What is addiction? And when do you know that your habit has become an addiction?
It is true that there is nothing pathological about indulging and enjoying something. Engaging in pleasurable activity is not wrong in and of itself, but there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed, beyond which the activity becomes an addiction.
People sometimes […]
Self-awareness sounds like a phrase that would fit right into the 1960s mindset. Is this another offshoot of the old do-your-own-thing generation?
Self-awareness, in fact, as a clinical theory, is often traced to the breakthrough study on the subject done by psychology researchers Thomas Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund, which was published in 1972. This opened […]
A global study on drugs, alcohol and tobacco use found that consumption of alcohol and use of tobacco were by far the most threatening addiction problems faced around the world in terms of risk to health and chance of death. The one-two punch of alcohol and tobacco cost the world population more than a quarter […]
Men and women face very similar battles when recovering from addictions, but there are critical differences, as well. In this blog, we’ll look at some men-specific issues. While men and woman both turn to addictive substances to relieve a variety of traumatic experiences, by the time men get to rehab, they face some gender-specific issues.
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Addicts in early recovery face a seemingly endless list of triggers because the memories of drug and alcohol use are recent and familiar. As time goes by, the list of triggers that could send an addict into relapse begins to recede.
Still, some of those triggers are extremely persistent. I recall back when I was a […]
Addictions, it could be said, are all about finding something pleasurable and seeking to continue with that sense of pleasure even when it becomes self-destructive physically, financially, emotionally, mentally, socially, even spiritually.
In years past, when little was known about brain chemistry and genetics, it was thought that people with addictions were simply making bad choices […]
The 12-Step addiction recovery process is one that millions of people with addiction issues over the years have credited with helping them recover from an addiction. The program has such an impact on recovering addicts that it has developed its own cult-like reputation, especially among those who don’t know it first hand. It is safe […]
Nobody can avoid stress forever. As human beings, anxiety comes with the territory. That’s a fact of life. We can react to stress in various ways. Our bodies invoke a “fight or flight” response that harkens back to our earliest years on the planet. Animals also exhibit “fight or flight” responses when provoked.
Some clinicians call […]
Few people ever say recovering from an addiction is easy. On the other hand, if often feels that just as things are turning around, just when a loved one is finally getting somewhere in recovery, everything unravels. These sudden lapses into bad decisions seem to come out of nowhere. Things were going so great! What […]