Theravive Home

Dopamine fasting encourages people to avoid stimulation to become better versions of themselves. Dr. Cameron Sepah describes it as “an evidence-based technique to manage addictive behaviors, by restricting them to specific periods of time, and practicing fasting from impulsively engaging in them, in order to regain behavioral flexibility.” [More]

How’s your New Year’s resolution diet coming along? This is about the time people start to fall off the wagon, if it hasn’t happened already. Have you been craving sugar? Has the yummy sweetness been your downfall? Well take heed. Researchers are finding sugar to be as addictive as drugs and alcohol so you've got a mighty opponent to contend with. A recent study published in Scientific Reports looked at the effects sugar can have on the brain. [More]

More than 34 million adults in the US currently smoke cigarettes, and more than 16 million live with a smoking related disease. But after decades of anti-smoking campaigns, what drives this behaviour? Do emotions factor into it? Researchers from Harvard University set out to find an answer. [More]

Here are some sobering statistics. According to a survey of 1000 Americans, 47 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women binge drink more on New Year’s Eve than during any other holiday. In a study done by Alcohol Monitoring Systems, though they were fully aware that they were being monitored, over 450,000 DUI offenders still drank 33 per cent more between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Why is it so hard to stay sober during the holidays? [More]

Our consumption habits are not rational. We overindulge in multiple areas of life. While the brain processes information as rewarding, it can put more value on the information than warranted which is why we get into rabbit holes of information online. [More]

While you may certainly have heard of alcoholism, perhaps less so about alcohol use disorder (AUD). According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, AUD is a relapsing brain disease that is chronic involving the loss of control of alcohol intake. Alcoholism is a non-medical term and what most people use to describe AUD. Knowing the detrimental effects of drinking can have on one’s life, what drives someone suffering from AUD to continue to drink? That’s what researchers of a new study published in eNeuro wanted to find out. [More]

Dating apps are growing in popularity. In the U.S., online dating is a $3 billion industry and growing each year with predictions of 25 per cent continued growth into the year 2020. It seems everyone you talk to has tried or knows someone who has tried a dating app. But are they for everyone? A new study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships aimed to answer that question by looking at how social anxiety and loneliness might impact someone’s dating app use. [More]

Recently there was an item in the news about a young boy who was with his drug-addicted mother and her boyfriend on a bus. They were in Camden, New Jersey. When they reached their stop the boy tried, unsuccessfully, to arouse the two adults. The man was unable to stand. The mother was unresponsive and appeared to snort something off of her wrist. One of the astonished passengers filmed the event and informed the child welfare authorities that this child was at risk. [More]

In mid-2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the 11th revision of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), adding a disorder that’s of particular interest to gamers: gaming disorder. Earlier this year, Prince Harry wanted the popular game Fortnight banned in the U.K due to its addictive nature [More]

A probably too hot spotlight has been focused on TV host Wendy Williams for at least four months. Williams, who boasts that she shares info regarding her personal life with her viewers, has been keeping a big secret. Ms. Williams has a serious alcohol and pill problem. In the past she overcame an addiction to cocaine. [More]