Disciple Marco

A CULTURE OF PREVENTION : rebuilding communities by R.Marcus Gaudry Nov 27 2009 Recently, the necessity to create a culture of prevention has become abundantly clear to me, especially since it is looking more and more like a globalized culture of addiction continues to progress despite any effort to put a stop to it. In order to get a clear idea of what it means to create a culture of prevention, it seems to me to only make sense to define what exactly that means, and in order to do that, it appears essential that we first define certain terms, for example the term "culture". This word alone has several meanings, depending on the context in which it is being used. For the purposes of this paper, we will be applying a social, historical, and a somewhat anthropological context to the term: cul-ture : [kuhl-cher] n . a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ...

PSYCHOSOCIAL INTEGRATION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DISLOCATION THEORY OF ADDICTION R.Marcus Gaudry Nov 18, 2009 My friends,colleagues and all our guests: Let me begin by thanking you all for allowing me a moment to communicate with you, and I hope you find what I have to share helpful and informative. Many of us, I would imagine, either know of someone or know someone personally who has, for all intents and purposes, been transformed from being a familiar person into a slave of some destructive habit or another - whether it be the use of a substance, a process such as gambling or video gaming, or even a lifestyle that lends itself to self harm. In this, we can clearly see that the term "addiction", applies to much more than simply substance abuse. Some of us may have even endured such a transformation into slavery ourselves. In either case, or possibly for some of us here today in both cases, we may be finding ourselves at odds with a question that begs to be answered: "Wh...

I know this is probably a little bit late, but today I want to talk about the Fort Hood shooting. To begin with, my heartfelt prayers for those who are affected directly by this tragedy, and for those who are indirectly affected as well. Some of the following material might sound like an attempt to justify the actions of suspected shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, but that is not the case. This is, in part, using some of the things I am learning about in school as a reflection on the incident.As some of you know, I am currently an intern in the health professions - in particular mental health, and more specifically addictions. I am doing this as a means to give back some of the recovery I have enjoyed over the past six years. While this particular case does not involve addiction, it does bring to mind some of the material that has come to my attention. The following bit is from an article I found at http://www.cknw.com/News/World/Article.aspx?id=157617 His uncle Rafik Hamad, 64, said Sat...

THE "I DON'T CARE SYNDROME" : or: ACEDIA: "LIVING DEAD INSIDE" by R. Marcus Gaudry August 29, 2009 Most typically, counseling focuses on what is commonly known as primary emotions. As with anything else, there are both "positive" and "negative" primary emotions. The "negative" for the purposes of this paper, would typically be recognized by most as sadness, hurt, anger and above all, fear. However, in order to be able to deal with these primary emotions, we often have to address a number of exterior emotional experiences; many of which are used as coping mechanism by our clients. Some of these can help support a person's well being, while others have a tendency to hinder a person's well being, regardless of how effective they may appear to be at the beginning. In my personal experience, and in discussions with various colleagues, a recurring theme of layers appears, much like an onion, each layer being iconic of some emotio...

THE WAR ON DRUGS-FAILURE OR MISGUIDED EFFORT? by R.Marcus Gaudry August 14, 2009 Often, we hear or read the term "The War on Drugs". I wonder how many of us actually take the time to consider what this term means, where it came from, what kind of significance this war has in our culture today, what kind of strategy has been applied to this war, or how effective, if at all, this strategy has been to date. Generally, when we think of a war, we think of two or more opposing forces engaged in prolonged battle, and often in terms of "us" versus "them". In these terms, "them" are generally known to "us" as "the enemy". In the most common context, based on historical experience, this is a matter of one nation or group of nations in opposition to another. Another example may be one group of people against another. In either model, there are clearly identifiable entities engaged in conflict. So who is the "enemy" in the ...

ADDICTIONS AND ADDICTS IN PERSPECTIVE When you hear words like "addiction" and "addict", or happen to have access to media covering topics surrounding these words, what sort of thoughts, ideas, or images do they conjure up for you? When you think about addiction and the kind of role it plays in society today, or how prevalent an issue it has become, what kind of perspective do you have? What sort of person do you associate with being an addict? What kind of person do you suppose society, with a group paradigm, would call an addict, and how do you suppose they would approach such a person? To answer these questions, and to gain a perspective on addiction and addicts, let us first attempt to define these two words as they stand by themselves: addict : -n- a slave to a habit or vice, especially, but not limited to to drugs addiction: a state of being in which one is as a slave to said habit or vice Surprisingly, there are still today many stereotypes that exist i...

"DISCO BISCUIT" MDMA -an account from an "e-tard" by R.Marcus Gaudry July, 2009 *AUTHOURS NOTE: The following is ultimately a fictional expression reflecting the amphetamine derivative MDMA, the party drug most popularly known as ecstasy, but also known by many other aliases, such as "E", "X", "XTC", and one of my personal favourites, "disco biscuits", hence the title of this effort. Although often referred to as a "designer drug", the truth is that MDMA was originally synthesized over 90 years ago by a legitimate pharmaceutical company. A common popular account would suggest it was intended originally as a possible appetite suppressant. Though it was synthesized in Germany by the Merck Company in 1912 and patented in 1914, Merck records indicate it was initially regarded as little more than an unimportant by-product from an attempt to synthesize another drug to work around a competitors' patent. In order to disc...