Addiction is often referred to as a family disease because addiction not only impacts the person who is misusing drugs and/or alcohol, it impacts the entire family. According to a 2019 Gallup poll, 46 percent of American adults have experienced substance misuse problems in their family. Active addiction typically prompts families to make slow, incremental…
Emotional self-regulation is a crucial life skill. Our ability to modulate our emotions keeps them from becoming excessive, counterproductive, or inappropriate. We cannot help having emotions, of course—and they are quite important after all—but when we let our emotions control our decision making, we tend to run into trouble. It’s quite normal to be temporarily…
One thing that we have come to understand about addiction is that it is a lifelong disease. No one is cured of addiction; they simply are always in a state of recovery from it. Someone who has been sober for ten, twenty, or thirty years can still relapse, which is not failure but a chance…
When you misuse heroin you have the potential to overdose, which leads to a wide range of symptoms. Heroin overdose symptoms are not always easy to identify. As such, an individual may go through an overdose episode and receive no medical care. This can lead to terminal health issues or fatality. Get help at a…
Anxiety, depression, and addiction have all become increasingly common in recent decades. Mental health and addiction are closely linked as well. Mental illness can lead to addiction and vice versa. For people recovering from addiction, stress and anxiety are common relapse triggers. Staying mentally healthy requires a holistic approach that involves positive social connection, healthy…
Identity plays a complicated role in addiction. Studies have found that younger people with no clear sense of identity, especially social identity, are at greater risk of associating with people who use drugs and alcohol. These groups are an easy way to find social acceptance and form a social identity. Being part of such a…
It’s normal to be disappointed if you relapse, especially if you’ve been sober for a while. You may feel like you’ve wasted all your hard work and disappointed the people who care about you. You may feel an impulse to punish yourself, either by beating yourself up emotionally, or engaging in some other self-destructive behavior.…
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of staying positive in addiction recovery. A positive, optimistic attitude promotes happiness and persistence, while a negative, pessimistic attitude promotes depression and resignation. There will always be challenges in recovery and a positive attitude will help you stick with it even when you feel like you’re struggling. Pessimism and…
One of the most common fears people have when they’re considering getting help for addiction is that sobriety will be boring. They worry they will never have fun again. Drinking and drug use has been their focus for so long that it’s hard to imagine anything else could be as fun and satisfying. What’s more,…
Every year, millions of people attend Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, including visitors from all over the US and all over the world. It’s a unique cultural event that features prominently on many bucket lists, but it’s also an event primarily known as a giant party. Drinking is a major part of Mardi Gras,…
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