8 MAY 2024 · One behavioral addiction of the "inessential" variety is gambling. This is an issue that has ruined many lives and pumped a lot of money into the city of Las Vegas. Do our brains make us gamble? Does gambling simply expoit a loophole in human psychology? We'll talk about how gambling got started, how it keeps you playing, and treatments that have been used to support people recovering from gambling addiction.  Recommendations next time! Links and References:  - https://listverse.com/2024/04/14/10-things-you-never-knew-about-the-history-of-gambling/ - https://pausebeforeyouplay.org/2022/01/a-brief-history-of-gambling/#:~:text=2300%20B.C.%20The%20first%20known,casino%20is%20invented%20in%20Italy. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi3kQFYIleQ - https://gizmodo.com/how-casinos-use-design-psychology-to-get-you-to-gamble-1667182023 - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/treatment-recommendations-for-gambling-disorders - https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisedu.org/behavioral-addictions/ - https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gambling-disorder/what-is-gambling-disorder#:~:text=Repeated%20unsuccessful%20efforts%20to%20control,%22chasing%22%20one's%20losses.)

7 MAY 2024 · Book burning has been used both to destroy cultures or just symbolically send a message. Either way, it is a pretty juvenile temper tantrum thing to do. Don't silence your opponents, be better than them. Here is the history and motives behind some large book burning efforts.  Links:  - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-book-burning-printing-press-internet-archives-180964697/ - https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html - https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-library-of-alexandria-is-long-gone-and-all-around-us#:~:text=Historians%20believe%20that%20eventually%20around,of%20the%20Library%20of%20Alexandria. - https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/11/virginia-school-board-book-burning

1 MAY 2024 · You've seen the title of this episode, so now that we have your attention: sex addiction! What are the psychometric criteria by which sex becomes an addiction? Further, who does this impact? The answers to this are both not what you might think. Turns out, there is a lot of history of "puritan"-like stigmatization around the "appropriate" amount of sex and with whom.  Links and References:  - https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22690-sex-addiction-hypersexuality-and-compulsive-sexual-behavior - https://www.sexaddict.com/six-types-of-sex-addicts/ - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3960064/ - https://sexualhealthalliance.com/nymphomedia-blog/a-brief-history-of-sex-addiction - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-012-9136-3 - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/201510/who-is-the-real-father-sex-addiction - https://azri.org/sex-addiction/what-are-the-different-types-of-sex-addictions/ - https://www.news-medical.net/health/Sexual-Dysfunction-History.aspx Recommendations - Abraham: Fallout (https://www.amazon.com/Fallout-Season-1/dp/B0CN4HV16N) - Shane: Dracula by Bram Stoker (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17245.Draculahttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17245.Dracula)

29 APR 2024 · Humans haven't had shampoo for very long in our relative history. What about our ancestors, what did they do without shampoo? Animals don't seem to require shampoo. What is this weird practice and what would happen if we gave it up? This mini investigates Big Shampoo! Links and References - https://books.google.com/books/about/An_Uncommon_History_of_Common_Things.html?id=bcaXzXPP8ooC - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319848#takeaway

24 APR 2024 · Humans have been engineering strategies to reduce the risks of life for as long as humans have been engineering everything. As it relates to addiction, harm reduction is a stragegy that emerged to help prevent the spread of disease and has been successfully applied to supporting people with chemical dependency. We explore the criticisms, concerns, and science behind harm reduction.  Recommendations - Abraham: Cocaine Bear (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14209916/) - Shane: Charles Bukowski - Hollywood (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38505.Hollywood) - Bonus: National Harm Reduction Coalition (https://harmreduction.org/) Links:  - https://youtu.be/Llm5vVybJWw?si=MtwfI2gl_ZYq_mul - https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/harm-reduction - https://www.hhs.gov/overdose-prevention/ - https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/harm-reduction - https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/ - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0306460396000421 - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.2001.10400463 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196064420313871 - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-021-06904-4 - https://academic.oup.com/smr/article-abstract/10/1/3/6880246 - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230886 - https://accp1.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcph.1937 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16203323/ - Walley AY, Xuan Z, Hackman HH, et al. Opioid overdose rates and implementation of overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution in Massachusetts: interrupted time series analysis. BMJ. 2013;346:f174. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f174 - https://americanaddictioncenters.org/harm-reduction - Aspinall, E. J., Nambiar, D., Goldberg, D. J., Hickman, M., Weir, A., Van Velzen, E., . . . Hutchinson, S. J. (2014). Are needle and syringe programmes associated with a reduction in HIV transmission among people who inject drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Epidemiol, 43(1), 235- 248. doi:10.1093/ije/dyt243 - Bernard, C. L., Owens, D. K., Goldhaber-Fiebert, J. D., & Brandeau, M. L. (2017). Estimation of the cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention portfolios for people who inject drugs in the United States: A model-based analysis. PLoS Med, 14(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002312 - https://www.cdc.gov/ssp/syringe-services-programs-summary.html - https://www.aamc.org/news/drug-overdoses-soar-more-providers-embrace-harm-reduction - doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.06.591 - Des Jarlais, D.C., Feelemyer, J., McKnight, C. et al. Is your syringe services program cost-saving to society? A methodological case study. Harm Reduct J 18, 126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-021-00575-4 - Ijioma, S. C., Pontinha, V. M., Holdford, D. A., & Carroll, N. V. (2021). Cost-effectiveness of syringe service programs, medications for opioid use disorder, and combination programs in hepatitis C harm reduction among opioid injection drug users: a public payer perspective using a decision tree. Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy, 27(2), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2021.27.2.137

22 APR 2024 · Welcome to our new episode format, the mini! Although this is our second one, we are still excited to be exploring this new way of doing episodes. This discusion explores how lotteries came to be and why we pursue them with such vigor.

17 APR 2024 · The saga continues as we explore the historical policy blunder that was the "War on Drugs." What lead to the development of this idea? We review the distinction between what was stated and what actually happened, and, of course, who won the war? spoiler it was drugs.  Recommendations - Abraham: Speechify App (https://speechify.com/?source=fb-for-mobile&via=nguyen-linh-nam&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiMmwBhDmARIsABeQ7xRZ-vEPaqs8c7IAr7jeYUXdDNtP0Wgtf92Chyk99jyGJIJ9V8rSv1QaAtWbEALw_wcB) - Shane: Amber Brooke Farms (https://amberbrookefarms.com/blueberry-festival/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiMmwBhDmARIsABeQ7xR6jxy-33SjkhqahM3-YTrIh3z-c_FCR06EM3mfz9EAH1FvdLQtTFQaAuB5EALw_wcB)  Links and References:  - https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch01p1.htm - https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/big-white-lie-cia-and-cocainecrack-epidemic - https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/cia.html - https://enditforgood.com/content/50th-anniversary-of-war-on-drugs-it-never-worked-different-approach-needed/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnv-vBhBdEiwABCYQA7Yhc5ZPj339VVFmO9fUz9zl41doaebUygZeBcV8DjPpe1oUcuLykxoC6p8QAvD_BwE - https://drugpolicy.org/drug-war-stats/?ms=5J1_24GoogleGrant&utm_source=GoogleSEM&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SEM&sc=&cid=7011K000001tKzkQAE&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnv-vBhBdEiwABCYQA2Kns_vgVsD_DDHjq1R4xdIuy6j8gKrWRcCowl1mY0qFXrhlz2wCqxoCbyUQAvD_BwE - https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/PRI_war-on-drugs-briefing_March-2013.pdf - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9302017/ - https://civilrights.org/blog/americas-war-on-drugs-50-years-later/ - https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/1006495476/after-50-years-of-the-war-on-drugs-what-good-is-it-doing-for-us

15 APR 2024 · Welcome to our first ever new episode format that we are trying out. These miniature episodes will be supplemental, additional episodes that we release every week alongside our normal full-length episodes. This first installment is exploring the weird tradition of people slapping peices of our flesh together to show appreciation. We started recording these quite a while ago, so, apologies if there are some somewhat dated references...  Enjoy! Links:  - https://www.theatreinparis.com/blog/why-are-we-clapping-a-history-of-applause#:~:text=The%20meaning%20of%20clapping%20is,in%20response%20to%20being%20aroused. - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/202201/why-we-clap-the-psychology-applause#:~:text=Clapping%20can%20be%20a%20sign,a%20universal%20body%20language%20signal. - https://books.google.com/books/about/An_Uncommon_History_of_Common_Things.html?id=bcaXzXPP8ooC

10 APR 2024 · The disease model of addiction is a popular philosophical approach to dependency. The idea is to remove fault and blame from the addicted individual. Further, there are a lot of parallels between addiction and illness. However, there are some drawbacks to conceptualizing addiction as a disease. We talk through the benefits and our reservations about using the disease framework for understanding disease.  Recommendations - Abraham: Cutco Knives (https://www.cutco.com/) - Shane: Godzilla x Kong: New Empire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14539740/) Links and References:  - https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/research-studies/addiction-research/brain-disease-model - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5672554/ - https://drugfree.org/article/is-addiction-a-disease/#:~:text=The%20disease%20model%20of%20addiction,-Addiction%20is%20defined&text=These%20include%20behavioral%2C%20psychological%2C%20environmental,developing%20a%20substance%20use%20disorder. - https://www.americanbrainfoundation.org/diseases/#:~:text=Brain%20disease%20affects%20millions%20worldwide,traumatic%20brain%20injury%2C%20and%20more. - https://www.cbhic.com/post/what-are-the-three-major-models-of-addiction - https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/understanding-addiction/0/steps/245163#:~:text=The%20common%20core%20assumptions%20of,is%20the%20defining%20observable%20pathology. - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/disease-model#:~:text=While%20the%20disease%20model%20was,formalized%20largely%20in%20the%201980s.

3 APR 2024 · Alcohol dependency is a complicated condition that has killed a staggering number of people. Fortinuately, many people have banded together to support one another through behavior changes to reinvent their life without this dependency. One such program truly dominates the known landscape of addiction interventions: Alcoholics Anonymous. Yet, the effectiveness of the AA program and the "active ingredient" in its method have remained shrouded in ambiguity for nearly a century. Recent scientific research has finally begun to reveal the evidence around Alcoholics Anonymous as an intervention for dependency.  Recommendations - Abraham: The Creator (https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-creator) John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Allison Janney - Shane: Ghostbusters - Frozen Empire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21235248/)  Links and Referenes:  - https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01600.x - https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.1996.57.65 - https://doi.org/10.1080/10550880902772464 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2007.07.014 - https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD005032.pub2 - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255/ - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1678-5_3 - https://www.avenuesrecovery.com/blog/why-aa-is-harmful/ - https://www.practicalrecovery.com/aas-dominance-in-the-us-is-harmful/ - https://www.sanctuary.net/blog/whats-wrong-with-alcoholics-anonymous/ - https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/26/395310213/critic-faults-alcoholics-anonymous-for-lack-of-evidence - https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/aa-is-faith-based-not-evidence-based/ - https://www.sossobriety.org/ - https://alcohol.org/alcoholics-anonymous/alternatives-to-the-aa-approach/ - https://www.verywellmind.com/secular-alcohol-and-drug-rehab-programs-67702 - https://www.aa.org/twelve-steps-twelve-traditions - https://recoveryfirst.org/alcohol-abuse/how-does-a-a-work/ - https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/how-effective-is-alcoholics-anonymous - https://theconversation.com/does-alcoholics-anonymous-actually-work-179665 - https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/alcoholism7.htm?srch_tag=nsfk6pbgbpwfrd2thlmtrzgl5tu35jso - https://people.howstuffworks.com/serenity-prayer.htm?srch_tag=nsfk6pbgbpwfrd2thlmtrzgl5tu35jso - https://www.columbusrecoverycenter.com/alcohol-addiction/history-of-aa/ - https://youtu.be/aZIDCMbJZ-g?si=VLIxyoxZ1ToVILZI