Study Shows Too Much Drinking Shrinks Your Brain

Do you polish off this much alcohol each week?

Debating on whether or not to have that last drink for the night? A new study at the Wellesley College in Massachusetts has found that the more alcohol you consume, the more your brain shrinks.

The brain will normally shrink with age, but researchers have found that drinking more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week will speed up this process of brain shrinkage.

Memory problems, along with the beginnings of dementia have been linked to shrinkage of the brain.

A study was done on 1,839 men and women over two years, asking them how much alcohol they drank on a regular basis. Most people reported drinking one to seven alcoholic beverages a week, which is considered low intake. Men were more likely to report drinking higher amounts of alcohol – more than 14 drinks per week.

Brain scans were performed and researchers found that the more a person drank, the more their brain volume diminished.

While women tend to be lighter drinkers, the study showed a greater effect of this with women. Researchers state that this difference in gender could be the result of women generally being smaller in size and their higher susceptibility to the effects of alcohol.

Carol Ann Paul, from Wellesley College, who led the study, warned: "The public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol."

"There was a significant negative linear relationship between alcohol consumption and total ... brain volume."

"I don't know about you but I will need all the brain power that I can muster to be able to negotiate these tough economic times".

Problem Drinking Is Treatable.

Looking honestly at your own drinking can be difficult.

This is called “denial” and is part of the problem.

Many treatment options for alcohol abuse are available.

For help and information follow the Nike Slogan "Just Do it".

Call us at Paradise Recovery now for the best alcohol treatment and addiction services!

Don’t give up!

People can and do get better, every day.

Recovery is possible.
P.L. Wong
Labels: alcohol rehab, alcohol treatment center, alcohol treatment program, best alcohol rehab, Paradise Recovery

Emotional Reasoning

Often feelings regarding substance abuse are disconnected from the facts. While one may FEEL like "everyone is mad at me for drinking" there are people in your life who are not mad at you. These people want to see you get help. Even the people who are "mad" at you want to see you get help! Help can be in the form of 12 step meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous and residential rehabilitation treatment. Thinking that others are going to treat you a certain way, based on your emotions at the time, is called emotional reasoning. You may actually be basing how you imagine people are thinking about you due to thoughts that you are having about yourself! For example, you may think that people are mad at you for your drinking when, in fact, it is you who is mad at yourself for your drinking. It may have nothing to do with how other people personally view you. In any case, you need to get help. There is help for alcoholics out there that is life-changing.

Kauai Addiction Treatment/Rehab

Finally there is one of the best drug rehabs and alcohol rehabs in the country able to cater to the residents of Kauai and all of the Hawaiian Islands. Paradise Recovery is an addiction treatment center that also treats the psychiatric conditions that also happen very commonly with addiction (co-occurring disorders or dual diagnosis).

Kauai residents now have a choice to get private addiction treatment with individualized care. Paradise Recovery can also do detox if that's what you need. But detox is only the beginning. Paradise Recovery will teach you how to live a new life. A life of sobriety. They have a HelpLine that you can call to get more information about the program. It is toll-free: 866-478-9898. They can also help you if you are looking for treatment for a loved one, but your loved one refuses to come in to treatment.

Best of luck to you and your search for sobriety. Hopefully, the search has now ended and you can start acting on a plan to get well.

Thinking Errors

Loss of sobriety can often be linked to Cognitive Distortions which are also called thinking errors. A cognition is a thought. A distortion is a misrepresentation of an object, situation, or thought. For example, when you stand in front of a mirror in a fun house it reflects a distorted image of yourself. A Cognitive Distortion, or think error, is also a distorted reflection of a situation.
"All or Nothing" thinking is a Cognitive Distortion. An example is when some says: "I am always late" when they arrive after the start time of their work schdeule. They may be late occassionally they may be late frequently; but, it is doubtful they are late every day and still have a job.
Recognizing thinking errors is often part of the treatment for addiction in the best alcohol rehabs and the best drug rehabs.

The Addiction Cure

No one has the "cure" for addiction, even though some claim that they do. Let's be realistic. If there were a cure for addiction, we would no longer see it in our society. This is far from the truth.

The reality is that addiction recovery requires a lot of work and focus. That is as close to a cure as we can get. It is very possible, with the right treatment program and focus on your part, to have a sustained recovery from addiction. Hopefully, forever. But it requires an ongoing effort.

Seeking the best addiction recovery program is the other part of the equation. The best drug rehab or alcohol rehab can put you on the path of recovery and give you a road map. Once the map to recovery is laid out, your consistent efforts and passion to remain in recovery are what will allow you to prevail over addiction.

Maui Drug Rehab Center

There is a choice for people from the State of Hawaii who want to stay in the islands for holistic, private addiction treatment, including drugs and alcohol. Several years ago, the people of Hawaii had to turn to the mainland if they wanted private, quality help for alcoholics, drug rehab, or treatment for addiction of all types. This is no longer true. We have one of the best drug and alcohol rehabs in the entire country, located right here in our home state!

Give our HelpLine a call, today: 866-478-9898. We will help you get the help that you need.

Does Rehab have to be painful? A New Generation of Drug Rehab

The treatment philosophy is important when choosing an alcohol/drug rehab. There appears to be a lingering bias from families, mental health professionals, family physicians, etc. that checking into an alcohol and drug rehab needs to be a painful and demoralizing experience. Lets talk about what NEEDS to happen in rehab, some of which may be painful, but the program should not take a sadistic, self-righteous approach towards treatment.

We often say, at Paradise Recovery, that we wouldn't treat cancer patients, persons with diabetes, or AIDS patients with this level of blame and medieval penitential attitude that some practitioners and treatment centers still advocate. I'll say, that many individuals who feel that the addict has to "hurt" before they can bask in the light of a clean and sober life, often experienced this type of rehab themselves, and want to "share the wealth".

What needs to happen in rehab is the following:

1) Disclose - be able to speak about your life as an alcoholic or addict. Particularly, how your abuse of substances, sex, gambling, etc. has increased chaos in your life and the life of loved ones around you.

2) Detach - be able to detach from the chaos and "calm and stay" with yourself in this process of self-discovery and transformation.

3) Deliver - be committed to a life of recovery and use your own awareness of yourself to make the daily decision to stop the chaos and insanity and move towards health and rejuvenation!

This is what you need in alcohol and drug treatment...the basics! We, at Paradise Recovery do not advocate a medieval, penitential, self-righteous approach. That just makes addicts either angry, or converts them to become self-absorbed and self-righteous clean and sober persons. THIS IS NOT RECOVERY!

Recovery humbly discloses, detaches and delivers! If you, or a loved one needs professional, caring private rehab services call our 24-Hour HelpLine at (866) 478-9898 for more information and admission details.

Recuperatio Primoris! (Recovery above all else!)

Dr. Bill Heran

Holistic Drug Rehab: A few considerations

When you are seeking treatment for addiction there are several types of alcohol and drug treatment programs. One type is public or state-funded rehab. They help many people with stabilization, 12-Step programs and group support. The second type is a private program that focuses primarily on getting you clean and sober with many group interventions. Both of these programs spend a great deal of energy imposing their beliefs and principles. Many people feel they've "failed" these programs, since it is difficult for an addict to ascend to such principles without doing the critical work of why they are being self-destructive in the first place.

The holistic rehab listens to you. You are the person who drives the treatment, instead of other programs that expect "program compliance". The holistic program is concerned about how the addiction affects all aspects of your life: emotional, physical and spiritual. The holistic program involves non-traditional therapies such as: massage, meditation, acupuncture, physical fitness, etc. The program is designed for YOU!

If you, or a loved one is seeking a holistic addiction recovery program, then call our 24-Hour HelpLine (866) 478-9898 and speak to one of our counselors in recovery!

Recuperatio Primoris! (Recovery above all else!)

Humility: A great virtue for alcoholics and addicts in treatment

We know from decades of successful recovery work that one key character trait that aids in recovery work, and without it hinders recovery success, is humility. Humility comes from the Latin root "humus" meaning earthy, or without airs. So, to be humble is to be "real".

Being humble requires shifting from a self-centered, addictive existence,to a more other-focused existence. For example, we limit phone calls in rehab precisely because our new clients will call family members and loved ones and harangue about themselves and why they should or should not (more often) be in rehab. They actually may attack and blame others. A humble response would be to consider what my behaviors may have done to affect my loved ones and commit to treatment, and follow the instructions of the rehab staff, since I know I am not an expert in recovery.

Humility is not easy. It is not an innate American trait. You just need to travel a bit and realize the reputation we Americans have throughout large portions of the planet. Often in our country, humble people are seen as weak, vulnerable and inactive. Regarding recovery, humility is the mortar that keeps the foundation alive and strong. It is by far, not an inactive, vulnerable position. Arrogance, pride, self-absorption is what we need to avoid as persons in recovery.

We need to fight the prideful, arrogance that often is associated with addiction and realize that this attitude is going to kill me!

If you, or a loved one needs help with their addiction, please contact us on our 24-Hour HelpLine (866) 478-9898.

The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have!
Norman Vincent Peale

Recuperatio Primoris! (Recovery above all else!)

The Art of Manipulation: An Addicts Tool

Manipulation is a classic tool that alcoholics and addicts use and a close cousin to denial and other cognitive distortions. It assists an addict to maintain their addictive behaviors. Manipulation gives the addict a false sense of power and control over others, while actually feeling insignificant and powerless. Working on thinking distortions is a major task in alcohol and drug rehab treatment.

Manipulation can either be subtle, or not so subtle. Often when an addict is trying to divert attention from his abuse to something other than their addiction, they often use manipulation (e.g. "borrowing" money from your family with the intent of buying drugs, while telling them you need the money for food and paying bills). Each time an alcoholic/addict is able to successfully manipulate a person, a system, etc., it delays any possibility for recovery and will permit the disease to progress. More subtle forms of manipulation employs power and control, often the person being manipulated doesn't realize it until much later.

The good news is that once you surrender and begin to take an inventory of past personal and social errors, including manipulating others, you can begin to practice more adaptive and healthy ways of interacting with others, without the substance or process addiction. Making amends to those people you manipulated can be both scary and freeing!

Choosing treatment, entering a rehab, is an excellent start towards recovery and becoming less and less manipulative. Some may say that people in recovery use "manipulation" to convince people into treatment and clean and sober living.

If you, or a loved one needs treatment for their alcohol, drug, sex or gambling addiction please call our 24-Hour HelpLine at (866) 478-9898.

Addiction not a personal failure

I read an article recently about a high profile religious figure who admitted he was an alcoholic and sought treatment in a 28-day rehab. He stated, "I've known I had a drinking problem for years, but just felt that I didn't have enough will power to stop myself. I saw it as a personal failure!"

Many people, until they admit they have an addiction, make their addiction a personal battle within themselves. This struggle is lonely, full of conflicts, and is most of all a losing battle! Addiction is complicated, with many core issues, needing professional and peer support to achieve success and sustained recovery. It is not a personal failure, but a disease that requires medical attention. Many diseases have stigmas: AIDS, Cancer, STDs, etc. Addiction is a disease with social stigma. We need not play into the stigma. Instead, seek help and manage the condition with persistence and courage.

Confronting your addiction and adopting an attitude of personal responsibility is the first step in fighting this progressive and deadly disease. Admitting you are an alcoholic, drug addict, sex addict, etc. will hopefully motivate you to seek the help necessary to stop the insanity of conflicts, lies and self-destruction. Making this disease your own and plowing through the issues that help to maintain your addiction will make all the difference. This is NOT failure!

To proceed in this personal battle will only reap self-hatred, loathing and possibly death! The failure would be neglecting the avenues of help in the community for you to address this disease affecting your life and the life of your loved ones. The failure would be doing nothing to stop the progression of this disease and participate in your own death.

Therefore, addiction is not the failure. The choice not to act and remain in denial and distorted in the addiction is the failure. If you, or a loved one has an addiction and needs help, please call our 24-hour HelpLine at (866) 478-9898 today!

Life is difficult. It is a great truth because once we truly see this, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

M. Scott Peck, M.D., The Road Less Traveled

Choosing a rehab for your gambling addiction: A few Considerations

When shopping for a treatment rehab center for your gambling addiction, you want want to consider a few significant factors

1) Does the program offer individual therapy?

In recent years, the literature and specifically, the HBO Special Presentation, Addiction, speak about the importance of treating addictive behaviors, as well as, the underlying issues helping to maintain the addiction. Many programs still only offer group therapy as their ONLY mode of therapy. You can gain skills from group therapy, there is no question, but the individual therapy offers another set of experiences that can assist you in a long lasting recovery! The gambler needs to engage in behavioral and cognitive treatments. The goal for any pathological gambling is abstinence. We attain abstinence through a deeper understanding of the core issues leading to gambling, develop new behaviors that avoid gambling scenarios (the people, places and things) associated with gambling. It is recommended that a rehab client see their individual therapist (a licensed therapist) at least three times per week during primary treatment.

2) Does the program offer an aftercare program?

Practically speaking, when you are investing the amount of time and money in a gambling treatment center, it is equally important that the program offers continuing contact after you leave them. An effective addiction counselor would be most interested how a client is doing once they are away from the protective environment of the rehab, back home in their day-to-day routine. Programs may offer different style programs, but there should be at least a one-year aftercare program offered.

3) Does the program offer attention to a dual diagnosis?

Most clients entering drug rehab or alcohol rehab have significant mental health issues. If you are experiencing depression, anxiety, panic, suicidal thoughts, rage, psychosis you need a program that can offer you the psychiatric attention that these conditions require. You can treat both conditions at the same time, with the possible exception of a psychotic episode. If you have any affective disorder, you should be able to be treated in a rehab while attending to your recovery needs.

4) Are there considerations that include multiple ways to recovery?

Some programs are strictly a 12-Step approach, other programs are strictly non 12-Step designed. You want to make sure that the "philosophical bias" of the program is not fixed and strict. You need to work with a professional addiction treatment team, and with them decide your way towards recovery. Be careful of programs that proselytize and push an agenda outside health. Don't waste your energy fighting it!These are just some considerations when shopping for a rehab and hoping for a good match for a most important and needed investment you are planning to make towards your future and your family's future.

SHOPPING FOR A REHAB? A FEW CONSIDERATIONS

When shopping for a treatment rehab center for your alcohol and drug addiction, you want want to consider a few significant factors

1) Does the program offer individual therapy?

In recent years, the literature and specifically, the HBO Special Presentation, Addiction, speak about the importance of treating addictive behaviors, as well as, the underlying issues helping to maintain the addiction. Many programs still only offer group therapy as their ONLY mode of therapy. You can gain skills from group therapy, there is no question, but the individual therapy offers another set of experiences that can assist you in a long lasting recovery!

It is recommended that a rehab client see their individual therapist (a licensed therapist) at least three times per week during primary treatment.

2) Does the program offer an aftercare program?

Practically speaking, when you are investing the amount of time and money in alcohol and drug rehab work, it is equally important that the program offer continuing contact after you leave them. An effective addiction counselor would be most interested how a client is doing once they are away from the protective environment of the rehab, back home in their day-to-day routine. Programs may offer different style programs, but there should be at least a one-year aftercare program offered.

3) Does the program offer attention to a dual diagnosis?

Most clients entering drug rehab or alcohol rehab have significant mental health issues. If you are experiencing depression, anxiety, panic, suicidal thoughts, rage, psychosis you need a program that can offer you the psychiatric attention that these conditions require. You can treat both conditions at the same time, with the possible exception of a psychotic episode. If you have any affective disorder, you should be able to be treated in a rehab while attending to your recovery needs.

4) Are there considerations that include multiple ways to recovery?

Some programs are strictly a 12-Step approach, other programs are strictly non 12-Step designed. You want to make sure that the "philosophical bias" of the program is not fixed and strict. You need to work with a professional addiction treatment team, and with them decide your way towards recovery. Be careful of programs that proselytize and push an agenda outside health. Don't waste your energy fighting it!

These are just some considerations when shopping for a rehab and hoping for a good match for a most important and needed investment you are planning to make towards your future and your family's future.

Recuperatio Primoris,

Dr. Bill Heran

The Many Faces of Addiction

The definition for addiction:

"The state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma."

The word addiction embodies so many different habits that can be formed, sometimes they can be minimal, where a particular habit doesn't interfere with any aspect of your life, other times the habit may consume you to the degree where it affects one or more aspects of your life.

There is an array of addictions that are out there, some of which are:

1. Sex Addiction
2. Cocaine Addiction
3. Heroin Addiction
4. Alcohol Addiction or Alcoholism
5. Opiate Addiction
6. Vicodin Addiction
7. Benzodiazapene Addiction

If any of the above have become a habit and have affected one or more aspects of your life, and you feel that stopping it may cause severe trauma in your life, you may want to seek out a treatment center or rehab that specializes in the different forms of addictions out there.

Preferably a treament center or rehab that offers a detox program. Whether it be cocaine detox, opiate detox, vicodin detox, alcohol detox, heroin detox, benzodiazapene detox, or a combination of any above. At Paradise Recovery we offer detox for all of the above, in our medically monitored detox program.

If you or a loved one needs help for drug addiction or alcoholism, there is help out there!

Blessings to you...

What Feels Good Until It Doesn't

One of the major risks for alcohol/addicts in early recovery is the tendency towards substitution. Once the addict is able to acknowledge that they have a problem and enter into addiction treatment, they can, with effort learn the strategies that may allow them to remain abstinent. And with proper addiction treatment and natural supports, many alcoholics and addicts are able to stop the use that was destroying their lives. Of course the most blatant aspects of the disease can be arrested: the drinker can stop drinking, the cocaine smoker can stop smoking, the iv heroin user can stop using.

But simply stopping the use of the a particular substance is not necessarily complete sobriety. The addicted mind has the uncanny ability to shift its focus. Obviously the first shift would be between different substances. The alcoholic after an ultimatum from his boss, may move over to the use of marijuana. Hard drug users may find themselves shifting to alcohol after a particular scare, say an overdose. Many addicts come into addiction treatment with multiple addictions.

Many addicts discover that their addicted selves remain troubled even after they've stopped using. The addictive mind doesn't simply turn off once the addict stops using. Instead, addicts in recovery often discover that the behavior patterns associated with addiction remain intact. Even in recovery after drug rehab, alcoholic/addicts can find themselves stuck in destructive behavioral cycles. Their addictions shift. They find themselves engaged in unhealthy but obsessive relationships. They begin to buy unnecessary things and credit card bills begin to pile up. They turn to promiscuity, placing their physical bodies at risk. They find themselves eating . . .and eating . . and eating.

The addicted person suffers from a tendency towards excess. In everything. The alcoholic/addict is a creature of excess, not simply in the use of substances, but in behaviors that in moderation are quite healthy and normative. Take, for example, the alcoholic who once sober begins a fanatical work schedule, putting in 12 - 14 hour days. Or the cocaine addict who begins to spend 4 - 5 hours at the gym each evening. Without full and comprehensive addiction treatment, the addict will continue to maintain addictive patterns Many will habitually use whatever feels good to excess. It seems to be the very nature of the disease. This feels good, I think I'll do it until it kills me. Regardless of what the IT is.

Thankfully, with addiction rehabilitation, this process can be halted, the disease arrested. The alcoholic addict can learn some semblance of moderation. With proper alcohol detoxification and drug rehab, sanity and balance can be obtained.

What we might consider Trading so we can Continue Using

Raymond Carver, author, poet and alcoholic, concluded the poem "Luck" with the lines: "years later, I still wanted to trade friends, lovers, starry skies for a house where no one was home, no one coming back and all I could drink."

Prior to entering into alcohol rehab or drug rehab, alcoholics and addicts are gripped by a disease that, in nearly all cases, will rob the sufferer of all they hold dear. Those active in their addiction will indeed trade nearly everything in order to be able to maintain their use, in order to stay high. Addicts and alcoholics are able to ignore the financial hardship, the pain to their friends and families, even their physical deterioration as long as doing so allows them to continue to drink and drug. The trade off never seems quite balanced, never quite fair.

Entering into recovery begins with detoxification from substances. Once the physical body is clean and clear of unnatural toxins, the mind can also begin to clear. Real rehabilitation means taking into account what the alcoholic/addict has been willing to give up in order to maintain the addictive lifestyle. With sober eyes, the alcoholic/addict can take realistic stock of what they've been willing to trade. Examination of what's been lost can be a real motivator towards change.

. . and years later, with continued recovery, sober alcoholic/addicts can begin to trade up . . .towards fulfilling and meaningful lives.

What makes private rehabs work?

The term "rehab" has become quite sexy in the past year. From the Spears to the Lohans, from most members of the Baldwin Family to dozens of trust fund babies across the country. We even have award-winning Amy Winehouse singing about rehabs! Rehab has become "cool".
Imagine not even ten years ago when the social stigma attached to rehabs, otherwise known as primary treatment were "low life" or "down and out" or "weak". Today, people from all segments of society are checking-in to rehabs with less of a stigma. Their families are hiring interventionists, in some cases forking out big bucks, and taking more of a total family approach to the disease of addiction, instead of merely blaming the alcoholic/addict of their flaws and infirmities.
Studies are showing that the 'ole 28-Day model is becoming a preferred treatment of the past. Today, we are seeing people staying in rehabs from 30 to 60 to 90+ days. They are extending their experience of "stopping to smell recovery" much longer than there alcoholic and addict predecessors. Why is that? Is it because there is a new way to treat alcoholics and drug addicts? Are alcoholics and addicts more patient than addicts in the past?
The private rehab experience ensures that the client will receive individualized care and begin to touch on the core issues that may be maintaining their drinking or using. I don't believe there's been independent studies that look at the outcomes of private rehabs vs. state operated rehabs, but I wouldn't be surprised that the outcomes would be similar.
The purpose of rehabs, in general, is to introduce the client to many tools, ways, or therapies that they may continue after their relatively brief stay in primary treatment. The rehab experience is sort of a retreat, a calming of the chaos, insanity that has affected their loved ones and families.
What makes rehab work? YOU! If you feel you may have an addiction of some kind, please contact a trusted friend or family member...someone who will not judge you, but support you in making a courageous move to get the help you need and want.


Recuperatio Primoris!


Aloha,

Dr. Bill Heran
Honolulu, Hawaii
March 14, 2008