One Hour AT A Time

Our guest today is a pioneer in the emerging field of integrative medicine. Peter Amato is President and Founder of Inner Harmony Wellness Centers. The Centers are devoted to delivering a whole person, whole care, health and wellness model that combines the best of conventional medicine with alternative modalities such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, biofeedback, nutritional assessments and counseling. Peter will also discuss the “11th step”. In a 12 step program, the 11th step refers to one’s relationship to prayer & mediation with regard to establishing a conscious contact with an integral & universal divinity (wholeness or oneness) - which is the basis for his book Soul Silence: A Unique Approach to Mastering the 11th Step.

Our guest today is a pioneer in the emerging field of integrative medicine. Peter Amato is President and Founder of Inner Harmony Wellness Centers. The Centers are devoted to delivering a whole person, whole care, health and wellness model that combines the best of conventional medicine with alternative modalities such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, biofeedback, nutritional assessments and counseling. Peter will also discuss the “11th step”. In a 12 step program, the 11th step refers to one’s relationship to prayer & mediation with regard to establishing a conscious contact with an integral & universal divinity (wholeness or oneness) - which is the basis for his book Soul Silence: A Unique Approach to Mastering the 11th Step.

Physicians are not invincible when it comes to drug addiction. Dr. Steven Farber was on top of his career as a respected cardiologist when, suffering from professional burnout after twenty-five years of taking care of acutely ill patients, this passionate doctor discovered medicated bliss through prescription drug samples that were constantly being brought to his office. This escape eventually turned his life upside-down. After losing his medical license, Dr. Farber finally hit rock bottom and admitted himself into intense rehabilitation. When you consider that doctors and nurses have very easy access to prescription drug samples, it’s not surprising that addiction is an epidemic that is rarely spoken of in medical communities. Addiction to prescription drugs is responsible for more deaths in our country than traffic accidents. Further, half of all adults over eighteen have a friend or family member who is suffering from alcoholism or addiction to illicit or prescription drugs.

Physicians are not invincible when it comes to drug addiction. Dr. Steven Farber was on top of his career as a respected cardiologist when, suffering from professional burnout after twenty-five years of taking care of acutely ill patients, this passionate doctor discovered medicated bliss through prescription drug samples that were constantly being brought to his office. This escape eventually turned his life upside-down. After losing his medical license, Dr. Farber finally hit rock bottom and admitted himself into intense rehabilitation. When you consider that doctors and nurses have very easy access to prescription drug samples, it’s not surprising that addiction is an epidemic that is rarely spoken of in medical communities. Addiction to prescription drugs is responsible for more deaths in our country than traffic accidents. Further, half of all adults over eighteen have a friend or family member who is suffering from alcoholism or addiction to illicit or prescription drugs.

After a recovering addict has gotten his “house in order” by admitting powerlessness, committing to a searching moral inventory, and sharing his deepest secrets with another human being, it is time to turn to people he associated with before and during recovery. Steps 8 to 10, the crucial phase of interpersonal relationships in sobriety, can prove to be the most challenging steps, especially if the addict has used substances in the past in order to deal with other people. Our guest today, Allen Berger, Ph.D, will focus on these steps. Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all; Step 9: Made direct amends to such people, whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others; and Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

After a recovering addict has gotten his “house in order” by admitting powerlessness, committing to a searching moral inventory, and sharing his deepest secrets with another human being, it is time to turn to people he associated with before and during recovery. Steps 8 to 10, the crucial phase of interpersonal relationships in sobriety, can prove to be the most challenging steps, especially if the addict has used substances in the past in order to deal with other people. Our guest today, Allen Berger, Ph.D, will focus on these steps. Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all; Step 9: Made direct amends to such people, whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others; and Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

With a growing demand for adolescent and young adult services, increased complexity of issues facing young people entering treatment, and ever-evolving options in the continuum of care, it can be challenging for human service providers to know how to guide those in need. This broadcast will provide a broad overview of the various levels of care available to young people with behavioral and substance abuse concerns and explore some of the resources available to them. Special emphasis will be given to therapeutic boarding school programming.

With a growing demand for adolescent and young adult services, increased complexity of issues facing young people entering treatment, and ever-evolving options in the continuum of care, it can be challenging for human service providers to know how to guide those in need. This broadcast will provide a broad overview of the various levels of care available to young people with behavioral and substance abuse concerns and explore some of the resources available to them. Special emphasis will be given to therapeutic boarding school programming.

Have you ever wondered what it is like in the mind of a person with Schizophrenia? How can one survive day after day unable to distinguish between one's inner nightmares and the everyday realities that most of us take for granted? Our guest today, Kristina Morgan, takes us inside her head to experience the chaos, fragmented thinking, and the creativity of the schizophrenic mind. She will take us from her childhood to her teen years when hallucinations began to hijack her mind and into adulthood where she began abusing alcohol to temper the punishing voices that only she could hear. While trying to pursue an education and career, build family connections, friendships and intimacy - the insistent voices convince her to throw it all away, destroying herself and alienating everyone around her. Eventually, her journey takes her to a place of relative peace and stability where she finds the inner resources and support system to manage her chronic illnesses and live a fulfilling life.

Have you ever wondered what it is like in the mind of a person with Schizophrenia? How can one survive day after day unable to distinguish between one's inner nightmares and the everyday realities that most of us take for granted? Our guest today, Kristina Morgan, takes us inside her head to experience the chaos, fragmented thinking, and the creativity of the schizophrenic mind. She will take us from her childhood to her teen years when hallucinations began to hijack her mind and into adulthood where she began abusing alcohol to temper the punishing voices that only she could hear. While trying to pursue an education and career, build family connections, friendships and intimacy - the insistent voices convince her to throw it all away, destroying herself and alienating everyone around her. Eventually, her journey takes her to a place of relative peace and stability where she finds the inner resources and support system to manage her chronic illnesses and live a fulfilling life.

Our guest today will talk about teen and adolescent prescription drug abuse, stimulant abuse, The Medicine Abuse Project, and ways the public can help. The CDC now calls prescription drug abuse an epidemic. More Americans die from drug overdoses than in car crashes, and this trend is being driven by prescription drugs. Teen prescription drug misuse and abuse is up by 33 percent since 2008. The rise is being driven by stimulants (Ritalin and Adderall). Statistics released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org show that: 1) Prescription medicines and marijuana are the most commonly abused drugs among 12 to 13-year-olds; 2) 70 percent of teens say they get the prescription medicines from family members and friends; 3) A factor that contributes to this rise is the lack of communication parents have with their children about prescription drugs; only 14 percent of teens indicated that they had discussed the misuse or abuse of any type of prescription drug with their parents.

Our guest today will talk about teen and adolescent prescription drug abuse, stimulant abuse, The Medicine Abuse Project, and ways the public can help. The CDC now calls prescription drug abuse an epidemic. More Americans die from drug overdoses than in car crashes, and this trend is being driven by prescription drugs. Teen prescription drug misuse and abuse is up by 33 percent since 2008. The rise is being driven by stimulants (Ritalin and Adderall). Statistics released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org show that: 1) Prescription medicines and marijuana are the most commonly abused drugs among 12 to 13-year-olds; 2) 70 percent of teens say they get the prescription medicines from family members and friends; 3) A factor that contributes to this rise is the lack of communication parents have with their children about prescription drugs; only 14 percent of teens indicated that they had discussed the misuse or abuse of any type of prescription drug with their parents.

Individuals with serious eating disorders often struggle with other psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse and trauma response. Chronic eating disorders can result in severe medical, social and financial impairment. It can be a daunting task to figure out how all the pieces of the symptom puzzle fit together such as: how one set of symptoms may impact other symptoms, what to treat first, whether treatment of one disorder may increase the symptoms of another disorder, etc. There is growing evidence to suggest that the core psychological problems or disturbances which are thought to maintain eating disorder symptoms also contribute to the maintenance of the other co-occurring emotional disorders and addictive disorders. Our guest will discuss: 1. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorders, 2. Core psychological disturbances which contribute both to eating disorders and co-occurring disorders, 3. Basic therapeutic principles of a unified approach.

Individuals with serious eating disorders often struggle with other psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse and trauma response. Chronic eating disorders can result in severe medical, social and financial impairment. It can be a daunting task to figure out how all the pieces of the symptom puzzle fit together such as: how one set of symptoms may impact other symptoms, what to treat first, whether treatment of one disorder may increase the symptoms of another disorder, etc. There is growing evidence to suggest that the core psychological problems or disturbances which are thought to maintain eating disorder symptoms also contribute to the maintenance of the other co-occurring emotional disorders and addictive disorders. Our guest will discuss: 1. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorders, 2. Core psychological disturbances which contribute both to eating disorders and co-occurring disorders, 3. Basic therapeutic principles of a unified approach.

The American Lung Association and WellPoint Inc. are supporting smokers in their efforts to quit for good through the “Quitter in You smoking cessation campaign. The campaign aims to empower people trying to quit smoking by acknowledging that past quit attempts are not failures, but are normal and necessary steps along the way to quitting for good. A survey from the American Lung Association found that 6 out of 10 former smokers were not able to successfully quit on their first try and required multiple attempts to quit smoking for good. The “Quitter in You” campaign aims to change the way people think about past quit attempts and motivate them to try again. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 443,000 lives each year, including those affected indirectly, such as babies born prematurely due to prenatal maternal smoking and victims of “secondhand” exposure to tobacco’s carcinogens.