In Recovery

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With more than a half dozen rehab stints behind him, former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy is opening up about a life of addiction on Capitol Hill to help de-stigmatize brain diseases and to raise money for brain disease research.

• Alcoholism: Sober Time Reverses Alcoholic Brain Damage
• Alcoholic Brain Damage: Abstinence: Substantial Brain Healing after 2 Weeks
• Transgenerational Effects of Drug Use: Teen Pot Use Ups Addiction Risk for Future Offspring

© Kevin Collins

Two research studies released this month show that AA works to help people reduce their consumption and drinking frequency – and that the more often you attend meetings, the better it works.

• 12 Steps Meetings: Study: Young Adults Benefit in AA with Older Adults
• Alcoholics Anonymous: AA: People Who Help Others Stay Sober Longest
• AA/NA: Researchers Say AA and NA Help Addicted Teens

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Last year, without a team to play for, Hargrove wasn’t worried about football - he was trying to take his life back, spending 10 months in drug rehab and treatment for cocaine, alcohol and marijuana abuse.

© Photo Credit: ArneCoomans

Researchers have long known that alcoholics in recovery face a lengthy period of sleep disruption, but some latest work out of the University of Melbourne suggests that a history of alcoholism can negatively affect sleep quality for as long as 2 years after achieving abstinence.

• Benefits of Quitting Alcohol: 20 Things People Realize When They Quit Drinking
• Alcohol and Sleep: How Alcohol Disrupts Sleep Quality
• Alcoholic Liver Disease: Study: Progress against Alcoholic Liver Diseases

© Photo Credit: NUCO

Research shows that we overestimate our powers of self control and so we unconcernedly expose ourselves to temptation – increasing our probability of succumbing to it.

• Addiction Treatment: Holidays Cause Spike in Demand for Treatment
• Teen Substance Abuse: 75% of American Teens Using Drugs or Alcohol
• Depression: Magnetic Stimulation Is Proven to help People with Severe Depression

© Photo Credit: Keith Allison

Hamilton says that pictures posted online yesterday that show him in compromising poses with women while seemingly drunk at a bar are real and were taken in Tempe Arizona in January.

• Relapse: Study: MRI Scans Can Identify Relapse Risk
• Josh Hamilton: Josh Hamilton to Wear Goggles Against Champagne

© Photo Credit: Cudmore

Researchers at UC Davis have shown that although meth users in recovery have a very difficult time with impulse control, that after 1 year of abstinence, the brain regains much cognitive control.

• Andre Agassi Admits to Using Crystal Meth as a Player
• Shake and Bake Meth Labs Circumvent Federal Restrictions on Cold Medications
• California Gay Men The Target of New Anti-Meth Campaign

© photo by dethtrip99

In his record-breaking performance at the All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, last week, Josh Hamilton was a living testament that people can change their lives and can overcome addiction to alcohol and drugs.

• Xanax and Heavy Drinking: Whitney Houston's Struggles With Addiction
• Amy WInehouse: Alcohol OD Killed Amy Winehouse
• Darrell Hammond: SNL’s Darrell Hammond Reveals Cutting and Addiction Battles

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Hamilton continues his fairy tale season, setting a new record with 28 homers in the batting derby last night.

© Photo: Asplosh

By altering levels of GDNF (a brain protein) in rats, researchers in California were able to greatly reduce alcohol cravings and consumption. Fellow scientists call it a landmark study.

• Rats Fed a High Fat Diet Develop a Tolerance to the Pleasures of Eating
• Marijuana Protects "Stressed" Rats from Opiate Addiction

© Photo: Bholler

Conventional therapy supplemented with computer assisted therapy works seems to work better than in-person therapy alone.

• Tobacco in Addiction Treatment: Study: Quit Smoking while You Quit Drugs?
• Harm Reduction: Half of Addiction Therapists OK Moderate Drinking
• Costs of Addiction Treatment: Study: Alcoholism Treatment Saves Money

© Photo: Algavernicky

Once the roughest joint in town, the Eastwood Tavern has been renamed the Eastwood House of Recovery - Now healing instead of hurting.