drug addictions

Despite the fact that alcohol and drug rehab has become commonplace, seemingly trendy in some cases, relapse rates remain abysmal. Fewer than half of the people who go through treatment make it three months without relapsing. Research shows that the people who are most vulnerable to relapse have real problems regulating their bodies’ stress response. They have what researchers call “dysregulation of stress pathways” or HPA-axis dysfunction. (HPA stand for hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal. These are the three big stress-regulating glands in the body, and all three work together.) People with HPA-axis dysfunction have high baseline levels of CRH, the hormone that calls