Alcohol is one teratogen that could greatly affect the woman’s pregnancy. People may not be aware of its danger and still allow a woman to drink alcoholic drinks during her pregnancy, but the result of this would be carried by the baby for the rest of his or her life. Alcohol is one of the known causes of mental and physical birth defects specifically in the United States. Though, this is only a probability, the rate is high.

For one, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a disorder that can occur to the embryo when a pregnant woman ingests alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol crosses the placental barrier and can stunt fetal weight, create distinctive facial stigmata, damage neurons and brain structures, and cause other physical, mental, or behavioral problems. The main effect of FAS is enduring central nervous system damage, especially to the brain. Developing brain cells and structures are malformed by prenatal alcohol exposure, often creating an array of primary cognitive and functional disabilities including poor memory, attention deficits, impulsive behavior, and poor cause-effect reasoning, as well as secondary disabilities for example, mental health problems, and drug addiction.

There are different indications that can appear when one is diagnosed to have fetal alcohol syndrome. These indications include low birth mass, small head circumference, developmental delay, organ dysfunction, facial abnormalities, including smaller eye openings, flattened cheekbones, and indistinguishable philtrum (an underdeveloped groove between the nose and the upper lip), epilepsy, poor coordination, poor socialization skills, such as difficulty building and maintaining friendships and relating to groups, lack of curiosity, learning difficulties, including poor memory, inability to understand concepts such as time and money, poor language comprehension, poor problem-solving skills, behavioral problems including hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, social withdrawal, stubbornness, impulsiveness, and anxiety.

The primary characteristic of fetal alcohol syndrome is the damage it brings in the central nervous system. Central nervous system damage can be evaluated in three areas such as structural, neurological, and functional impairments. Structural deficiencies includes microcephaly (small head size) of two or more standard deviations below the average, or other abnormalities in brain structure. During the first trimester of pregnancy, alcohol interferes with the migration and organization of brain cells, which can make structural deficits within the brain. During the third trimester, harm can be caused to the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory, learning, emotion, and encoding visual and auditory information, all of which can create neurological and functional CNS impairments as well.

When structural impairments are not observable, neurological impairments are assessed. Neurological problems are expressed as either diagnosable disorders, such as epilepsy or other seizure disorders, or soft signs. Soft signs are broader, nonspecific neurological impairments, such as impaired fine motor skills, neurosensory hearing loss, poor gait, clumsiness, poor eye-hand coordination.

Functional impairments are assessed when structural or neurological impairments does not exist. Functional impairments are abnormalities due to prenatal alcohol exposure (rather than hereditary causes or postnatal insults) in observable and measurable domains related to daily functioning, often referred to as developmental disabilities.

The production of birth deficiencies is not a measure on the amount of alcohol being ingested. Individual women process alcohol differently. Other factors differ the results, too, such as the age of the mother, the timing and regularity of the alcohol ingestion, and whether the mother has eaten any food while drinking.

Alcohol quickly goes through the placental barrier and the fetus is less equipped to get rid of alcohol than its mother, so the fetus tends to receive a high concentration of alcohol, which remains longer than it would in the mother’s system. this is the reason why the child is the one largely affected when in fact it is the mother who consumes the alcohol. Unfortunately true.

Victims of sex and love addiction has a found a way to help their illness. Sex and love addiction was born. This was created by a previous Alcoholics anonymous member. Though, he had been sober, he was unfaithful to his wife for a period of time. He founded sex and love addiction anonymous as an attempt to discontinue his compulsive sexual and romantic behavior.

“Bottom-line behaviors” are persuaded to be identified on members of the organization. The organization identifies these behaviors as “any sexual or emotional act, not regarding its initial impulse may be, which leads to loss of control over rate, frequency, or duration of its occurrence or recurrence, resulting in spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, and moral damage of oneself and others.”

In addition, the Sex and Love Addiction Anonymous uses the 12-step program and the 12 traditions in helping their members recover from the addiction. The excellent thing with the organization is that since everyone is a victim, they are empathic about each other’s experiences and feelings. Thus, they claim to understand what the other person is going through and are able to offer support through sharing and meetings. To quote, “we found in each other what we could find nowhere else: people who knew the depth of our pain. Together we found hope and the care of a loving Higher Power. Our commitment is to help others recover from sexual addiction, just as we have been helped.”

Sex and Love Addiction Anonymous’ twelve-step program are the following:

1. We admitted we were powerless over sex and love addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to sex and love addicts, and to practice these principles in all areas of our lives.

And here are their Twelve Traditions:

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon S.L.A.A. unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as this Power may be expressed through our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3. The only requirement for S.L.A.A. membership is the desire to stop living out a pattern of sex and love addiction. Any two or more persons gathered together for mutual aid in recovering from sex and love addiction may call themselves an S.L.A.A. group, provided that as a group they have no other affiliation.

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or S.L.A.A. as a whole.

5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the sex and love addict who still suffers.

6. An S.L.A.A. group or S.L.A.A. as a whole ought never to endorse, finance, or lend the S.L.A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. Every S.L.A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. S.L.A.A. should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

9. S.L.A.A. as such ought never to be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. S.L.A.A. has no opinion on outside issues; hence the S.L.A.A. name ought never to be drawn into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, film, and other public media. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all fellow S.L.A.A. members.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

As they say, we all are crazy. We all have that craziness within us. It is just a matter of how we handle our differences and extremities that we are able to handle our craziness. Moreover, many ask if mental illnesses really do exist. The English-speaking world has not always used medical language to illustrate the behavior we now label as symptomatic of mental illness. Illlustrations were sometimes framed in quite different terms, such as possession. What we now call mental illness was not always treated as a medical problem. Non-English-speaking nations in the West have had changes in their linguistic usage and their treatment of the mentally ill roughly parallel to Anglophone countries. Anthropological work in non-Western cultures suggests that there are many cases of behavior that psychiatry would classify as symptomatic of mental disorder, which are not seen within their own cultures as signs of mental illness.

However, nowadays, it has been argued that mental disorders are really existing mental conditions that may have caused disturbance in a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a lessened capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.

Mental illness does not choose an individual to carry the burdens of the disorder. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Mental illnesses are curable. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptoms by actively joining in an individual treatment plan. In addition to medication treatment, psychosocial treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, peer support groups and other community services can also be components of a treatment plan and that assist with recovery. The availability of transportation, diet, exercise, sleep, friends and meaningful paid or volunteer activities contribute to overall health and wellness, including mental illness recovery.

Sometimes, recovering from mental illness is quite impossible due to the stigma attached to it by the society one lives in. When the person is treated inside a medical institution, he or she is given sufficient treatment and is treated as if they are normal. They are given proper care and attention so as to promote recovery. However, when they go out into the real world after some time, society, upon knowing their past, would most likely mock them and treat them differently. Society would look at them as someone who still has the mental disorder and resultingly, it would make them feel worse and thus, could trigger an occurrence of the mental illness once again.

A person afflicted with a mental illness would feel less of himself. He would think that he I not valuable to live in this world given that he could not function properly anymore. However, support from family and friends would be a great help for the patient to view life differently and positively. Thus it is the role of the family to provide the patient with love and care so as to sustain his recovery.

To add, admitting to oneself that a superior being controls your life and you can turn to that superior being in time of needs is part of spirituality. It is God’s spirit that can grant you the strength and courage to face your problems. It is the admission that you do not have to burn yourself out struggling to solve all your problems on your own. It is the openness to let go of your sense of over-responsibility and let God have some power over the problems. Spirituality is also the recognition that humans consist not only of physical matter but also have a spiritual dimension that needs daily care in order to survive.

Faith, hope, and love are the three foundations of spirituality. Faith is what allows the person to believe that a supreme being is helping them in times of trouble, sorrow, and pain. Faith is the belief that God will never abandon or forget you during your time of need. Furthermore, spirituality is quickly identified in people who have hope and trust in God’s mercy, wisdom and justice. Their hope enables them to “let go and let God.” Their hope enables them to hand over their sense of over responsibility, guilt, rescuing and enabling to God’s hands. Their hope enables them to take a “tough love” stance in order to get help for the troubled persons in their lives. There is also spirituality when one gives love, concern, and generosity to other people. With spirituality, people are altruistic and giving in their approach to the world. They are able to make a difference in people’s lives.

However, there has been a rising conflict between the boundary of spirituality and religion. The two terms may be sometimes used by people interchangeably, yet one should be clarified with its distinction. Religion is an institution recognized by man for various reasons- exert control; instill morality, stroke egos, or whatever it does. On the other hand, spirituality is born in a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced.

On a personal note, I do believe that spirituality has more weight than religion. As what was said, religion is oftentimes forced, thus, usually, people carry out religious rituals out of obedience to the religious tradition. But, true spirituality is something that is found deep within oneself. It is a way of loving, accepting and relating to the world and people around. It cannot be found in a church or by believing in a certain way.

Then, he seeks for help from hi loved ones. He seeks for professional help to intoxicate him from the drug. Rehabilitation centers provide help to those who have substance use problems. They provide medical help as well as psychological and social aid. However, rehabilitation may not be enough for the full recovery of the person. The patient should be equipped with the right values and skills in facing the real world after rehabilitation.

Groups such as alcoholics anonymous, emotions anonymous, and cocaine anonymous are fellowship groups that provide spiritual enhancement and life skills program to people who wants to receive them. Anyone who is willing to change and turn away from such addictions or someone who merely wants to help victims recover form the darkness they were in is very welcome to join the fellowship. Here, people help each other in recovering from their problems. The fellowship believes that the best people who could understand addicts are those who have been addicts themselves. Sympathy and compassion will never be enough. Someone who has experienced the dark side of drug would really understand the feeling of an addict and thus, would be able to give the right comfort and support.

Moreover, the fellowship uses the twelve-step program in helping the patients recover. This twelve-step program was first formulated by the alcoholics anonymous. It consists of twelve steps on how to deal with the addiction, emphasizing acceptance, surrender, and self-awareness. The twelve step program tries to impart that there is one very powerful being above us all, and that we should lay down all our flaws to Him and al will be well. Of course, man should do his best to become a better person and God will then do the rest.

Here is the Twelve-Step Program of the Emotions Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our emotions — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

With the twelve-step program, individuals who have become victims of addiction are given optimism that it is not too late – that life does not end in addiction. In fact, it even opens a new door, a new chapter in our lives in which we should live meaningfully.

In the 1970s, cocaine was expensive and considered a “status” drug. The beginnings of cheap crack increased the ease of access of this substance, and crack has become the drug of choice for many drug users, especially for inner-city disadvantaged youth. This has been the beginnings of the growing crack addiction. Crack’s accessibility, ease of concealment, wide availability, and low cost has increased its use. The reality that crack is smoked rather than injected has contributed to its popularity.

Moreover, drug addiction is not only occurring to people on the streets. It is a common fact that celebrities have their “shining moments” when it comes to substance dependence. They may look pleasant and very much happy in front of cameras, but their deepest secrets are yet to be discovered. A number of celebrities have already been into rehabilitation to fight their crack addiction, heroin, or even alcohol addiction.

Drew Barrymore was one of the very early celebrity known that spearheaded headlines because of her wild child antics. At the age of nine, Drew was already smoking cigarettes. She was an alcoholic at 11, a marijuana smoker by 12, and a cocaine addict by 13. She went to rehab twice and even attempted suicide when she was 14. Currently, that is all in the past. Her wild child days behind her, Barrymore has grown into a sober, responsible and productive woman. Aside from starring in a slew of hits, she has also become a producer, forming the production company Flower Films with friend and partner Nancy Juvonen in 1995. Her company is responsible for hits like Charlie’s Angels and 50 First Dates. This goes to show that anybody messed up with drugs can revive from life.

There are actually two sides to this Oprah-Winfrey-was-a-drug-addict story. On one hand, there’s the unforgettable TV moment in the 90s when she tearfully admitted in her own talk show that she had smoked crack cocaine while in her 20s, but never said anything about an addiction to the drug or anything else. On the other hand, there’s the more recent allegation made in a tell-all book by a previous boyfriend that Oprah was actually a habitual cocaine user in the 80s, and was in fact under the influence during her show tapings.

Right now, we can clearly see that Oprah Winfrey has triumphed over the use of cocaine. As of September 2008, Forbes has predicted Oprah as having a fortune worth over $2.7 billion. CNN and Time Magazine hailed her “arguably the world’s most powerful woman”. She is quite the success story, sordid drug past or not.

Anyone of all walks of life could be a victim of crack addiction. Life is largely unpredictable. On a certain point we are having a good laugh with friends living the good life, the next time we know, we are shaking and craving for a drug we never thought we couldn’t seem to live without. People may be aware of the effects of drugs if abused, yet they still give in to curiosity, probably, or to pressure and thus end up living miserably. However, there is always hope for every addict in this world. Life doesn’t end in addiction. Giving up is ends life.

As unusual as it seems, there are individuals who cannot deal naturally with their emotions. Just like alcoholism, emotional problem is a serious problem. One is not able to function well due to the disruption of its emotions. Usually, people would use defense mechanisms as to cover up their emotional problems. However, this would in turn cause some trouble in their daily lives. And, moreover, it could affect the people around them. Moreover, emotional problems could be caused by alcoholism or any addiction problems. When one is addicted, the person does not only become physically attached to the object of addiction, but also he or she becomes emotionally attached to the object of addiction.

Emotions Anonymous is a twelve-step organization, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. It caters to people whose emotions are causing difficulties in their lives. Emotions such as depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness, anger, compulsion, and obsessions are the most common in which the members had to deal with. Emotions Anonymous was started on July 6, 1971. Emotions Anonymous meetings are self-supporting by voluntary contributions of its members. Emotions Anonymous is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution, nor does it endorse or oppose any causes. The primary purpose of Emotions Anonymous is to show its members how to stay well emotionally and how to help others to become emotionally well.

Here is the 12-step program used by Emotional Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our emotions — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

With emotions anonymous, people in all walks of life are able to look for help from others and may find comfort and guidance from those who have been there and had done that, or even share compassion with people are experiencing the same thing. Indeed, social support is very important and could be a cure to emotional illness.

Depending upon the preference of the user and the drugs’ purity. Heroin can be used in different ways. It can be injected into a vein, injected into a muscle, smoked in a standard pipe, mixed in a regular cigarette, inhaled as smoke through a straw, known as “chasing the dragon,” snorted as powder via the nose.

After a single dose, the short-term effects of abusing heroin appears and in a few hours disappear. After an injection of heroin, the user reports feeling a surge of euphoria together with a warm flushing of the skin, a dry mouth, and heavy extremities. The initial euphoria is followed by an alternation of a wakeful and sleepy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded due to the depression of the central nervous system. Other effects included slowed and slurred speech, slow gait, constricted pupils, droopy eyelids, impaired night vision, vomiting, constipation.

A certain period of time is needed for the appearance of the long-term effects of heroin. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, cellulites, and liver disease. Pulmonary complications, including different types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health condition of the abuser, as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration. In addition to the effects of the drug itself, street heroin may have additives that do not really melt and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Tolerance develops with regular use of heroin. This means the abuser must use more heroin to achieve the same intensity or effect.

Physical dependence and heroin addiction develops as higher doses are used over time. With physical dependence, the body has adapted to the existed of the drug and withdrawal symptoms may occur if use is stopped. Withdrawal, which in regular abusers may happen as early as a few hours after the last administration, produces drug craving, restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps (“cold turkey”), kicking movements (“kicking the habit”), and other symptoms. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last does and drop after about a week. Sudden withdrawal by seriously dependent users who are in poor health can be fatal.

Moreover, the withdrawal syndrome from heroin may start within 6 to 24 hours of discontinuation of the drug; however, this time frame can vary with the degree of tolerance as well as the amount of the last consumed dose. Symptoms may include: sweating, malaise, anxiety, depression, priapism, extra sensitivity of the genitals in females, general feeling of heaviness, cramp-like pains in the limbs, excessive sneezing, tears, rhinorrhea, sleep difficulties (insomnia), cold sweats, chills, severe muscle and bone aches; nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, and fever.

Like any other cycle of drug addiction, heroin addiction starts with the irregular use of the drug that would then lead to a habit. This is so because it causes some chemicals in the brain to become dependent to the drug. Moreover, the body itself desires for the drug because of its pleasurable effects. It is relaxing, thus the person feels positively about the drug. And even though it gets to the point that the drug is starting to deteriorate the person, he or she could not get away with it anymore, because he or she has become dependent on heroin. Thus, when the drug intake is suddenly terminated, the person experiences withdrawal symptoms. With this, professional help is required for recovery.

No matter how intense the drug alcohol treatment may be, unless the person is willing to change and determined to turn his/her back away from the tempting and devilish treat of drugs and alcohol, all the efforts of treating the addiction would be put to waste.

The addict finds it very difficult to quit using meth because of the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms. Both physical and emotional symptoms are greatly evident with chronic use of crystal meth. The effects of methamphetamine are primarily connected

to its action as a potent central nervous system stimulant affecting the body’s mechanisms for regulating heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, appetite, attention, mood, alertness and alarm responses.

There are many ways in taking in meth. It could be through swallowing, snorting, smoking, and injecting. Ways which enhance the brain’s uptake of the substance have been increasing; snorting is faster than swallowing, smoking is faster than snorting, etc. Depending on way of direction, meth can alter your mood in diverse ways. Right after smoking meth intravenously, the user experiences an intense rush that lasts only a few minutes and is described as exceptionally pleasurable. Snorting meth resulting in euphoria, described as a high but not a rush. While the effects of smoking and IV injection are instantaneous, smoking meth produces effects within 3 to 5 minutes and oral injection can take up to 20 minutes to produce a high.

The enjoyable effects of crystal meth stops working even before the blood concentration of the drug falls significantly. To maintain the high, increasing frequency of use is a requirement. Users indulge in binge behavior for days at a time; foregoing food, hygiene, sleep and other necessities. In addition, side effect associated with meth overdose include brain damage, meningitis, neurotoxicity, sensations of flesh crawling with bugs, compulsive picking and infecting sores, severe headache, muscle breakdown and kidney failure.On a very sad note, no medications are available to treat methamphetamine overdose.

In preventing meth usage, communities have now joined movements to stop this kind of addiction. Family-focused prevention efforts have been found to have greater impact than strategies that focus on parents only.

To take away the toxins from the drug, detoxification is a necessary part of treatment. Because of this, withdrawal is also treated by way of providing certain drug that would mimic the effects of meth but not as destructive as meth. Withdrawal from methamphetamine is usually characterized by intense drug cravings, depression, insomnia, and increased appetite.

When carried out on long term, there are several cognitive behavioral intrusions designed to help in modifying the patient’s thinking and behaviors, and to increase coping skills related to various life stressors. The support from family and loved ones is still the most important ingredient in treating meth addicts. With the knowledge that he or she is loved and cared for would give confidence him or her to fight for her life despite the discouraging effects of meth. Realizing that you are important in the family ad in the society could inspire you to move on and turn your back from the darkness for good.

The determination and the will to change will still be one of the most important factor to change the individual regardless of the kind of treatment. Cognitive therapy is greatly helpful in making the person realize that life does not revolve around the drug. There is more to life than meth. The person would then be taught coping skills and new perspectives in dealing with temptations and starting a new life as the person recovers form the battle with meth.

When faced with crystal meth addiction, one should not panicked because there are help available. One should just be willing and determined to look for the right treatment.