Suyash Tiwari An opioid is a medicine to treat persistent or severe pain. It attaches itself to opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It acts as a blocker and restricts pain signals from travelling through the spinal cord to reach the brain. Often used to curb surgery discomfort or injury due to sports, its impact on the human body is not restricted to the reduction of pain. It has been found to induce addictive behavior, specifically when used to manage chronic pain over a longer duration. The most common illegal opioid is heroin. However, the strongest opioid available in the market is Desomorphine, popularly called krokodil. Through this blog post, I shall elucidate upon krokodil’s history, method of preparation, addictive behaviour and side effects. Krokodil was originally created in Russia. Around 2002, it reached Siberia and has since spread throughout Ukraine, Georgia, and Kazakistan. While several drugs are harshly addictive and physically dam...

| Indira Bulhan Blog Post: 4 Caffeine is a part of a daily ritual for many. While it is treated like any other drink which helps us to function, it is rarely questioned how it affects people who suffer from psychiatric disorders. This blog post aims to explore the effect of caffeine on those falling under the bipolar spectrum disorder (clinically diagnosed).    Caffeine is taken on light terms in everyday usage so not enough research has gone into its relationship with bipolar spectrum disorder. However, few studies have shown how much of a significant impact it can have.   Maremmani et al. (2011) refer to caffeine as a “social drug”. Certain things which can affect bipolar spectrum patients are dosage, administration, intervals between consumption, the severity of effects and withdrawal symptoms.    According to DSM-5, bipolar spectrum disorder consists of bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, cyclothymic disorder and other specified...

Ambika Agnihotri I have often heard people joking about how it is unfair to not be able to choose the family they are born into. Undoubtedly, family has a huge impact on individual’s life. Like in other interpersonal relationships or groups, misunderstandings, communication gaps or other such obstacles are experienced in a family. Family Therapy is a kind of psychological therapy that individuals may seek in such a situation. The hype around the television series ‘Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn’ got viewers thinking about their family and the problems that may be lying unsolved or unnoticed. Through this post, I wish to talk about Family Therapy and draw a link between what I uncover about the intervention and ‘Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn’. Almost all families face some sort of dysfunction at one point in time or another. However, what is important to look at is whether or not they are able to attain balance or normality  in time . Most families are able to regain a se...

Domestic violence has been a significant issue for a long time in households across India. Domestic Violence can be defined as a pattern of behavior used to exercise control over women through power, generally through physical abuse. This leads to the female partner to suffer from emotional, psychological or sexual abuse. According to a research, index of domestic violence which measures verbal and physical abuse towards wives and children as a consequence of drinking is 3.5 times higher for heavy drinkers compared to overindulgent drinkers and 6.5 times higher for heavy drinkers when compared to social drinkers. According to studies, there seems to be a positive relationship between alcohol consumption and behavioral aggression. (Taylor, S., & Leonard, K. (1983) In this paper, I would talk about the effects of excessive consumption of alcohol and its contribution towards aggravating domestic violence in India. The criteria for substance abuse according to DSM 5 claims that a pe...

Shashwat Goyal 4th blog post ASPD shows a gender skewed occurrence humans, occurring roughly 6 times more often in men than women (Smith, 2018) and with a prevalence ratio of 3:1 for men versus women (Alegria et al., 2013) . What could be causing this gender skewedness? This post will look at the possible theories explaining this, ranging from diagnostic bias to evolutionary theory. ASPD is defined as “ A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 15 years” ( The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , 1994) . It often manifests with symptoms like violent behaviour, lack of empathy and impulsive behaviour.   80 percent of ASPD patients show symptoms by age 11 (Smith, 2018) , which suggests either a genetic basis or a strong effect of early childhood. As the stress diathesis model tells us, it is both. What is the reason that women are underrepresented in ASPD figures, are they less susceptible to ASPD? T...