to seriously misperceive themselves as overweight or fat, even when they are in fact thin or dangerously
Brain Abnormalities Found in People With Anorexia Read More »
Ninety percent of lung cancer cases in America can be directly attributed to smoking. It’s one of the country’s foremost legal addictions—you can head down to the store and load up on dangerous and addictive substances without attracting attention from the law. Tobacco addiction causes more deaths than HIV, illicit drug use, alcohol use, suicides,
Study of Smokers’ Genes Reveals Which Teens Are Most Vulnerable to Addiction Read More »
Smartphones are everywhere. Those of us who use them wonder how we ever lived without them only a couple of years ago. For teens, the phenomenon of the smartphone may be even more important. New research is suggesting that not only are more teens becoming addicted to using their smartphones, but they are at risk
Religion can be a very positive thing for a teenager. By practicing the family religion, or even an alternative religion, a teen can develop high self-esteem, focus on schoolwork, and develop a positive social life. Being devout is also associated with avoiding negative things like drugs, alcohol and crime. Most parents, in fact, would be
It is tough to start over, that much is true. For those in recovery, especially early recovery, starting over tends to take on the magnitude of the nearly impossible. There are just so many different areas of life that need changing, so much to do, and so much to learn before anything can be done.
New Beginnings: When Moving Forward Means Leaving the Past Behind Read More »
Given that eating disorders are one of the most life-threatening of all mental illnesses, the obvious question is what precipitates the disorder? Some suggest that societal obsession with youth and thinness as the standards of beauty drive fragile females to the brink. Others wonder if something is awry in the family dynamic or if the
Billy Joel was in a dark place after Sept. 11, 2001, and he says he used booze in a failed effort to find his way out of it. The 64-year-old Piano Man, who made headlines in the early 2000s not for his music but rather for a spate of automobile crashes, has been through two
Billy Joel ‘Treated’ His Depression After 9/11 With Alcohol Read More »
At first glance, youth suicide statistics would not appear to be as alarming as one might suspect given the amount of publicity the problem receives. As of 2011, the suicide rate for individuals between the ages of 10 and 24 was at 7.8 per 100,000 people, which in raw numbers means that 4,000 to 5,000
A lack of scientific literature describing designer drug substances easily leads to unpredictable effects upon human use and no real guidelines on how to treat overdose cases in the medical environment. Of course, this means no safety evaluation or regulation in the course of manufacturing, even in the cases where the drug is still legal.
Designer Drugs: What They Are and Why Their Use Is Growing: Part III Read More »
Appearing in the media more often than not recently, designer drugs are rapidly cultivating a reputation for being dangerous and spreading as fast as a pandemic. There’s a reason for users’ preference for designer drugs over their illegal counterparts—until as recently as last year, most designer drugs were legal, which has changed with the 2012
Designer Drugs: What They Are and Why Their Use Is Growing: Part II Read More »