HALT Recovery Central's Addiction Blog

Whether alcohol and drug abuse is a factor or not, domestic violence and abuse is a very serious problem — for the victims and the abusers.

Ironically, many batterers do not see themselves as perpetrators, but as victims. This reasoning is common among batterers. Most enter treatment programs heavily armored with elaborate denial systems designed to justify or excuse their actions.

All About Control

There are varying theories about what makes batterers use abuse on those closest to them. One view is that batterers are hardened criminals who commit their crimes in a conscious, calculated manner to achieve the dominance they believe men are entitled to. Others believe abuse is the product of deep psychological and developmental scars, which are not gender specific.
Experts have reached a consensus on several common characteristics among batterers — they are controlling, manipulative, often see themselves as victims and believe that men have a pre-ordained right to be in charge of all aspects of a relationship.

One batterer who has now gone through treatment, says “the beatings, the verbal abuse and the intimidation were all about control. It was like having a new toy,” he said. “I had the buttons and I could make her do whatever I wanted. I was trying to intimidate her. I wanted to control her for the simple reason that I knew I could do it. It made me feel powerful.”

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Why Meds Work for Some People, but Not for Others
 
You can add alcoholism to the growing list of conditions that may be addressed with medication, depending on a patient’s genetic topography.

That was the message delivered recently in a lecture by NIAAA clinical director Dr. Markus Heilig, who studied the effect—or lack thereof—of the drug naltrexone (an opioid antagonist commonly used in the treatment of drug addiction) on a person’s wired desire to reach for a drink. It appears as though people struggling with alcoholism for whom naltrexone is an effective treatment possess a particular genetic variant. That variant is worked on by the drug to stymie its push to make the body want alcohol.

This could be huge news for clinicians who work daily with alcoholics desperate to get sober, something Heilig said would be welcome in the field.

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If you are a male and you have ever been a heavy drinker or a binge drinker, your risk of developing pancreatic cancer could be much greater than men who do not drink. Just how much greater – from 1.5 times to 6 times greater – depends on how much and how often you drank to excess.
And, researchers say, it doesn’t matter when in your past that the heavy drinking occurred.

Dr. Samir Gupta, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study, surveyed 532 cancer patients in the San Francisco area diagnosed between 1995 and 1999. The cancer group was matched with 1,701 control participants of similar demographics.

He found that male binge drinkers – defined as drinking five or more drinks during one episode – had 3.5 times greater likelihood of developing pancreatic cancer. And again, Dr. Gupta’s research showed that the risk was greater no matter when during their lifetimes the binge drinking occurred.

One of the Deadliest Cancers

The researchers found no greater risk in women drinkers for pancreatic cancer. But the more alcohol a man consumed, the higher his risk of pancreatic cancer compared with those who drank little or no alcohol during their lives.

“Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, so any risk factor that can be identified and addressed may save lives,” Dr. Gupta said in a news release. “Our research found that large and frequent amounts of alcohol consumption may be risk factors for pancreatic cancer. If this relationship continues to be confirmed, reducing heavy and binge drinking may be more important than we already know.” The study was published online in the journal Cancer Causes and Control.

Four bad habits, very common among alcoholics, can make a person seem 12 years older in terms of health and increase the risk for an early death. Those habits – drinking too much, smoking, inactivity and poor diet – substantially increase the risk of death, according to a new study.
The study tracked 4,886 British adults over a 20-year period.

This is not exactly hot news, that smoking, drinking to excess, not getting exercise and not eating properly will increase your risk for a variety of health problems. But the new research, conducted by Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo, studied the four “bad habits” as a combined health threat.

Of the almost 5,000 people followed in the study, only 314 people had all four unhealthy habits and only 387 people had none of the four.

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