The other day I rented the film, The Girl on the Train starring Emily Blunt who portrays Rachel, an alcoholic who rides a train every day through upstate New York. While doing so, she gazes out of the window of the train, looking at a beautiful Colonial-style house, which is across the tracks. It turns out that the Colonial was her old home, where once upon a time, she lived with Tom, her ex husband, who dumped her to marry a beautiful blonde named Anna. Apparently, Tom deserted her because she could not get pregnant. And now he has a beautiful baby with Anna, a fact that torments Rachel even more. Besides mourning her old life and drinking herself to death with vodka, Rachel is obsessed with another couple, Megan and Scott who live next door to her old house in an equally majestic Colonial. Every time Rachel’s train goes by, Megan and Scott are kissing on the balcony. Suddenly, Megan disappears. After her body is located in the woods, the story revolves around finding her killer. Rachel is one of the suspects, because she was in the vicinity when Megan disappeared. However, Rachel does not remember what happened that day because she blacked out due to her heavy drinking. Throughout the course of the film, Rachel’s memory slowly comes back to her and she locates the killer.
I rented the movie because I wanted to see how Rachel’s alcoholism played out in the film. According to the New York Times movie review, the character of Rachel “does not appear that far gone.” And even though she drinks “way too much” I had a hard time believing that Rachel was an alcoholic. Another thing that made me gape in disbelief was how quickly Rachel, who guzzled vodka from a water bottle all day long, just stopped drinking. She had no withdrawal symptoms, nor did she suffer from delirium tremens (DT’s). How in God’s name did she do that?
However, (spoiler alert!) this movie is not about Rachel overcoming her alcoholism. It’s about her becoming an instant sleuth and trying to figure out who killed Megan. During the course of her investigation, in which she ends up in some dangerous scenarios, she realizes that Tom had physically and emotionally abused her while they were together. She also figures out that the abuse that she endured at the hands of her slimy ex-husband had triggered her alcoholism.
Domestic Violence & Substance Abuse
Domestic violence and substance abuse can walk hand in hand.
Women who are victims of domestic violence often turn to drugs and/or alcohol to eradicate the feelings of pain that they experience, while being in such toxic relationships. Sometimes batterers encourage them to drink and/or use, as shown in the Power and Control Model for Women’s Substance Abuse. The wheel shaped model shows the different ways in which batterers exert power and control over their victims. When their victims develop substance abuse disorders, batterers exert control. In the film, there is one scene where Tom pours Rachel a glass of vodka, and we discover that he coerced her to drink while they were married. By that point, however, she has been sober for a few days. After she refuses to drink the vodka, he hurls it into her face.
Like Rachel who drank because she was a victim of domestic violence, women drink and/or use during a violent relationship because the alcohol and/or booze become coping mechanisms. Typically, abused women are 15 times more likely to develop alcoholism, and nine times more likely to abuse drugs, than women in healthier relationships. By abusing chemical substances, women have a harder time leaving their batterers. Sadly, if they are under the influence, and call 911 for help, the police might question their credibility. During a scene when Rachel confronts the female detective (played by Allison Janney), the detective treats her as if she is a suspect. She also mocks her and does not believe Rachel’s suspicions.
Perpetrators often sabotage their partners’ newly found sobriety. This is another way to ensure that the women remain trapped in the relationship. Sometimes perpetrators do atrocious things to women who are trying to get help, like bringing booze and/or drugs into the house. These men, who are walking time bombs, will even go crazy if their partners tell them that they are going to a co-ed 12-step meeting. Chances are, they will forbid them to go to the AA/NA meeting because they are jealous of their partners hooking up with another recovering addict!
Batterers also have a tendency to drink and/or use. By being loaded, they can lose control and hurt their partner.
Intimate Partner Violence and Addiction
The American Society of Addiction Medicine reports that substance abuse has been found in conjunction with 40 to 60% of intimate partner violence (IPV). It’s hard for a female addict, especially one with children, to get away from a batterer. IPV is the primary reason of female homicides and injury-related deaths during pregnancy.
While our country is making advancements in dealing with domestic violence, we still live in a society where some women fear for their lives on a daily basis.
Sometimes it’s hard for a woman to take her children and leave, but getting out of a violent relationship often becomes a matter of life or death. There are many organizations that help women who suffer from domestic violence.
And it is vital that victims of domestic violence get treatment for substance addiction.
Recovery can be a powerful weapon for a woman.
With a clear mind, and a lighter spirit, it’s easier for her to break the chains from the past, and feel a sense of freedom and peace. Recovery will help her become a better mom for her children. Women who have suffered from domestic violence require clinical, evidence-based substance abuse and addiction treatment, as well as a strong dual diagnosis program. Depression and other co-occurring disorders often walk hand in hand with newly clean and sober women who have been in brutal relationships. At Cycles of Change Recovery Services, our substance abuse and treatment program provides a holistic approach to treatment. Not only do we offer clinical, evidence-based practices, and dual diagnosis support, but also our program includes trauma-informed care.
Women who have suffered in horrible relationships will discover that this is the best treatment. By treating their minds, bodies and spirits, they will feel hope, and the promise of a new life.
What demographics are more in jeopardy of heroin dependence?
People who are addicted to opiate painkillers, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol are high up on the list. Usually when addicts are already hooked on one or two other chemical substances, transitioning to heroin is not a far-fetched idea. Sometimes making a choice to try dope is not made with a clear mind, especially is a person is stoned or intoxicated. And once a person is hooked on dope, death is not an implausible concept.
As illustrated by the tale below, heroin kills.
Sam, a young, attractive woman is at a house party in Park Slope with Joe, a cute blonde guy she met a week ago at an Alpha Chi Honor Society gathering in the city. Both drink Long Island Iced teas, and soon enough, she is completely drunk. So is he. Laughing, he leads her by the hand to a bedroom, where a group of young attractive men and women, all in their early twenties, sit on the carpeted floor. David Bowie’s Space Oddity plays. One good-looking man with long dark hair shoots up heroin, while the others nod off, with weird smiles on their faces. One young woman, lies on the floor in a fetal position. Sam looks at the door, and then at her date, as he cleans his right arm off with an alcohol swab, and then ties a tourniquet around his arm, using his fist to thump the bend. Another guy, who looks like Brad Pitt, heats up a plastic spoon filled with water and a small rock-like chunk, which is black like an opal crystal. Then, the Pitt look-a-like takes a cotton ball, soaks it in the spoon, and the ball fills up with the fluid like a wet squeegee. Joe puts the needle tip into the cotton ball, pulls the plunger up, and the liquid gets sucked up into the needle.
While Sam is a little freaked out by the needle, she is fascinated as if she is seeing a scene about heroin in a movie. Should she leave? Or stay? Well, she is too drunk to go home and Joe picked her up in his car. Taking the subway late at night, and then a bus to go back to Riverdale is more dangerous than this!
Plus Joe is a sweetheart. Not only is he nice, and looks like Johnny Depp, but he is an honors student at NYU. If she goes home, to her house in Riverdale, chances are her mom is nursing a glass of White Zinfandel while her dad is asleep. Besides, she would rather listen to Bowie instead of that awful show on HBO that her mom watches. And everyone here is in college. She is not sure whom the brownstone belongs to but it’s really nice and clean.
Sam plops down on the floor next to Joe, smiles at him, and watches as the needle goes into his vein.
“Want a hit?” he asks, with a smile that slowly forms on his face, like molasses pouring on a pancake.
Just this one time, she thinks.
She nods, and cuddles up next to him. When the needle touches her arm, she is nervous, but 10 seconds later, she feels euphoria rush over her like a wave. And she feels safe, like she used to, when she was a little girl and her father read Goodnight Moon to her, before he tucked her into bed.
She has never felt so happy before in her entire life.
Six months later, Sam is a heroin addict, who dropped out of Fordham. Suddenly, school didn’t matter anymore. All she wants is her fix. Her parents keep calling her, but unless she needs money, she doesn’t answer her cell phone.
She lives with Joe in his small apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. Until recently, Joe’s parents, who live in Palos Verdes in California, sent him money on a monthly basis. After they found out that he had dropped out of NYU, they cut him off. Joe and Sam got served with an eviction notice, filed for bankruptcy, and are squatting in their apartment. The car? It’s gone.
Joe’s parents stopped making payments.
The repo man picked up the Mustang, where it was parked inside a Manhattan garage.
Joe also owed parking fees, so he couldn’t move his car.
The couple recycles cans, metal, shoplift, borrow money from Sam’s parents, and go to any lengths to support their heroin and nicotine habit. They used to shoot up at least three times a day, and now they are down to once a day, and it’s a living nightmare.
She wants to stop, but can’t because when she is not doped up, she gets really sick. Usually, Joe gets their dope from a local dealer, a really cool guy, but the dealer got caught and is serving time. Luckily, they got hooked up with a new guy, because if they don’t get their daily fix, they hit each other and throw things around the apartment. She gets the shakes and throws up, and he turns into Dr. Hyde.
Their heat gets turned off.
It’s the dead of winter.
One night Joe comes home with a plastic baggie filled with small pieces of paper that look like Trident gum wrappers. They shoot up, and fall asleep. After Joe wakes up, he touches Sam. She is not moving, but she is still warm.
Her eyes are wide open.
The tip of the needle is in her vein.
Sam’s cellphone, lying on the floor, rings.
It’s her mom.
Sam’s autopsy revealed that there were traces of fentanyl in the dope. Joe ends up in a county jail, which doesn’t offer medical detox. In jail, he withdraws cold turkey and almost dies. He calls his father and asks if his parents can get him into a good drug rehab in California, but his father hangs up. Later, the criminal justice system sends him to a long-term residential treatment program. The drug rehab uses a therapeutic community (TC) model. Joe suffers from PTSD and depression, and the rehab doesn’t seem to care. Plus, there are no 12-step meetings. It’s a work-oriented, peer support program, but the support doesn’t feel like support, it feels more like his peers are stoning him with criticism. Joe works as a dishwasher inside the kitchen. He has cravings, so the staff doctor gives him methadone. After Joe gets out, he relapses. A few months later, his body is found by a dumpster in the East Village. His death?
Heroin overdose.
What’s scary about this fictional scenario is the simplicity in which young people become heroin addicts and then, end up as statistics.
While both Joe and Sam die of fatal drug overdoses, Joe asks for help. His parents, who are completely overwhelmed and ashamed, don’t know what to do, so they turn their backs on him. They have other children, and are afraid of Joe going back to California, as if his heroin addiction is a contagious virus.
After Joe is found dead, his parents are devastated, and beat themselves up, because their son had asked for help.
The solution to heroin addiction is clinical, evidence-based residential treatment that offers dual diagnosis support, along with a 12-step approach. Treatment is not about shaming or blaming addicts.
It’s about focusing on the solution.
It’s about compassion and care.
At Cycles of Change Recovery Services, we offer comprehensive evidence-based treatment, which offers dual diagnosis support. Our 12-step approach helps newly clean and sober addicts realize that they are not alone, and that the words, SHAME, BLAME and other derogatory verbiage do not belong in the vocabulary of RECOVERY.
Instead, we help addicts learn about AA/NA through processing workshops, along with attendance at 12-step meetings. Our licensed professionals, many who are in recovery themselves, guide our clients through the steps, so that they learn that recovery is about letting go of the past, taking it one day at a time, and having hope for the future.
Our clients live inside beautiful gender-specific homes that have Zen-like interior décors and outdoor tiled patios, which include swimming pools and water fountains that light up at night.
The Antelope Valley Desert is home to Joshua Trees, desert quail, roadrunners, colorful sunsets and purple wildflowers. At night, stars fill up the sky. The desert backdrop offers our clients an opportunity to discover and connect with their Higher Powers.
If you or a loved one is struggling from heroin addiction, we are here for you.
Women, more than men, are more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Why?
Women are more susceptible to being victims of sexual assault. As opposed to men, females are more likely to condemn themselves for traumatic events.
Not all women develop PTSD after a horrifying event. Those who do usually have mental health issues like depression or anxiety, or have previously undergone a distressing event, or the incident was life threatening and/or caused injury.
According to Stephanie Covington, a highly regarded Doctorate-level licensed clinician specializing in women’s issues, trauma is not just about undergoing violence, its also about the individual’s perception of the occurrence. Poverty, race, incarceration, war or childhood abuse or neglect can lead to PTSD.
Symptoms include flashbacks of the occurrence, nightmares, a sense of alienation from the world and hyper-alertness.
Instead of defensive driving, we can call this defensive living.
This exhausting vigilance can lead to social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (constantly checking and double checking to make sure the doors are locked), and panic attacks.
These individuals feel like they are in constant danger and they must be watchful at all times. This hyper-vigilance parallels the “flight or fight” responses also found in equines and other animals.
An additional PTSD symptom is the avoidance of people, places or things that remind the individual of the traumatic circumstance.
Say, a man with long hair sexually assaulted a woman in the eighties. She experiences PTSD, and for decades after that, will panic if she sees a man who resembles her attacker. She might cope by developing addictions, including an eating disorder, sexual addiction, and/or substance abuse disorder.
Unless she gets professional help, she might spend the rest of her life caught in the throes of addiction.
There are two types of PTSD. Simple PTSD results from distress experienced by one event, such as being a first hand spectator during 9/11. Complex PTSD is the result of enduring chronic traumatic events including incest, sexual abuse and domestic violence.
So what happens next?
While men are more likely than women to develop substance abuse disorders as a result of PTSD, many women self-medicate with drugs and/or alcohol to numb the intense pain. For a brief period of time, they feel a sense of euphoria.
That chemical-induced bliss is an illusion.
And it can lead to dangerous behavior.
These women, who often feel like prisoners in their own skins, transform into free and fearless entities.
And often they act out. While intoxicated, they put themselves in precarious situations that could lead to sexual assaults, and/or violence. Or they find themselves doing deadly things, like driving recklessly.
Afterwards, they feel worse than they did before. Women prone to depression will not want to get out of bed. Those who are anxious experience panic attacks or other mental health issues. And some are more numb than before.
Some women suffering from PTSD and a substance abuse disorder are hesitant to get aid. As mentioned before, women tend to blame them selves for the occurrence, and as a result they feel shame and guilt. Since many feel disconnected from other people, they feel like they are truly alone with their addiction.
Many female alcoholics and/or addicts with PTSD have self-hatred.
One thought that might go through their minds is,
Why should I get help? I don’t deserve to feel better.
Dealing with a dual diagnosis problem requires competent, clinical evidence-based treatment. Clinical methodologies including CBT, Motivational Interviewing, DBT, psychodrama, EMDR and other alternative therapies like Bio-Sound are the answer. Additionally, a strong 12-step approach will help a female addict suffering from PTSD let go of the past, and develop serenity, as a result of finding a Higher Power and working the steps. The 12-steps are not just about healing from substance abuse. The 12-steps are a blueprint for a healthier, happier life in recovery.
Prescription stimulants or “uppers” are pharmaceutical drugs, which includes amphetamines (e.g., Adderall) and methylphenidate (e.g., Ritalin and Concerta), dexmethylphenidate (Focalin, Attenade) and Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvance).
These drugs are prescribed to treat Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children, adolescents and adults. ADHD is a medical condition, which often starts in childhood. People with ADHD are restless, have a hard time focusing, sitting still and paying attention.
Out of all the drugs listed above, Ritalin is the most prescribed for ADHD, since it was introduced at the end of the 20th century.
According to the University of Utah’s Genetic Science Learning Center, 75% of Ritalin users are children, and out of that group, the majority are boys, receiving about four times more Ritalin than girls.
Ritalin has a potential for abuse, and like cocaine, is a strong stimulant. Both increase dopamine levels in the brain, and both share a similar chemical structure.
It’s no wonder that one of Ritalin’s street names is Kiddie Coke.
Dopamine, like serotonin is a neurotransmitter, which controls many neurological functions in the brain. The hormone is released into a group of nerve cells, known as nucleus accumbens. These cells are underneath the cerebral cortex. Since the hormone is responsible for feelings of euphoria, that particular region in the brain is known as the pleasure center.
Author Elizabeth Wurtzel, best known for Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America, wrote about her Ritalin addiction in More, Now and Again, a Memoir of Addiction. Wurtzel’s psychiatrist initially prescribed her Ritalin because of her depression and her lack of focus. Because Wurtzel was prone to drug addiction, her doctor actually thought the Ritalin would be a good fit. The medication worked. But soon Wurtzel who enjoyed the feeling of euphoria, started crushing the Ritalin and snorted it. After her body developed tolerance, and the Ritalin highs were not so high anymore, she added cocaine to her list.
Soon enough, she was snorting 40 pills a day, as well as adding Coke to her cocktail. Of the Ritalin, Wurtzel wrote,
“They used to be a treat. Late at night, they were something to look forward to. I could tell myself: I can still get high. I would tell myself: This is the sugar in my bowl. But now it’s my life. Pills are my everything.”
According to Drug Free World, short-term side effects of Ritalin abuse include erratic, violent behavior, increased heart rate and blood pressure, panic, lack of appetite, hallucinations and irritability. The long-term effects include liver, kidney and heart damage, psychosis, strong psychological dependence and brain damage that can lead to strokes, along with triggering epileptic fits.
Ritalin abuse causes aggressive, and potentially violent behavior. A teenager snorted Ritalin, stayed awake for days, and armed with a hatchet, slaughtered his parents and mutilated his siblings.
While that horrible scenario echoes the opening murder scene from the film, The Amityville Horror, the truth is that Ritalin abuse makes an individual feel like they are in a horror movie, or even a sci-fi flic. High doses can lead to the perception of insects or worms inching under the skin. Some addicts experience intense paranoia, which can make them do crazy things.
At one point, Wurtzel wondered, how could a drug that helped hyperactive children be addictive?
Well it is.
And not only that, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a black box warning label placed on bottles of Ritalin, warning consumers of its high potential for abuse.
Wurtzel sought help, by going to residential treatment, along with attending 12-step meetings, doing her steps and working with a sponsor. She has been clean since 1998.
Before she underwent primary care, she had to undergo medically supervised detox because suddenly quitting from Ritalin can be potentially lethal.
Ritalin withdrawal symptoms include severe depression, suicidal ideations, and heart complications. The best way to wean off Ritalin is with the help of professionals. At Cycles of Change, we provide sub-acute drug detox, the first step to recovery, in our licensed and supervised program.
After detox, we provide clinical, evidence-based treatment offered in our gorgeous gender-specific substance abuse and addiction treatment facilities in Palmdale, California. And not only do our clients attend 12-step meetings, but we offer 12-step processing groups, and help clients work through their first four steps.
If you are ready to detox from Ritalin, and get treatment, or even if you just want to talk to one of our compassionate counselors and get more information, we are hear to help. And for family member who have a family member suffering from Ritalin abuse, we are here to provide guidance, and help you pick the appropriate program for your loved one’s needs.
According to a recent Washington Post editorial, the irony of the opioid epidemic is that the drugs that are mainly at fault, including opioid painkillers, do not always come from drug dealers. Rather, blame can be attributed to the physicians who fill prescriptions for opioid painkillers, and these prescriptions often do not undergo heavy regulation.
One case in point is opioid painkillers prescribed for clients who suffer from chronic pain.
Often frustrated physicians don’t have a long-term solution to finding the cause of persistent pain, so prescribing OxyContin, hydrocodone and other opiate painkillers seems to be the easier way to go. What happens is that chronic pain clients run the risk of opiate addiction.
One female physician expressed her dilemma about prescribing opioid painkillers to her clients, including one 86-year-old woman who suffers from dementia, diabetes, arthritis and an arrhythmia. For the arrhythmia, the woman takes warfarin, which is a powerful blood thinner. For her arthritis, which causes severe pain in her knees, the physician prescribes an opioid painkiller.
Every time the elderly client visits her doctor, the woman brings her homemade gifts.
The physician is in a serious dilemma because she is aware that the combination of the painkillers and the warfarin can cause the patient to have a severe brain bleed.
What’s complex about this situation is that the opiate painkiller allows this elderly woman a chance to cook, garden and enjoy being with her grandchildren. When she is in pain, she sobs and rocks back and forth in in her rocking chair, a lonely figure in utter despair.
Every time this woman shows up at her office for an appointment, the doctor finds herself in a qaundary. What is the answer to this problem? she thinks.
As a doctor, she took an oath to alleviate suffering.
But she also took a vow to not cause her patients’ harm.
On a daily basis, 46 individuals die from prescription drug overdose.
Are Doctors to Blame for the Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic?
By the year 2012, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers. If the prescriptions were distributed nationwide, a majority of Americans would each end up with one bottle of opiate pills.
And you know what’s frightening about that image?
If those Americans ingested those pills, by taking more of the prescription than needed, some might get addicted, and seek refills. This could lead to some individuals trying to get heroin from dealers. Heroin is a cheaper fix, and for those who can’t get refills from doctors, well, dope is often the next fix.
Unlike the physician who is full of inner conflict, the dealers did not take any oaths to prevent their clients from harm. Nor the dealers care about their clients’ welfare. It’s all business to them, and lately some dealers mix more toxic opiates in the heroin, to create more supply for an ever-increasing demand.
Why Are Painkillers So Addictive?
Besides providing pain relief, opioids give users a sense of euphoria. That’s one perk, for a person who lives with debilitating pain, and who might just sit in front of the TV all day, because movement hurts too much. And lets face it. Binge watching a show on Netflix is probably not the healthiest activity for chronic pain clients. And being on Facebook, and seeing healthier friends posting pictures of themselves on vacations, can lead to feelings of severe depression.
Users develop a tolerance to the drug, which means that they require a higher amount of the opiate just to get the same level of relief and bliss.
Oddly enough, there appear to be more cases of people with chronic pain in this country, and perhaps that might be due to factors including dramatic changes in weather and weight gain. And depression can be a culprit when it comes to weight gain. Depression sometimes causes people to eat more.
Weight gain adds more pressure on joints and bones.
And the weather causes more cases of chronic pain, specifically for those with arthritis.
Chronic Pain Myths
While there are factors that add to physical suffering, WebMD reports that there are also myths revolving around chronic pain, including the concept that bed rest is a good idea. While some doctors prescribe bed time-outs for chronic pain clients, along with the opiate painkillers, lying in bed (or watching TV) for a long period of time is detrimental. When a person is inactive, he or she will experience more pain upon getting out of bed. Another myth is that pain occurs when a person gets older. That’s not true. While the body does change with age that does not mean that every senior citizen is going to experience chronic pain. There are many healthy seniors out there who have fit and healthy figures. Some jog, some attend yoga classes, others paint, and many of them have an optimistic attitude towards like, with the belief that “age is a number.”
Being around these people, of whom some are in recovery from prescription drug abuse, is an inspiring and beautiful experience.
Chronic Pain Management
Needless to say, it is crucial to consult a doctor if suffering from chronic pain. According to WebMD, not all chronic pain clients get addicted to their painkillers, as long as they take them as prescribed. In some cases, it’s also good to get a second opinion.
But there are individuals who become addicted, and for them, life can become a nightmare.
At that point, it might be good to look at alternatives.
For chronic pain, one alternative treatment, which is rapidly gaining popularity, is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or a TENS Machine, which looks like a tiny iPad or a cell phone. The machine is hooked to a series of electrodes, resembling white gauze pads, which are put on the skin. The electrodes are connected to wires hooked to the machine. A low-voltage electrical charge is administered. While results are inconsistent, this little machine brings relief to those who suffer from arthritis, spinal cord injury, fibromyalgia, diabetes nerve damage, and after-surgery pain.
For opiate addiction, it’s important to get clinical, evidence-based therapy for the substance abuse disorder, as well as treatment for any co-occurring disorders including depression and anxiety.
And perhaps instead of focusing on the problem and blaming the doctors, as well as the dealers, let’s find a solution.
Opiate Addiction Rehab at Cycles of Change
At Cycles of Change Recovery Services, we offer clinical, evidence-based treatment for clients suffering from opiate addiction. During detox, our professional medical team helps clients wean off opiates, and other chemical substances. After detox, expect gender-specific residential treatment where clients participate in group and individual therapy, which is designed to treat substance abuse, as well as provide dual diagnosis support.
Along with treatment, we offer exercise, nutritious meals, life skills coaching, and other holistic therapies.
Participation in a 12-step program will provide a sense of spirituality, a connection to the universe, as well as to other human beings.
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