Substance Abuse and Why It is Important to Seek Treatment

According to a government survey conducted in 2012, 21.6% of people in Canada over the age of 15 experienced some form of substance abuse. Of this number, 18.1% abused alcohol. Substance abuse can have a big impact on physical and mental health, especially if the patient doesn’t get treatment quickly. Many patients develop life-long health consequences like organ damage or nerve damage because of this disorder.

What is substance abuse?

Any excessive or harmful consumption of psychoactive substances is considered substance abuse. If a patient consumes unhealthy amounts of a mind-altering substance and can’t stop, they need professional help. These patients develop a dependency on drugs or alcohol, experience withdrawal when they try to overcome the problem, and quickly fall back into their bad habits.

Different forms of substance abuse

The broadest definition of substance abuse includes a number of addictive items, all of them with psychoactive properties. Here’s a look at different forms of substance abuse:

  • Alcohol abuse – Alcohol abuse involves excessive and regular consumption of alcohol. There are two types of abuse in this category; drinking in social circumstances for pleasure or drinking because of anxiety or depression.
  • Illicit drug abuse – Illicit or illegal drugs like cocaine, meth, etc, contain highly addictive properties. It’s easy to develop a dependency on these substances and it becomes difficult to get off them. There’s also a pattern of escalation in illicit drug consumption because people need to take increasing amounts to reach the high they need.
  • Prescription drug abuse – Prescription drug abuse is prevalent because these substances are easy to access. Unfortunately, they can cause the same level of dependency as illicit drugs. There’s a risk of addiction, escalation, and even overdose. Some patients recognize their growing addiction to prescription medication early and seek assistance while others are more focused on controlling their health condition and don’t realize they’re dependent.

Addiction to tobacco can also be considered substance abuse. Many people don’t take tobacco addiction seriously because it doesn’t have an intense mind-altering effect that other substances do. Unfortunately, it has serious health consequences so smoking addiction should also be taken seriously. 

Symptoms

  • Inability to stop consuming alcohol or drugs.
  • Withdrawal symptoms that compel patients to fall back into bad habits.
  • Psychological symptoms like paranoia, anxiety, and violent mood swings.
  • Aggressive behavior.
  • Inability to handle social situations.
  • Drug overdose or alcohol poisoning.

Substance abuse can cause other mental health problems such as anxiety disorder, insomnia, panic attacks, depression, aggressiveness, etc. Sometimes substance abuse is a cause of these disorders and both of them need to be treated at the same time to ensure full recovery from addiction.

Substance abuse is a common and serious problem that can be treated with professional guidance. CBT has proven to be effective against substance abuse in most forms so it’s a good treatment option for patients. CBT Toronto is also effective against co-occurring mental illnesses so it is a comprehensive treatment.

Differences Between Interest Only Home Loans and Principal and Interest Home Loans

During the home loan comparison process, you might come across two different types of loan repayment options. One is an interest-only loan and the other is a principal-and-interest home loan. It is important to understand the differences between these two options carefully. Here’s a brief look at the options:

Interest-Only Home Loans

Interest-only home loans have fixed period inthe beginning when all the mortgage amount you pay goes towards your interest obligation. There will be no principal amount deducted until the interest-only period is done.

This interest-only period usually lasts for 5 years, after which the loan switches to principal-and-interest home loan. This loan option does offer some benefits that you must consider during home loan comparison. These benefits include:

  • Lower Repayments – You will have lower repayments every month during the interest-only period. This can help people who are on a tight budget and ease the financial strain caused by repayments.
  • Tax Deductions –Interest-only loans lead to higher tax deductions and lower tax payable. This option is desirable to an investor.
  • Short-Term Lending – This type of loan is ideal for short-term or transitional requirements. You can choose this option for construction or bridging loan without having to pay more.

The interest rates are higher under this option and borrowers often end up spending more money in the long-run. You won’t build any equity during this period and might have more repayments at the end.

Principal-and-Interest Home Loans 

This is the most popular option available and is suitable for most home buyers. Under this option, one portion of your repayment goes towards reducing principal and the other towards interest. This option offers a number of advantages, including:

  • Shorter Loan Term – You will be able to reduce the number of repayments because you start chipping away at the principal amount from the very beginning.
  • Lower Interest Rates –This loan has lower interest rates and the amount you pay will keep decreasing as your principal amount decreases. This means you pay less and less as the loan term progresses.

However, the initial repayments are higher and you won’t be able to enjoy as many tax savings over the long run.It is important to fully understand the terms of these loans before making a decision.

Research the two options thoroughly before conducting a home loan comparison. That will allow you to make the best decision based on your requirements. If you want to know more, don’t hesitate to contact us at Home Loan Comparison on 0419 856 669.

Biggest Advantages of Plesk VPS Hosting

Choosing a control panel for VPS hosting isn’t easy, especially for admins with little experience in the field. There are many different options available today, but Plesk VPS hosting is one of the most reliable. This platform has won many awards and provides consistent performance even in high traffic situations. It has evolved considerably over the years to keep up with modern hosting demands. Here are some of the biggest advantages of Plesk VPS hosting:

Cross-platform

It is the only cross-platform control panel available now. You can use it on both Microsoft and Linux VPS servers. This saves money, time, and helps improve productivity as admins need not learn how to use two different control panels. This is especially beneficial if you’re managing multiple websites on more than one VPSs. This is one reason hosting companies prefer Plesk over other control panels. It is versatile, flexible, and reliable on all software platforms.

Easy management of Plesk VPS hosting

Managing a website through remote server or SSH can be difficult and time-consuming. Plesk offers a web-based control panel that’s easy to understand. The user-friendly interface allows you to upload websites, create email accounts, reseller accounts, manage information, etc. This can help streamline the management process and reduce room for errors. The platform is also scalable so users can expand its reach to include a thousand VPSs on the same server.

Customizable Plesk VPS hosting

The standard version of Plesk is already feature-rich, providing users with an array of tools to help manage their VPS well. But this platform also provides add-ons, which allows users to customize the control panel according to their requirements. You can add GitHub support, Docker support, WordPress toolkits, Developer Pack, ServerShield by CloudFlare, Plesk Security Advisor, and other such extensions to your control panels. This platform provides an extensive library so users can create highly customized controls panels for their particular requirements. This makes it one of the most comprehensive platforms available today.

Software

Plesk makes things easier for users. It automatically installs certain essential programs and services so users can use their servers properly right after installation. It will install a DNS server, web server, mail server, and database server automatically, configuring them to your system requirements during installation.

 

Plesk is light-weight and not resource-intensive. You can manage even the most basic VPSs with this platform with little effort. While it is doesn’t require much, experts still advise using a more powerful server than you need to get good performance.

Who are we?

That’s a fun question to answer. We’re just a few people who like to drink beer and have a chuckle after we finish our days of work. We’re always sharing things we found with each other, and Max – one of the guys here at Union Corners – had the idea that we could try sharing that information with people online.

Why Union Corners? Well, we all work for union shops, and we got into the habit of calling Mark’s garage “The Union Corners” because it’s where we all meet up to have a beer.

Why post things online? Because people find it interesting, and we don’t really have much better to do.

Welcome to Union Corners. This should be interesting.

— The Gang