Category Archives: Natural Addiction Treatment Certification

integrated-addiction-treatment

Integrative Addiction Therapy

February 17, 2016

How Integrative Addiction Therapy works

We all know that addictions are difficult to treat, what works for one patient may not work for another. The therapist can be left with a distinct feeling of defeat when conventional methods are less than effective.  Let’s face it the stakes are high with addiction therapy, and your patient has come to you for help. A conscientious practitioner will at this point begin searching for additional methods that will be more effective. The problem with addiction therapy is that no one method will be effective on its own. This is a multifaceted problem that requires an equally diverse solution. Thus, the clinician is faced with the problem of what techniques and therapies to use for each patient. One of the newest and most promising methods employees a mix of different therapies which are tailored to the patient’s needs. Referred to as integrative addiction therapy it has been very successful in the treatment of addictions. When the stakes are as high as they are with addiction issues finding the best method of treatment can be the only way to help your patient. While it may sound difficult, the truth is that with a little training everyone can use this method effectively.

Integrative addiction therapyIntegrative therapy is based on the premise that each person carries a group of emotional and psychologic issues that are contributing to their addiction issues. Just as each person is an individual, their therapy should be just as individual. Integrative Therapists design and implement a course of therapy that is structured to the patient instead of attempting to fit the patient into the mode of therapy. The goal of integrative therapy is to repair the mind and the body allowing the patient to be at their best both mentally and physically. Integrative therapy is based on the idea that our experiences frame our behaviors and through an exploration of a person’s experiences addiction can be cured. Clinicians are tasked with developing a method that works for each client as an individual but common methods are used, only in a nontraditional way. It is a combination of humanistic therapies, psychoanalytical and psychodynamic therapies, as well as cognitive and behavioral therapies.  The therapist will utilize those properties of the different modes of therapy that will most benefit the patient. The type and combination of therapies are not the only things that are important for the patient. The attitude of the clinician can be vital to the process.

It is never easy to admit that you have an addiction, nor is it easy to seek help. One of the most import aspects of integrative therapy is the level of trust between therapist and patient. The patient needs to feel a certain degree of trust to truly benefit from the interaction. As a therapist you need to let your patient guide the course of the therapy, if they want to explore issues that may not be related to the addiction, it is perfectly acceptable. The goal of integrative therapy is whole mind and body health not just the elimination of the addiction. This approach has proven to be highly effective at curing addiction issues.

You may be thinking this sounds like something that should be explored but where to find the experts and professionals who have utilized this method is something of a problem. Integrated therapy is a fairly new concept, so there is not a great deal of print information out there about the method. It would be extremely helpful if there were a great conference that brought together all the experts in one place, we all know how valuable a great conference can be. In August of 2016, there will be just such a conference. Held in Austin, Texas this year the interactive addiction conference will give you all the background information and methods you will need to introduce integrated therapy to your practice.

Check out our Integrative Addiction Conference 2016 being held in Austin, Texas

 

There will be several panel discussions as well as expert presentations giving talks on topics from sex addiction to eating disorders. The expo features presenters from all avenues of medicine including pharmaceutical companies. Nowhere else will you find this many person all in one place with one single goal in mind, the integrative therapy that can be one of the best ways to treat addictions. Registration is currently underway at http://integrativeaddictionconference.com/ don’t miss this exciting opportunity to expand your practice and help those who suffer from addiction today.

Integrative addiction therapy while relatively new has already proven to be quite effective in treating addictions. Using a combination of methods the therapist has the opportunity to tailor a treatment protocol to the needs of the patient. To learn the key to building a successful integrative addiction business, you should attend the integrative therapy conference in August. Here you will find all the experts and information you need to be successful in this new endeavor. For more information visit http://integrativeaddictionconference.com/ today for a full list of speakers and activities that you just cannot afford to miss.

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Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar

February 16, 2016

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: Too much insulin

Resisting insulin

Sugar is a serious drug that is very addictive. Insulin resistance should be a daily practice meaning that we defeat sugar addiction by resisting insulin naturally.

From our previous article we listed too much insulin, cortisol and adrenaline, imbalances of sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone and insufficient thyroid hormones as being epidemic, we now want to look at each in details for a better understanding of the best action to take should you find yourself in situations like this. To start us off into this discussion, we spoke with experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, a facility that is rich in expertise and very resourceful in terms of addiction health related complications to help us put to perspective what happen when there is too much insulin in the body and how best insulin resistance can be practiced in a day to day way of life. Doctor Dalal Akoury who is the founder of this facility is going to share with us some of the practical examples to help us understand better the magnitude of the problem. This is one piece of information you don’t want to miss and therefore we invite you to stay with us and invite a friend so that together we can make a difference in our societies and defeat all complications that comes with insulin resistance or as we have baptized it resisting insulin.

A few years ago a client I will call Larry (not his real name) came to my office and his story was very interesting and I am persuaded to share with you because I believe it will help you understand the problem from the practical angle. Larry was in his early 40s an executive officer in a reputable organization. He came to me for a cardiac stress test. In his mind he knew that he was dying of heart disease and convincing him otherwise was not very easy. He explained to me how he was feeling and using his own words he said that every afternoon, he would experience sudden onset of sweating, a racing heart, anxiety and shortness of breath. With these signs Larry was convinced that he was dying of heart condition. Besides these he was also stocking some weight around the abdomen.

After listening to him narrate his story, I responded to him in a way that he felt was irrelevant by telling him that “he is not taking his breakfast meals” I also told him that “each time he is eating he feels tired and because of that he often skip meals during the day and that his reason of doing so is to remain alert and focus to his work. My provoking statements did not end there and I continued to tell him that each time he experiences such feelings he often go to the vending machine for a glass of soda to get a quick sugar fix, and that in just a few minutes he feels better and that has become his routine and way of life. In disbelief Larry looked at me shocked, wondering how a total stranger could tell his exactly how he lived his life without him disclosing.

I don’t know if this is communicating to you anything, but I explained to Larry that he was fighting with his genes and was insulin resistant or simply he was resisting insulin leading to wide swings in blood sugar that were responsible for his symptoms. Larry could not regulate his blood sugar because he was pumping out too much insulin and that is how his symptoms became easy to identify. Feeding on too much sugary food stuff like flour, and white rice, your insulin levels spike. This then causes your cells to become resistant to its effects and the consequence of that is that you will pump out more insulin, become more resistant to the ultimate effects and the vicious cycle of insulin resistance continues.

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: Energy and mood swings

From the story of Larry you realize that to a greater extent, we are the real cause of our insulin problems. While Larry suspicion may have not been accurate, but one point is very clear that insulin resistance has high potential of causing energy and mood swings. According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, this can come with serious health complications like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, cancer, brain aging, dementia, and the list is endless. Another point of concern is that Larry is not alone in this problem of blood sugar control. Available statistics indicate that between 80 and 100 million people in America alone are suffering from insulin resistance. It therefore means that as this practice continues (resisting insulin) each person needs to reevaluate him/herself to be sure and avoid surprises. You can use this formula to test if you are a potential candidate. It has been established that majority of people with insulin resistance have extra fat around the middle. Therefore check your waist-to-hip ratio and the measurement around your belly button. What you get divide by the measurement around your hips. If the solution is greater than 0.8, the chances are that you have insulin resistance. Remember that this is practical irrespective of how you look like. Like for instance, you may be tall, thin, short, fat, or any combination of these and still have insulin resistance. It therefore means that the only way to know for sure is to take an insulin response test, which measures blood sugar and insulin while you are fasting and 1 and 2 hours after you consume a 75-gram sugar drink.

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: The harmful effect of sugar on our health

Having appreciated how insulin can cause energy and moods swing, let us now interrogate further the other harmful effects of sugar in our health as we come to the end of this section of discussion. The body normally produces insulin in response to food in our stomachs and in particular sugar. When we eat too much sugar we produce insulin in excess and this can result into a variety of health problems as already mentioned above. New findings are establishing that we were not accurate initially when we bought the thought that insulin’s only helps the flow of sugar into cells for purposes of metabolizing and transforming the stored energy of the sun (in plant foods) with the oxygen we breathe into the energy we use every day to run our bodies. New findings reveal many other functions of insulin that affects the body. Ideally when there is too much insulin, the results can be catastrophic and the following are some of the new findings:

  • Now we recognize insulin as a major switching station, or control hormone, for many processes. It is a major storage hormone fat storage, that is.
  • Insulin acts on your brain to increase appetite, specifically an appetite for sugar. Try as you might, as long as your insulin levels are high you will fight a losing battle for weight loss.
  • It increases LDL cholesterol, lowers HDL cholesterol, raises triglycerides, and increases your blood pressure. Insulin resistance causes 50% of all reported cases of high blood pressure.
  • It makes your blood sticky and more likely to clot, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
  • It stimulates the growth of cancer cells.
  • It increases inflammation and oxidative stress and ages your brain.
  • It even increases homocysteine because sugar consumption decreases vitamin B6 and folic acid.
  • Insulin also causes sex hormone problems and can lead to infertility, hair growth where you don’t want to grow it, hair loss where you don’t want to lose it, acne, low testosterone in men, and more. It also leads to mood disturbances.

Finally it is important to note that insulin resistance is not a genetic defect, an error in our evolution, or a mistake by God. It is just as a result of the simple fact that we have strayed from eating in harmony with our genes. In other words, we do not fit into our genes and you can consult with doctor Akoury for more insight on any concern you may be having.

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: Too much insulin

 

 

 

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gut-brain-axis (1)

Brain-Gut Addiction

February 15, 2016

How gut addiction affects mental health

There is currently a lot of research being carried out on the relationship between the gut and the brain, and how the gut can affect mental health and inform behavior. Studies have shown that microbes in the gut secrete dopamine and serotonin, and are, in fact, responsible for a large proportion of the production of these neurotransmitters. When the intestinal flora is out of balance, the production of neurotransmitters is affected, resulting in a wide gamut of psychological and mental disorders.

Brain-Gut AxisThe microbiome of our bodies comprises more than 90% of the genetic material present. A study of these organisms and the effect that they have on our body chemistry and processes is a relatively new branch of research, and much of the interactions that govern their behavior and the impact that they have on our physiology are still unknown.

There are also about 100 million neurons embedded in the gut, which forms the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system is largely autonomous and controls the digestive processes without input from the brain. This nervous system is also responsible for protecting the body from harmful elements that may enter the digestive tract along with the food ingested. This “second brain” employs much the same mechanics as the cranial brain, including the same neurotransmitters.

The sensory input received by the enteric nervous system is carried to the cranial brain using the vagus nerve, and most of the information flow in only one direction, from the gut to the brain. For instance, the enteric nervous system will inform the brain of contaminated food by inducing cramps or nausea, and passing the message to the brain via the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve also controls the chemical levels in the gut, keeping track of the nutrients absorbed from the food being digested. The behavior in test rats and mice clearly indicated that dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain were affected by damage to the vagus nerve, showing clearly that the brain is affected by what happens in the gut.

Because of the presence of the neurotransmitters in the gut, medications, and treatments for chemical imbalances in the brain, will also affect the gut. This is why the list of side effects for many mood-altering prescription drugs include diarrhea or constipation or other gut-related complications. Similarly, medication that affects the digestive tract will also impact the neurotransmitters in the brain.

Medications such as antibiotics have a marked impact on the intestinal flora that is responsible for the secretion of the neurotransmitters in the gut. Other by-products of the modern lifestyle such as heavy metals and surgical procedures, not to mention diets high in processed foods and simple sugars also greatly impact the chemical balance in the enteric nervous system.

When the chemical balance in the body becomes unstable, there are some reactions. As the beneficial gut flora becomes weakened, serotonin and dopamine levels are affected, which results in changes in our brain chemistry.

In the realm of food cravings and food addiction, it was thought in the past that cravings were the body’s way of asking for nutrients that it was lacking. New research tends to indicate that food cravings and addictions are in fact formed by the bacteria in our gut. For instance, individuals who crave chocolate have different gut microbiota to those who are indifferent to chocolate, even if their diet otherwise does not differ.

 

Check out our Integrative Addiction Conference 2016 being held in Austin, Texas

 

Brain-Gut AddictionCravings and addictions can be the body’s way to express deficiencies in certain essential chemicals, such as dopamine or serotonin. A common side effect of dopamine imbalance is an addictive behavior. The person suffering from a shortage of these chemicals will try to find the reactions they create from external sources such as food, alcohol, or drugs. As the addictive substance further impedes the production of the necessary neurotransmitters, more and more is required to maintain the same level of reaction and response. The microbes in the gut also affect anxiety levels, which means that a person with a compromised gut will have a greater level of anxiety and depression, leading to a higher chance of dependence on and addiction to drugs and other mood-altering substances. Unless the root problem of the compromised digestive microbiota is addressed, there is also a greater likelihood that addicts will relapse after rehab, as a result of these elevated anxiety levels.

At the Integrative Addition Conference later this year, the link between the gut, the brain, and addiction will be discussed in more detail. Register at http://regenerativepotential.com/integrativeaddictionconference/ to learn more about the brain-gut link and addiction, and to attend the conference where expert speakers will address this and other topics.

 

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BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction

February 12, 2016

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction: Individual therapy

The common problem many people have today is not knowing how to deal with all these addictive problems. take for instance behavioral treatment of sex addiction is one such conditions that experts have been following for sometime now. We want to inform you of some of the insights you need to know in this journey so that you can take appropriate remedial actions when faced with such challenges

  • Sex therapy
    • Available from licensed therapists dealing with sex addiction and covered by the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals.
    • Also available from licensed therapists certified by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists.
    • Intensive outpatient programs are available for those patients who may be in crisis but do not require hospitalization for their illness.
      • These programs usually last for several weeks or several months.
      • Work toward stabilizing the lives of patients recommended for treatment of sexual addictions.
      • Lead to individual therapy, group counseling, couples counseling
      • The goal is to help patients address, understand and overcome triggers in everyday lives leading to compulsive sexual behavior and acting out.

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction: Cognitive behavioral therapy

  • This is a form of psychotherapy which stresses solving current problems and eliminating unhelpful thinking.
  • Problem-focused and action oriented
    • is effective for the following conditions:
      • eating disorders
      • sexual disorders (including sexual addictions)
      • anxiety disorders
      • mood disorders
      • dependency disorders
      • tics
      • psychotic disorders
    • This form of therapy is based on the belief that changing maladaptive thinking changes the actions and emotions of those who can do this. Another form of cognitive behavioral therapy believes that changing one’s relationship to the maladaptive thoughts can be equal as effective (and easier).
      • Encourages people to identify and challenge erroneous beliefs to decrease personal stress and end self-defeating behavior.
      • Encourages patients to replace maladaptive coping skills with more effective strategies by challenging the way patient thinks and the way they react to certain habits and behaviors
        • This therapy has six phases
          • Assessment or psychological assessment
          • Reconceptualization
          • Skills acquisition
          • Skills consolidation and application training
          • Generalization and maintenance
          • Post-treatment assessment follow-up
        • In adults, CBT has been shown to be effective for
          • anxiety disorders
          • depression
          • eating disorders
          • personality disorders
          • psychosis
          • schizophrenia
          • substance abuse disorders

BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction: Psychodynamic therapy

Similar to psychoanalysis, but less intensive

  • Relies upon the relationship between the therapist and client more than other in-depth psychology.
  • Has been used in individual psychotherapy and family therapy
  • Core Principles
    • An emphasis on intrapsychic and unconscious conflicts and how they relate to development
    • seeing defenses as developing in internal psychic structures to minimize unpleasant consequences of conflict
    • A belief that psychopathology develops as a result of early childhood experiences
    • A view that internal representations of experiences are organized around interpersonal relationships
    • A conviction that life issues and dynamics will re-emerge as part of the client-therapist relationship called transference and counter-transference
    • use of free association to explore major conflicts and problems
    • focusing on interpretations of transference, defense mechanisms, and current problems and working through these areas
    • trust in insight as critically important for the success of therapy

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction: Group therapy

Therapeutic Principles

    • Universality of experience
    • Altruism
    • Installation of hope
    • Imparting information
    • corrective recapitulation of the primary family experience
    • Development of socializing techniques
    • Imitative behavior
    • cohesiveness
    • existential factors
    • Catharsis
    • Interpersonal learning
    • Self-understanding
    • Therapeutic goals
      • To use the group process and group context as an agent of change

 

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction: Twelve steps

  • This is a program which uses guiding principles to outline a course of action to solve specific problems such as alcoholism, drug addictions, and compulsive diseases
  • These programs usually have 12 “steps” or guiding principles and usually use spiritual language to help the person solve their current problems.
    • They have a large number of members and have been applied to some problems of a compulsive nature, including alcoholism, drug abuse, gambling, overeating, sexual addictions and others.
    • They also have auxiliary groups which usually run concurrently with the other groups for family members and friends of the person directly involved
    • They encourage their members to take responsibility for the problem behaviors which brought them to the group, and point the members in the direction which will enable them to control and resolve their problems
    • They claim a greater rate than other programs and encourage their members to keep coming back after a relapse
    • Use “sponsorship” to help group members control their compulsive behavioral
      • A sponsor is an individual who has more time in the program and is experienced at developing coping skills aimed at cutting down the compulsion and repairing the consequences of the initial problem that brought the client into the group
Behavioral Treatment

Behavioral Treatment Of Sex Addiction is one that can be done by way of individual therapy or even group theraphy

DIALECTICAL-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

  • This is a modified form of cognitive behavioral therapy to treat people with Borderline Personality Disorder and chronically suicidal individuals and which has since been applied to people suffering from
  • This type of behavioral therapy combines
    • standard cognitive therapy techniques for
      • emotional regulation
      • reality testing
      • with distress tolerance
      • acceptance
      • mindful awareness
    • The first type of behavioral therapy experimentally demonstrated to be effective in treating BPD
      • a randomized study showed reduced rates of suicidal gestures
        • psychiatric hospitalizations
        • and treatment drop-outs
      • Teaches the patient to see therapist as ally rather than as antagonist
      • Involves four components
        • Individual
          • one-on-one sessions with a therapist
            • subjects discussed are
              • weekly issues—issues that have come up during the week. In order of importance, these are
              • Self-injurious, suicidal behaviors, and life-threatening behaviors
              • Therapy-interfering behaviors
              • behaviors that threatened to “derail” or interfere with the course of treatment
              • Quality of life issues
              • improving skills usage
            • Group meetings
              • meets once per week for two and one-half hours and focuses on four modules
                • core mindfulness
                  • being aware, from moment to moment of the stream of awareness from a first-person perspective
                • interpersonal effectiveness
                • emotional regulation

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

http://regenerativepotential.com/integrativeaddictionconference/

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Behavioral Addiction and Brain Function

Behavioral Addiction and Brain Function

February 12, 2016

Understanding Behavioral Addiction and Brain Function

Addictive behavior is a compulsion to repeat a rewarding non-drug related behavior repeatedly despite any consequences to the person’s physical, social, financial or mental well-being.  There are genetic factors involved here. The gene transcription factor known as ΔFosB has been identified as being one of the critical factors in the development of addictive states in both behavioral and drug related addictive behaviors.  Overexpression of this gene in the nucleus accumbens is both necessary and sufficient for the neural adaptations seen in addictive behaviors and drug addicts. A recent study suggested a cross-sensitization effect between drug-related behaviors and a natural reward which was mediated by ΔfosB. Besides this increased expression of  ΔfosB, there are many other similarities in the neurobiology of behavioral/drug addictions. 

One of the most important discoveries in the diagnosis and treatment of addictions is the recognition of the drug-based reinforcement and, more importantly, the reward based learning process. There are several structures within the brain that are important in the conditioning process of behavioral addiction. These are called sub-cortical structures.  These sub-cortical structures taken together are called the reward system.  This reward system is something that we all have—it is a necessary survival process, much like digestion. 

Behavioral Addiction and Brain Function

One system being subjected to major study is the amygdala.  The amygdala is a sub-cortical structure that is involved in emotional significance and associated learning.  Research shows that dopamine-sensitive projections from the ventral tegmental area make possible a motivational or learned association with a specific behavior. This means that dopamine neurons play a significant role in the learning and sustaining of many acquired behaviors. 

Three stages 

There are three stages to the dopamine reward system:

  • the initial burst of dopamine
  • triggering of behavior
  • further, impact on the behavior

This means that the most common result of dopamine-based learning is to create addictive properties associated with certain behaviors. The way it works is that once the brain is electrically stimulated (possibly through the addictive behavior), there is a burst of dopamine.  This burst of dopamine further triggers the behavior involved, which encourages these already-stimulated neurons to increase the stimuli.  Once the behavior is triggered, it is very difficult to work away from the dopamine reward system. 

The other side of this equation is the newly found idea that the human brain can anticipate rewards, and can be triggered by the brain’s early detectors of the reward, and can start triggering the behavior that starts the dopamine reward system.  In some cases, it may lead to issues due to error.  These errors can be used as teaching signals to create complex behavior tasks over time. 

Diagnosis 

At the time this article was written, the diagnostic models used do not have the necessary standards to identify behaviors as addictions in a clinical setting. Behavioral addictions have been proposed as a new class of diagnosis in the DM-5, but the only category included in this class is gambling addiction. Internet gaming addiction has been proposed in the appendix as a condition for further study, but this does not help in the diagnosis and treatment of other behavioral addictions such as sex addiction, or the various types of eating addictions. 

Behavioral addictions are sometimes called impulse-control disorders.  These disorders, which include gambling, consumption of alcohol, sex addiction (not limited to but including the use of pornography and sexual intercourse) eating disorders, use of computers and video games, use of the internet, shopping, exercise and stealing (shoplifting) are increasingly recognized as being treatable addictions.

Brain Function

 In August of 2011, the American Society of Addictive Medicine issued the statement that defined all addictions regarding brain changes.  Their statement read in part, “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, memory, motivation, and related circuitry.”  This means that all addictions are potentially susceptible to treatment with pharmaceuticals.

 This is the first time that the American Society of Addictive Medicine has taken the position that substance abuse is not just about substance dependence.  It is about how the brain function of addicts differs from the brain function of non-addicts.  The emphasis here is not on the external factors that act on the reward system but on the system itself.  Food, sexual behaviors, shoplifting, and even chronic hair-pulling can all be linked to this “pathological pursuit of rewards” talked about in this new definition of addiction.

 The thing is, we all have this reward system.  It is a survival mechanism, creating the desire for things that offer satisfaction, like food and sex.  However, in a healthy person, there is a feedback system that limits our consumption.  In an addict, these feedback systems seem to either be absent or, in fact, dysfunctional to the point that instead of “enough” the addict wants “more”.  This is what leads to the unhealthy pursuit of these items. So anyone who has one addiction is vulnerable to others, but this also points to the possible development of effective treatment for addictions that have historically been hard to manage.

Understanding Behavioral Addiction and Brain Function

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