Drug Addiction Treatment Blog

How can you tell if someone has a problem?

Answering the following four questions can help you find out if you or a loved one has a drinking problem:

Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?
One “yes” answer suggests a possible alcohol problem. More than one “yes” answer means it is highly likely that a problem exists. If you think that you or someone you know might have an alcohol problem, it is important you find an alcohol rehab in your area for an assessment. Most alcohol rehabs will provide you with an alcohol abuse assessment at no charge.

If you require assistance finding an alcohol rehab, just call 800-511-9225 a national hotline and they will find you one.

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Is alcoholism a disease?

Yes, alcoholism is a disease. The craving that an alcoholic feels for alcohol can be as strong as the need for food or water. An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious family, health, or legal problems.

Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person’s lifetime; it usually follows a predictable course; and it has symptoms. The risk for developing alcoholism is influenced both by a person’s genes and by his or her lifestyle. (See also “Publications,” Alcohol Alert No. 30: Diagnostic Criteria for Alcohol Abuse and Dependence.)

Is alcoholism inherited?

Research shows that the risk for developing alcoholism does indeed run in families. The genes a person inherits partially explain this pattern, but lifestyle is also a factor. Currently, researchers are working to discover the actual genes that put people at risk for alcoholism. Your friends, the amount of stress in your life, and how readily available alcohol is also are factors that may increase your risk for alcoholism.

But remember: Risk is not destiny. Just because alcoholism tends to run in families doesn’t mean that a child of an alcoholic parent will automatically become an alcoholic too. Some people develop alcoholism even though no one in their family has a drinking problem. By the same token, not all children of alcoholic families get into trouble with alcohol. Knowing you are at risk is important, though, because then you can take steps to protect yourself from developing problems with alcohol. (See also “Publications,” A Family History of Alcoholism - Are You at Risk?; Alcohol Alert No. 18: The Genetics of Alcoholism.)

If you think you may be suffering from alcoholism, you may want to contact www.recovery connecton.org for informaiton on an alcohol rehab

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Problems in our community’

Confronting issues like drug use, risky sexual behavior and depression among gay men often involves sensitive topics — judgment, limiting sexual liberation, attempting to appear “normal” to mainstream society — and Cox knows that plenty of gay activists tackling issues like these have been maligned as moralistic assimilationists.

“I’m not anti-partying in the traditional sense,” Cox said. “I think the point is not that we don’t have a good time. It’s that when we see something is not working, we need to stop.

“Well being is about gay men building lives they value so much that they won’t want to put them at risk,” Cox said.

Robert Weiss, clinical director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, agreed that calling attention to underlying crises among gay men is at times intimidating.

“I think it’s very, very difficult for those of us in the field of mental health and substance abuse to talk about the problems in our community,” said Weiss, who is also the author of “Cruise Control: Understanding Sex Addiction in Gay Men.”

“It’s hard for us because there’s a lot of sensitivity to being positive about the community,” he said.

Nevertheless, Weiss notes that multiple studies show higher rates of substance abuse among gay men than the general population, and adds, “I have no doubt in my mind that there is more acting out in other addictive ways,” such as sexually.

But determining whether depression leads gay men to act out sexually, or whether an abundance of sexual activity creates a depressing set of circumstances, is as difficult as answering whether a chicken or egg comes first, Weiss said.

“If you spend three to four hours a week, five nights a week online looking for sex, then the weekends in a bathhouse, you’re not going to feel so good,” Weiss said. “The behavior itself is very isolating, alienating and leaves people feeling hopeless.

“I have certainly seen men who appeared quite depressed, but once they stopped acting out and gained some sense of hope that they can live differently, then they’re not as depressed.”

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Depression, sex addiction linked in gay men: report (Gay)
Gay experts call for honest dialogue on touchy subjects

By RYAN LEE
Friday, September 15, 2006

Mental health issues were long viewed as either/or: someone either was, or wasn’t depressed.

But in recent years, mental health experts have paid more attention to the various gradations of depression, and some gay health advocates say it’s time people recognized how even moderate levels of depression can significantly impact behavior.

A new report compiled by the Medius Institute for Gay Men’s Health — a small, New York-based organization founded in June 2005 — suggests that because gay men have higher rates of depression than the general population, they also are more likely to engage in high-risk behavior associated with depression, including unsafe sex and drug use.

“It would be an oversimplification to say that depression ‘causes’ the risky behavior,” according to the report, “Living on the Edge: Gay Men, Depression & Risk-Taking,” written by Spencer Cox, Medius founder and executive director.

“Instead, it appears that in gay men, multiple epidemics — such as depression, drug abuse, violence, childhood sexual abuse and HIV — interact to increase risk for one another,” Cox wrote.

Depression — along with milder mood disorders like dysthymia — should not be viewed as the latest “crisis-of-the-month” for gay men, but rather as “a background risk modulator” that subconsciously influences a range of behaviors, Cox said.

Cox compiled the Medius report by searching medical databases for already-existing studies on depression among gay men and other populations, as well as through interviews with mental health and sex researchers and service providers.

Cox estimated that he reviewed and analyzed about 300 different studies, from sources as varied as the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and National Institutes of Health, to the Gay Urban Men’s Health Study.

Among the previous findings Cox highlighted in his overview was that gay men were more likely than heterosexual men and lesbians to experience depression, and that depression in younger gay men was associated with increases in risk-taking behavior, such as not wearing a condom.

“What makes the gay experience [with depression] unique is the high levels of depression — roughly one-in-five gay men experience depressive symptoms,” said Cox, noting that the rate for the general population is less than half of that. “So, it’s like everything is louder for us, everything is bigger when we’re talking about depression and mental illness in gay men.”

The result of that amplification, according to Cox, is a culture where scores of gay men engage in drug use and high-risk sexual behavior to cope with unseen depression, oblivious to the toll their self-destructive habits are taking on their well being.

“The normalization of a lot of those things makes it very hard to see what’s happening — everybody you know is doing a bump of cocaine on the dance floor, so go ahead,” Cox said. “I do think it’s very hard for people to say, ‘I’m very confused, and I need help.’

“We need to make it OK to say, ‘You need help, get help,’” he added.

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