Category: Addiction News

The pharmacist’s 15 years of recovery are a key component in his chemical dependency course. 

A former pharmacist in recovery found his calling through teaching the future pharmacists of Ohio about substance use disorder.

Chris Hart developed his chemical dependency course in 2005 after losing his license to work as a pharmacist. Using Hart’s experience as a pharmacist who abused painkillers, lost everything, and re-built his life in recovery, the class explores the impact of chemical dependency on healthcare professionals—as well as “concepts of addiction, individuals at risk, intervention, withdrawal, emotions, recovery networks, regulatory actions and returning to practice,” according to the course description provided by the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy.

Hart’s 15 years of recovery is a key component of his course. He begins every class with “Hi, my name is Chris Hart, and I am a long-time recovering addict.” And students must attend a 12-step meeting.

Hart had been a pharmacist for 10 years before he became dependent on painkillers. Six years later, he was reported to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and lost his license. He attended a treatment facility, where he was taught a different perspective of addiction.

“The biggest thing I learned from treatment is that I had a disease,” he told The Lantern. “When I got caught the first time, I thought I was that stupid, weak-willed, immoral, terrible person who did such a bad thing. And then I realized this disease is a lot more complicated than what we think and by having a disease and treating my disease by going to meetings and talking to my sponsor, things they told me to do, I could get better.”

Hart eventually re-obtained his license after a period of probation and went back to work. However, six years in, he relapsed. This time, he lost his license permanently. Hart spent some time in jail and attempted suicide.

It was after this point that Hart decided he would try teaching. In 2005, working with a former professor at his alma mater Ohio Northern University, Hart developed his chemical dependency course.

“He just set to work immediately to develop a course because he knew he had to get the word out and warn everyone,” his wife Susie Hart said. “I was so proud of him.”

Hart teaches the course at six of Ohio’s seven pharmacy schools, including the College of Pharmacy at Ohio State University.

“He is happier than ever. He is stronger than ever. He loves teaching,” said Mrs. Hart.

“It’s a disease,” said Chris Hart. “[What] it is not is a moral condition. Someone who is addicted to drugs is very sick. They’re a sick person who needs to get well. They are not a bad person that needs to get good.”

View the original article at thefix.com

In a colorful tirade, the legendary singer told the audience he was allergic to marijuana.

When you go to a rock concert, the air would be filled with pot smoke. But Roger Daltrey of The Who has made it patently clear that he is not a fan of audience members smoking pot while he is performing.

As High Times reports, The Who was playing Madison Square Garden on their Moving On! Tour, when Daltrey spotted fans smoking pot in the audience. He called them out from the stage.

“I’ve got to tell you, all the ones smoking grass down in the front there, I’m totally allergic to it.”

At first, the audience thought he was joking, but Daltrey emphatically stated, “I’m not kidding. Whoever it is down there, you fucked my night.”

Daltrey explained that he’s “allergic to that shit,” and he made a bizarre slurping noise to explain what marijuana does to his voice. “It sucks up. So fuck you.”

At a Who concert in 2015, Daltrey threatened to leave the stage because there was too much pot smoke in the audience. He told the crowd, “My voice is shutting down,” and one critic who reviewed the show noticed the difference the pot allergies made on his voice.

As it turns out, Daltrey isn’t the first lead singer to call out members of the audience for smoking weed. As Metal Underground reports, in 2008, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden singled out an audience member who was smoking pot and told him, “Would you please put that fucking thing out. I really hate the stink of that. My lungs are trying to work up here, dude.”

Professional singers of course have to be protective of their voices, and many of them have strict rules written into their contracts against dry ice and other chemicals being used on stage.

Allergies to cannabis are reportedly not common, but there are people like Daltrey who are indeed allergic to it. This allergy can include symptoms similar to hay fever, and can also cause sinus congestion and nausea.

In some extreme cases, people can have an allergic reaction just from touching cannabis plants, and as High Times explains, this allergy is similar to dermatitis, where you can develop red, dry, itchy skin and hives.

In the most severe cases, people with cannabis allergies can develop anaphylactic shock, which can lead to your airways closing and potential suffocation.

View the original article at thefix.com

Some colleges have recognized the extent of transitional anxiety for students and have implemented services to address it.

College graduation is often viewed as a time of celebration. But for some, the anxiety of not knowing what lies ahead takes over instead.

The Star Tribune reports that such anxiety is a fairly common sentiment for graduating seniors.

“I would say at least three-quarters of the graduates that I work with are struggling with similar issues, fears about employment or family issues or moving or things like that,” Haran Kingstan, Acacia Counseling and Wellness interim clinical director, tells the Tribune.

Many graduating seniors have been in school since a very young age, and the idea of establishing a life without the routine of education can be intimidating, according to Yasmine Moideen, a clinical psychologist. Kingstan adds that the loss of such structure can lead to what’s known as “transitional anxiety.”

“Transitional anxiety is not a diagnosis, we know that, but it’s almost human nature because human beings are built to feel comfortable with routine and habit and form patterns that take up less cognitive capacities so we’re able to attend to survival,” Kingstan says.

University of Minnesota senior Addie Agboola says her anxiety was brought on by a change in postgraduate plans. She initially planned to attend pharmacy school but has instead chosen to take a year off.

“I had this plan in my mind of how everything was going to go, and I think that it’s stressful because you’re doing all these things you want to enjoy and soak up all the moments of [being an] undergrad, but also planning for the future,” she said.

According to experts like Moideen, sticking to a routine is important when experiencing transitional anxiety. She also recommends making sure to seek out connections with people with similar interests.

“It’s really important for people—especially, I think, young people—to have a sense of purpose and connection,” Moideen tells the Tribune.

Some college campuses have recognized the extent of transitional anxiety for students and have implemented services as a result.

University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, for example, offers an online therapy program called Learn To Live for its graduates, as well as career services.

“Like other moments of significant transition, graduating from college can produce a complex set of feelings and behaviors,” Madonna McDermott, executive director of St. Thomas’ Health Services and Wellness Center, says.

In Ithaca, New York, Cornell University has a senior support group that meets over the spring before graduation.

“The idea for this group was driven by the large number of undergraduate students who would contact [Counseling and Psychological Services] in mid-spring semester due to their anxiety about graduating in May,” group leader Jamie Sorrentino told the Tribune. “Many of these fears and uncertainties are universal, and they are best addressed in a support group format.”

In treating students who are struggling with the idea of postgraduate life, Kingstan says she just reminds them to practice self-compassion and to take pride in their accomplishments while also acknowledging the validity of their feelings.

“There’s almost a grieving period that needs to happen because you are kind of saying goodbye to who you were as a college student and now you are launching into an emerging adult,” she tells the Tribune.

View the original article at thefix.com

Experts discuss how “climate anxiety” affects those worried about the future as well as those who’ve experienced trauma through natural disasters.

As the global temperature rises due to climate change, there is increasing concern about how the impact of this will affect mental health. 

The 2018 National Climate Assessment says that extreme weather and rising sea levels can result in “mental health consequences and stress.” 

“The last two years, the conversation has shifted toward climate change,” said Reggie Ferreira, editor of the journal Traumatology and director of Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, according to Rolling Stone. “We see disaster causing trauma, but climate change is intensifying the disaster. We need to focus on what’s intensifying these disasters and get people prepared.”

In fact, at the 2019 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, various sessions on climate change are planned. Experts say the impact on mental health comes about in two ways: growing anxiety when thinking about the future, as well as a growing number of traumatized natural disaster survivors. 

Most commonly coined “climate anxiety,” the concern about the future is also referred to as “climate grief” and “climate depression,” according to David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth. 

“While it may seem intuitive that those contemplating the end of the world find themselves despairing, especially when their calls of alarm have gone almost entirely unheeded, it is also a harrowing forecast of what is in store for the rest of the world, as the devastation of climate change slowly reveals itself,” Wallace-Wells writes.

Last year, a survey conducted by Yale found that almost 70% of Americans worry about climate change and 29% qualify themselves as “very worried,” which is an 8% increase from earlier that same year. 

Janet Lewis of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance says that climate anxiety differs from treating other forms of anxiety. 

“Most of the time when we’re treating anxiety, we’re treating people who have unrealistic levels of anxiety,” Lewis said, according to Rolling Stone. “We’re all in the same boat with this.” 

Lewis adds that when treating people with climate anxiety, it’s important to encourage them to grieve the loss of things such as ecosystems, as well as acknowledge that everyone is in the situation together. 

When it comes to trauma as a result of natural disaster, such as 2017’s Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, experts say more programs need to be implemented in the future to aid in such situations. 

One reason is that in the wake of such disasters, there is often an increase in PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and violence. 

“The mental health system in the U.S. is broken and in times of disaster it’s even more on the back burner,” trauma psychologist Charles Figley tells Rolling Stone. “We’re much more concerned about bringing back infrastructure than looking at mental health aid. The human element is often forgotten.”

View the original article at thefix.com