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Scans: Alcoholism damages brain's white matter
HealthDay News via WebMD
Alcoholism damages white matter throughout the brain and this damage can be detected with brain scans, researchers report.
Heavy drinking may be especially damaging to white matter in the frontal areas of the brain, which can interfere with the impulse control needed to stop drinking, according to the study. The findings were published in the December online issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
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A solution for middle schoolers with suicidal thoughts
By Nancy Gahles
 Early adolescence is a time of tempestuous changes in physical, mental, emotional and social spheres. It is a time when peer pressure abounds. But peer pressure is only one area of challenge during middle school. There are many others that beset the growing adolescent and, when left to their own devices, young teens may devise harmful coping strategies. An elegant solution has emerged in response to a recent study co-funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
EAPA issues fraud alert
Employee Assistance Professionals Association
EAPA has become aware that some members have been contacted by a mailing list company purporting to be selling the attendee list from the 2014 World EAP Conference. According to the claims, which evidently come from a firm called Event Tech House, the list includes "all the data you need to make your sale: company name, executive name, title, direct email address, physical address, phone number and more." EAPA has been able to determine that this list is fake, and while we have no way of knowing whether any actual conference attendees have been placed on the list, it is NOT the conference attendee list and EAPA has no connection with the soliciting individual or group. Sadly, frauds like this one are becoming more commonplace. Another example EAPA and other associations have dealt with recently are the "room pirate" groups that contact prospective attendees or exhibitors at conferences purporting to have access to discounted rooms at conference hotels. EAPA recommends that all members, exhibitors, and EA professionals remain alert for these scams, and let us know if you receive suspicious communications.
WHO: Increased access to naloxone could cut global deaths from opioid overdose
The Pharmaceutical Journal
The World Health Organization has issued new guidelines to expand access to naloxone in an effort to reduce the number of deaths caused by overdoses of opioids, including morphine, heroin, tramadol, oxycodone and methadone. The guidelines state that naloxone should be made more widely available, with improved access for people who are likely to witness an overdose, such as family members of drug users, social workers and police.
FDA approval of powerful painkiller, Hysingla, spurs controversy
The New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a powerful long-acting opioid painkiller, alarming some addiction experts who fear that its widespread use may contribute to the rising tide of prescription drug overdoses.
The new drug, Hysingla, and another drug approved earlier this year, Zohydro, contain pure hydrocodone, a narcotic, without the acetaminophen used in other opioids. But Hysingla is to be made available as an "abuse-deterrent" tablet that cannot easily be broken or crushed by addicts looking to snort or inject it.
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The Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center (PaRC), located in Houston, Texas is a nationally recognized, TJC Accredited, DSHS licensed, freestanding, alcohol, substance abuse and dual diasgnosis treatment for adults and adolescents. Open 24/7, the PaRC offers all levels of care and is contracted with most insurance companies.
www.parc.memorialhermann.org or 1-877-464-7272
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Addiction on the rise in the Hispanic community
The Fix
Evidence shows that substance use is increasing among Latinos who do not get treatment as often and don't follow through as much. With the Latino population expected to increase to over 30 percent of the US population by 2050, more effective treatment services need to be developed. Substance abuse prevalence rates for Latinos generally mirror those of the general U.S. population. In particular, however, rates of use are increasing among the Latino population. In 2010, the rate of current illicit drug use was 8.1 percent among Latinos aged 12 or older, that number grew to 9.7 percent of Latinos reporting substance dependence or abuse in 2011.
Call-center workers more likely to take time off
Human Resource Online Executive
For call-center workers, stress is part of the job. However, such stress — along with strict policies on time-and-attendance and job performance — may also be part of why call-center workers are significantly more likely to take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act than other employees. A recent study of about 20,000 call center customer-service representatives, or CSRs, by the Integrated Benefits Institute finds that one in three took FMLA leave during the study period — more than three times the average for all other exempt and non-exempt employees in other occupations.
Teens prescribed anxiety, sleep medications likelier to illegally abuse them later
Medical Xpress
The medical community may be inadvertently creating a new generation of illegal, recreational drug users by prescribing anti-anxiety or sleep medications to teenagers, say University of Michigan researchers. Teens prescribed anxiety or sleep medications are up to 12 times more likely to abuse those drugs than those who had never had a prescription, either by using someone else's prescription pills or to get high or experiment, according to a study from the U-M School of Nursing.
Does workplace stress play a role in retirement drinking?
OUPblog
Alcohol misuse among the retired population is a phenomenon that has been long recognized by scholars and practitioners. The retirement process is complex, and researchers posit that the pre-retirement workplace can either protect against — or contribute to — alcohol misuse among retirees.
Report: New Hampshire economy lost $1.85 billion due to substance abuse in 2012
Concord Monitor
Drug and alcohol abuse cost New Hampshire about $1.85 billion in 2012, according to estimates recently released by local advocacy organization New Futures.
Putting a price tag on alcohol and drug abuse in the state means looking beyond the financial impact it has on the person using the substances, New Futures officials said. It also means looking at lost productivity in the workplace and the strain it creates on the state's health care and criminal justice systems, plus lost tax revenue and vehicle crashes.
Racial discrimination, family issues key sources of stress in Latina immigrants
Psych Central
For Latina immigrant women, racial discrimination and family issues are key sources of stress as they try to adapt to U.S. culture, according to new research at the University of Illinois. But whether this cultural stress translates into psychological distress depends on a variety of other factors.
Americans: Overworked yet positive
The Leader Board
The latest Heartland Monitor Poll from Allstate and the National Journal is out and it contains some very good news for the nation's employers. The poll of 1,000 employed Americans finds that the overwhelming majority think very highly of their employers, with 82 percent saying they believe their employer has a positive impact on their community and 87 percent saying they'd recommend their place of employment to others. Americans are also highly satisfied with their jobs: 93 percent said they're satisfied and 54 percent said they're very satisfied.
Addicted to starting companies
Bloomberg Businessweek
Startup founders are known to forsake food, family and the light of day to get their companies off the ground. People who put themselves through the process more than once earn the label of serial entrepreneurs. Three business school professors would like to suggest another phrase: addicts.
Missed last week's issue? See which articles your colleagues read most.
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