By Maia Szalavitz
Marilee Murphy Odendahl wants you to know a few things about her son, Ian. "He was marvelously funny, loyal, extremely intelligent and a really good observer of human behavior, so much that you wouldn't necessarily like to be the focus of it. He loved music and played guitar. He was my joy." She also wants you to know that Ian Murphy Mitchard died on Sept. 27, 2007, three days after his 28th birthday, of a heroin overdose.

Especially today, Overdose Awareness Day, Murphy Odendahl doesn't want other families to suffer the ways hers has. But each year, many do: more than 28,000 people die every year of overdose, a growing problem.  » More

By Allan Schwartz, Ph.D.; From Dr. Schwartz's Weblog, MentalHealth.net
Why is recovery from an addiction so very difficult for people? Despite all the efforts made by families and treatment procedures, too many people relapse. In fact, they go through many relapses and other people end up blaming the person out of frustration and anger. The fact it that addictions are extremely complicated and involve more than just ending the use of a substance. They do not occur in a vacuum. » More

A Blog About Mental and Emotional Health
Peggy Ferguson, Ph.D.
Most people and most families experience increased stress around the holidays. For families where there is addiction and/or where there is addiction recovery, holiday get-togethers can be especially difficult. Active addiction carries its own trauma in family holidays, with acting out, self-perpetuating conflicts, and self-imposed or family-imposed exile of the addict from the family. » More

Drug Seeking Behavior in ER Doubles, Feeds Growing Addiction to Pain Pills -- Emergency rooms continue to become a major resource for pain medication addicts; By MIKAELA CONLEY, ABC News Medical Unit -- Oct. 28, 2010 » More

Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, October 27, 2010
Medication and illegal drug-related problems put twice as many middle-aged and older Americans in the hospital in 2008 as in 1997, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. » More