Our Free Substance Abuse and Bipolar Program at the Willlow Grove Giant / Poem: She Calls

Barry Lessin on left and Chad Coren on right.

When I learned that psychologists Barry Lessin and Chad Coren would speak about bipolar disorder and substance abuse I was both ecstatic and scared.

Scared that no one would show up.

That's almost exactly what happened on Saturday.

One person came who read about it in the Intelligencer.

And someone who worked at the Giant asked if she could sit in with us.

Fortunately Ada was there.

We sat in a circle while Chad and Barry spoke.

I can't begin to tell you how knowledgeable these two men are. And how disappointed I was that more people couldn't hear them speak.

Each began his career as a clinical psychologist, but later saw the need for specialists in addictions. They pursued additional training in the field.

When Rich Fleisher joined us at the end, Ada told him Chad had grown up in Lower Moreland. Chad's older brother was friends with their son Aaron.

Small world.

Here's some things we learned from their talk.

Over 60 percent of bipolar people use drugs or alcohol to self-medicate.

Today nearly every teen-age party includes drugs. It's part of the culture. At some parties, drugs are thrown into a circle on the carpet and kids choose what to take.

They go upstairs to the bathroom and rummage thru the medicine chest looking for drugs such as painkillers. They go in the parents' bedroom and check the drawers for drugs.

The drug-abusing children of these parents take only a few pills at a time, believing their parents will not notice.

At parties, where are the parents?

At Lower Moreland High School today, said Chad, pot and other hallucinogens are popular.

Kids have no concept of how dangerous drugs are.

Chad's first job when he sees teenagers is to educate them about what drugs do to your body. These kids have no idea.

And do they care? They're young and invincible.

What kind of young person can refrain from taking drugs?

Children whose parents are mindful of the problem, he said.

The scourge of our modern drug culture are: Percosets, Oxycontin, or any other opiate.

Ritalin, prescribed for attention deficit disorder, is a popular "upper." Today you can buy these drugs from your friends.

The speakers said there's an overlap in the neurochemistry with drugs and bipolar disorder.

Alarmingly, drug use increases the risk for developing bipolar disorder. The risk is greatest with "uppers."

Why do people use drugs? (Fortunately, most people don't become addicts.)

1 - To feel good - intoxication.

2 - To feel better - to manage your emotions. Once you get addicted, the drug hijacks receptors on brain cells and changes them over time. The brain has special opiate receptors. But they cause tolerance so that the user needs more and more to get the same effect.

The brain on drugs goes through different STAGES OF CHANGE. Coming off the drugs depends on what stage you're in.

The neurotransmitter DOPAMINE has to do with reward and pleasure. Eating increases the dopamine level. So do illicit drugs.

Endorphins also function as neurotransmitters. They make a person feel good when they do things like exercise or are in love or have sex.

3 - To improve function - better, faster, stronger. Certain ADD-type drugs can tremendously increase concentration. People can sit and read for hours and understand what they're reading.

4 - To experiment. A person tries it, likes it, uses it and may become addicted. Most people who experiment do not become addicted.

Different strategies are used to help addicts who have a co-occurring mood disorder. They may be taking medication for their moods.

When Chad sees young patients, he does a thorough assessment first before coming up with a treatment plan.

Then he explains how the drugs work and what to expect if the kid remains of them. He tells them about the withdrawal effects of, say, Percosets: chills, the shakes, flu-like symptoms.

The kids have no idea.

Staying clean depends on what the kids are willing to do to help themselves. If they're not ready to make some changes, they'll come back. "When they're in enough pain they'll walk through that door again," said Chad, who is 31.

Barry Lessin, who is in his 50s, has seen his former patients return, now dealing with drug problems from their own children.

The psychologists defined addiction as something that rules your life.

You can't leave home unless you take your substance with you or know where you can get it.

If you're going to a party where alcohol will be available, that should be fine.

An addiction impairs your family life, your work life, all your relationships, your physical health and mental health.

Said Barry: "For parents, it IS a scary world out there in terms of the availability of drugs/alcohol, but the majority of kids get high and drink and don't develop problems. Parents need to get accurate info and give kids the opportunity to talk about what they know, and be actively involved in their kid's lives, and help them understand that learning how to cope with drugs/alcohol is a normal part of growing up.

The day before the program I shopped at Giant for a gift for the speakers. Kelly Keefer helped me pick out two healthy green plants - a 'prayer plant' and a poppy plant from Columbia - and two small pumpkins with faces. I thought perhaps they could keep these in their offices.

For further info, contact Chad Coren here.

And Barry Lessin here.

Two supremely knowledgeable people we had the pleasure of hosting.

I've always been fascinated with drugs, ever since I was a kid and asked my dad about a new movie with Frank Sinatra called The Man with the Golden Arm.

He explained heroin to me. Though I've never used it, I've written several poems about, inspired by clients I had when I worked as an Intake Therapist at Bristol-Bensalem Human Services Agency. Here's one of my favorites.



SHE CALLS: In which "Hap" Brady has a vision
of the Holy Mother

At twilight in the whorl of a tree
past Raythorn's sheep farm on
Terwood Road
a resplendent shadow
veined with color
and true as the setting sun
shone like a lamp
He saw it
"Hap" Brady
linoleum contractor
and angler extraordinaire
saw from his truck
the shape of an unknown woman
pressed to the burning joint of tree

He, springing from his truck
onto Raythorn's meadow
feeling the fading edge
of the good heroin
he and Maury did that day
snorting between jobs
to chase away the
expectant light of noon

And could only
when approaching
the calling light
drop to his knees
and bury his face
in the threaded beads of light
O Maury you would not believe

"It was not in words
but in music she spoke
rhythms of a flowing river of
leaves drifting
soundless
to the autumn floor."

These were not his words
they came from her,
melodies crossing
the land's edge laced with
sorrow and
with peace.

He wiped with quick motions the
corners of his mustache
for forbidden crumbs
lest she find him ungrateful

Caressing with open hand
his breast
he felt her warm being
rise inside him
a camellia opening
enfolding his emptiness
his barren places
the tender wounds that would not heal
held with pearlsoft petals

I can't think of why You've come
he said looking over Raythorn's darkening fields
I don't pray no more
or think of anyone but me
I haven't a belief in the goodness
of my fellow man
or of myself
I have on occasion
taken
to cheating the people who trust me most
Yet it seems
for the first time
since I found myself
on this endless scrub of plain
where no burrow have I
that maybe, just maybe,
I'm more than just
some dumbstruck nobody