Author: The Fix

Oklahoma Senator: Vote No On Medical Marijuana, It's "Harmful" to Families

“No one will convince me that our families will be better if only more parents and grandparents smoke more marijuana,” Senator Lankford said in a statement.

High Times has reported that U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) is asking his constituents to vote against a measure that would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana.

Lankford and the conservative religious group Oklahoma Faith Leaders issued a joint statement on May 31 in which they described the measure, State Question 788 (SQ 788)—which would legalize the possession, use and production of cannabis for medical purposes—as “harmful to the social fabric of Oklahoma.”

Lankford added that he believed that the measure was actually a ruse by “outside groups that actually want access to recreational marijuana.” Oklahomans can voice their opinion on the measure as part of the statewide election on June 26.

The measure is the work of Oklahomans for Health, which led a signature drive to include it on the June 26 ballot. Under SQ 788, no specific medical conditions would be required to qualify for a license, but patients would need a signature from a board-certified physician in order to obtain one. Licenses would also be required to operate a commercial growing operation or processing operation, and would require a fee of $2,500.

Users would be allowed to possess up to three ounces of marijuana on their person and eight ounces in their home; a 7% tax would be levied on sales, with the funds going to substance dependency rehabilitation, education and administrative costs.

Proponents have said that the measure will benefit patients and reduce costs to taxpayers for enforcement of prohibition. Opponents cite a lack of sufficient restrictions, including where dispensaries can be located and whether employers can test for marijuana use. Senator Lankford’s statement took a broader approach in its criticism, suggesting that state residents will become “more drug addicted and distracted” if the measure is passed.

“Most of us have seen first-hand the damage done to families and our communities from recreational marijuana,” Lankford wrote. “No one will convince me that our families will be better if only more parents and grandparents smoke more marijuana.”

Tulsa World noted that Oklahoma Faith Leaders is directed by Paul Abner, an evangelist who was also a paid “faith-based consultant” for Lankford’s Senate campaign in 2014.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Abner, who is also a current Republican candidate for State House District 100 in Oklahoma City, received at least $75,000 from Lankford since 2014.

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
Can The Mere Expectation Of Alcohol Boost Dopamine?

A new study examined the dopamine release levels of people with a family history of alcoholism.

Those with a history of alcohol-related issues in their families may produce more dopamine at the idea of a drink, a new study has found.

The study indicates that people who have a history of alcohol use disorders in their family actually release more dopamine when presented with the prospect of a drink containing alcohol. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.

For such individuals, the study found, the dopamine release is greater than for those who do not have a history of alcohol use disorder in the family or for those who have been diagnosed with it already.

The study, published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, was fairly small. Researchers looked at 65 individuals, 34 of which had no alcohol use disorder in their families or themselves, 16 with a history of it in their family but without their own diagnosis, and 15 who had been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder.

Each participant was given two drinks—one containing alcohol and one without. Participants were not told which drink they would be given first. But, as Bustle reports, “Those who received the placebo first could intuit that the alcoholic drink would be second. In other words, they were cued to expect alcohol.”

During this, researchers used a PET scan (an imaging technique) to monitor the levels of dopamine released as a response to the drinks. Because dopamine is connected to the reward center in the brain, its release is associated with things people enjoy. Bustle states that while all three groups in the study had similar dopamine-releasing reactions to the drink containing alcohol, results varied when it came to the non-alcoholic placebo.

“We found that the FHP (family history positive) participants had a much more pronounced response to the placebo drink than the other groups, indicating that expectation of alcohol caused the FHP group to release more reward center dopamine,” study author Lawrence Kegeles of Columbia University said, according to Bustle.

This outcome implies that dopamine release could “reinforce alcohol consumption,” Bustle notes. This is especially true for those susceptible to alcohol use disorder.

“This research finding exemplifies how advances in imaging brain chemistry using PET scanning can provide new insights into how differences in brain function in people with a family history of alcoholism can explain their own potential for addiction,” said Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging editor Dr. Cameron Carter, according to Bustle.

Study participants were not followed up with, Bustle notes, so it is unknown if the results of this study did predict alcohol use disorder in their futures.

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
Trump Wants New Anti-Opioid PSA Campaign To "Engage And Enrage"

The White House’s new ad campaign will echo the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ad campaign first launched in 1987.

The Trump administration’s anti-opioid ad campaign is coming soon, according to Axios.

The PSA campaign, the product of a partnership between the White House and the Ad Council, will “shock the conscience,” a source disclosed to Axios. They added, “[President Trump] thinks you have to engage and enrage.”

The president declared in March that the government will oversee a “large-scale rollout of commercials” to raise awareness about the dangers of opioid abuse.

“The best way to beat the drug crisis is to keep people from getting hooked in the first place. This has been something I have been strongly in favor of—spending a lot of money on great commercials showing how bad it is,” said Trump at the time.

“So that kids seeing those commercials during the right shows on television or wherever, the internet, when they see these commercials they [say], ‘I don’t want any part of it.’ That is the least expensive thing we can do. Where you scare them from ending up like the people in the commercials and we will make them very, very bad commercials. We will make them pretty unsavory situations and you have seen it before and it had an impact on smoking and cigarettes.”

Indeed, research has estimated that the anti-smoking campaign by the Truth Initiative has prevented approximately 301,930 young Americans from smoking in 2015-2016. However, national anti-drug initiatives like “Just Say No” and “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” are generally considered unsuccessful in their attempts at keeping kids off drugs.

The new ad campaign will echo the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ad campaign first launched in 1987. According to Axios’ source, Trump is a fan of the ad’s shock value and stark message.

Since its debut, the ad has been re-made to feature Rachel Leigh Cook in a 1997 rendition. The actress appeared in a 2016 version of the ad as well, but this time to highlight a totally different message: “This is your brain on the war on drugs.”

Cook, in partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance, resurrected the iconic egg and frying pan motif to bring awareness to all the ways that the War on Drugs is ruining people’s lives. “It fuels mass incarceration. It targets people of color in greater numbers than their white counterparts,” says Cook in the ad. “It cripples communities. It costs billions. And it doesn’t work. Any questions?”

The ad was re-made a different way in the same year, with the original anti-drug message but for a new generation. The ad begins with the familiar image of an egg cracking into a sizzling frying pan: “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?”

But instead of ending there, as the original PSA did, a child responds:

“Yeah, I have questions.”

“Why is heroin so addictive?”

“Weed’s legal, isn’t it?”

“Prescription drugs aren’t as bad as street drugs, right?”

And finally: “Mom, Dad, did you ever try drugs?”

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
Opioids To Blame For 1 in 5 Young Adult Deaths

Opioid-related deaths were responsible for 1.7 million lost years of life in 2016, according to a new study.

In 2016, opioids were involved in 20% of deaths of young Americans ages 24 to 35, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WONDER Multiple Cause of Death Online Database, which shows the cause of death, age and sex of people who pass away. Researchers looked at the years between 2001 and 2016.

During that time period, deaths that were attributable to opioids increased 292%. In 2016, opioid-related deaths were responsible for 1.7 million lost years of life, according to analysis by the researchers.

Despite the fact that there has been a lot of attention given to the effects of opioids on middle-aged Americans, the impact was most profound for younger people. In addition to the high death rates for people in their 20s and 30s, opioids caused 12.4% of deaths of youth aged 15 to 24.

“Premature death from opioid-related causes imposes an enormous public health burden across the United States,” researchers wrote. “The recent increase in deaths attributable to opioids among those aged 15 to 34 years highlights a need for targeted programs and policies that focus on improved addiction care and harm reduction measures in this high-risk population.”

The opioid-related death rate for people aged 25-34 nearly quadrupled between 2001 and 2016.

“I think that the fact that one out of every five deaths among young adults is from an opioid, if not shocking, should at least create pause for people to realize how huge of an impact this early loss of life is having,” Tara Gomes, an epidemiologist and researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, who led the study, told Tonic.

Overall, researchers found that opioids were responsible for 1.5% of all deaths in the United States, or about 1 in 65. That means that opioids resulted in more lost years of life in 2016 than high blood pressure, HIV/AIDs and pneumonia. In 2001, just 1 in 255 deaths were attributable to opioids.

Men were more likely than woman to die from an opioid overdose, researchers found. In fact, men made up 67.5% of all opioid-related deaths in 2016.

While young people had the highest percentage of opioid-related deaths, the sharpest percentage increase was among older Americans. People over 55 made up 18.4% of opioid deaths in 2016. Between 2001 and 2016 the opioid-related death rate for people age 55 to 64 increased 754%; for people age 65 and older it increased 635%.

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
How I Conquered My Relationship Insecurity

I didn’t engage in behaviors like calling or texting multiple times—if anything, I did the opposite, out of fear of being perceived as needy—but the thoughts alone, their irrationality and all-consuming anxiety, caused me a lot of pain.

Fear of abandonment, jealousy, and general insecurity in romantic relationships leads many in the dating scene to be labeled the dreaded “needy.” It’s a pejorative that’s especially used to describe women, an insult that dismisses someone as being “crazy” for simply needing reassurance and consistent contact. Of course, men can suffer from the “needy” label too, but they often fall into the “unavailable” camp—aloof, distant, indifferent, and detached, which can quickly earn them the title “asshole.” Sadly, most folks don’t know the roots of these behaviors, so we’re left throwing insults at fellow daters rather than understanding that these traits date back to childhood.

For years I thought I didn’t fall into the “needy” camp. Many of my past relationships were with men who bordered on needy themselves, so I never needed to feel insecure—if anything, they were the insecure ones, always vying for my time and attention. There was little reason to fear abandonment. It wasn’t until this past year that I discovered that if I’m invested in someone who is a bit more independent, my anxiety and fear of rejection can become nearly intolerable.

Enter the man who is now my partner, Matthew*. The day after our first date, he sent me a very sweet text complimenting both my personality and appearance while adding that he would love to see me again, and soon. Just a few days later, we had our second date, and a few days after that, our third, and by that time I realized I could really fall for him.

After our fourth date, I was officially hooked, and that’s when the anxiety hit. Now I was invested, and that meant that if a few days passed and I didn’t hear from him, I assumed he was over it. And I was so terrified of seeming needy that I rarely initiated a text. When I did, it would sometimes take hours for him to respond; that’s just his nature, being a very busy person, but when he didn’t respond right away, I’d once again assume he was over it. Despite all the fear, I’d always hear from him, often with a “Sorry, hun, wish I could have gotten back to you sooner!” text.

At the time, I thought I was going slightly crazy. Part of me knew I was just being paranoid, and part of me kept buying into the irrational thoughts telling me that he was going to drop me. I knew that ghosters—people who vanish from seemingly stable dating scenarios for no reason whatsoever—were everywhere. But Matthew hadn’t given me any reason to think he might leave; all of his words and actions displayed evidence that he wasn’t going anywhere. Still, I worried and worried—every day waiting for the other shoe to drop—for Matthew to show some sign of disinterest.

I comforted myself with thoughts like “Once we’re exclusive, this anxiety will go away.” Well, we became exclusive, and the anxiety did not go away. Even after he said “I love you,” I was still fixated on the fear that he would leave. No, I didn’t engage in “crazy” behaviors like calling or texting multiple times—if anything, I did the opposite, out of fear of being perceived as needy—but the thoughts alone, their irrationality and all-consuming anxiety, caused me a lot of pain.

The pain prompted me to do some research on relationship insecurity—I had to know what the hell was wrong with me. That’s when I learned about attachment styles and the important role they play in romantic relationships. My fear of abandonment is a classic sign of an anxious attachment.

British psychologist John Bowlby began exploring what he termed attachment theory in the 1960’s, and he conducted further research alongside psychologist Mary Ainsworth throughout the second half of the 20^th century. According to Bowlby, the ways in which primary caregivers relate to infants and children greatly influence how they relate to others in their adult lives. Contemporary psychologists have expanded on Bowlby’s theory, many writing about the huge impact our attachment styles have on our romantic relationships and even how we perform at work. There’s also a study underway to determine what role, if any, attachment styles play in opioid addiction.

Attachment theory posits that adults with secure attachment styles—around 50 percent of the population—had parents who were attentive, nurturing, calm, and, most importantly, consistent in this behavior. Those with anxious attachment styles usually had caregivers who were inconsistent, sometimes attentive, loving, and nurturing, and at other times distracted, distant, cold, or unresponsive to the child’s needs. Anxious attachments can also result from having overly-anxious or intrusive caregivers (this is probably how I wound up with an anxious attachment, as my mother often became too worried that something bad might happen to me.) Children who grew up with mostly aloof and detached parents typically wind up with an avoidant attachment style, those who crave intimacy but push it away out of fear.

Unfortunately, people with anxious attachment styles often gravitate to those with avoidant attachment styles, and vice versa, and this causes all sorts of heartache. Those who have secure attachment patterns are often already paired up—they’re the folks who are content in long-term relationships and forging lasting intimate bonds. This explains why spending lots of time on dating apps can sometimes lead to crushed hopes over and over again. If all the healthy folks are already in relationships, what’s left are a lot of people who may have some emotional baggage that begs sorting through.

If you’ve ever attended a SLAA meeting, you’ve probably heard of the “love addict” and the “love avoidant.” In many ways, the love addict mirrors someone with an anxious attachment style—the deep need for connection and intimacy is a quality inherent in both personality types. Naturally, the “love avoidant” described in SLAA mirrors the avoidant attachment style.

According to SLAA philosophy, the antidote to love addiction or love avoidance is the 12 steps, steps that require faith in a power greater than oneself, the admitting of character defects, and turning over one’s will to God as we understand Him. Though I’m not anti-SLAA per se, I do find it interesting that the terms “love addict” and “love avoidant” actually have roots in psychological theory, so the cause of the insecurity may have less to do with character defects and more to do with the way we were parented.

Though an insecure attachment style may sound like a curse for anyone who’s looking for long-term love, there’s good news: anyone can change their insecure attachment style to a secure one through psychodynamic therapy, being in a healthy relationship with a securely-attached partner, and also by becoming a parent.

It took a combo of consistent psychodynamic therapy and my relationship with Matthew, who has a secure attachment style, to help ease all of my anxieties. They haven’t gone away completely, but I have seen demonstrable improvement since I started working on them. I realized how far I’d come when he took a second business trip for a few days. The first time this happened, I grew anxious when I didn’t hear from him; this time when he went out of town, I didn’t fret once during his entire week away. Sure, I missed him, especially since we’re now living together, but I wasn’t ruminating on the idea that he would never return, and I actually ended up having a great week just hanging out with my friends.

For someone with an anxious attachment style, behavior like calling or texting the object of their affection repeatedly throughout the day, or prying into their personal business, can emerge. Not surprisingly, all these attempts at reassurance turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy—they push the other person away. If the partner is avoidant, he or she can get angry, dismissing the anxious person’s needs. If the partner is securely attached, they are more likely to be reassuring, but not if the behavior is continually hostile, accusatory, or pathological. In the event that this behavior surfaces, odds are the securely-attached partner will withdraw.

Though I didn’t engage in destructive behaviors with Matthew, my anxiety did reach a point where I had to share this struggle with him. There was no way around it—if I didn’t open up about my insecurities, which were causing me so much psychological pain, then I feared a wedge would stand between us, creating distance. What’s the point of being in a relationship if you can’t unload all your fears on your partner?

I felt humiliated voicing my insecurity to him for the first time, which happened right as I started therapy, about six months into our relationship. Admitting to him that I was often preoccupied with the status of our relationship rather than prancing around Los Angeles “doing me” with a big fulfilled smile across my face, loving life and living big, which, apparently, is what single people are supposed to do at all times in order to be happy and to find a partner, terrified me. I figured fessing up would scare him and push him away.

But Matthew was very reassuring. He told me: “Your needs are your needs, and there’s nothing wrong with them.” He did explicitly state that it’s up to me to find emotional balance when I get anxious, but he’ll meet me halfway as best he can if I need a little extra reassurance. On my end, I’ve had to learn to tolerate my anxiety, to sit with it and surrender my need for control. Since Matthew’s an introvert, he tends to withdraw when overwhelmed, which can come across as distant. This can certainly make me anxious, but I have had to learn to surrender my fears of being rejected and abandoned. At this stage, when I do get anxious, I have to resort to a kind of Buddhist mentality—nothing is permanent, I have no control over Matthew or over the longevity of our relationship, and everything will be okay even if things do end.

It’s remarkable progress that I doubt I would have made without facing my insecure attachment head-on.

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
Can Sewage Provide Clues On How To Combat Opioid Crisis?

Sewage studies could prove to be more beneficial than hospital data and surveys when it comes to getting a closer look at residents’ drug intake.

As cities continue searching for ways to combat the opioid crisis, some are turning to sewage for answers.

In fact, about six cities have asked Arizona State University to study their sewage for “chemical signatures that may help save lives,” according to Scientific American.

Rolf Halden, who is the director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, says sewage is “the information superhighway under your feet.” Since 2003, Halden’s Human Health Observatory has been studying sewage in more than 300 municipalities across the world.

In the past, Scientific American notes, the team has searched for anything that can tell them about a community’s health, such as stress hormones, dietary choices, nicotine presence and hazardous chemicals.

But now, cities have begun asking for help when it comes to the opioid crisis by searching for evidence of opioid use. Currently, Halden and his team provide about six municipalities with monthly data about residents’ intake of substances such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone and other opioids.

This could prove more beneficial than hospital data and surveys, as used in the past, since people can’t lie about use through sewage, and it doesn’t take as long to collect.

“History has taught us that when you ask people about drug use, you often don’t get a truthful answer,” Halden told Scientific American. But, he says, “sewage doesn’t lie.”

When it comes to testing the sewage, researchers put it through what is called liquid chromatography, Scientific American states. In other words, the compounds in the sewage got separated and sorted.

Researchers then put a solution through a device that can recognize and measure which drugs are present and how much. Researchers take these numbers and establish an estimate of the number of doses per 1,000 people.

Because it only takes researchers one or two days to test sewage, the results reflect nearly current patterns of drug use.

“If a city shuts down a pill mill—a clandestine operation where medical workers inappropriately prescribe powerful narcotics—or arrests a ring of dealers, it can measure the immediate impact,” Scientific American reports. “If opioids start to disappear from the wastewater, it could be an early indication of success. But if the sewage is suddenly flush with fentanyl, it may indicate that legal users deprived of their prescriptions are seeking street drugs instead.”

This can be beneficial for various reasons. For example, if a large increase in drugs like fentanyl is observed, it allows first responders to be prepared to give the opioid antidote naloxone, and to make sure they have enough on hand.

Another benefit to testing sewage is that it allows officials to determine the impact of drug education programs.

According to Scientific American, sewage testing costs about $10,000 per year for cities, but that number can change depending how often testing is done and what is measured for.

“Right now people are surprisingly skeptical of what one can measure in wastewater,” Halden told Scientific American. But, he added, “I think this will become a common way of thinking in the future.”

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
Medical Schools Focus On Addiction Medicine Training In Light Of Opioid Crisis

Medical students are seeking out addiction medicine training and schools are making adjustments to fulfill their needs.

The opioid crisis is changing the way some medical schools are approaching training, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, this is being done by implementing a yearlong fellowship in addiction medicine, the Chronicle reports.

The fellowship program is funded by the city and county of San Francisco and works to incorporate addiction medicine into overall medical training, rather than just psychiatric medicine.

Dr. Hannah Snyder is one of the fellowship participants and is expected to complete the program this month.

“I started learning about treating addiction and realizing we had highly effective medications to treat addiction,” Snyder told the Chronicle. “I got really excited about that because there’s a way to prevent people from having those complications in the first place.”

According to the Chronicle, Snyder works at Ward 93 as part of the fellowship. Ward 93 is a methadone clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. There, she meets with patients to discuss treatment.

Snyder is also assisting other U.S. hospitals with new protocols for treating those with opioid use disorders. The Chronicle states that this “primarily means getting patients started on buprenorphine or methadone—two long-term prescription medications for opioid-use disorder—when they come to the hospital after overdosing or having severe withdrawal symptoms.”

The fellowship at UCSF School of Medicine isn’t the only one of its kind. In fact, since 2011, 52 U.S. addiction medicine fellowships have been accredited by the Addiction Medicine Foundation.

Fellowships are typically completed by doctors who have already finished their three- to six-year residency in a specific area and wish to take part in more training in a subspecialty, the Chronicle notes. It wasn’t until 2016 that addiction medicine was recognized as a subspecialty.

Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist at Stanford School of Medicine, is working to add addiction medicine courses to Stanford’s curriculum.

“It’s the dawning awareness within the medical community that addiction in general is a growing problem in our patient population,” she told the Chronicle. “The opioid epidemic has put it front and center in a way that gives people permission to focus on it. Suddenly there are research dollars available to study it, and federal grants. It has momentum it never had before.”

At Stanford specifically, students are the ones pushing for additional education in the area. The Chronicle states that Alexander Ball, a fifth-year medical student, partnered with Lembke to create lectures centered around pain and addiction for first and second-year students. Some were incorporated into courses this year, and more will be next year, the Chronicle notes.

The lectures concentrate on opioid prescribing, administering buprenorphine and other medications and motivational interviewing, which is a counseling technique.

At UCSF, buprenorphine training has been offered as optional for residents and faculty since 2011, the Chronicle reports. Buprenorphine is used to treat opioid dependence and is a Schedule III narcotic, meaning doctors have to complete eight hours of training and get a waiver in order to prescribe it.

According to Dr. Scott Steiger, associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at UCSF, the buprenorphine training is drawing more and more medical professionals.

“Last year, we had to turn people away because we had reached our capacity for the room, which was 77,” Steiger told the Chronicle. “The next one (this spring), we had it in an auditorium to fit all the people. It’s telling that people are trying to get as much training as they can.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 June 2018
A Modern Approach To Drug Education

A California-based nonprofit’s modern approach to drug and alcohol education is garnering positive feedback from students and parents alike.

NPR profiled Being Adept, a non-profit, research- and science-based organization that provides alcohol and drug prevention education to more than 3,000 students in California.

Adept’s approach is markedly different from drug education campaigns of the past, which emphasized total abstinence through “scare” tactics; the organization’s curriculum focuses on scientific findings that provide students with facts about the long-term health risks of drug use, and allows them to make informed decisions about their own future.

As NPR notes, Adept’s strategy has been met with positive response from students and parents alike.

As an example of Adept’s focus, the NPR piece covers an instructor’s presentation for a class of eighth-graders in Larkspur, California. Instructor Ashley Brady opens the session by informing the students that she “is not here to tell you what to do today.”

From there, she provides a wealth of information that focuses on the impact of marijuana use on brain and body chemistry. Warnings about the side effects of edibles and concentrates on developing brains as well as the strength of THC levels in newer strains of cannabis and the possibility for dependency issues, are offered as fact-based information—modern cannabis is “not the same drug” as the marijuana consumed in the 1970s, Brady said—and without caveat.

Other classes provide students with strategies to real-world scenarios in which they might encounter marijuana or other drugs—what to do at a party, or ways to cope with stress or emotion without drugs.

The approach lacks the authoritarian tone that many previous prevention programs embraced; if there’s a key component to how Being Adept talks about drugs, it’s “delay, delay, delay,” said founder and psychotherapist Jennifer Grellman.

“The way to handle that with your kids is to say: ‘you know, you don’t have to do this now. Maybe you want to use it someday, but not today, not now. It will always be there.’ Just tell them to wait,” she explained.

Parents are also included in Being Adept’s curriculum through a special “Parents Night” presentation, where responses like Grellman’s are offered as guidance for those who have expressed concerns over the right way to talk about drugs with children. The program also emphasizes honesty in words and actions—drinking responsibly in front of children, and being honest about their own drug and alcohol use as teenagers.

“You don’t have to tell the full story,” noted Grellman. “You could say, ‘I did smoke, or I did drink, when I was 13. And you know, frankly? It was too early for me. I made some stupid decisions and I got in trouble.’ You can give them the consequences of it.”

Students at the Larkspur presentation appeared to appreciate the program’s approach. “It made you feel more mature,” said 13-year-old Devon Soofer. “This class was actually telling you the long-term effects and what it can actually do to you. So it actually made you feel like, ‘Wow, this actually really bad,’ and not just being forced not to do it.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 June 2018
Kanye West On Mental Health Issues: It's Not a Disability, It's A Super Power"

The rapper opened up about being newly diagnosed with a “mental condition” during a recent interview.

Kanye West has just released his new album, Ye, which tackles a wide variety of subjects, including his marriage to Kim Kardashian, as well as his mental health with the song “Yikes.”

In “Yikes,” West says he is bipolar, which he calls a “superpower,” and in the song he states it “ain’t no disability, I’m a superhero.”

Bipolar disorder is also a major focus on the cover of the album. “I hate being bi-polar it’s awesome,” is scrawled in neon green across the cover, while the mountains of Wyoming loom in the background.

West then opened up to radio personality Big Boy about his mental health, saying, “I’m so blessed and so privileged because think about people that have issues that are not Kanye West, that can’t go and make that [music] and make you feel like it’s all good. I’d never been diagnosed and I was like 39 years old… That’s why I said on the album, ‘It’s not a disability, it’s a super power.’”

Naturally, West’s revelation has stirred up a wide variety of reactions and controversy. As Yahoo reports, the reaction on Twitter has been mixed.

One fan tweeted, “Kanye calling Bipolar his superpower was inspiring,” while another added, “Quite a way to end Mental Health Awareness Month to have Kanye West, one of the biggest people on the planet, reveal he’s dealing with bipolar disorder and call it a superpower.”

Yet another person remarked, “Look, I’m not gonna tell someone how they should feel and talk about their mental illness. But someone with Kanye’s platform glorifying bipolar disorder as a ‘superpower’ and potentially discouraging folks from seeking treatment and help is not good.”

Mental health advocates also have mixed feelings about West’s revelation. Eric Youngstrom, PhD, who is the acting director of The Center for Excellence in Research and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder, felt that West coming forward about his mental health condition “reduces the shame and stigma around it. The messaging of this is that having a mental health condition doesn’t mean you’re ill or broke, and that’s extremely powerful.”

Yet John Mayer, PhD, tells Yahoo, “Saying [bipolar disorder] is a superpower denies your need to cope and accept your illness.”

West’s mental health revelation comes on the heels of his previous confession that he was hooked on opioids. “I was drugged the fuck out,” he told TMZ.

He was also featured on the Travis Scott song “Watch,” in which he rapped, “Wanna know how pain feels? I got off my main pills. Bet my wifey stay close, she know I’m on my Bezos. Opioid addiction, pharmacy’s the real trap. Sometimes I feel trapped, Jordan with no Phil Jack.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 June 2018
Serena Williams Discusses Postpartum Depression

“I think people need to talk about it more because it’s almost like the fourth trimester, it’s part of the pregnancy.”

Tennis champ Serena Williams said she struggled with postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

“Honestly, sometimes I still think I have to deal with it,” she said in a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK. “I think people need to talk about it more because it’s almost like the fourth trimester, it’s part of the pregnancy.”

The pressure of wanting to be a good mom, maybe to a fault, weighed on the new mother. “I remember one day, I couldn’t find Olympia’s bottle and I got so upset I started crying… because I wanted to be perfect for her,” she said.

The tennis superstar endured a complicated birth, which began with an emergency C-section, followed by more surgery for a pulmonary embolism and a large hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in her abdomen.

But now that she’s recovering—already winning matches in the French Open before she withdrew from the tournament due to a pectoral injury on Monday (June 4)—she’s putting family first, ahead of tennis, and working on being a good role model for 9-month-old Alexis Jr.

“I hope I am, and I’m going to strive to be the best mom I can be,” she said.

Part of what makes her a good role model is her healthy attitude toward body image—something that didn’t come easy. Williams, who started competing professionally as a teen, endured a lot of body shaming for much of her career.

“It was hard for me. People would say I was born a guy, all because of my arms, or because I’m strong,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I was different to Venus: she was thin and tall and beautiful, and I am strong and muscular—and beautiful, but, you know, it was just totally different.”

She said in another interview, “People are entitled to have their opinions, but what matters most is how I feel about me, because that’s what’s going to permeate the room I’m sitting in. It’s going to make you feel that I have confidence in myself whether you like me or not, or you like the way I look or not, if I do.”

The 23-time Grand Slam champion is more focused on her daughter’s happiness. “I can show Olympia that I struggled, but now I’m happy with who I am and what I am and what I look like. Olympia was born and she had my arms, and instead of being sad and fearful about what people would say about her, I was just so happy.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 June 2018