Understanding Attachment Disorder Human beings are biologically hardwired for social bonding. Infants possess a survival instinct to instinctively attach to caregivers. When babies’ physical and emotional needs are met, they develop secure attachments, learning to trust, communicate and take steps toward independence. Infants completely rely on adult caregivers for emotional regulation. When parents or other … Continued
Getting sober is hard. Staying sober is even harder. You may feel that you are caught in an ever-revolving door, going in and out of sobriety with varying degrees of success. You may have accumulated days or years of sobriety at certain points in your life even enduring painful periods of withdrawal without the use … Continued
Do You Have A Problem? Determining if you have a problem with drugs or alcohol is often a difficult assessment to make. After all, self-reflection is never easy. As we wrote about previously, denial is a serious issue for those struggling with addiction. Have you promised yourself you would stop using drugs or alcohol time … Continued
Community in Recovery One of the most enduring sayings in cultures across the world is “It takes a village.” While it’s a phrase used most commonly to describe raising children, it can also be said that it takes a village to be human. Since the earliest days, humans have operated in tribes. Being part of … Continued
How To Help A Loved One Who Is Struggling With Addiction There are few experiences more painful than watching someone you love struggle with addiction. If you happen to be living with that person during his or her active substance abuse, the stress is compounded. Whether this loved one is a spouse, partner, child or parent, … Continued
Seeking help for addiction is just the first step in the recovery process. For many who struggle with addiction, some form of professional treatment is needed, but sorting through the numerous treatment center options can be overwhelming. Here are four important questions to help you work through this difficult but ultimately life-changing decision. 1. Can … Continued
Perhaps the greatest obstacle for the drug addict to overcome is denial. In this article, we hope to give some insight into what the denial process often looks like for the active drug addict and how he or she (or a loved one) can help overcome this obstacle. What Is Drug Addiction? According to the … Continued
Drug and alcohol addiction is a family affair. It’s not just one person’s struggle. When someone has a drug problem, it affects everyone in the family. It doesn’t matter if you’re the one abusing the drugs and alcohol or if you’re the parent or the sibling. The addiction has had an impact on you. Because … Continued
The number of people becoming addicted to their prescription medications is on the rise. Most notorious among the addictive prescription drugs are opioids, and that may be largely due to the somewhat lackadaisical prescribing habits of many physicians. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 20% of patients who visit physician offices … Continued
We now have yet another synthetic opioid spreading through our states, and it’s more dangerous than many of the other drugs out there. It’s called carfentanil, and it’s been the cause of a large number of overdoses and, unfortunately, many deaths as well. Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid that is powdery and white. It looks … Continued
Recovery is an ongoing process, fraught with constant challenges. Whether you’re dealing with everyday stress or are around friends who use drugs or drink alcohol, it can be all too easy to slip and slide backward. One of these challenges includes avoiding medications that may interfere with your recovery. Even if your doctor prescribes you … Continued
The words “habit” and “addiction” are frequently interchanged, but there is one significant difference between the two. Habits can be negative or positive, while addictions are only negative. The trick to identifying, which is which often lies in the amount of time and effort it takes to break one. What is a Habit? Habits begin … Continued
Public health experts estimate one in ten people suffer from some form of addiction. Addiction doesn’t include just the typical substances of alcohol, prescription pills, and illicit drugs. Gambling, sex and pornography addicts suffer terribly as well. With those staggering statistics, it’s highly probable someone in your family may have an addiction problem and is … Continued
Discovering that a loved one has an issue with substance abuse is a distressing situation. It has the potential to rock a family dynamic to its very core. Few people feel equipped to deal with the situation effectively, and most people struggle when trying to convince an addict to go to rehab. It’s a challenging … Continued
Addiction is a disease that affects both men and women, but that doesn’t mean each gender benefits from exactly the same approach to treatment. Since the sexes have some inherent differences, it stands to reason that their experiences with substance abuse will differ. These experiences form part of the criteria considered when establishing a treatment … Continued
When you’re choosing an addiction recovery center, there are a number of factors to consider. One that’s often overlooked is the location of the facility. You might think that attending rehab close to home is the best option, but that’s not always the case. Attending an out-of-state rehab offers a number of benefits: Increased privacy: … Continued
Traditionally, the stereotype of a drug user was predominantly male. The same was also true of the typical heart-attack sufferer. Either through evolution or more specific studies, both of these stereotypes have been overturned to reveal that women are just as likely as men to suffer heart attacks, and they’re also just as likely to … Continued
Our traditional mental image of an alcoholic is of someone who simply cannot keep their life together. The alcohol is interfering with their family, their friendships, their job, and their health. But 20% of alcoholics don’t look like this. They are called high-functioning alcoholics, and they have all the outward signs of success: a good … Continued
While successfully completing a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program is a huge accomplishment and the most important decision you can make to address addiction, you’ll still need to make adjustments to your daily life to help prevent relapsing. Most treatment programs surround you with the needed support staff and tools that will help you break … Continued
Life is a series of ups and downs, and like many people, you may feel down from time to time. Feeling down, or that life is against you, is an all too common feeling in today’s society. As many as 14.8 million adults in the U.S. are affected by Major Depressive Disorder, according to figures published … Continued