Star’s Death Places Spotlight on Xanax
Star’s Death Places Spotlight on Xanax
What is Xanax?
Xanax is a prescription medication for anxiety disorders (some outlets have incorrectly reported that it is an anti-depressant). It works by acting on GABA receptors, the “brakes” of the brain. It is part of the benzodiazepine class of medications and is in a larger group of medications commonly referred to as “downers” or “sedatives.”
While many people with anxiety disorders benefit from treatment with them, benzodiazepines have the potential to become addictive and can be abused. Drugs that people feel the effects of quickly and that leave the system quickly are more likely to be abused. Of the benzodiazepines, Xanax is one of the fastest acting and most potent.
Are all anxiety medications potentially addictive?
No. There are other kinds of medication for anxiety that affect the brain differently than Xanax and the other benzodiazepines.
Are drugs like Xanax dangerous?
All drugs have risks, which increase when they are not used as they should be. For example, overdoses of the commonly used over-the-counter drug Tylenol are the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S. Benzodiazepines like Xanax can put the brakes on the brain too much, particularly the part that controls breathing. When too high a dose of these medications is used, especially if they are combined with other substances that affect breathing – such as alcohol – breathing can become too slow or shallow or even stop completely. Per SAMHSA (Substance Abuseand Mental Health Services Administration), over three quarters of benzodiazepine-related ER visits in 2002 involved at least two substances. Alcohol was by far the most common second substance. Doctors who prescribe these medications routinely warn patients not to drink alcohol while taking them. Medications like Xanax can often be used safely as long as they are used as prescribed.
Drug abuse begins young
Drug abuse begins young, officials say
Middle school parents warned about dangers
Today’s most viewed articles
By Aaron Sanborn
asanborn@seacoastonline.com
February 17, 2012 2:00 AM
STRATHAM — Alcohol, marijuana and tobacco are the most abused substances among middle schoolers.
This was one statistic Student Assistance Counselor Margot Walker and School Resource Officer Michael Oliveira shared with Cooperative Middle School parents Wednesday night during a community forum at the school titled “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Teen Drug and Alcohol Use In Our Community But Were Afraid To Ask.”
Statistics
Use of Ecstasy has risen among Grade 8 and 10 students. From 2009 to 2010, lifetime use of ecstasy among eighth-graders increased from 2.2 percent to 3.3 percent
Among youth, the use of alcohol and other drugs has been linked to unintentional injuries, physical fights, academic and occupational problems, and illegal behavior
40 percent of those who started drinking at age 13 or younger developed alcohol dependence later in life.
Teenagers whose parents talk to them on a regular basis about the dangers of drug use are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t.
20 percent of eighth-graders report that they have tried marijuana.
More than 60 percent of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school.
*National statistics from Teen Help LLC
“Does it happen here? Not usually. But every year we usually have one or two of these incidents (with substances),” Walker said.
“For the most part it happens at home or someone else’s home,” Walker said. “Kids who steal alcohol at this age steal from their parents or other parents. They even steal marijuana from their parents.”
Oliveira said he gets concerned when he finds out middle school students are using these substances. Most addicts he’s encountered in his career start abusing drugs when they’re 14 years old, he said.
“Those two things are always generally linked at an early age,” he said.
Walker said alcohol is the biggest concern because it kills more youths then most drugs combined. Youth are getting it at a younger age, as early as 13, and don’t understand it. As a result, alcohol overdose deaths have increased.
Drinking and driving deaths also remain a problem, according to Walker.
In addition to talking to their kids about the risks of drinking, Walker said, parents need to talk to them about what to do if they find themselves in a situation where they drank too much and are in trouble or have a friend that is in trouble.
Walker said marijuana use is another major concern for her because most kids feel that it isn’t a big deal but many will move on to a stronger drug when the high no longer satisfies them.
Parents were warned that a major risk period for starting drug use is the summer between eighth grade and freshman year of high school because the anxiety associated with the transition.
While they may not currently be a major problem in the SAU 16 school district, a lot of the forum was spent on educating parents about the harder drugs, such as ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, synthetic drugs and prescription drugs.
Oliveira said these drugs do concern him because they are available in the Seacoast area, particularly concerning are some recent methamphetamine busts on the Seacoast, including one in Seabrook a couple weeks ago.
He said methamphetamines are a major issue in the western states and it causes people to hallucinate and sometimes harm themselves.
“If what comes here is the stuff on the West Coast, we’re in big trouble because methamphetamine is nuts,” Oliveira said.
Oliveira said recent crime trends on the Seacoast also alarm him. He cited a recent mugging in Portsmouth as an example.
“To me that reeks of drug use,” he said.
Both Walker and Oliveira told parents the drugs out there today are not the same drugs that were out there when they were in school. Many of the drugs nowadays are mixed with different chemicals, he said.
They stressed early intervention and education as the best way to prevent a problem.
Walker said parents can’t ignore that these drugs are out there and must talk to their children about them.
Wednesday’s forum on substances was one of a series of forums the school has hosted on teenage risk factors.
Statistics
Use of Ecstasy has risen among Grade 8 and 10 students. From 2009 to 2010, lifetime use of ecstasy among eighth-graders increased from 2.2 percent to 3.3 percent
Among youth, the use of alcohol and other drugs has been linked to unintentional injuries, physical fights, academic and occupational problems, and illegal behavior
40 percent of those who started drinking at age 13 or younger developed alcohol dependence later in life.
Teenagers whose parents talk to them on a regular basis about the dangers of drug use are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t.
20 percent of eighth-graders report that they have tried marijuana.
More than 60 percent of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school.
* Statistics from Teen Help LLC
Canadian songstress Celine Dion tells “Good Morning America” Monday that drug abuse killed legendary singer Whitney Houston.
By RITA SHERROW World Television EditorPublished: 2/14/2012 9:59 AM Last Modified: 2/14/2012 9:59 AM
Canadian songstress Celine Dion tells “Good Morning America” Monday that drug abuse killed legendary singer Whitney Houston.
Dion told the talk show’s Robin Roberts that Houston’s sudden death Saturday was the result of drugs even though the official determination of death isn’t expected for several weeks.
The iconic singer, 48, was found unconscious and unresponsive in her hotel room bathtub Saturday hours before she was to attend a pre-Grammy party in the hotel.
“Whitney has been an amazing inspiration for me …,” Dion told “GMA’s” Roberts. “It’s just really unfortunate that drugs and I don’t know … bad people or bad influence took over,” she said. “It took over her dreams. It took over her love and motherhood.
“When you think about Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, to get into drugs like that, for whatever reason,” continued the Grammy-winning artist. “Is it because of the stress and bad influence?
“What happens when you have everything? … There’s something that happens that I don’t understand, and that’s why I’m so scared,” she said. “I’m scared of show business, I’m scared of drugs, I’m scared of hanging out, and that’s why I don’t do parties and hanging out, and that’s why I’m not part of show business. We have to be afraid.
“Time after time, we lose people … taking pills to go perform, taking pills to wake up and taking pills to go to bed, she continued, according to the Web site. “It’s so unfortunate. I’ve always said, you have to have fun, and do music, and never be part of show business, because you don’t know what it’s going to get you into.
“How come it’s stronger than all that, stronger than family and motherhood and love itself?”
Several Web sites have reported the prescription drugs Xanax, Lorazepam, and Valium were found in the iconic singer’s hotel room.
This morning, radaronline,com is reporting that a preliminary autopsy has found “sedatives, specifically benzodiazepines,” present in Houston’s system. All three drugs found in her room are considered benzodiazepines, the Web site reported.
The Dry Drunk Syndrome is a term that should not be used as a catch-all when one has a bad day or a bump in life throws us for a while. Those are ups and downs that everyone experiences and shouldn’t be labeled to be anything more than what they truly are. The Dry Drunk is a condition far more serious than the highs and lows of our day-to-day existence.
Dry Drunk Syndrome
| Sobriety will necessarily have its ups and downs, its good times and its bad times, if only because we live in a world which we are inseparably joined. One doesn’t always sustain sobriety at the same level. There are fluctuations, shocks and setbacks which, when addressed within the context of the A.A. program, so not in themselves imperil the totality of one’s sobriety. The Dry Drunk Syndrome is a term that should not be used as a catch-all when one has a bad day or a bump in life throws us for a while. Those are ups and downs that everyone experiences and shouldn’t be labeled to be anything more than what they truly are. The Dry Drunk is a condition far more serious than the highs and lows of our day-to-day existence.The phrase “dry drunk” has two significant words for the alcoholic. “Dry” refers to the abstinence from drinking, whereas “drunk” signifies a deeply pathological condition resulting from the use of alcohol in the past. Taken together these words suggest intoxication without alcohol. Since intoxication comes from the Greek word for poison, “dry drunk” implies a state of mind and a mode of behavior that are poisonous to the alcoholic’s well being.
OBVIOUS TRAITS Persons experiencing a full-blown DRY DRUNK are, for that period, removed from the world of sobriety; they fail, for whatever reason, to accept the necessary conditions for sober living. Their mental and emotional homes are chaotic, their approach to everyday living is unrealistic, and their behavior, both verbal and physical, is unacceptable. This lack of sober realism manifests itself in many ways. 1. Grandiosity, put very simply, is an exaggeration of one’s own importance. This can be demonstrated either in terms of one’s strengths or weaknesses. In either case it is blatantly self- seeking or self-serving, putting oneself at the center of attention, from the “big me” who has ask the answers to the “poor me” whose cup of self-pity runneth over and wants all of our attention. 2. Judgmentalism is mutually related to grandiosity. It means that the alcoholic is prone to make value judgments – strikingly inappropriate evaluations – usually in terms of “goodness” or “badness”. 3. Intolerance leaves no room for delaying the gratification of personal desires. This is accomplished by gross confusion of priorities with the result that a mere whim or passing fancy is mistakenly given more importance than genuine personal needs. 4. Impulsivity is the result of intolerance or the lack of ability to delay gratification of personal desires. Impulsivity describes behavior which is heedless of the ultimate consequence for self or others. 5. Indecisiveness is related to impulsitivity in the sense that while the latter takes no realistic account of the consequences of the actions, the former precludes effective action altogether. Indecisiveness stems from an unrealistic exaggeration of the negative possibilities of the action ; so one wavers between two or more possible courses of action, more times than not- nothing gets done. These conditions, grandiosity, judgmentalism, intolerance ,impulsivity, and indecisiveness taken separately or together can lead to the following: a) Mood swings, which are unrelated to the circumstances to which one tries to link them. Alcoholics zero in on what they want others to think is the cause of the mood swing, when it isn’t that at all. More often than not it is something much deeper than the reason given. Inversely it can also be something totally insignificant with no substance at all (e.g. the sugar is too sweet or the donut is too round). Any excuse will do. b) Unable to demonstrate emotions freely, naturally and without constraint. No emotional spontaneity, no genuine spark. c) Introspection. A very healthy thing to do is difficult if not impossible for the “dry drunk”. It means to look inward to one’s examining each thought and desire, which is linked directly to one’s attitude. d) Detachment. Become aloof, display indifference, don’t care one way or the other, no special likes or dislikes, they withdraw. e) Self-absorption- with a tendency to call attention to whatever they have attained. Narcissism which is quite simply self-love. They become pompous asses. f) The inability to appreciate or enjoy themselves – nothing satisfies. g) Evidence of disorganization, is easily distracted, complains of boredom, and nothing seems to fit. h) A nostalgia sets in, a kind of wistful yearning for something of the past, such as freedom from care associated (falsely) with drinking, bars, drinking associates, and friends; the music, blue lights, and tinkle of the ice cubes in a glass in the neighborhood saloon. i) There can be a kind of romanticism, which includes unrealistic valuations of lifestyles and character traits which can be and usually are objectively dangerous to one’s sobriety. j) Escapism. Fantasizing, daydreaming, and wishful thinking are very much in evidence in the dry drunk syndrome as the individual slips farther and farther from reality. Since the abnormality of the alcoholic’s attitudes and behavior during the drinking career is generally recognized, the persistence or these character traits after stopping drinking (or the reappearance after an interlude of sobriety) is equally abnormal. The term “dry drunk” therefore denotes the absences of favorable change in the attitudes and behavior of the alcoholic who is not drinking, or the reversion of these by the alcoholic who has experienced a period of successful sobriety. From these conditions, it is to be inferred that the alcoholic is experiencing discomfort in life. The self-destructive attitudes and behavior of the dry drunk alcoholic are different in degree but not in kind. The alcoholic, when drinking, has learned to rely on a deeply inadequate, radically immature approach to solving life’s problems. And this is exactly what one sees in the dry drunk. ANALYSIS OF DRY DRUNK BEHAVIOR The alcoholic who rationalizes their own irresponsible behavior are also likely to find fault in the attitudes and behavior of others. Although not denying their own shortcomings, they attempt to escape notice by cataloging in great detail the transgressions of others. The classic maneuver of the dry drunk is over-reaction. The alcoholic may attach a seemingly disproportionate intensity of feeling to an ordinary insignificant event or mishap. Some alcoholics who experience the dry drunk seem to know all the answers, are seldom at a loss for words when it comes to self-diagnosis. Their knowledge is quite impressive, their apparent insight, as opposed to genuine insight, is convincing. CORRECTIVE MEASURES: Those undergoing a dry drunk lead impoverished lives. They experience severe limitations to grow,, to mature, and benefit from the possibilities that life offers. They lack the freshness and spontaneity that genuinely sober alcoholics manifest. Their life is a closed system, attitudes and behaviors are stereotyped, repetitive, and consequently predictable. Alcoholics learn early that humility and a power greater than them- selves are the bedrock for a genuine and productive sobriety. An unusual measure of self-discipline must accompany the ego deflation process. Needed is self-discipline in honesty, patience and responsibility towards the recovery process [and acceptance of their disease]. [To improve long term goals of sobriety be aware of mental stressors, get more involved in the recovery program, get active in the 12 steps, get and use a sponsor, talk things out.] Hopefully. they will begin to appreciate the ironic folly of those alcoholics who think life has suddenly become manageable again; whose sanity is beyond question; who see no need of turning their lives over to a power greater then them- selves; who find personal inventories unnecessary since they are seldom in the wrong and are no longer subject to the embarrassing need of repairing the wrongs they have done. When dry drunk alcoholics awaken to this irony that they, still unmanageable, still powerless, are the ones who have made this remarkable “recovery,” they may feel sufficiently mortified to want to change. |
More Fourth Way
CHAPTER I
Return from India. The war and the “search for the miraculous.” Old thoughts The question of schools. Plans for further travels. The East and Europe. A notice in a Moscow newspaper. Lectures on India. The meeting with G. A “distinguished man.” The first talk, G.’s opinion on schools. G.’s group. “Glimpses of Truth.” Further meetings and talks. The organization of G.’s Moscow group The question of payment and of means for the work. The question of secrecy and of the obligations accepted by the pupils. A talk about the East. “Philosophy,” “theory,” and “practice.” How was the system found? G’s ideas. “Man is a machine” governed by external influences Everything “happens.” Nobody “does” anything In order “to do” it is necessary “to be.” A man is responsible for his actions, a machine is not responsible. Is psychology necessary for the study of machines? The promise of “facts.” Can wars be stopped? A talk about the planets and the moon as living beings. The “intelligence” of the sun and the earth. “Subjective” and “objective” art.
CHAPTER II
Petersburg in 1915 G. in Petersburg. A talk about groups. Reference to “esoteric” work “Prison” and “Escape from prison.” What is necessary for this escape? Who can help and how? Beginning of meetings in Petersburg. A question on reincarnation and future life. How can immortality be attained? Struggle between “yes” and “no.” Crystallization on a right, and on a wrong, foundation. Necessity of sacrifice. Talks with G and observations. A sale of carpets and talks about carpets. What G. said about himself. Question about ancient knowledge and why it is hidden. G’s reply. Knowledge is not hidden. The materiality of knowledge and man’s refusal of the knowledge given to him. A question on immortality. The “four bodies of man.” Example of the retort filled with metallic powders. The way of the fakir, the way of the monk, and the way of the yogi The “fourth way.” Do civilization and culture exist?
CHAPTER III
G.’s fundamental ideas concerning man. Absence of unity. Multiplicity of I’s. Construction of the human machine. Psychic centers. G.’s method of exposition of the ideas of the system. Repetition unavoidable. What the evolution of man means Mechanical progress impossible. European idea of man’s evolution. Connectedness of everything in nature. Humanity and the moon. Advantage of individual man over the masses Necessity of knowing the human machine.
Absence of a permanent I in man. Role of small I’s. Absence of individuality and will in man. Eastern allegory of the house and its servants. The “deputy steward.” Talks about a fakir on nails and Buddhist magic.
CHAPTER IV
General impressions of G.’s system. Looking backwards. One of the fundamental propositions. The line of knowledge and the line of being. Being on different levels Divergence of the line of knowledge from the line of being. What a development of knowledge gives without a corresponding change of being—and a change of being without an increase in knowledge. What “understanding” means. Understanding as the resultant of knowledge and being. The difference between understanding and knowledge. Understanding as a function of three centers. Why people try to find names for things they do not understand. Our language. Why people do not understand one another. The word “man” and its different meanings. The language accepted in the system. Seven gradations of the concept “man.” The principle of relativity in the system. Gradations parallel to the gradations of man. The word “world.” Variety of its meanings. Examination of the word “world” from the point of view of the principle of relativity. The fundamental law of the universe. The law of three principles or three forces. Necessity of three forces for the appearance of a phenomenon. The third force. Why we do not see the third force. Three forces in ancient teachings. The creation of worlds by the will of the Absolute. A chain of worlds or the “ray of creation.” The number of laws in each world.
CHAPTER V
A lecture on the “mechanics of the universe.” The ray of creation and its growth from the Absolute. A contradiction of scientific views. The moon as the end of the ray of creation. The will of the Absolute. The idea of miracle. Our place in the world. The moon feeds on organic life. The influence of the moon and liberation from the moon. Different “materiality” of different worlds. The world as a world of “vibrations.” Vibrations slow down proportionately to the distance from the Absolute. Seven kinds of matter. The four bodies of man and their relation to different worlds. Where the earth is. The three forces and the cosmic properties of matter. Atoms of complex substances. Definition of matter according to the forces manifested through it. “Carbon,” “oxygen,” “nitrogen,” and “hydrogen.” The three forces and the four matters. Is man immortal or not? What does immortality mean? A man having the fourth body. The story of the seminarist and the omnipotence of God. Talks about the moon. The moon as the weight of a clock. Talk about a universal language. Explanation of the Last Supper.
CHAPTER VI
Talk about aims. Can the teaching pursue a definite aim? The aim of existence. Personal aims. To know the future. To exist after death. To be master of oneself. To be a Christian. To help humanity. To stop wars. G.’s explanations. Fate, accident, and will. “Mad machines.” Esoteric Christianity. What ought man’s aim to be? The causes of inner slavery. With what the way to liberation begins. “Know thyself.” Different understandings of this idea. Self study. How
to study? Self-observation. Recording and analysis. A fundamental principle of the working of the human machine. The four centers: Thinking, emotional, moving, instinctive. Distinguishing between the work of the centers. Making changes in the working of the machine. Upsetting the balance. How does the machine restore its balance? Incidental changes. Wrong work of centers. Imagination. Daydreaming. Habits. Opposing habits for purposes of self observation. The struggle against expressing negative emotions. Registering mechanicalness. Changes resulting from right self-observation. The idea of the moving center. The usual classification of man’s actions. Classification based upon the division of centers. Automatism. Instinctive actions. The difference between the instinctive and the moving functions. Division of the emotions. Different levels of the centers.
CHAPTER VII
Is “cosmic consciousness” attainable? What is consciousness? G.’s question about what we notice during self-observation. Our replies. G.’s remark that we had missed the most important thing. Why do we not notice that we do not remember ourselves? “It observes,” “it thinks,” “it speaks.” Attempts to remember oneself. G.’s explanations. The significance of the new problem. Science and philosophy. Our experiences. Attempts to divide attention. First sensation of voluntary self-remembering. What we recollect of the past. Further experiences. Sleep in a waking state and awakening. What European psychology has overlooked. Differences in the understanding of the idea of consciousness.
The study of man is parallel to the study of the world. Following upon the law of three comes the fundamental law of the universe: The law of seven or the law of octaves. The absence of continuity in vibrations. Octaves. The seven tone scale. The law of ”intervals.” Necessity for additional shocks. What occurs in the absence of additional shocks. In order to do it is necessary to be able to control ”additional shocks.” Subordinate octaves. Inner octaves. Organic life in the place of an “interval.” Planetary influences. The lateral octave sol-do. The meaning of the notes la, sol, fa. The meaning of the notes do, si. The meaning of the notes mi, re. The role of organic life in changing the earth’s surface.
CHAPTER VIII
Different states of consciousness. Sleep. Waking state. Self-consciousness. Objective consciousness. Absence of self-consciousness. What is the first condition for acquiring self-consciousness? Higher states of consciousness and the higher centers. The “waking state” of ordinary man as sleep. The life of men asleep. How can one awaken? What man is when he is born. What “education” and the example of those around him do. Man’s possibilities. Self study. “Mental photographs.” Different men in one man. “I” and “Ouspensky.” Who is active and who is passive? Man and his mask. Division of oneself as the first stage of work on oneself. A fundamental quality of man’s being. Why man does not remember himself. “Identification.” “Considering.” “Internal con sidering” and “external considering.” What “external” considering a machine means. “Injustice.” Sincerity and weakness. “Buffers.” Conscience. Morality. Does an idea of morality common to all exist? Does Christian morality exist? Do conceptions of good and evil common to all exist? Nobody does anything for the sale of evil. ‘Different conceptions of good and the results of these
different conceptions. On what can a permanent idea of good and evil be based? The idea of truth and falsehood. The struggle against “buffers” and against lying. Methods of school work. Subordination. Realization of one’s nothingness. Personality and essence. Dead people. General laws. The question of money.
CHAPTER IX 1
The “ray of creation” in the form of the three octaves of radiations. Relation of matters and forces on different planes of the world to our life. Intervals in the cosmic octaves and the shocks which fill them. ”Point of the universe.” Density of vibrations. Three forces and four matters. “Carbon,” “Oxygen,” “Nitrogen,” “Hydrogen.” Twelve triads. “Table of Hydrogens.” Matter in the light of its chemical, physical, psychic and cosmic properties. Intelligence of matter. “Atom.” Every human function and state depends on energy. Substances in man. Man has sufficient energy to begin work on himself, if he saves his energy. Wastage of energy. “Learn to separate the fine from the coarse.” Production of fine hydrogens. Change of being. Growth of inner bodies. The human organism as a three-storied factory. Three kinds of food. Entrance of food, air and impressions into the organism. Transformation of substances is governed by the law of octaves. Food octave and air octave. Extracting “higher hydrogens.” The octave of impressions does not develop. Possibility of creating an artificial shock at the moment of receiving an impression. Conscious effort. “Self-remembering. ” Resulting development of impressions and air octaves. A second conscious shock. Effort connected with emotions Preparation for this effort. Analogy between the human organism and the universe. Three stages in the evolution of the human machine. Transmutation of the emotions. Alchemy. The centers work with different hydrogens. Two higher centers. Wrong work of lower centers. Materiality of all inner processes.
CHAPTER X
From what does the way start? The law of accident. Kinds of influences. Influences created in life. Influences created outside life, conscious in their origin only. The magnetic center. Looking for the way. Finding a man who knows. Third kind of influence: conscious and direct. Liberation from the law of accident. “Step,” “stairway,” and “way.” Special conditions of the fourth way. Wrong magnetic center is possible. How can one recognize wrong ways? Teacher and pupil. Knowledge begins with the teaching of cosmoses. The usual concept of two cosmoses: the “Macro-cosmos” and “Microcosmos.” The full teaching of seven cosmoses. Relation between cosmoses: as zero to infinity. Principle of relativity. “The way up is at the same time the way down.” What a miracle is. “Period of dimensions.” Survey of the system of cosmoses from the point of view of the theory of many dimensions. G’s comment, that “Time is breath.” Is the “Microcosmos” man or the “atom”?
CHAPTER XI
“Except a corn of wheat die, it bringeth forth no fruit.” A book of aphorisms. To awake, to die, to be born. What prevents a man from being born again? What prevents a man from ”dying”? What prevents a man from awakening? Absence of the realization of one’s own nothingness. What does the realization
of one’s own nothingness mean? What prevents this realization? Hypnotic influence of life. The sleep in which men live is hypnotic sleep. The magician and the sheep. “Kundalini.” Imagination. Alarm clocks. Organized work. Groups. Is it possible to work in groups without a teacher? Work of self-study in groups. Mirrors. Exchange of observations. General and individual conditions. Rules. “Chief fault.” Realization of one’s own nothingness. Danger of imitative work. ”Barriers.” Truth and falsehood. Sincerity with oneself. Efforts. Accumulators. The big accumulator. Intellectual and emotional work. Necessity for feeling. Possibility of understanding through feeling what cannot be understood through the mind. The emotional center is a more subtle apparatus than the intellectual center. Explanation of yawning in connection with accumulators. Role and significance of laughter in life. Absence of laughter in higher centers.
CHAPTER XII
Work in groups becomes more intensive. Each man’s limited “repertoire of roles.” The choice between work on oneself and a “quiet life.”‘ Difficulties of obedience. The place of “tasks.” G. gives a definite task. Reaction of friends to the ideas. The system brings out the best or the worst in people. What people can come to the work? Preparation. Disappointment is necessary. Question with which a man aches. Revaluation of friends. A talk about types. G. gives a further task. Attempts to relate the story of one’s life. Intonations. “Essence” and “personality.” Sincerity. A bad mood. G. promises to answer any question. “Eternal Recurrence.” An experiment on separating personality from essence. A talk about sex. The role of sex as the principal motive force of all mechanicalness. Sex as the chief possibility of liberation. New birth. Transmutation of sex energy. Abuses of sex. Is abstinence useful? Right work of centers. A permanent center of gravity.
CHAPTER XIII
Intensity of inner work. Preparation for “facts.” A visit to Finland. The “miracle” begins. Mental ”conversations” with G. ’”You are not asleep.” Seeing “sleeping people.” Impossibility of investigating higher phenomena by ordinary means. A changed outlook on “methods of action.” “Chief feature.” G. defines people’s chief feature. Reorganization of the group. Those who leave the work. Sitting between two stools. Difficulty of coming back. G.’s apartment. Reactions to silence. “Seeing lies.” A demonstration. How to awake? How to create the emotional state necessary? Three ways. The necessity of sacrifice. “Sacrificing one’s suffering.” Expanded table of hydrogens. A “moving diagram.” A new discovery. “We have very little time.”
CHAPTER XIV
Difficulty of conveying “objective truths” in ordinary language. Objective and subjective knowledge. Unity in diversity. Transmission of objective knowledge. The higher centers. Myths and symbols. Verbal formulas. “As above, so below.” “Know thyself.” Duality. Transformation of duality into trinity. The line of will. Quaternity, Quinternity—the construction of the pentagram. The five centers. The Seal of Solomon. The symbolism of numbers, geometrical figures, letters, and words. Further symbologies. Right and wrong understanding
of symbols. Level of development. The union of knowledge and being: Great Doing. “No one can give a man what he did not possess before.” Attainment only through one’s own efforts. Different known “lines” using symbology. This system and its place. One of the principal symbols of this teaching. The enneagram. The law of seven in its union with the law of three. Examination of the enneagram. “What a man cannot put into the enneagram, he does not understand.” A symbol in motion. Experiencing the enneagram by movement. Exercises. Universal language. Objective and subjective art. Music. Objective music is based on inner octaves. Mechanical humanity can have subjective art only. Different levels of man’s being.
CHAPTER XV
Religion a relative concept. Religions correspond to the level of a man’s being. “Can prayer help? ” Learning to pray. General ignorance regarding Christianity. The Christian Church a school. Egyptian “schools of repetition.” Significance of rites. The “techniques” of religion. Where does the word “I” sound in one? The two parts of real religion and what each teaches. Kant and the idea of scale. Organic life on earth. Growth of the ray of creation. The moon. The evolving part of organic life is humanity. Humanity at a standstill. Change possible only at “crossroads.” The process of evolution always begins with the formation of a conscious nucleus. Is there a conscious force fighting against evolution? Is mankind evolving? “Two hundred conscious people could change the whole of life on earth.” Three “inner circles of humanity.” The “outer circle.” The four “ways” as four gates to the “exoteric circle.” Schools of the fourth way. Pseudoesoteric systems and schools. “Truth in the form of a lie.” Esoteric schools in the East. Initiation and the Mysteries. Only self initiation is possible.
CHAPTER XVI
Historical events of the winter 1916-17. G.’s system as a guide in a labyrinth of contradictions, or as “Noah’s Ark.” Consciousness of matter. Its degrees of intelligence. Three-, two- and one-storied machines. Man composed of man, sheep and worm. Classification of all creatures by three cosmic traits: what they eat, what they breathe, the medium they live in. Man’s possibilities of changing his food. “Diagram of Everything Living.”
G. leaves Petersburg for the last time. An interesting event— “transfiguration” or “plastics”? A Journalist’s impressions of G. The downfall of Nicholas II. “The end of Russian history.” Plans for leaving Russia, A communication from G. Continuation of work in Moscow. Further study of diagrams and of the idea of cosmoses. Development of the idea “time is breath” in relation to man, the earth and the sun; to large and small cells. Construction of a “Table of Time in Different Cosmoses.” Three cosmoses taken together include in themselves all the laws of the universe. Application of the idea of cosmoses to the inner processes of the human organism. The life of molecules and electrons. Time dimensions of different cosmoses. Application of the Minkovski formula. Relation of different times to centers of the human body. Relation to higher centers. “Cosmic calculations of time” in Gnostic and Indian literature.
“If you want to rest, come here to me.” A visit to G. at Alexandropol. G.’s relationship with his family. Talk about the impossibility of doing anything in
the midst of mass madness. “Events are not against us at all.” How to strengthen the feeling of “I”? Brief return to Petersburg and Moscow. A message to the groups there. Return to Piatygorsk. A group of twelve foregathers at Essentuki.
CHAPTER XVII
August 1917. The six weeks at Essentuki. G. unfolds the plan of the whole work. “Schools are imperative.” “Super-efforts.” The unison of the centers is the chief difficulty in work on oneself. Man the slave of his body. Wastages of energy from unnessary muscular tension. G. shows exercises for muscular control and relaxation. The “stop” exercise. The demands of “stop.” G. relates a case of “stop” in Central Asia. The influence of “stop” at Essentuki. The habit of talking An experiment in fasting. What sin is. G. shows exercises in attention. An experiment in breathing. Realization of the difficulties of the Way Indispensability of great knowledge, efforts, and help. “Is there no way outside the ‘ways’?” The “ways” as help given to people according to type. The “subjective” and “objective” ways. The obyvatel. What does “to be serious” mean? Only one thing is serious. How to attain real freedom? The hard way of slavery and obedience. What is one prepared to sacrifice. The fairy tale of the wolf and the sheep. Astrology and types. A demonstration. G. announces the dispersal of the group. A final trip to Petersburg.
CHAPTER XVIII
Petersburg. October 1917. Bolshevik revolution. Return to G. in the Caucasus. G ‘s attitude to one of his pupils. A small company with G at Essentuki. More people arrive Resumption of work. Exercises are more difficult and varied than before Mental and physical exercises, dervish dances, study of psychic “tricks.” Selling silk Inner struggle and a decision. The choice of gurus. The decision to separate. G goes to Sochi. A difficult time: warfare and epidemics. Further study of the enneagram, “Events” and the necessity of leaving Russia. London the final aim Practical results of work on oneself: feeling a new I, “a strange confidence.” Collecting a group in Rostov and expounding G.’s system. G. opens his Institute in Tiflis. Journey to Constantinople. Collecting people. G arrives New group introduced to G. Translating a dervish song. G the artist and poet. The Institute started in Constantinople. G authorizes the writing and publishing of a book. G. goes to Germany. Decision to continue Constantinople work in London, 1921 G organizes his Institute at Fontainebleau. Work at the Chateau de la Prieuré. A talk with Katherine Mansfield. G. speaks of different kinds of breathing. “Breathing through movements.” Demonstrations at the Theatre des Champs Elysées, Pans. G.’s departure for America, 1924. Decision to continue work in London independently.
The term “negative emotions” means all emotions of violence or depression: self-pity, anger, suspicion, fears, annoyance, boredom, mistrust, jealousy, and so on.
The term “negative emotions” means all emotions of violence or depression: self-pity, anger, suspicion, fears, annoyance, boredom, mistrust, jealousy, and so on. Ordinarily, one accepts this expression of negative emotions as quite natural and even necessary. Very often people call it “sincerity.” Of course it has nothing to do with sincerity; it is simply a sign of weakness in man, a sign of bad temper and of incapacity to keep his grievances to himself. Man realizes this when he tries to oppose it. And by this he learns another lesson. He realizes that in relation to mechanical manifestations it is not enough to observe them, it is necessary to resist them, because without resisting them one cannot observe them. They happen so quickly, so habitually, and so imperceptibly, that one cannot notice them if one does not make sufficient efforts to create obstacles for them. After the expression of negative emotions one notices in oneself or in other people another curious mechanical feature. This is talking. There is no harm in talking by itself. But with some people, especially with those who notice it least, it really becomes a vice they talk all the time, everywhere they happen to be, while working, while traveling, even while sleeping. They never stop talking to someone if there is someone to talk to, and if there is no one, they talk to themselves. This too must not only be observed, but resisted as much as possible. With un-resisted talking one cannot observe anything, and all the results of a man’s observations will immediately evaporate in talking. The difficulties he has in observing these four manifestations, lying, imagination the expression of negative emotions, and unnecessary talking will show man his utter mechanicalness, and the impossibility even of struggling against this mechanicalness without help, that is, without new knowledge and without actual assistance. For even if a man has received certain material, he forgets to use it, forgets to observe himself; in other words, he falls asleep again and must always he awakened. This “falling asleep” has certain definite features of its own, unknown, or at least unregistered and unnamed, in ordinary psychology.
Self-study must begin with the study of the four functions, thinking, feeling, instinctive function, and moving function.
So now we must try to understand the four chief functions.
I will take it for granted that it is clear to you what I mean by the intellectual or thinking function. All mental processes are included here: realization of an impression, formation of representations and concepts, reasoning, comparison, affirmation, negation, formation of words, speech, imagination, and so on.
The second function is feeling or emotions: joy, sorrow, fear, astonishment, and so on. Even if you are sure that it is clear to you how, and in what, emotions differ from thoughts, I should advise you to verify all your views in regard to this. We mix thought and feelings in our ordinary thinking and speaking; but for the beginning of self-study it is necessary to know clearly which is which.
The two functions following, instinctive and moving, will take longer to understand, because in no system of ordinary psychology are these functions described and divided in the right way.
The words “instinct,” “instinctive,” are generally used in the wrong sense and very often in no sense at all. In particular, to instinct are generally ascribed external functions which are in reality moving functions, and sometimes emotional.
The instinctive function in man includes in itself four different classes of functions:
FIRST: All the inner work of the Organism, all physiology, so to speak; digestion and assimilation of food, breathing, circulation of the blood, all the work of inner Organs, the building of new cells, the elimination of worked-out materials, the work of glands of inner secretion, and so on.
SECOND: The so-called five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch; and all other senses such as the sense of weight, of temperature, of dryness or of moisture, and so on; that is, all indifferent sensations- sensations which by themselves are neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
THIRD: All physical emotions; that is, all physical sensations which are either pleasant or unpleasant. All kinds of pain or unpleasant feeling such as unpleasant taste or unpleasant smell, and all kinds of physical pleasure, such as pleasant taste, pleasant smell, and so on.
FOURTH: All reflexes, even the most complicated, such as laughter and yawning; all kinds of physical memory such as memory of taste, memory of smell, memory of pain, which are in reality inner reflexes.
The moving function includes in itself all external movements, such as walking, writing, speaking, eating, and memories of them. To the moving function also belong those movements which in ordinary language are called “instinctive,” such as catching a falling object without thinking.
The difference between the instinctive and the moving function is very clear and can be easily understood if one simply remembers that all instinctive functions without exception are inherent and that there is no necessity to learn them in order to use them; whereas on the other hand, none of the moving functions are inherent and one has to learn them as a child learns to walk, or as one learns to write or to draw.
Besides these normal moving functions, there are also some strange moving functions which represent useless work of the human machine not intended by nature, but which occupy a very large place in man’s life and use a great quantity of his energy. These are:
formation of dreams, imagination, daydreaming, talking with oneself, all talking for talking’s sake, and generally, all uncontrolled and uncontrollable manifestations.
The four functions-intellectual, emotional, instinctive, and moving-must first be understood in all their manifestations, and later they must be observed in oneself. Such self-observation, that is, observation on the right basis, with a preliminary understanding of the states of consciousness and of different functions, constitutes the basis of self-study; that is, the beginning of psychology.
It is very important to remember that in observing different functions it is useful to observe at the same time their relation to different states of consciousness.
Honoring Children of Alcoholics Week
 Honoring Children of Alcoholics Week
February 12 to 18, 2012 An estimated 25 percent of all children in the United States are affected by or exposed to a family alcohol problem. SAMHSA supports the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA) during its Children of Alcoholics (COA) Week. COA Week celebrates the recovery of the many thousands of children (of all ages) who have received the help they needed to recover from the pain and losses suffered in their childhood, and it offers hope to those still suffering from the adverse impact of parental alcohol and drug addiction. During COA Week, we acknowledge the millions of children affected by a parent’s substance use disorder and celebrate that there is hope and healing for these children now and throughout their lives. This week—and throughout the year—remember to ask, “What about the children?” when speaking about recovery from substance use disorders. |
Florida turns tide on prescription drug abuse
Florida turns tide on prescription drug abuse
BRADENTON HERALD EDITORIAL | Crackdowns, new measures stem oxycodone epidemic
Florida can celebrate several major milestones in the struggle to contain the state’s prescription drug abuse and pill mill epidemic. Striking new evidence exposes the depth and depravity of this years-long nightmare. While doctors purchased some 46 million oxycodone tablets in 2010, that figure plunged to 1.2 million last year — an astounding 97 percent drop.
A new state law that took effect July 1 prevents doctors from selling oxycodone, a powerful painkiller, and other narcotics directly from their offices — typically in cash deals to walk-in drug abusers and traffickers masquerading as patients, often from out of state.
Overall statewide sales of oxycodone from pharmacies and doctors fell from 622 million doses in 2010 to some 498 million pills last year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also reported last week — another promising indication that Florida is finally gaining the upper hand in the battle against this terrible scourge. In 2010 alone, oxycodone contributed to more than 1,500 drug overdose deaths, a staggering increase from the 350 victims in 2005.
The Manatee County death toll from 2010 reached 246, causing untold heartache among family and friends. When pain clinics began popping up around the county that dreadful year, the City of Bradenton wisely adopted a moratorium on new pill mills in May, soon followed by similar measures in Manatee County and Palmetto.
Florida finally awoke to this shameful situation several years ago, adopting a law establishing a prescription drug database that required doctors and pharmacies to report prescriptions and sales of powerful pain and anxiety medications. Still, some legislators and Gov. Rick Scott wanted to repeal the 2009 law, labeling the database a violation of privacy rights. Public safety and health priorities finally trumped that misguided concern, and the state launched the overdue Prescription Drug Monitoring Program this past September.
The database, designed to inform doctors and pharmacies about over-prescribed patients who obtained prescriptions from a variety of sources, now contains information on 26 million prescriptions. Not only does the monitoring system help prevent “doctor shopping” by patients, law enforcement can access the tool to uncover doctors and pharmacies that are prescribing and selling inordinate amounts of narcotic medications.
Investigations this past year brought indictments against dozens of pain clinic owners and doctors, including several from Manatee County. Fewer out-of-state drug abusers and dealers are flocking to the Sunshine State for easy scores. And Florida, once home to 90 of the nation’s top 100 physicians for writing oxycodone prescriptions, saw that number drop to 13 last year.
While prescription drug abusers and traffickers may be moving on to other substances, Florida can no longer be considered complicit in the mishandling of oxycodone and other legal narcotics — a remarkable and quick turnaround.
Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/02/05/3846084/florida-turns-tide-on-prescription.html#storylink=cpy
Drug addicts have inherited abnormalities in some parts of the brain which interfere with impulse control, said a British study published in the United States on Thursday.
Drug addicts have inherited abnormalities in some parts of the brain which interfere with impulse control, said a British study published in the United States on Thursday.
Previous research has pointed to these differences, but it was unclear if they resulted from the ravages of addiction or if they were there beforehand to predispose a person to drug abuse.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge compared the brains of addicts to their non-addicted siblings as well as to healthy, unrelated volunteers and found that the siblings shared many of the same weaknesses in their brains.
That indicates that the brain vulnerabilities had a family origin, though somehow the siblings of addicts — either due to environmental factors or other differences in brain structure — were able to resist addiction.
“Presumably, the siblings must have some other resilience factors that counteract the familial vulnerability to drug dependence,” said the study led by Karen Ersche of the University of Cambridge, published in the journal Science.
“An individual’s predisposition to become addicted to stimulant drugs may be mediated by brain abnormalities linked to impaired self-control.”
Researchers tested 50 biological sibling pairs, in which one was addicted to drugs and the other one had no history of chronic drug abuse. They also tested 50 healthy, unrelated pairs of people as a control group.
The tests involved measuring how well they could control their impulses in a stop-signal reaction time test that assesses how quickly a person can switch from following one set of instructions to another.
Addicts are known to have poor impulse control.
The researchers found that the sibling pairs — even the non-addicts – fared significantly worse on the test than the healthy volunteers.
Brain scans showed that the siblings shared some of the same weaknesses in the frontal lobe and its connections to the basal ganglia, which mediates motor, cognition and behavior.
In an accompanying Perspective article, Nora Volkow and Ruben Baler of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse said that knowing more about brain circuitry could help understand and treat other “impaired control” disorders, like obesity, pathological gambling, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
“Several childhood and adolescent interventions can improve executive function and self-control,” though more study is needed to see how such work may or may not impact the brain, they wrote.