Another behavior in the addiction spotlight: UV abuse.
As with alcohol, not everyone who is exposed becomes dependent on the sun. But there are enough UV abusers — one in five college students, perhaps half of beach habitués and 70 percent of indoor tanners, according to various studies — to warrant a new medical diagnostic category: tanning addiction.
To the Point joins the chatter re The Internet and the Human Brain–sparked in part by the publication of an apparently doom-heavy new book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.
Want to keep yourself thinking “long thoughts”? Take weekends away from the web, suggests one panelist…if you can.
A profile of an upscale, gay sober living house in the NYT: Avoiding the Undertow of Temptation.
“A critically important component of recovery for people is a sense of community, not isolation,” said Robert J. Lindsey, president and chief executive of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. In sober share houses, the people “are creating for themselves their own environment, and have the opportunity to be out in one of the most beautiful places in the country.”
Find a directory of sober livings in Los Angeles at soberhousing.net. Caution: Not all sober livings have sober residents. Look for houses that do random testing, require 12-step attendance, and otherwise seem serious about recovery.
In case you missed it, from the NYT: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price about addiction to computers, cell phones, etc.
Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information…While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress.
Related: An Ugly Toll of Technology: Impatience and Forgetfulness and First Steps to Digital Detox.
NYT: South Korea Expands Aid for Internet Addiction.
Thanks partly to government counseling programs, the estimated number of teenagers with symptoms of Internet addiction has steadily declined, to 938,000 in 2009, from more than a million in 2007, the Ministry of Public Administration and Safety said in April. But the number of addicts in their 20s and 30s has been increasing, to 975,000 last year.
What goes on at an L.A. rehab? One way to get a sense of it, read the rehab’s blog.
No such thing? Not so: Here’s one from Beit T’Shuvah.
(If you find others, please let me know.)
Building a list of 12-step groups, with websites and phone numbers, on the resources page. Another bigger–but possibly outdated–list is here. See something crucial missing? Please let me know. Here, in the meantime, are the biggies:
Alcoholics Anonymous: (323) 936-4343
www.lacoaa.org
Cocaine Anonymous: (310) 216-4444
www.ca4la.org
Narcotics Anonymous: (818) 773-9999
www.todayna.org
Al-Anon: (818) 760-7122
www.alanonla.org
College students are hooked on Facebook, et al. Didn’t really take a study, but…
According to researchers, students describe their feelings when they have to abstain from using media in literally the same terms associated with drug and alcohol addictions: in withdrawal, frantically craving, very anxious, extremely antsy, miserable, jittery, and crazy.
A study finds problems–depression, anxiety, addiction, and substance abuse–associated with frequent indoor tanning.
Researchers believe individuals who have used indoor tanning facilities may meet criteria for addiction, and may also be more prone to anxiety symptoms and substance use…
A study shows couples therapy edging out individual therapy for women working to recover from alcoholism:
A new research effort assessed the benefit of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol-dependent women. The innovative research design also investigated if CBT was more effective if delivered as couples therapy rather than individual therapy [and found] that both treatment methods worked well, but women treated in couples therapy maintained their gains a bit better than those in individual therapy.
