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NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS: ARCHIVE
Our news & announcements offer up-to-date information important and relative for us to share with you. We update often, so check back frequently. Past news and announcements are available in this archive.
12/07/2009 - OPTIMISM
We are almost at the end of a long and difficult year. For many of us, 2010 will not bring a new attitude of hope and opportunity because the day to day continues to be so challenging. As a treating physician for the past 30 years, the ongoing struggle to fight addictive disease is tempered by the many success stories of friends and patients whom have turned their lives around through commitment and dedication to recovery. It is important to always keep in mind that the power of this disease to negatively affect the mind, body, and spirit of an individual are also the opportunities to negate the cunning, baffling, and powerful influences of substance abuse and dependence. Education, empowerment and an embracement of values such as integrity, honor, honesty, dignity and love provide a stable base for individual growth and commitment to the sometimes-hard work of recovery.
The average age of beginning use of substances for the majority of my patients is approximately 12 years old. In reference to alcohol, if one begins drinking before or by the age of 16, the risk factors for development for an alcohol-related disorder are increased by a factor of 4, rather than if they had waited until 21 years of age. Under normal circumstances, the adolescent brain does not mature until the age of 25. From a biologic and behavioral perspective, the effects of alcohol and other substances wreak havoc on the developing brain. In both adults and adolescents this destructive force is arrested with abstinence, which then allows the process of positive neurological and behavioral change.
By directly facing the disease and through an unshaken belief in the individual, hope and opportunity for a different day and a New Year are more than possible; they are probable. It is in this context that we at the Center for Addiction Medicine wish you and your loved ones peace, happiness, prosperity, and a very healthy New Year.