If you’re in the habit of smoking only when you drink and hang out with friends, you’re a social smoker and you may think that you aren’t harming your health. This kind of intermittent smoking may not be as risky as daily smoking, but it may be causing more damage than you realize. If alcohol…
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Recent evidence from a team of Swedish researchers indicates that women with eating disorders other than anorexia have personality traits that largely distinguish them from the general population. Personality traits are the mixtures of long-term thought and behavioral tendencies that help differentiate human beings from each other. These traits develop in childhood and adolescence before…
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College students out-drink other young people, often with disastrous consequences, and schools and officials are fighting back. The goal is to change the culture of college drinking, to prevent underage drinking and limit dangerous binge drinking. The issue of binge-drinking students is not new, but the recent newsworthy stories of sexual assaults and other kinds…
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They say the eyes are a window to the soul, but they might also provide information on your drinking habits. Individuals with light-colored eyes may be at greater risk for developing alcohol dependence than their brown-eyed compatriots, genetic researchers from the University of Vermont reported in the July issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics:…
DetailsRecent findings from a team of Brazilian researchers indicate that severe PTSD has a primary damaging impact on health-related quality of life, even in those individuals also affected by other significant mental health issues.
We would all like to think that we have a safe and happy marriage and that our spouse would never cheat. The scary fact is that statistics show infidelity is more likely than ever. Does this mean it has reached epidemic proportions? And if it has, what are the causes and consequences? There are no…
DetailsWhen you first get sober, the thought of staying away from a drink or a drug for a whole day seems difficult or impossible. After a while, you get the hang of how to get through life one day at a time without picking up a drink or a drug. Before you know it, days…
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Getting into treatment for addiction isn’t easy, but getting out can be even tougher. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, and each one presents challenges when your body and brain are aching for a fix.
Holidays can be stressful. Mindfulness can help. Here’s the proof. In a review of 39 studies drawing upon mindfulness as clinical interventions, researchers concluded that mindfulness techniques can help people struggling with such issues as anxiety and depression — often two unwelcome guests during the holiday season.
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Relationships are the lifeblood of recovery. Good ones can nourish your self-esteem and bolster your resolve in the darkest moments. But toxic relationships — the ones that bring you down even when you’re feeling your best —don’t just rub you the wrong way. They can put you at high risk of relapse.