Addiction In Workplace

A recent national survey of human resources professionals revealed that although substance abuse and addiction are among the most serious problems faced in the workplace, employers are not fully addressing the problem. The survey, conducted by the Hazelden Foundation, found that many employers do not proactively deal with substance abuse issues and do not refer employees to treatment programs, although many companies pay for them.

“Addiction is this country’s number one public health problem,” said Jill Wiedemann-West, Senior Vice President of Clinical and Recovery Services at the Hazelden Foundation. “We know that treating drug and alcohol addiction results in more people finding their path to recovery, it results in more resilient families, more productive work places and healthier and safer communities.”

According to the survey, more than 67 percent of HR professionals believe that substance abuse and addiction are some of the most serious issues they face in their company. The major problems stemming from substance abuse that affect companies are absenteeism, reduced productivity, and lack of trust and obviously a diminished bottom line. However, less than 22 percent of HR professionals say their companies openly and proactively deal with their employee’s substance abuse and addiction issues. This is a staggering figure – considering the fact that it has been documented for years that there are simple steps to follow when it comes to dealing with addiction in the workplace. Granted, those are some of the most difficult steps to take if you’re the addict; however, to not will die from addiction and businesses will bleed revenue unless the proper steps are taken. Call me directly and I will personally help you carve a new path for your business and life.

- Dr. Reza Mohammad

Designer Drugs

Dr. Akikur Mohammad, Founder of Malibu Horizon, the leading non 12-step treatment center in Malibu, California, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC.edu), announced today that his facility’s treatment team will be leading a public charge against an emerging wave of new designer drugs that are hitting the streets at an alarming rate. Along with established threats like Spice and Salvia, there is a new drug tearing families and communities apart across the country.

Leading the wave of designer drugs is a horrific substance referred to as “Bath Salts” that users are ingesting in order to get a hallucinogenic high (which comes with a side of extreme paranoia and raging anger). The Bath Salts contain mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), a stimulant that can be broken up and snorted, smoked or reduced to a liquid for injection just like cocaine. Since the effects of Bath Salts are similar to cocaine, meth and ecstasy, dangerous amounts of Dopamine and very low levels of Serotonin impact the user’s brain, which results in severely damaged brain chemistry and inevitable psychosis with prolonged use.

The most terrifying effect of Bath Salts is found after users ingest the drug for multiple days. Since the drug has a much longer half-life than other drugs, abusers stay under the influence longer, and after just a couple of days, a staggering number of users experience full psychotic breaks, which often result in extreme delusions, violent outbursts and severe depression.

Dr. Mohammad said, “According to various reports from around the country, the Bath Salt craze is reaching epidemic proportions and very few addiction experts are familiar with the compound or how to treat the addiction. My team at Malibu Horizon is not only leading the charge against designer drugs, but is also developing the proper protocol for treatment.” Mohammad added, “Kids are dying while parents and many professionals have no idea why. The Malibu Horizon team understands these drugs and has designed the best way to treat the addicts.”

- Dr. Reza Mohammad

Progressive Treatment

Americans have long enjoyed a fickle relationship with drugs. Addictive medications and “recreational” drugs are touted by some and despised by others.
People who abuse drugs face complications, whether legal, economic, social or medical. Addicts are stigmatized as antisocial, immoral and weak, with little regard for the law.

In Agoura Hills, Akikur Reza Mohammad, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at USC, is working to change stereotypes about addiction. “There is no cure for addiction, just treatment,” according to Mohammad, a certified addiction medicine specialist.”

Mohammad centers his outpatient treatment regimen on the belief that addiction is a brain disease, a chronic medical illness. “Someone who is genetically predisposed to develop diabetes and eats an unhealthy diet will become a diabetic,” he said.

“The same is true for drug addicts. If they have the genes that make them prone to addiction and start drinking, they will become an alcoholic. Addiction is determined by both genetic and environmental components,” and knowledge of the family’s medical history can be a powerful tool in preventing substance abuse.

People from families with a pattern of addiction should avoid alcohol and narcotics, but for most patients, Mohammad said, the seeds of addiction grow from mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders.

While he prefers that people avoid addiction through awareness, he is working on an effective treatment for those already in the grip of drug abuse.

Differing from most 12-step programs, his approach encourages addicts to change their habits but also addresses underlying causes, or co-occurring disorders. “Patients need a psychiatric assessment to check for problems other than addiction,” Mohammad said. “Both complications need to be treated at the same time to prevent an exacerbation of problems. “

“Many people use substances in an attempt to self-medicate but end up harming themselves and invariably affecting friends, family members and loved ones,” he said.

Treating drug disorders with drugs may appear paradoxical, but Mohammad is convinced that treatments focused on behavioral modification only address symptoms. He believes that failure to treat underlying mental disorders leads to the high degree of recidivism reported by most rehabilitation centers.

“Unfortunately,” Mohammad said, “marketing is involved with addiction treatment and this often comes at the expense of the patients.”

He said he does not hoodwink patients into believing that his method is a cure-all, but reinforces the concept that recovery from addiction is a lifelong process.

“If a diabetic stops taking insulin, they will develop complications,” Mohammad said. “If an addict stops his treatment, which includes medication and behavioral changes, he will return to using drugs.”

Addiction is not merely the byproduct of a weak will, Mohammad said, and more people should seek medical treatment for drug dependency.

Using drugs such as suboxone, which is effective against opiate dependency, he weans patients off other substances before addressing underlying psychological problems and attempting behavior modification.

Specifically designed to treat opiate addiction, suboxone, unlike methadone, affects only a small number of opiate receptors in the brain, preventing the patient from developing a tolerance to the medication. Methadone treatment can result in a patient’s needing progressively higher dosages to maintain the desired effect.

“Outpatient detox requires the patient to be medically stable with proper social support,” Mohammad said. He usually refers people who don’t qualify for outpatient treatment to Malibu Horizon, the rehabilitation center he founded and directs in Malibu.

- Dr. Reza Mohammad

Children’s Brains on Drugs

The families are always the last to know when it comes to the absolute truth about their loved one’s level of abuse. Addicts are typically so accustomed to distorting the truth that it is often years before the whole story surfaces…if ever. That said, the most crucial tool for families is information and while they may not know what exactly the addict is really doing, they can be aware of how the addict’s brain is reacting to the drugs they may be abusing.

Essentially, Drugs are chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. There are at least two ways that drugs are able to do this: (1) by imitating the brain’s natural chemical messengers, and/or (2) by overstimulating the “reward circuit” of the brain.

Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, have a similar structure to chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. Because of this similarity, these drugs are able to “fool” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.

Other drugs, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters, or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is needed to shut off the signal between neurons. This disruption produces a greatly amplified message that ultimately disrupts normal communication patterns.

Nearly all drugs, directly or indirectly, target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that control movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. The overstimulation of this system, which normally responds to natural behaviors that are linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc), produces euphoric effects in response to the drugs. This reaction sets in motion a pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the behavior of abusing drugs.

As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. As a result, dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit is lessened, reducing the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs and the things that previously brought pleasure. This decrease compels those addicted to drugs to keep abusing drugs in order to attempt to bring their dopamine function back to normal. And, they may now require larger amounts of the drug than they first did to achieve the dopamine high — an effect known as tolerance.

Long-term abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When the optimal concentration of glutamate is altered by drug abuse, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Drugs of abuse facilitate nonconscious (conditioned) learning, which leads the user to experience uncontrollable cravings when they see a place or person they associate with the drug experience, even when the drug itself is not available. Brain imaging studies of drug-addicted individuals show changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision-making, learning and memory, and behavior control. Together, these changes can drive an abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively despite adverse consequences — in other words, to become addicted to drugs.

It is important for all those involved with the addiction process to be capable of understanding the science behind the behavior. Not only does it help you better understand the chaos, but the realization that an addict’s behavior isn’t personal often times helps everyone in the family sleep a little better at night. Our mission at Malibu Horizon is to treat the entire family and the first step in that treatment process is a healthy dose of education.

- Dr. Reza Mohammad

Many In Recovery

Many in the recovery community claim to be “Clean and Sober” But, what exactly does this mean?

Excellent question! Clean refers to living without using drugs. Sober is used in the same context. However, the definition of “Sober,” also reveals a path, and a desired character. A path, and character, prescribed and modeled, by the founders of the 12 Step Fellowships. A path, and character, prescribed for spiritual living. Let us begin with the basics. Following is the dictionary definition for “Sober:”

	Habitually moderate in the use of alcoholic liquors or drugs; temperate.
	Not intoxicated or affected by the use of drugs.
	Plain or subdued: sober attire.
	Devoid of frivolity, excess, exaggeration, or speculative imagination; straightforward: gave a sober assessment of the situation. The first, and second, parts of the above definition are about abstinence. The other three parts describe attributes. The person that displays these attributes is Sober, not just abstinent from chemicals, not just clean. His, or her, Sobriety is manifested in “all their affairs: “This person practices Sobriety, with a capital S.
	Marked by seriousness, gravity, or solemnity of conduct or character. Marked by circumspection and self-restraint.

This Sobriety with a capital S is manifested in the way people live their lives, not in what they say. Sobriety is life lived in the pursuit of simplicity, and “serenity;” a way of life that avoids “excess.”

This Sobriety is hard to attain. It is not easy to live Soberly in a culture that is increasingly out of control. In a culture that prizes image above substance. We live in a culture of hysterical “personalities.” A culture of dramatic, “reality” television shows, screeching religious leaders, flashy gurus, “spiritual guides,” and shocking, instantaneous, psychotherapies. It is not surprising that the development of a Sober character is not a modern, or popular quest. However, for a recovering addict it is the