After studying the data from the large California Health Interview Survey (which surveyed more than 2000 Californians), researchers out of UCLA say that gay men, lesbians and bisexuals are more than twice as likely as heterosexual men or women to seek mental health or addiction treatment services.

• 48.5% of gays, lesbians and bisexuals interviewed received treatment help within the last year, compared to only 22.5 % of heterosexuals interviewed
• 42.5% of gay or bisexual men sought treatment compared to 17.1% of heterosexual men
• 55.3% of lesbian women sought treatment services compared to 27.1% of heterosexual women

On a scale from least to most, heterosexual men were least likely to seek treatment and lesbian women were most likely to search out mental health or addiction treatment services.

The study authors contend that although it is well known that women make greater use of available mental health and addiction treatment services, that sexual orientation is a significant variable in understanding treatment seeking behavior.

The researchers suggest that issues such as community prejudice, family stresses, violence against gays and lesbians and other environmental factors unique to the gay, lesbian and bisexual community may explain the increased seeking of treatment services. They also state that gay and lesbian cultural influences may “increase the social norms and expectations that therapeutic services are appropriate places for coping with the stresses associated with being a sexual minority.”

The full research study results can be read online in the journal, BMC Psychiatry

Michigan University professor, Daniel Eisenberg, says that students with depression are twice as likely to drop out of college, but that when you look closely at the symptoms experienced by students who fare more poorly in school - it becomes clear that the type of depression experienced makes a difference.

Eisenberg explains that 2 of the core symptoms of depression are:

• Sadness, hopelessness etc. (depressed mood)
• A loss of interest in previously enjoyable or worthwhile activities

Eisenberg took a random sample of 2800 Michigan University undergraduate students in 2005 and collected information from each subject on mental health topics; and then followed up with each student 2 years later.

He found that while a diagnosis of depression doubled the risk of an early college exit, that students who complained of depressed mood only did far better academically that students who admitted also (or only) to a loss of interest in worthwhile or pleasurable activities.

People can perform while feeling down, but people don't seem to perform when they can't muster any interest to do so.

Eisenberg explains that many people become functionally depressed, just as people become functional alcoholics. They suffer through depressive symptoms but maintain high performance at school or on the job. This can be problematic and lead to under diagnosis of the disorder, as Eisenberg explains, "Lots of students who have significant depression on some dimension are performing just fine, but may be at risk and go unnoticed because there is no noticeable drop in functioning."

Eisenberg hopes that his research will spark a larger controlled trial examining depression and academic performance.

The research results can be read in their entirety in the B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy

Mental health professionals have seen the promise of internet based therapies for conditions such as social phobia and anxiety disorders, but most considered that for tougher to treat conditions, like low-motivation depression, in-person therapy was irreplaceable. A new Australian research study suggests otherwise.

Dr. Nick Titov and Professor Gavin Andrews, out of the University of New South Wales in Australia, ran a research study to assess the efficacy of internet based therapy for depression, randomly assigning 45 study participants to the internet based therapy program, or to a control group.

Those that received the 8 weeks of internet based therapies completed weekly homework assignments, participated in an online forum with other study subjects and received, on average, 8 individualized emails from a clinical psychologist. In total, therapists spent an average of just 111 minutes in direct contact with each study subject - subjects receiving far less direct clinical contact than in comparable offline therapeutic programs.

At the end of the 8 week net therapy program, 34% of subjects no longer met the diagnostic criteria for depression and 82% reported feeling either very satisfied or mostly satisfied with their involvement with the net based therapy the program.

These results compares similarly to trials conducted on internet based therapies for other mental health conditions.

Professor Andrews commented on the positive outcome, saying, "The results will come as a surprise to many people who believed Internet-based programs wouldn't work in treating depression."

The ability to deliver effective interventions for mental health conditions like depression over the internet may increase the percentages that get treatment. Current barriers to treatment can include:

• Perceiving a stigma associated with visits to a psychologist of psychiatrist
• The higher costs of in person treatment
• The difficulty in getting off work for treatment during business hours
• Finding an appropriate local therapist (this can be very difficult or even impossible in remote or rural areas)

Study subjects participated in the online forum at all hours of the day, even after midnight, emphasizing the convenience and flexibility of therapy without time constraints.

Visit online depression therapy to see the therapeutic program used in the study.

Most research studies that aim to discover mental health condition prevalence rates operate through methods that involve questioning adults about their experiences in the past, sometimes, the distant past.

An adult in her 40s might be asked to report if she had ever experienced persistent sadness that lasted for more than three weeks, since the age of 18, for example.

Might people under report the true occurrence rate? Could people “forget” about the bad times?

A collaboration of researchers out of New Zealand, America and Britain say…maybe. These researchers took a different approach, studying a pool of 1000 subjects from birth to the age of 32 – and in doing so, came up with some very different prevalence rates.

Under this longitudinal approach, the researchers interviewed subjects periodically throughout the 32 year period, asking about symptoms that would indicate depression, anxiety or substance abuse.

The differences were surprising, using the longitudinal approach, the researchers came up with prevalence rates that almost double those found using regressive questioning methods!

• The US National Comorbidy Survey (a retrospective study) found that between the ages of 18 and 32, 18% of Americans experience depression, 25% to 33% experience clinical anxiety and between 6% and 17% experience alcoholism.

• Using a longitudinal approach, researchers found that over that same time period (between the ages of 18 and 32) 41% experience depression, 50% experience anxiety and about 33% experience alcoholism.

The full research results can be seen in the journal, Psychological Science.

Researchers at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) analyzed data from the National Violent Death Reporting System across 17 states for the years of 2005 and 2006 to come up with the alcohol and suicide correlation statistics; evaluating data from almost 20 000 suicides during that 2 year period.

Although alcohol was found in a high percentage of suicide victims across all races and ethnic groups, people of Native American decent were the most likely intoxicated before committing suicide (37.1%) followed by Hispanics (29%).

Alcohol was more likely found in younger male suicide victims; only 18% of female suicide victims were intoxicated before taking their life.

Dr. Alex Crosby, the author of the study report which was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, explained alcohol’s role in suicidal behavior by saying, “It (alcohol) leads to disinhibition, and it can enhance feelings of hopelessness and depression. Alcohol impairs judgment and can lead to much more impulsive behavior."

The data proves empirically what health workers have always known, that alcohol and suicide go tragically hand in hand. Dr Crosby summed up the significance of the research by stating that any suicide prevention efforts need to address alcohol and drug use as a significant catalyst factor.

Dr Philip May, a professor of sociology in Albuquerque, at the University of New Mexico, suspects that alcohol influences about 40% of suicides within New Mexico. He says that for younger victims, suicide is often an impulsive event, and that in impulsive suicides, alcohol often plays a tragic role.

He explains that alcohol increases suicidal follow-through in 2 ways, either by facilitating the suicidal act, or by increasing the likelihood of suicidal thoughts and actions.

Dr. Crosby concurs, explaining that alcohol worsens depression and can increase feelings of hopelessness. It also lowers inhibition and decreases judgment – all of which stir up to a very dangerous mindset for an already depressed or hopeless person.

The overwhelming majority of those who abuse opiates or become addicted get the medications from friends or family and have previously used drugs, such as cocaine.

According to research published in The Archives of Internal Medicine – most of the millions of Americans abusing opiate medications are getting these drugs from friends or family members, and not from legitimate medical sources.

Looking at data from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health researchers at Yale University found that:

• Only 20% of drug abusers use legitimate prescriptions as their primary source of access to drugs
• 69% of drug abusers list friends or family as their primary source of drugs, and for users between the ages of 18 and 25, that percentage shoots up to 77%
• Only 3% of people using legitimately prescribed opiates will become addicted
• 80% of OxyContin abusers have also used cocaine

Image Copyright: Limowreck666

At certain periods in life, living with a person who uses maladaptive thinking styles increases your risk of depression. Fortunately, the opposite is also true.

Trying to avoid depression? Well be careful who you live with…

Certain thinking styles increase your risk for depression. For example, people who blame themselves for negative and stressful events beyond their control and those who imagine they have little control over their fate are at greater risk of depression than people with more adaptive thinking styles.

• At certain periods of life, such as when we first attend university, we are strongly influenced by our peers and research shows that we even tend to adopt some of the thinking styles of those around us.
• So if you get close to a person who makes use of thinking strategies that increase the risk of depression, you are more likely to also experience an increased depression risk.

The Study

Once past adolescence, most people don’t change their thinking strategies much – you’re just either a glass half-empty kind of person, or you’re not.

But in times of major transition, such as when moving away from home for the first time to a university dorm room, do such thinking styles then become contagious?

That’s what researchers at the University of Notre Dame wanted to know, and to find out they enlisted 103 pairs of randomly assigned college roommates to participate in a study.

• Each student was given a questionnaire to fill out within a month of arriving on campus and then two more, at 3 and 6 months later.
• The questionnaires measured for cognitive vulnerability to depression and indices of depression

The Results

• Students who got randomly assigned a roommate with maladaptive thinking styles (someone who was at risk of developing depression) were likely to ‘catch’ some of this negative thinking, and you could see this increase in cognitive vulnerability at both 3 and 6 months.
• Conversely, students with higher vulnerability scores assigned to live with students exhibiting very little negative thinking actually reduced their risk of depression by 3 and 6 months of co-habitation
• Students who ‘caught’ negative thinking patterns by 3 months exhibited twice the level of depressive symptoms by 6 months as students who had not increased their negative thinking patterns.

Discussion

The study authors write, "Our findings suggest that it may be possible to use an individual's social environment as part of the intervention process, either as a supplement to existing cognitive interventions or possibly as a stand-alone intervention. Surrounding a person with others who exhibit an adaptive cognitive style should help to facilitate cognitive change in therapy."

Image Copyright: Taylor Dawn Fortune

Here’s one very compelling reason to quit opiates sooner rather than later.

Need a good reason to seek treatment for an opiate addiction?

Well you might find the inspiration you’ve been looking for in a new study out of the Kaiser Center for Health Research that links just three to four months of high dose opiate use with a significantly increased likelihood of erectile dysfunction…50% higher!!!

The Study

The researchers examined the medical records of 11 327 men with back pain who were enrolled with Kaiser Permanente in Portland Oregon. Many of these men received prescriptions for opiates to control their pain.

The study looked to investigate:

1. Did getting prescribed opiates increase a man’s likelihood to request erectile dysfunction (ED) medication, such as sildenafil, tadalafil or testosterone replacement within 6 months?
2. What factors influenced an increased likelihood to require ED medication?

The Results

Over a 12 month time period around seeing a doctor for back pain

• 6.7% of men not prescribed opiates received a prescription for an ED medication
• 12.5% of men prescribed low dose opiates for 120 days or longer (or 90 days or longer with 10 or more prescription refills) received a prescription for an ED medication
• 19.3% of men on higher doses of opiates (120 morphine equivalents or greater per day) for 120 days or longer (or 90 days or longer with 10 or more prescription refills) received a prescription for an ED medication
• Having depression and taking sedative hypnotics, like benzodiazepines, also increased a man’s likelihood of requiring an ED medication
• Surprisingly, neither obesity nor smoking were associated with an increased likelihood to require an ED medication

Commentary

The study authors recommend that primary care physicians weigh the risks of sexual dysfunction when making prescribing decisions and that patients receive information about these sexual risks and about possible alternative therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and physiotherapy exercises.

Opiates are known to decrease testosterone levels. The study authors suggest that this is the most probable explanation for their negative influence on erectile functioning.

Image Copyright: Bruckerrlb

Of all the culturally conditioned behaviors we’ve mindlessly adopted, alcoholism is one of the most curious.

by Sofia Adamson, Staff Writer at Waking Times

We know it is highly detrimental to personal health and that it directly contributes to myriad societal problems including violence and drunk driving. We also know that the alcohol industry is exceptionally lucrative while at the same time the police state uses this addiction to extend their authority.

Some argue that alcoholism is a spiritual disease, and that the consumption of ‘spirits’ is a means of giving the self up to our inner demons. Dr. Gabor Maté sees alcoholism as a means of covering up personal trauma and emotional pain, yet even without getting too deep into this it’s easy to see that abstaining from booze has some pretty incredible benefits for those seeking better health and greater awareness in life.

But what do dedicated social drinkers and outright alcoholics see when they give up ‘spirits,’ as they are called, and what can the observations from newly sober people tell us about the sicknesses running rampant in our society? What can we learn from them about the conditioned

Here is a list of the many common things people realize when they quit drinking booze, as compiled from a number of personal stories found online, all listed below in the footnotes:

1. The first major thing people see is a dramatic improvement in overall physical health. This commonly includes significant weight loss, improved digestion, greater energy and less fatigue, clearer skin, and they no wake up with even mild hangovers, headaches or nausea.
2. Improvements in mental health include decreased overall anxiety, improvements in depression, much higher levels of mental clarity, improved memory, better concentration, increased sense of connection, decreased levels of stress, higher self-esteem, greater motivation and a more positive outlook on life in general.
3. Sleep dramatically improves. They find it much easier to fall asleep, they sleep much better throughout the night, and they feel much more rested upon waking.
4. They commonly see big changes in their attitude towards other people, noticing that it tends to be easier to see things from the perspective of others as they feel less self-absorbed. They find it much easier to be empathetic towards others.
5. Quitting drinking typically saves a great deal of money.
6. They save a great deal of time as they get their evenings, night-time, an mornings back. They frequently embark in new endeavors or try new activities which were impossible to do with an alcoholic lifestyle.
7. They realize that they don’t actually need to drink to have fun and enjoy themselves at parties and social gatherings, thus exposing the great cultural lie that alcohol equals a good time. For many, they discover that alcohol actually strains social relationships rather than strengthening them.
8. They begin to see themselves for who they really are, no longer using alcohol as a mask behind which to hide. This can be both enlightening and startling as they are forced to accept both the good and the bad aspects of the self. They must then choose how to confront the emotional realities of their life. Something that is all but impossible with regular consumption of alcohol.
9. They realize that alcohol tends to make personal problems worse.
10. People find they have fewer regrets when living alcohol free. Not only do they not do stupid, risky and troublesome things when drunk, but they also are more available to experience more from life.
11. Quitting is both very difficult and very easy. The first stretch when they stop drinking is the most challenging, as the cravings for booze must be reckoned with, yet once they’ve experienced sobriety, they find it is much easier than they had imagined to stay sober, even when hanging out with drunk people.
12. For some reason it really makes drinkers uncomfortable to be around someone who is abstaining. They realize that people who drink are incredibly judgmental towards non-drinkers, and will try anything to get a sober person to join the party with a drink. They will even make fun of you or put you down.
13. They notice that many people are just a**holes when they drink. This is not always easy to see when partaking in booze with everyone else, but with the clarity of sobriety, many find that the quick-witted social rock stars appear that seem so impressive at the bar are just really attention seeking jerks.
14. They realize that booze fueled conversations are actually boring, ego-driven and quite superficial, as well as highly prone to aggressiveness, bickering, fighting and ill sentiments.
15. They realize that people can be just as toxic as substances, and that many relationships are not able to survive without the crutch of booze. They tend to learn a great deal about who their true friends really are.
16. They begin to understand that alcoholism is in large part an environmental disorder, meaning that it is just as easy to not drink once a reasoned change has been made to their environment, who they spend time with, who they work with, and what they do in their free time.
17. Alcohol is the least fulfilling and least interesting buzz available, when compared to many other mind-altering and mind-expanding substances people take to alter consciousness.
18. They find it easier to make healthier choices in general, choosing better foods, drinking more water, taking more exercise, and purposefully sleeping better.
19. They find that not drinking allows them to experience a greater level of spiritual awareness and consciousness in their everyday lives.
20. They find that a return to drinking alcohol is often immediately gratifying with one or two drinks, but that shortly after consuming even a small amount of alcohol they feel crappy, lethargic, spaced out, dizzy and off.

Final Thoughts

Not drinking alcohol can give you a serious edge in a society where most everyone else is boozing it up on a regular basis. The zeitgeist of alcohol is that it makes life more fun, but the reality is that it is a massive industry pushed onto the public which has created a culture of self-destructive behavior.

Changing your personal habits to improve your health, mental clarity and spiritual awareness is challenging, but doing so is perhaps the single most critical facet of personal development. Many people find that abstaining from booze makes this process much easier.

Sources:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-fitzgerald/7-things-i-learned-during-my-year-without-alcohol_b_5291015.html
• https://edlatimore.com/10-observations-from-2-years-of-not-drinking
• https://www.thrillist.com/vice/lessons-i-learned-from-quitting-drinking-for-one-month
• http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-sober-alcohol-drunk-booze-perspec-1231-20151230-story.html
• http://www.raptitude.com/2017/05/five-things-i-learned-from-not-drinking-for-four-months/
• https://www.annawickham.com/stop-drinking/
• https://greatist.com/live/lessons-learned-when-i-stopped-drinking-for-a-year
• https://soundcloud.com/superdutytoughwork/67-the-benefits-of-sobriety

Image Copyright: Leo Hidalgo

The absence of in person addiction recovery services and 12 -Step meetings puts us at heightened levels of risk and anxiety. Let’s explore some options.

In the midst of this crisis, folks are losing access to countless services. Access to medical care and basic life needs are at the forefront of everyone’s concerns. Once those are met, we take stock and realize that so much of what we count on for our emotional well-being is missing. For some folks, that’s cancellation of their church services, civic organization activities, or social events. For people like me, it’s the absence of 12-step meetings that puts us at heightened levels of risk and anxiety.

In my community, our local recovery center has closed down and most of the other settings where 12-step meetings are held have also closed their doors – some for an unknown period of time. I’m quick to remind folks that the literature of our programs specifies that wherever two or more of us are gathered - it’s a meeting.

The loss of our usual daily or weekly routines forces us to be innovative but in order to take initiative, we have to get past the initial wave of anxiety because we are people who struggle with -

• change
• powerlessness
• loss
• living with unknowns
• being triggered by collective worry and panic

Many of us are unable to access counseling services or are only able to connect online at this time. The loss of support, even temporarily can be devastating. This is not a matter we can afford to take lightly.

Let’s explore some options:

• Online meetings. Check out sites like: intherooms.com and other online sites that host traditional 12 step programs online.
• Create your own online support group by gathering with friends on Zoom, Skype, or other teleconference sites/programs.
• If you’re comfortable having a small group of friends/peers in recovery over, consider hosting a small get together at your home.
• Utilize speaker meetings on Apple iTunes or Google Play.
• Check out TED talks and other inspiring programs on YouTube.
• Share my recovery videos from Sobernow.com with peers in recovery.
• Invest in some journaling, step work, or connect with new friends and/or reconnect with old friends during this time.

Call folks who support your goals. Be of service to others – especially if there are elderly folks in your community. Catch yourself worrying, and then take a minute and get back to basics:

• Separate what you have control over - and what you don’t.
• Breathe deeply, practice grounding skills and stay in today.
• Improve your self-care – eat good food, drink water, exercise.
• Read good books, listen to great music, do things that nurture your spirit.

If you’re struggling – reach out!

At a time when there seems to be more of an emphasis on female empowerment than ever before, messages of shame related to body size still permeate our culture.

At a time when there seems to be more of an emphasis on female empowerment than ever before, messages of shame related to body size still permeate our culture. Open any magazine at the checkout counter, turn on any major network during prime-time, or buy a movie ticket and the images of the women you see will be largely homogeneous. Yes, exceptions do exist, and their voices are getting louder. But when young girls and teens consume these images, it paints a powerful picture of what it means to be beautiful in our culture, and upholds an unrealistic standard. Fortunately, the public is beginning to pay closer attention to these harmful portrayals, and there are more options available for eating disorder treatment than ever before.

Flat Tummy Fury

One such harmful portrayal sparked an outcry recently, when the Flat Tummy Co. was met with a major backlash due to an advertising campaign featured on billboards in Times Square. The company sells appetite-reducing lollipops and other diet substances, and their marketing efforts are directed specifically at young women. The controversial billboards contained phrases like, “Got cravings? Girl, tell them to #SUCKIT,” and “1.5 million BABES and counting,” referring to Flat Tummy’s massive Instagram following. The infantilizing ad, in which no men are featured, portrays young women sucking on lollipops.

The messaging is clear here. Ignore your hunger cues, avoid nourishment, and buy our product. The product itself, a lollipop, is designed to attract a younger demographic, just like the candy cigarettes of days gone by. But this irresponsible campaign’s silver lining is the fury it sparked on social media. Countless outraged women have been speaking loudly about their disdain for what they believe to be Flat Tummy’s use of dangerous pro-ana, thinspo rhetoric in an exploitative marketing campaign.

Women Fight Back

Twitter and Instagram became inundated with messages like, “Hey Twitter, Let’s use our power for good by guilting @FlatTummyCo into taking down their Times Square billboard advertising appetite suppressants. Love, A former-anorexic teenage girl,” from Sophie Vershbow. Instagram user @agostinaele criticized a post featuring a sale on Flat Tummy lollipops, saying, “Your entire campaign is aimed at women because women are always told they must be smaller/thinner/less while men can look however they want. YOU are the problem. Anyone working for this company should feel ashamed. You are disgusting.”

In the midst of the backlash, Tess Holiday started a change.org campaign to pressure Flat Tummy into taking down their Times Square ads. She criticized their messaging, saying, “Hunger is your body’s way of communicating when it needs food, which gives us energy, without which we cannot survive. There is something deeply wrong when marketers tell women that their appearance (based on sexist body standards) is more important than their health and survival.” As of this writing, the campaign has garnered an incredible 100,988 signatures, and the momentum continues to build. Organizers set a goal of 150,000 signatures, which would send a powerful message to Flat Tummy about the harmful nature of their advertising. To add your voice to the cause, simply add your name and email address to the petition here.

Slow but Meaningful Progress

The anger levied at Flat Tummy’s blatant promotion of diet culture is a signal that women are fed up with being told they need to be smaller to be satisfied with their bodies. We know that restrictive eating habits are directly linked to an increased risk of developing an eating disorder. But to begin changing the narrative around body image, it’s imperative that we speak out against dangerous messaging like the Flat Tummy campaign and speak openly about eating disorder treatment.

Take time to talk to the young women in your life about the messages they see and hear in the media, balanced nutrition, and making lifelong healthy habits. Look for ways to encourage other women to embrace their unique shape and honor their bodies no matter their size.

A study which proves that it is never too late to quit drinking shows that even severely brain damaged alcoholics (who suffer balance and walking problems from their neural deficits) will recover much balance and motor function in time.

Chronic heavy drinking can damage a number of brain structures, such as the cerebellum, a structure in the brain that is responsible for balance and coordination, the striatum, an area of dopamine transmission that plays a role in movement and subcortical white matter, which plays a role in managing motor feedback systems. One consequence of this diverse brain damage is compromised balance and a stumbling and unbalanced walking gait, known as ataxia.

How much recovery from balance and walking difficulties can an alcoholic expect after abstinence?

Studies on short term abstinence have revealed little recovery, so researchers at Neurobehavioral Research Inc. took a look at how well a person might expect to recover after prolonged abstinence.

The Study

The researchers evaluated a sample of 70 alcoholics who had been sober for between 6 and 15 weeks (short term abstinence) and 82 alcoholics who had been sober for at least 18 months and for an average time of over 7 years.  All alcoholics had a similar history of drinking duration and intensity.

The Results

• Long term sobriety led to improved performance on tests of balance and walking compared to the performance of the short term sobriety group.
  
• While longer abstinence led to improvements in eye-open testing, longer term abstinence alcoholics showed no improvement over short term abstinence alcoholics in testing done while subjects were asked to keep their eyes closed.
  

Eyes closed balance testing is considered more difficult and the deficits that persist show that while some neural recovery is possible with long term abstinence, some damage is clearly more enduring.

Commenting on the study findings, lead author Stan Smith said,”The bottom line is that impaired brain functions in alcoholics appear to recover with an extended abstinence, even if there is relatively little recovery with short-term abstinence. This means there is hope for significant recovery of balance function with extended abstinence."

The full study results can be read in the Dec 2011 edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research

Image Copyright: MShades

A mindful sober subculture is emerging, indicating that we’re seeking out deeper, more meaningful connections to others.

A wide range of sober, mindful, after-work activities is emerging, as booze culture is beginning to fall by the wayside among the hipster generation.

Sobriety is becoming the new normal in the big cities - from New York to Los Angeles, reports Andrea Rice for the alternative lifestyle blog Wanderlust:

The buzz may have started with Daybreaker, the pre-workday dance party crusade that quickly swept both coasts (I’ve been more than once), eventually spreading throughout major cities across the globe. It’s an action-packed, sweaty, but sober, rave—glitter and all—that leaves just enough time afterward to do a little presto change-o before hitting the office. Then there’s The Get Down, the feel-good post-workday dance party in Manhattan started by house music DJ Tasha Blank.

The recently unveiled MNDFL, NYC’s first boutique meditation studio, has already gained a reputation for being a sober-chic place to hang and chill out, while big scale events like The Big Quiet have made mass meditations in public places a desirable activity among enlightenment seekers. Biet Simkin, a musician and founder of Center of the Cyclone, guides artistically charged meditations as part performance art, part mindfulness. Andrea Praet and Katia Tallarico lead The Uplift Project, which mobilizes the overstimulated and promises restoration and balance for today’s fast-paced world—a far cry from blowing off steam at the bar and drowning sorrows in alcohol.

And this week in The New York Times, a bi-monthly post-work mindful movement known to both LA and NYC as The Shine was profiled in the Styles section—a clear gauge that sober gatherings have officially gone mainstream.

Light Watkins, a meditation teacher, Wanderlust presenter, and author of The Inner Gym, founded The Shine in 2014 to create a mindful, connected community, without all the booze. An evening at The Shine will include meditation, music, film, and philanthropic enterprises, complimented with healthy nibbles and juices—and specially sourced artisan water.

In its first year, The Shine’s popularity as an aspirational gathering place to connect with like-minded individuals grew from just a dozen people to nearly 300. “The Shine started because I wanted to be more social, but I wasn’t attracted to the bar scene,” said Watkins. “I felt that it was hard to make meaningful connections with people who are buzzed - you’re not really meeting them, but rather the slightly to heavily intoxicated version of them, which may be uninhibited and fun, but it’s not real."

"We can’t help but wonder if this is just the beginning of an increasing demand for more alcohol-free zones for people to connect", Andrea concludes.

Researchers say that people with mental illness that do not abuse substances are no more likely to engage in violence than people from the general population.

Although people with bipolar disorder and other forms of mental illness may be perceived by the general public to be a more violent group of people, researchers in Sweden say that it’s actually substance abuse that causes any increase in violence, and that:

• People with bipolar who do not abuse drugs or alcohol are no more likely to engage in violence than non substance abusing people from the general population
• People with bipolar disorder that abuse drugs or alcohol are no more likely than people from the general population that abuse drugs or alcohol to engage in violent acts

People, whether mentally ill or not, who abused drugs or alcohol were between 6 and 7 times more likely to engage in violent acts than people from the general population. Unfortunately, people with bipolar disorder are 10 times as likely to abuse drugs or alcohol as people from the general population.  

Lead researcher Dr Seena Fazel of Oxford University commented on the findings, saying, "Most of the relationship between violent crime and serious mental illness can be explained by alcohol and substance abuse…It's probably more dangerous walking outside a pub on a late night than walking outside a hospital where patients have been released"

The full research results have been published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

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Mass. state drugs commission calls opiate use in the commonwealth an “epidemic” and to emphasize the point, compares the numbers of state citizens that die in overseas combat with those that die from drug overdoses – saying that drug overdoses cause 42 times more deaths.

According to the Massachusetts OxyContin and Heroin Commission, the state is in the middle of an opiate addiction “epidemic” that’s resulting in a terrible death toll.

The commission has just released a 71 page addiction report and to emphasize the human costs of addiction, the commission has compared the dangers of serving overseas with the risks of using drugs on the streets of Massachusetts, writing, “The Commonwealth is losing men and women on its streets at a rate of 42 to 1, compared to what the state is losing in two wars overseas.”

Between 2007 and 2007, the state lost 78 soldiers in combat overseas. Over that same period, 3265 in the state died from drug related causes.

State Senator, Steven Tolman, who chairs the commission, said, “We have a health crisis here. None of them [addicts] want to be sick. You could have a son or a daughter who was brought up properly with all the morals and values, and, when they get hooked on the stuff, it doesn’t matter; it’s all out the window.’’

Although the numbers affected are substantial, public perceptions of addiction tend to minimize the policy response. In an analogy statement, the commission wrote, “If the H1N1 virus killed 3,000 people in a five-year period in Massachusetts, the crisis would be center stage. Because of the stigma surrounding substance abuse, this epidemic is left in the shadows.’’

Some of the 20 recommendations made by the commission include:

• Improving prescription drug monitoring programs
• Protecting people who help overdosing drug users get medical care from liability or arrest
• Reducing criminal penalties for drug users who seek treatment
• Furthering support to “recovery high schools”
• Increasing investment in alternative to incarceration programs, such as drug courts

Image Copyright: Photo Credit: Dia™