Durga Leela

It's nice to have this laid out clearly - a look at what are the major differences in “power” across professional and peer support contexts from Bill White. I often find myself trying to summarize these points to people who are looking for help and I hope I am able to...

YoR was formed as I struggled and succeeded in becoming a non-smoker back in 2001, when I was just 18 months abstinent from alcohol and drugs. I felt it was crucial for my health and self-esteem to really apply what I knew about recovery to this deadly addiction, and...

World Health Organization to issue a two-page statement on the topic. “Avoid alcohol altogether so that you do not undermine your own immune system and health and do not risk the health of others,” it advises. “Heavy alcohol use is a risk factor for acute...

Across the U.S., governors are terming alcohol sales an essential business and loosening restrictions to permit home delivery and carryout cocktails, Are alcohol sales actually essential? According to the federal government, just over...

How do you feel now you’re a non-smoker?  My answer came spontaneously  – LONELY – he (my therapist) looked surprised and I felt embarrassed, why did I say lonely??  It’s like I’m saying cigarettes were my friends – I know they were not my friends, but...

Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, a self-confessed nicotine addict and author of The Road Less Traveled, offered his perspective in a 1991 lecture, “Addiction: The Sacred Disease.” Dr. Peck’s thesis: At birth, humans become separated from God. Everyone is aware of this...

Five things you may not know about alcohol, the most commonly used drug in the world 1) Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; i.e., it is known to cause cancer) and...

Opioid use disorder seems to be driven by physical or psychological pain as often as it is driven by a vulnerability to recreational opioid use. Those who began using primarily for the treatment of pain, however, view themselves as fundamentally different from...

I’ve been thinking of Dr Frank Plummer who I posted about on 21 January 2020 as I remembered he was recognized for leadership roles in the Sars, H1N1 flu and Ebola epidemics.  I was hoping that his brain surgery for alcohol addiction had worked and that he...