Leslie Glass's Blog, page 259
June 30, 2019
Sober Revolution
From Washington Post Millennials have sparked a sober revolution, and alcohol brands are starting to notice. Many are embracing the #SoberLife and companies are capitalizing on it with a raft of sober events, products and so many hashtags
The Infinity Fizz, a nonalcoholic mocktail for sale at the Lamplight Lounge at the Pixar Pier in Anaheim, Calif., is made with Powerade Mountain Berry Blast, apple juice and cherry pearls. (Jeff Gritchen/Orange County Register/Getty Images)By Laura ReileyJune 27
It’s everywhere you look these days: #SoberCurious, #SoberIsSexy, #SoberLife and #SoberSaturday. There are sober nightclubs, sober early-morning dance parties, Instagram influencers who anchor their online identities with an eschewal of alcohol. The number of alcohol drinkers in the world has decreased by nearly 5 percent since 2000, according to the World Health Organization. The Beverage Information Group reports beer sales have slumped for five years in a row.
Alcohol brands are paying attention: Diageo (the world’s second largest distiller and parent of Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker) recently funded a nonalcoholic spirits company called Seedlip. In cities like New York and Los Angeles it is routine for restaurants to have separate nonalcoholic drink lists, online searches with the word “mocktail” are up significantly, and online magazines like the Temper have debuted to defiantly tout the benefits of a sober lifestyle.
This is not a fad buoyed by addiction and recovery stories. The millennial- and Gen Z-driven trend is seen as part of a burgeoning wellness movement, a desire to have social gatherings less focused on alcohol (and the next mornings less fuzzed by aftereffects), as well a shift toward abstemiousness more generally.
Seedlip non-alcoholic gin.(Tom McCorkle for The Washington Post; food styling by Amanda Soto/The Washington Post)
But it’s not cheap. Consumers will still spend $10 to $12 a pop for a mocktail, a refreshing quaff they might suck down in two minutes. Bars and restaurants may spend more because of the food waste associated with short-lived fresh juices, “shrubs” and tinctures with fancy extracts and infusions. And there are ongoing ripples among distilleries and breweries as the industry figures out whether this is a blip or a movement with staying power.
Mixologist Dean Hurst recently designed the bar program for Lucky Cricket, the controversial Chinese restaurant created by Andrew Zimmern in St. Louis Park, Minn.
“I did four nonalcoholic drinks for Lucky Cricket. They did well, but the profit wasn’t as high because by the time you get impactful flavor combinations without the strong flavors of alcohol, it ends up being really expensive. When we costed it out, it was $10 or $12 per cocktail. And that’s not even factoring in the waste of throwing away rancid fruit or juice,” he said.
Sharelle Klaus, founder of DRY, was among the early adopters, launching the company in 2005 after abstinence during four pregnancies left her feeling excluded at restaurants and on special occasions.
She first introduced her line of nonalcoholic beverages with “culinary-inspired flavors” in restaurants in Seattle. Sommeliers were initially snobby, relegating DRY to the category of soda, but chefs were receptive. The drinks are now sold nationally in major grocery chains in 10 flavors and retail for $4.99 to $5.99 for a 750 ml bottle, a 12-ounce glass bottle four-pack for $5.99 to $6.99 and four-packs of slim cans for about the same price.
She says half of American drinkers say they’d like to drink less alcohol, and that goes up to two-thirds for millennial drinkers.
“Mental health is becoming a much bigger discussion point; it’s about keeping that edge and that clarity,” Klaus says. She argues nonalcoholic social drinking can help combat the distancing effects of cellphones and social media.
“It’s about being a bit more present with your friends. Connection, people really want connection.”
Nonalcoholic beer, which chugged along with modest performers for years, has seen a resurgence, from craft brewers to Heineken, which in January launched a nonalcoholic malt beverage called 0.0.
It’s far more costly to produce a nonalcoholic beer by removing alcohol from a beer, or by keeping a nonalcoholic beer from turning into an alcoholic beer, said Philip Brandes, the founder and head brewer at Bravus Brewing Co. in Costa Mesa, Calif., said to brew the first nonalcoholic craft beer.
“Initially we tried six-packs of 12-ounce cans priced comparably with other alcoholic craft beer at around $12.99,” Brandes said. “What we found is that since the category is still nascent and people weren’t aware a great-tasting nonalcoholic craft beer existed, they were hesitant to pay that much to try the product. We then moved to a four-pack of 12 oz. cans at around $8.50 and product began to fly. Same price per can, but a lower price point equated to a lower risk to the customer.”
Right now, no-alcohol brews account for just 5 percent of the beer market. But Brandes, citing market research that it could be a $7 billion worldwide market in about 5 years, says sales growth has outpaced alcoholic beer 5 to 1 over the past six years.
Jeff Stevens of WellBeing Brewing, whose soon-to-be launched Victory Citrus Wheat with natural electrolytes is somewhere between a beer and a sports drink, notes significant growth in Europe and Asia.
“Along with the ‘Dry January/Sober Curious/Mindful Drinking’ movements, I believe this market is just getting started and poised for growth,” Stevens said.
Distill Ventures, an investment company focused on entrepreneurs creating drink brands, launched a nonalcoholic drinks program in 2017, saying they believed “Non-Alc had the potential to be the most exciting category within drinks.” Many at the luncheon were skeptical.
Today, of the more than 15 founder-led drink brands in their portfolio, a quarter are nonalcoholic.
The post Sober Revolution appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.
June 29, 2019
What Are The Best Ways To Stop Overeating?
From Medical News Today:
Overeating can lead to obesity and other health problems over time. However, people can take simple steps to control their appetite and eat more healthfully. These steps include eating slowly, checking portion sizes, and reducing stress.
The occasional oversized meal or snack will not cause too much harm, but, over time, overeating can lead to serious health conditions. These include type 2 diabetes, heart and blood vessel conditions, and obesity, which can lead to metabolic syndrome.
Between 2015 and 2016, approximately 39.8% of adults in the United States had obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In this article, we discuss some of the best strategies to help people stop overeating.
Tips to prevent overeating
People overeat for many different reasons. Some people eat too much when they feel stressed, while others overeat due to a lack of planning or because they use food as a pick-me-up.
While overeating has many different causes, there are as many ways to avoid or prevent it. Science-backed tips to prevent overeating include:
Limiting distractions
People often do other things while they eat. However, by not paying enough attention to what they are eating, many people overeat.
A 2013 review of 24 studies concluded that distracted eating could cause a moderate increase in immediate food intake and a more significant increase in the amount that people eat later in the day.
Limiting distractions as much as possible during mealtimes will allow the body to focus on the task at hand, which is eating. To do this, people should turn off computers, tablets, phones, and televisions when eating.
Eating slowly
Researchers are not entirely sure why, but it appears that people who eat slowly have a lower body mass index (BMI) and eat smaller meals.
Eating slowly might give the brain more time to realize that the stomach is full and send the cue to stop eating. Taking more time to eat may promote a greater sense of fullness and make people feel as though they ate more than they did.
In a 2015 study, adults who slowly ate 400 milliliters of tomato soup reported feeling fuller after the meal than people who ate the same portion quickly. After a 3-hour interval, those who ate slowly also remembered the portion as being more substantial than those in the second group did.
To practice eating slowly, try putting the utensils down or taking a few deep breaths between bites. Some people also find it helpful to set a timer so that they are more aware of how quickly they are eating.
Eating healthful portion sizes
It is useful to know what meal sizes are healthful and how to portion out food. According to the CDC, people who have large portions on their plate often unintentionally eat more calories than they need.
To practice good portion control, try:
splitting entrees or main meals with someone else when dining out
asking for a to-go box and boxing up half of the meal immediately
placing food on individual plates instead of leaving the serving dish on the table
avoiding eating straight out of the packet
putting small portions of snacks in bowls or other containers, especially when doing other activities while eating
storing bulk purchases in a place that is hard to reach
using smaller plates, bowls, or containers
Removing temptation
It is hard to stick to a meal plan when the cupboards, fridge, or freezer contain unhealthful foods. According to the CDC, opening up a cabinet and seeing a favorite snack food is a common trigger of overeating.
Parting with favorite snacks or treats is a vital step toward adopting a more healthful diet. Try clearing the cupboards of tempting snack goods, and donate unopened items to charity where possible.
Eating fiber-filled foods
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), eating both soluble and insoluble fiber can help people feel full for longer, which generally helps prevent overeating.
A small 2015 study found that participants who ate oatmeal for breakfast felt fuller for longer and ate less at lunchtime than those who had eaten cornflakes or just had water.
Fiber is a type of plant carbohydrate that occurs in many foods, including:
whole grains
beans, peas, and lentils
many vegetables, including leafy greens and sweet potatoes
most nuts and seeds
oats and oat bran
many whole fruits, especially berries and fruits with peels
Most people who are eating 2,000 calories daily should aim to get 25 grams (g) of fiber each day. Most people in the U.S. do not eat this much fiber.
Eating protein-rich foods
Nuts and seeds are protein-rich food.
Protein-rich foods tend to create a longer lasting sense of fullness and satisfaction than other foods. Eating protein-rich foods, especially at breakfast, also appears to reduce the levels of the hunger-regulating hormone ghrelin.
A 2012 study examined 193 sedentary men and women who had obesity but not diabetes. The authors found that eating a high protein, high carbohydrate breakfast reduced ghrelin levels more than a low carbohydrate breakfast.
The high protein, high carbohydrate breakfast also seemed to improve fullness and reduce hunger and cravings more than the low carbohydrate breakfast.
In 2014, a small-scale study that involved 20 young women found that eating high protein snacks that were less energy dense, such as high protein yogurt, improved satiety and appetite control compared with snacks high in fat. The high protein foods also helped reduce food intake later in the day.
There are many healthful protein-rich snacks and meals. Some examples include:
high protein yogurts and yogurt drinks, such as kefir
most nuts and seeds
most types of milk
most beans, peas, and lentils
fish, poultry, or lean beef
protein powders, which people can add to smoothies, shakes, or healthful baked goods
Eating regularly
Many people skip meals in the belief that it will help them lose weight.
However, according to the CDC, skipping meals can cause overeating at other times, leading to weight gain. Research also suggests that eating breakfast can help control appetite and reduce overeating later in the day.
Many experts recommend eating smaller, more frequent meals. However, the American Society for Nutrition note that most research now supports the idea of eating three structured, nutritious meals at regular times each day.
Reducing stress
According to a 2014 review, stress appears to contribute to overeating and the development of obesity.
After a stressful event, raised hormone levels promote hunger to encourage the body to replace lost energy. As a result, chronic stress could lead to persistent hunger, overeating, and excessive weight gain.
There are many things that people can do to limit or reduce stress, such as:
exercising regularly
trying relaxing activities, such as yoga or meditation
staying connected and asking for help from friends and family
focusing on what needs doing straight away rather than on jobs that can wait
noting accomplishments at the end of the day
Tracking the diet
Food diaries, journals, and diet tracking apps can often help minimize overeating and allow people to identify poor eating habits or patterns.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, food tracking helps make people more aware of what they eat. This awareness may help people stick to their dietary plans and either lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
People can start using food tracking tools by recording what they eat and when they eat it. Once this has become routine, they can also track other factors, such as how much they eat and the calorie content of meals and snacks.
Plenty of free resources exist to help people keep a record of what and when they eat. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) offer a daily food and activity diary that people can use.
Eating mindfully
People who practice mindfulness aim to focus on their moment-to-moment experiences, emotions, and thoughts in a nonjudgmental way.
More conclusive evidence is necessary, but it seems that mindful eating may help prevent overeating. A 2014 review of 21 studies found that 18 reported that mindful eating habits led to an improvement in targeted eating behaviors, such as binge eating and emotional eating.
To practice mindful eating, focus on the sensations that food produces on the tongue, how it smells, its texture, and whatever other qualities it may possess. While doing so, observe the thoughts and emotions that eating causes.
Limiting alcohol intake
People have used alcohol to increase the appetite for centuries, and many studies show that alcohol intake often correlates with obesity.
Researchers do not know exactly why alcohol provokes hunger and eating. However, a 2017 study using preserved brain matter found that exposure to ethanol, the active ingredient in alcohol, can cause hyperactivity in the brain cells that starvation typically activates.
To avoid accidentally overeating, try cutting back on or limiting alcohol intake. Alcohol is also full of empty calories, meaning that it may cause weight gain without providing any nutrition.
Avoiding last-minute food choices
Making last-minute meal and snack choices is a common trigger for overeating. When people make impulsive food decisions, it can be easy to pick nutritionally poor, calorie-dense foods.
To avoid overeating, prepare or plan meals for the week or days ahead. At the same time, prepare healthful snacks, such as chopped vegetables in containers.
Staying hydrated with water
A person can help prevent overeating by staying hydrated.
Staying hydrated is an important way to prevent overeating. A 2016 studyfound that there was a significant relationship between being dehydrated and having an elevated BMI or obesity.
Researchers are still trying to work out the link between dehydration and overeating. One possibility is that people might sometimes eat when they are actually thirsty.
Choosing water over other drinks is also likely to help prevent overeating because water is free of calories. People may be unaware of the calories, carbohydrates, and fat in other drink choices, such as sodas, juices, smoothies, and coffees.
Working out what causes overeating and addressing it
Many people eat for reasons other than hunger, such as being stressed, tired, or sad. A lot of people also overeat because of certain habits, such as eating while distracted or eating too quickly.
Try making a list of things that trigger overeating and then coming up with ways to avoid or address them. For example, this might mean calling a friend to talk when feeling overwhelmed or not keeping snacks close to the TV.
Many people find it easiest to focus on changing one habit at a time instead of trying to break several patterns all at once. It is also usually best to try dealing with minor issues first before tackling more significant ones.
Food habits can take a while to break. People should be gentle with themselves while making dietary changes and focus on taking things a day at a time.
Eating with people who have similar food goals
It seems that the amount that people eat and the food choices that they make tend to be similar to those of the people they eat alongside. As a result, the social context of eating is likely to influence the risk of overeating.
To avoid overeating, try to dine with people who have similar eating goals. Eating around people who are also keeping track of their portion sizes may help reduce some of the temptation to overindulge.
When to see a doctor or dietitian
People with concerns about their diet, eating habits, or ability to control their appetite should talk to a doctor or dietitian. For some people, overeating could be part of a health condition.
Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common type of eating disorder in the U.S. People with BED engage in eating behaviors that can lead to serious health consequences, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
People with BED typically feel out of control and overeat at least once a week for a minimum of 3 months. Binges due to BED also tend to cause people to:
eat faster than usual
eat when they are not physically hungry
eat until they feel uncomfortable
feel disgusted, embarrassed, or depressed after eating
be overweight or have obesity
A doctor will often suggest that people with BED seek individualized nutritional counseling from a registered dietitian. People with BED may also benefit from psychotherapy.
In some cases, a doctor may prescribe medication, such as antidepressantsor appetite suppressants, to help control BED.
Summary
Overeating is a common problem that can pose health risks in the long term.
There are many tips and tricks to help limit overeating and curb appetite. These include being more aware of food choices, controlling portion sizes, and identifying eating patterns.
Always talk with a doctor about any concerns over diet, appetite, and eating patterns. Some people need help to manage their unhealthful eating habits or appetite.
People who frequently overeat may have BED, a condition that requires medical attention to prevent potential health risks. Dietitians or psychotherapists can provide advice or care to a person with concerns or questions.
The post What Are The Best Ways To Stop Overeating? appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.
10 Fun L.A. Activities That Don’t Involve Alcohol
From LA Weekly:
Whether you don’t drink at all or you just like to forgo cocktails every now and then, here are 10 L.A. weekend activities that are still fun when you’re sober.
1. 24-hour Korean spas
Scattered throughout Koreatown are magical places that have saunas and hot and cold baths running 24 hours a day. If you’re looking for a place to spend the night without getting drunk, go spend the evening soaking, getting scrubbed or even working out, if that’s your relaxation style. (A lot of the 24-hour spas have terraces, fitness rooms and restaurants.) Wi Spa on Wilshire is an option, but the possibilities in Koreatown are honestly endless.
2. The Queen Mary
I have an affinity for the Queen Mary because it stirs up fond memories of Arrested Development. (Tobias buys the Queen Mary club, not the boat, but I still feel drawn to the ship.) Anyway, make a day of it in Long Beach and explore the Queen Mary because, as I understand it, it offers everything. It has tours (including a nighttime paranormal tour), food, ice skating in winter and events for pretty much every holiday. It also presents the perfect opportunity for ironic “I’m on a boat” jokes, even though they’ll make everyone around you feel like they need a drink.
3. Chinatown Summer Nights
Chinatown Summer Nights 2016 are happening on the third Saturdays of the month, which this summer are June 18, July 16 and Aug. 20. Chinatown’s best food comes out in full force, alongside L.A.’s best food trucks. A few blocks of Chinatown light up with culinary demonstrations and cultural activities you can participate in. It’s easily enjoyed sans alcohol.
4. Murder Mystery Dinners
Instead of revolving around alcohol, these mystery parties tend to revolve around dinner. (And the show, of course.) And while there is often a cash bar, you just end up saving money if you’re not drinking. One of the most popular murder mystery dinners in L.A. is Keith and Margo’s at Matteo’s in West L.A., where professional actors perform the “murder mystery experience,” and then the suspects join in with clues and all that jazz. Your dinner comes with a “murder mystery guide and solution kit,” so it sounds like the ideal night in my book.
5. Universal CityWalk
For many of us, there is a long list of activities we might have done a long time ago if they weren’t so damn touristy. While Universal CityWalk is almost always cluttered with tourists, there’s something to be said for the sensory overload involved in having corporate neon signs bearing down on you from every direction. If you haven’t seen the not-so-hidden gem of the Valley yet, definitely go, and go sober so that you can escape quickly (and with your wits about you) if necessary.
6. Night beaching
You can go the romantic route, and pack a picnic and watch the sunset on the beach. In place of wine, just bring more cheese. Or you can abandon the romance and go the pyromania route instead, and head to Dockweiler Beach, where you can make your own fire and roast your own meat if you so choose.
7. Hollywood’s historic theaters
If you’re willing to brave Hollywood Boulevard, the Chinese Theatre, the El Capitan Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre have a surprising amount of cultural history to offer for the fact that they’re all dangerously close to Hollywood & Highland. Charles Toberman, a real estate developer in the ’20s, opened the Egyptian Theatre first (in 1922), and then the El Capitan four years later. Finally, Toberman opened the Chinese Theatre in 1927. He worked with Sid Grauman, whose name is carried (or was) by the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre. Take a walk and visit all three — then see a movie.
8. Malibu hikes (and a stop at Malibu Seafood)
I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t add an active sober option, especially for the people who are giving up alcohol for the weekend as part of a cleanse. Because there are endless hiking options right in L.A., I’m often too lazy to trek to Malibu. But sitting in traffic for an hour is worth it, because the Malibu hikes offer some of the best views of the water and can be followed by Malibu Seafood, an experience that shouldn’t be dulled by booze. If you’re looking for good Malibu hikes, try Point Dume Nature Preserve for lighter hiking fare, or the Zuma Canyon Trail off Bonsall Drive for amazing views of the Pacific.
9. 626 Night Market
Seeing as your sobriety allows you to drive to any destination, it might actually be worth it to slip out of the L.A. city limits to Arcadia, which is home to the largest Asian-themed night market in the United States. It’s open July 2-4, July 22-24, Aug. 5-7 and Sept. 2-4 (more information on the website). In addition to more than 200 food vendors, the event feature an art walk, local performers and DJs.
10. Sky Zone
I wholeheartedly believe that bouncing on trampolines is a perfect activity for any occasion. Lazy Sunday activity to get you out of a rut? Yes. Date activity? Obviously, there is no better way to figure out whether your Tinder date is in it for the long haul or not. Sober day out with your girlfriends? You can make that a thing at Sky Zone. If you are sick of the adult world, sick of paying your bills, sick of taxes and sick of the 2016 presidential candidates, you might just need to go jump on oversized trampolines for a few hours. This absolutely needs to be a sober activity, because it’s not the safest pastime in the world, and you really don’t want vodka in your system while jumping in the vicinity of a child’s birthday party. Puking on a 6-year-old isn’t cool.
The post 10 Fun L.A. Activities That Don’t Involve Alcohol appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.
Why Conduct Disorder Is A Serious Problem
“There needs to be a concerted effort to improve the diagnosis and treatment of children and teenagers with conduct disorder by investing in training in evidence-based treatments for this condition and ensuring that families can access child and adolescent mental health services. At LSU, we provide diagnostic services to the community for children and adolescents with serious behavior problems ages 6 to 17 through our Psychological Services Center, run by the LSU Department of Psychology,” said co-author Paul Frick, LSU Department of Psychology professor.
The study reviewed evidence from research conducted around the world and estimated the prevalence of conduct disorder to be around 3 percent in school-aged children and it is a leading cause of referral to child and adolescent mental health services. Yet paradoxically it is one of the least widely recognized or studied psychiatric disorders, and funding for research into it lags far behind many other childhood disorders.
What the evidence shows is that conduct disorder is associated with an exceptionally high individual, societal and economic burden. The health and personal burden of it is seven times greater than that of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, a much more widely known disorder. Whilst it is likely that children diagnosed with ADHD may also show signs of conduct disorder, very few will be diagnosed or receive treatment for it. Conduct disorder is also associated with a greater health burden than autism.
“Despite the fact that it is associated with a very high personal, familial, and societal burden, conduct disorder is under-recognized and frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated. Unfortunately, the longer this goes on, the more difficult it is to treat. It truly exemplifies the old saying that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ Also, many treatments that are being used in the community have not proven effective,” Frick said.
This failure to tackle and treat conduct disorder in children and adolescents led the researchers to write the new Nature Reviewspaper which calls for a greater awareness of the condition, and more funding to improve our understanding and ability to treat the disorder. The paper — a comprehensive overview of all aspects of conduct disorder, its diagnosis, clinical management and long-term impact — highlights the negative consequences and adult outcomes that can occur if it is not correctly diagnosed or treated.
In particular it reveals the high physical and mental health burden on patients and their families. In children, conduct disorder is associated with a higher risk of developing depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance abuse. Up to 50 percent of individuals with conduct disorder develop antisocial or borderline personality disorder in adulthood, along with more serious criminal behavior and gang involvement. The study also finds that young people with conduct disorder are more likely to have children earlier, with more unplanned pregnancies, to become dependent on benefits, homeless or even to attempt suicide. Such behaviors have a huge detrimental effect on an individual, their families and society. In addition, those with conduct disorder display parenting problems which often mean that their children are at higher risk for developing conduct disorder, starting an inter-generational cycle.
However, the researchers suggest that with the correct diagnosis, management for the condition is possible with the support of child and adolescent mental health services. The study highlights the value of both training parents in better supporting children with conduct disorder and skills training for children and adolescents with the condition to help them improve their social and problem-solving skills and ability to regulate their emotions. Frick and his co-authors suggest these approaches can have profound impacts on the patient’s well-being and life chances.
Frick hopes the study can bring much needed attention to the diagnosis and treatment of children with conduct disorder. Most people view children with conduct disorder as just “bad kids” and often don’t recognize the need for mental health treatment. He hopes the paper highlights the societal impact of the condition which requires more funding for research on treatment from both governmental and private sources.
Materials provided by Louisiana State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
of the least widely recognized or studied psychiatric disorders, and funding for research into it lags far behind many other childhood disorders.
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June 28, 2019
Why Mixing Azithromycin and alcohol Makes You Sick
From Medical News Today Azithromycin is a drug that has uses in treating bacterial infections. Mixing with alcohol may cause issues including nausea, headache, and dizziness or other problems.
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
Azithromycin can kill good bacteria in the body and cause stomach problems, such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Image credit: Anonymous1941, 2019
Antibiotics, including azithromycin, can cause nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
These effects may occur because azithromycin targets all bacteria in the body, including good bacteria in the digestive tract. When the antibiotic eliminates these good bacteria, the digestive system may go out of balance. This can lead to an upset stomach ranging from mild to severe.
Drinking alcohol, on its own, can also cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Alcohol can irritate the stomach lining, and it increases the production of stomach acid.
Drinking alcohol may also cause spasms of the intestines, which can push stool out too quickly. This can result in diarrhea.
These effects, in combination with azithromycin, can increase the risk of an upset stomach, diarrhea, and feeling unwell.
The body loses essential water and electrolytes when diarrhea occurs. Additionally, because alcohol is a diuretic, it may make these dehydrating effects worse, leading to more side effects.
In addition, if a person vomits soon after taking the medication, their body might not have had time to absorb it. If this happens, a person should call their doctor to discuss whether they need to take another dose.
Headache
One of the potential side effects of azithromycin is a headache. Though headaches do not affect everyone who takes the medication, combining azithromycin with alcohol could increase the risk of a headache or make an existing headache worse.
According to the National Headache Foundation, drinking alcohol can trigger headaches in several different ways. It dilates blood vessels, which can cause pounding and pain, and it leads to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.
These effects explain why some people experience a hangover with a headache after drinking alcohol.
If a person tries to treat their headache with a pain reliever, they could experience further side effects. Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, may irritate the stomach, causing further digestive upset and nausea.
People should not take acetaminophen with alcohol because it can lead to serious liver problems. This is especially true in people who drink alcohol every day or take high doses of acetaminophen.
Dizziness
Many medical conditions can cause dizziness, or a feeling of spinning when a person is not moving. Dizziness is also a possible side effect of azithromycin.
Dizziness can be bothersome and dangerous if a person needs work, drive, or operate any kind of machinery.
Drinking alcohol can also cause dizziness and could magnify this side effect if a person is also taking azithromycin.
Delayed recovery from illness
Doctors usually prescribe antibiotics for infections that do not clear up on their own. These infections may be severe enough that penicillin will not work well.
The body needs rest and nutrients to fight off infections, and alcohol can interfere with the body’s healing processes.
Alcohol can disrupt sleep, which could make recovery longer and more difficult. Alcohol inhibits rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, which is the most restorative type of sleep. It also disrupts the body’s natural cues to sleep.
Health professionals usually recommend proper hydration as the body recovers from an infection. Drinking plenty of water can help in recovery and the restoration of energy levels.
As a diuretic, alcohol causes the body to lose water and minerals through the kidneys. This may make a person feel worse as they try to recuperate.
Liver problems
If a person drinks alcohol with azithromycin, then the liver must work harder to process them.
While rare, azithromycin can cause liver problems. Symptoms of liver damage due to azithromycin include:
yellowing of the eyes or skin
nausea or vomiting
dark-colored urine or light-colored stool
extreme fatigue or weakness
stomach pain
loss of appetite
itchiness
The liver also processes alcohol. If a person drinks alcohol with azithromycin, the liver must work harder than usual and could become overworked.
Usually, doctors will not prescribe azithromycin to people who have a history of liver problems.
The post Why Mixing Azithromycin and alcohol Makes You Sick appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.
June 25, 2019
Why Quitting Is Only The First Step To Lasting Change –
If you’ve recovered through a 12-step fellowship, you’ll be familiar with the philosophy that alcohol is a symptom of the disease of alcohol use disorder (formerly referred to as alcoholism); once you get sober and remove the alcohol, you’re left with the “isms.” Namely, the reasons why we drank or used drugs. Some people believe that if you don’t deal with the crux of your disease – or the “ism” – then you will return to use.
ISMs Bring Shame
As an acronym, “ism” stands for: “I, self, me,” or “I sponsor myself,” or “Internal Spiritual Malady.” The implication being that the recovering person is self-centered, self-absorbed, and maladjusted. Within this philosophy, this catch-all phrase describes the experiences everyone encounters in this life: anxiety, depression, fear, loneliness, feeling inadequate in some way – but without the anesthesia of drugs and alcohol to quell the pain. It also describes certain childish behavior like:
Blaming others
An inability to deal with conflict
Having poor boundaries
A tendency to treat other substances, or people, the same way as drugs and alcohol.
For example, some people believe that developing a problem with gambling, or getting involved in dysfunctional relationships, is an “ism.”
Recovery Brings Healing
To some extent, I agree that we need to get to the heart of why we were harming ourselves in way that led to substance use disorder. There was nothing healthy about drowning myself in four bottles of wine a day. The core of why I used alcohol and drugs in that way was that I had:
(Undiagnosed) Complex PTSD
Depression
Anxiety, and
Few coping skills for life.
However, I don’t believe these are “isms,” a spiritual malady, or even flaws of my character. Many of us in recovery have been deeply traumatized by something preceding our addiction or during it. Many of us lacked nurture and emotional support in our childhood. Almost all of us have an inability to cope with stress, and while we were using we didn’t fully develop emotionally. So, it’s only natural that when we recover, we discover more about ourselves that we need to nurture.
Recovery has been about recovering my capacity to self-regulate and manage stress. I’ve also learned a host of other lessons around having healthy relationships, setting and maintaining boundaries, learning how to live a healthy life, and how to parent myself. If I focused on the problems that led to these lessons:
Having unhealthy relationships
Forming insecure attachments
Seeking to escape through romantic relationships
Overeating
Under-eating
Exercising
Being depressed
…then I’d have a mindset that I’m broken and defective. I simply don’t see it that way.
Recovery Teaches Life Skills
The way I see recovery is that I needed to stop my harmful behavior, and I needed to grow up. I had to learn how to cope with life as a sober person. I needed to develop enough skills and purpose in life to make sure that my life was bigger than the desire to use drugs and alcohol.
When we are acting out with people, or even with food, our body and minds are telling us something is missing. I dealt with incredible loneliness by developing strong social supports and deepening a spiritual practice. My hunger was a message for irregularities in my body that I needed to see a doctor for, and also to feed my mind and spirit.
It’s taken me over six and a half years to get to a place where I see recovery as a process of rebuilding and relearning. No longer do I punish myself for being defective. Instead, I learned to sit with myself quietly and ask what I really need. That isn’t uncovering “isms.” It’s simply self-compassion and growth.
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19 Symptoms Of Emotional Abuse For People In Denial –
When substance abuse disorder enters our loved one’s life, denying their substance abuse and the emotional abuse that goes with it is never far behind.
Substance and alcohol use disorder (the new term for addiction) are now understood as a chronic relapsing brain disease that will not get better on its own.
For friends, lovers, and family members acceptance is tough. Our loved ones are denying their addiction and we are too. We think:
It’s not sooooooooooo bad.
It could be worse.
He/she is just having a bad week or a bad run of luck.
This kind of denial doesn’t occur with other chronic diseases. We find it easier to accept cancer, diabetes, heart disease.
Red Flags That You Are In Denial
At first your loved one may try to distract you from finding out about the addiction. They might employ manipulation tactics like:
Keeping you off base
Putting you on the defensive
Hurting your feelings for no reason
Making you over-react instead of think rationally
These constant barbs and arrows of a loved one’s bad or destructive behavior needs are actually forms of abuse. This kind of abusive behavior can also occur in people who are not using substances. There are plenty of controlling and narcissistic people among us who hurt others just to keep them in line.
With Substance Use Disorder, however, both abuse and denial of the abuse are a symptoms of the disease. Here are 19 symptoms of abuse. For every one, you may have many rationalizations of why it’s occurring or isn’t so bad.
Humiliating and embarrassing you
Constantly putting you down and then acting innocent, or saying you’re too sensitive
The silent treatment – refusing to communicate
Ignoring or excluding you
Cheating on you or having extramarital affairs
Being provocative with the opposite sex
Using sarcasm and an angry voice when talking to you
Being jealous for no reason
Being extreme moody and changeable
Constantly making fun of you and being mean
Guilt tripping you about things you should have done
Threatening “If you don’t____, I will_____
Making everything your fault. You, you, you…
Isolating you from your friends and family
Using your money and stealing from you
Keeping constant tabs on you: texting and calling on the phone
Threatening to commit suicide
Threatening to walk out of the relationship
Having more than one addiction, not only to drugs or alcohol but to pornography and other substances
Substance abuse often leads to these forms of emotional abuse. They create unbalance, fear and anxiety, even PTSD in loved ones. They are more than just words that can be explained away. When you stop denying the reality, you can take the necessary steps to regain control of your own feelings and life. This is imperative to start the healing process.
Also, be sure to tell someone you trust what’s going on. Abuse can only thrive in silence. If those you trust don’t believe you, seek professional help immediately. It’s also the perfect time to join a support group. Al-anon, and Nar-anon are support groups for people who have been hurt by addiction. Many people have found life-long friends there. Likewise, if you need help to deal with addiction and recovery, check out Recovery Guidance for a free and safe resource to find professionals near you.
Did you know the 12 Steps, which have helped millions find recovery, can also help you find peace and serenity? Check out our latest book, Find Your True Colors In 12-Steps.
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Why Spending Time With Friends Is One of the Best Things You Can Do for Your Health
From Time:
When someone sets out to improve their health, they usually take a familiar path: starting a healthy diet, adopting a new workout regimen, getting better sleep, drinking more water. Each of these behaviors is important, of course, but they all focus on physical health—and a growing body of research suggests that social health is just as, if not more, important to overall well-being.
One recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE, for example, found that the strength of a person’s social circle—as measured by inbound and outbound cell phone activity—was a better predictor of self-reported stress, happiness and well-being levels than fitness tracker data on physical activity, heart rate and sleep. That finding suggests that the “quantified self” portrayed by endless amounts of health data doesn’t tell the whole story, says study co-author Nitesh Chawla, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame.
“There’s also a qualified self, which is who I am, what are my activities, my social network, and all of these aspects that are not reflected in any of these measurements,” Chawla says. “My lifestyle, my enjoyment, my social network—all of those are strong determinants of my well-being.”
Chawla’s theory is supported by plenty of prior research. Studies have shown that social support—whether it comes from friends, family members or a spouse—is strongly associated with better mental and physical health. A robust social life, these studies suggest, can lower stress levels; improve mood; encourage positive health behaviors and discourage damaging ones; boost cardiovascular health; improve illness recovery rates; and aid virtually everything in between. Research has even shown that a social component can boost the effects of already-healthy behaviors such as exercise.
Social isolation, meanwhile, is linked to higher rates of chronic diseases and mental health conditions, and may even catalyze cellular-level changes that promote chronic inflammation and suppress immunity. The detrimental health effects of loneliness have been likened to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It’s a significant problem, especially since loneliness is emerging as a public health epidemic in the U.S. According to recent surveys, almost half of Americans, including large numbers of the country’s youngest and oldest adults, are lonely.
A recent study conducted by health insurer Cigna and published in the American Journal of Health Promotion set out to determine what’s driving those high rates of loneliness. Unsurprisingly, it found that social media, when used so much that it infringes on face-to-face quality time, was tied to greater loneliness, while having meaningful in-person interactions, reporting high levels of social support and being in a committed relationship were associated with less loneliness. Gender and income didn’t seem to have a strong effect, but loneliness tended to decrease with age, perhaps because of the wisdom and perspective afforded by years of life lived, says Dr. Stuart Lustig, one of the report’s authors and Cigna’s national medical executive for behavioral health.
Lustig says the report underscores the importance of carving out time for family and friends, especially since loneliness was inversely related to self-reported health and well-being. Reviving a dormant social life may be best and most easily done by finding partners for enjoyable activities like exercising, volunteering, or sharing a meal, he says.
“Real, face-to-face time with people [is important], and the activity part of it makes it fun and enjoyable and gives people an excuse to get together,” Lustig says.
Lustig emphasizes that social media should be used judiciously and strategically, and not as a replacement for in-person relationships. Instead, he says, we should use technology “to seek out meaningful connections and people that you are going to be able to keep in your social sphere. It’s easy enough to find groups such as Meetups, or to find places to go where you’ll find folks doing what you want to do.” That advice is particularly important for young people, he says, for whom heavy social media use is common.
Finally, Lustig stresses that even small social changes can have a large impact. Striking up post-meeting conversations with co-workers, or even engaging in micro-interactions with strangers, can make your social life feel more rewarding.
“There’s an opportunity to grow those kinds of quick exchanges into conversations and into more meaningful friendships over time,” Lustig says. “People should take those opportunities wherever they possibly can, because all of us, innately, are wired from birth to connect”—and because doing so may pay dividends for your health.
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June 24, 2019
Weed It And Weep
From Psychology Today:
The new stronger crop of evidence on marijuana’s dangers
I like fun as much as the next person. So I wish I could have titled this article, “Weed, Whee!” Alas, the data supports the title I gave it.
In 2014, before I wrote a review of the literature on pot in TIME magazine’s Ideas section, I didn’t have much of an opinion about marijuana. I smoked it a bit in college, but didn’t like that my memory was worse the next day, so I stopped but assumed that other people didn’t suffer that effect. But when I wrote that literature review, my neutrality gave way to the scary data on the effects of today’s much stronger marijuana.
And in 2017, my eyes were opened further when the National Academies of Sciences published a more thorough, and more frightening yet, underreported meta-evaluation of the 200 best studies on marijuana. That report warned of an increased risk of everything from cancer to heart disease, motivation to IQ, social anxiety to depression to schizophrenia.
And since then, there has been a (ahem) bumper crop of scary and still underreported findings in research journals—even in the New York Times—none of which were funded by Big Tobacco/Big Marijuana.
For example, these were published just in the last year:
A recent issue of Translational Issues in Psychological Science reported, “Marijuana use was positively and significantly associated with psychological, physical, and sexual intimate personal violence perpetration (domestic violence), even after controlling for alcohol use and problems, antisocial personality symptoms, and relationship satisfaction.”Newsweek reported that a forthcoming issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry will warn, “Using cannabis was linked to issues with memory, inhibition control and reasoning. The same was not (emphasis mine) observed in those who used alcohol.”The Lancet, among our most respected medical journals, reported,“Daily cannabis use was associated with increased odds of psychotic (emphasis mine) disorder compared with never users.”A 2019 review of the literature in The American Journal of Medicinereports, “Changes in brain maturation and intellectual function, including decreases in intelligence quotient (IQ), have been noted in chronic users and appear permanent (emphasis mine) in early users in most but not all studies.”A study by the University of California San Francisco researchers with an N of 22 million, found an increase in vehicle accidents and hospital admissions for marijuana abuse in states that legalized marijuana.
And now, the mainstream media, which has giddily encouraged legalization, may have started to reconsider. As mentioned, recently a New York Times article “Marijuana Damages Young Brains” pointed to damage to “executive function, processing speed, memory, attention span, and concentration… The chemical in marijuana responsible for producing mood elevation and relaxation, THC, interferes with the exchange of information between neurons… States that legalize marijuana should set a minimum age of no younger than 25… They should also impose stricter limits on THC levels and strictly monitor them. Educational campaigns are also necessary to help the public understand that marijuana is not harmless.”
The takeaway
Russia’s or China’s efforts to hurt the U.S. may be no more damaging than what we’re doing to ourselves in legalizing marijuana. It may be worse even than a second alcohol, as if one isn’t devastating enough—Just ask any family member or car accident victim of the one in eight Americans who are alcoholics.
Just as in recent decades, the overwhelming evidence on tobacco’s dangers girded us against Big Tobacco’s overt and insidious messages to get us to smoke, we all should resist “Weed, Whee!” messages in favor of the less-fun but wiser reporting about marijuana.
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New Research Is Focusing on Treating Teens’ Suicidal Thoughts With Support of Friends, Family
A 16-year-old boy, a high school athlete with good grades, told his therapist that he was thinking about taking his own life. That therapist, Dennis Kolsch, got him admitted to an inpatient ward. “He didn’t have a great experience in there, but he was safe,” said Kolsch, a licensed mental health counselor in Cocoa Beach, Florida. “The family felt comforted knowing that.”
Teens leaving an inpatient program like this one will have discharge instructions on how to continue care, which usually includes medications and psychotherapy. The boy was discharged to Kolsch’s care, but Kolsch knew that weekly or biweekly therapy sessions were not enough. So he worked on getting the boy into an intensive outpatient program.
In the meantime, his parents were frantic. They didn’t want to let their son out of their sight, and felt they had to recreate the hyper-controlled structure of the hospital setting. It was all-consuming and exhausting. Further, the constant supervision was not helpful for the parent-child dynamic, which had been bumpy before the hospitalization and was now ramping up again. “The mom’s becoming overbearing and the son is withdrawing,” Kolsch said. “And then the mom gets worried because the son is withdrawing.”
Teens who have been hospitalized for a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation are at heightened risk of dying by suicide. A 2007 study, for instance, followed nearly 5,000 young people, from 15 to 24 years old, who sought care at a single hospital for “deliberate self-harm” over a 20-year period. Nearly 3 percent of study subjects died, and more than half of those deaths were likely suicide — a rate that was 10 times higher than would be predicted for this age group. And the increased risk, research shows, can persist for years.
“We know that transition out of inpatient care is a particularly high-risk time period for suicide and subsequent suicide attempts,” said Michele Berk, a clinical researcher at Stanford University.
All of this suggests that where hospitalization provides effective crisis management in such situations, keeping young people safe back at home is a challenge that modern medicine has so far failed to solve. But a group of researchers at the University of Michigan has been working with a simple yet powerful tool that just might help: recruiting three or four familiar adults — not just the young person’s parents — who pledge ongoing support through recovery. The Michigan program trains both family and friends to become dedicated helpers and empathetic listeners — and to encourage their struggling charges to stick to the treatment plan.
The program is unique in both its approach and its results. The intervention is entirely focused on the adult volunteers, not on the child. (The teen’s only role is naming trusted adults.) And in a recent paper reporting a decade-long follow up of teens in the program, those who received the attention of trained adults in their lives were nearly seven times less likely to die than teens who received only standard care. The study was one of the largest suicide intervention studies ever done, and it is the first clinical trial for suicide prevention in high-risk teens that found a change in death rates.
“There has never been a study that shows a reduction in actual deaths,” said Dennis Ougrin, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Maudsley Hospital in London. That’s true regardless of the type of intervention, Ougrin said, whether it’s a medication or psychotherapy or purely social, as this one is. “It’s very exciting.”
This sort of “social prescribing” is too-often the overlooked stepchild of mental health treatment, experts say, even though most psychologists believe that social connectedness is vital to psychological health. And in the context of rising suicide rates in American teens — alongside the failure of most interventions to affect long-term outcomes in high-risk teens — efforts to boost social connectedness are now getting some new attention from mental health professionals.
Of course, King’s results would need to be repeated in future studies to be fully corroborated, and there’s no call to adopt this type of intervention more widely — even by King and her colleagues. (The new paper is a secondary analysis of results measured 10 years after the study. That’s one reason King is cautious about her results.) But given the early signs and taken alongside other social-centric therapeutic approaches being used by researchers at Stanford University and elsewhere, some experts say a potent tool in combating teen suicide might have been hiding in plain sight.
“It’s kind of recognizing we’ve missed a trick,” said Martin Webber, a professor of social work at the University of York, “in terms of utilizing the assets that are available within people’s communities.”
Historically, it has been extremely difficult to show a change in suicide rates with enough statistical clarity to conclude a true change over chance or coincidence. That’s because actual rates of suicide are low — even in high-risk groups, such as teens with a history of self-harm and hospitalization. This means that researchers need huge sample sizes to detect a true change.
Psychologist Cheryl King and her University of Michigan team enrolled 448 people. About half — 223 — were prescribed coordinated support from friends and family on top of standard care, while 225 received only standard care. (Standard care consisted of psychotherapy and medication.) The combined cohort was large enough to detect a difference in overall death rates, though still insufficient to find a statistically significant difference in deaths attributable specifically to suicide: There was one known suicide among the intervention group, versus three in the control group.
But when King analyzed not just confirmed suicide deaths, but also drug overdose deaths that were not labeled “accidental,” a pattern emerged. There was just one of these in the intervention group, versus eight in the control group — a statistically significant difference. All deaths occurred in adulthood, when subjects were at least 18.
The study made a splash on Twitter with prominent experts in the field. Peter Kramer, who authored the bestselling book “Listening to Prozac,” called the study a must-read. Allen Francis, who chaired the task force that authored the latest diagnostic manual for psychiatric disorders, wrote: “We’ve learned so very much, but still fail miserably in doing the simple things well.”
King started as a faculty psychologist on the adolescent psychiatric inpatient units at the University of Michigan hospital system in 1989. “More than half of the adolescents hospitalized were there because of suicide risk,” she said. That clinical experience led her to develop the new intervention.
In King’s approach, teens nominate trusted adults — for example, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends, teachers, and clergy — to serve as a support team. (Parents have veto power.) The adults then get an hour-long training session and weekly phone calls from King’s intervention specialists to talk about how things are going. They are cautioned to not feel responsible for the teen’s behavior — “We’re not asking them to be mental health professionals,” King said — but they agree to check-in with their teens once a week by phone, a face-to-face meeting, or an outing.
In the training session, which King calls psychoeducation, the adults learn about their teen’s situation — the specific diagnosis, the treatment plan, and the rationale behind them. They learn what to do in case of emergency, and how to be a nonjudgmental shoulder for the teen to lean on. Training sessions are variable and flexible, to satisfy the needs of the people in the room. “It’s kind of an open discussion,” King says.
“A lot of it is answering their questions,” she added.
The education and phone support arm the adults to act as informal caregivers, to stand up and support a child they know and who is at risk. Would this happen without training? It might, King and other experts suggest, but it’s easy to see why it might not. Suicide is scary and upsetting and adolescents can be difficult to talk to. It’s daunting to take responsibility for something like that.
The goal of King’s program, she said, is to make taking on that role less daunting.
As initially conceived, the study did not include deaths as a main outcome measure. That’s because of the numbers problem — suicide rates so low that it’s practically impossible to show intervention effects. King did what most suicide researchers do: She measured outcomes thought to be related to suicidal behavior. Does a particular intervention reduce thinking about suicide or self-harm? Does a treatment program help teens function day to day?
Even with these more malleable measures, there are only a handful of randomized controlled trials — considered the gold standard of study design — and very few of them show any impact on suicide-related behaviors, said Ougrin, who reviewed the scientific literature in 2015. Two other reviews from the same year pointed to the benefits of involving families and social support.
The family component is critical, said Stanford’s Michele Berk, who was not involved in the King study. “We don’t know yet exactly what factors lead a person at risk to attempt suicide or die from suicide at any given time, and we don’t know yet exactly how to help people best through treatment,” Berk said. “Sometimes the most effective thing I think we have is the parents and their ability to create a safe environment around the teen, in terms of restricting access to lethal means, close monitoring of the teen, being the one who can call 911.”
Berk has worked with a psychotherapy intervention called dialectical behavior therapy or DBT. In a 2018 study, she reported significant effects on suicide attempts and self-harm with the intervention, which also included a dedicated family component. The key thing, Berk said, is being nonjudgmental. “One of the assumptions [in DBT] is that the teen is doing the best they can … So if they’re screaming at you or if they have hurt themselves — we’re not going to judge that,” she said. “We’re going to say, okay, in that moment they were operating at the top of their skill set. And our job is to teach them more skills so they can engage in more effective behavior.”
In addition to adjusting parents’ mindsets, Berk’s intervention helps mitigate the ways that family can be harmful. “Family conflict is a risk factor for suicide in teens,” she said. “And family cohesion is a protective factor.”
Kolsch, the Florida therapist, agreed that King’s intervention seemed promising. “I think it’s a pretty brilliant approach,” he said. In addition to supporting teens who face so much risk when they go home, he said, it helps reduce the anxiety and helplessness of the family. (Kolsch’s patient — the boy he had admitted to inpatient care — is now in college and is doing well.
All the participants in the King study received standard psychotherapy and medications, and these mainstays likely contributed to improvements observed in both the intervention and the control groups. “It is difficult to change youths’ trajectories,” she said.
“We were just trying to get an incremental benefit from a small add-on intervention,” she added.
King says her intervention team had long felt like they were having meaningful impacts on families’ lives, but they didn’t observe measurable changes in any potential predictors of suicidal behavior, such as ideation. So how to explain the big effect on death rates? “You know, small effects can have ripple effects,” King said, Perhaps the supporting adults facilitated teens sticking to treatment plans, she suggested, or maybe they helped teens make one or two better behavioral choices.
The University of York’s Martin Webber sees two key elements working together: “There’s the direct effect of social support on that person’s mental health. We know that from existing studies that has an effect,” Webber said. “But there’s the indirect effect of engaging with treatment which is obviously happening as well.”
Past research has shown that people with more connections, stronger social networks, and more social support will be better off in terms of mental health. And yet, it’s one thing to say people who have more social connections are less likely to die by suicide — it’s quite another to create and foster those social connections. On that front, Webber noted that the teens in King’s program were able to choose who they wanted supporting them. “We know from relationships that where people are foisted upon them — and this often happens in professional relationships — it kind of nullifies that as a source of support,” he said.
To be sure, the scientific literature on social prescribing remains tiny compared to research on medication and psychotherapy. Several thousands of children at risk of suicide have participated in various studies of pharmacological and psychological therapies. “We don’t have the evidence base of the social support-type interventions to put alongside those,” Webber said. Also, standardizing social interventions is tricky, he added, especially when compared to the simple act of taking a pill.
“Sometimes the parameters are a bit broader,” Webber said.
At the same time, Webber pointed out that social components are always present. “The role of the family support, the role of friends, the role of people who are not necessarily professionally qualified to deliver any therapy, care, or support” — these things are active ingredients in any person’s treatment. And even in a research study, these social components can contribute to positive effects in both intervention and control groups, though they’ve traditionally been overlooked by researchers seeking to measure the benefits of drug treatment or psychotherapy alone.
According to Berk, suicide prevention has got to be comprehensive. Rather than just providing psychiatric treatment, she said, there are issues that need to be addressed at the community and social relationship level.
“The more fronts of intervention we have,” Berk said, “the better.”
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