Ben Brafman

Dual Diagnosis is defined as an individual that suffers from both an alcohol or drug problem, as well as an emotional or psychiatric problem.

Cocaine addiction is no myth, despite prevailing public thought. Although it lacks the easy to identify physical withdrawal symptoms of say heroin addiction or alcoholism, cocaine is still highly addictive. In fact, a research study from the University of California, San Francisco's Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center indicates that the first exposure to cocaine could leave users vulnerable to addiction. It's no wonder that cocaine remains one of the most widely abused stimulant drugs on

Bipolar disorder is a mental condition where an individual will experience severe mood swings that go back and forth between the highs of mania and the lows of depression. This is not the typical ups and downs we all experience from time to time where typically something happens to change our mood so drastically. These swings are severe and can often come out of nowhere. When bipolar disorder is untreated it can result in an individual's life being turned completely upside down.

We all have things that stress us out, be it bills piling up, an upcoming deadline at work or problems at home, and we all deal with those stresses differently. Stress levels that aren't healthily managed and worked on are capable of wreaking havoc on our minds, bodies, emotions and behaviors. It's imperative that we all learn and practice effective stress management techniques so we don't become overwhelmed with anxiety and consumed with worry.

Drug abuse & its effects, while considerably less well-known than the effects of alcohol abuse, can wreak equally harmful havoc on the liver. When you think about it, it's very simple. The liver is responsible for breaking down all things ingested or absorbed into the bloodstream & filtering out the toxins so the body can absorb the healthy nutrients that remain. As you can guess, there are not many things out there that can cause the buildup of toxins in the body the way that drug abuse can.

For the first time ever, teens are more likely to have abused a prescription painkiller than any other illicit drug available today. And research is showing that a startling 65 percent of these teens who've engaged in prescription drug abuse are getting the pills from friends and family, whether they're aware of it or not. And kids are moving from the liquor cabinet to the medicine cabinet for a variety of reasons so how do you keep your teen out of the medicine cabinet?

Substance abuse treatment facilities around the country are bracing themselves for the resurgence of once popular whip-its after an alarming number of teen deaths have been occurring. Whip-its, also referred to as Noz by some users, are small canisters filled with nitrous oxide that are commonly used recreationally in the teen and young adult community as a way to get high. Inhaling the nitrous oxide can cause a momentary high that can be as short as a few seconds or as long as a few minutes.

Alcohol addiction and an individual's propensity towards addiction has several contributing factors. One of the most controversial of them has been genetics. Is there an addiction gene? Can the disease of addiction be passed down genetically from one generation to the next? Can it skip a generation like other diseases? If you do have the so called addiction gene, is that pretty much a life sentence that you are going to develop a chemical dependency at some point in your life?

Alcohol and drug abuse can have an extremely devastating effect on the user. There are physical implications that can damage just about every organ in the body. There are mental and emotional implications that can cause you to develop serious psychological conditions. This will serve as the first in a series to examine the specific effects of alcohol and drug abuse on different organs in the body. Beginning with the brain.

A mental health disorder affected 45.9 million Americans in 2011, the newest report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) states. This report took into account adults ages 18 and over. Interestingly, the largest percentage of these individuals fell in the range of 18 to 25 years old. The report also re-confirmed that women were more likely to suffer from a mental health disorder than men, with the rates being 23 percent for women and 17 percent for men.