One of the most important aspects of a strong recovery is having social support. This can include friends, family, and mutual aid groups. This presents a bit of a challenge for people just starting out in recovery. Often, they find their old friends were just drinking buddies and they don’t have much else in common.…
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Impulse control has a lot to do with addiction. It’s no coincidence that many mental health issues that involve impulse control also increase your risk of addiction. ADHD, OCD, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder all have a significant impulse control component and higher risk of addiction. What’s more, the longer you live with addiction,…
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One thing you will likely notice about life in an addiction treatment center or even in a sober living home is that routines are important. There’s a regular time for everything. You get up, you eat, you go to group, you meet with your therapist, you get some exercise, and you go to bed at…
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Congress recently passed the Substance Use-disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities, or SUPPORT, Act as a multifaceted way of addressing the opioid crisis. The bill passed both houses with overwhelming bipartisan support, an alarming indication of how bad the opioid crisis has become in recent years. In fact, the…
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AA is probably the best known way to quit drinking. It is 80 years old and has millions of members worldwide. Most people are familiar with the basic ideas behind 12-step programs, including the higher power, the moral inventory, making amends, sharing, and sponsorship. If you need help for addiction and aren’t sure what to…
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You are probably familiar with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This is when you have a traumatic experience, but instead of recovering over the following weeks and months, you are plagued by symptoms related to the trauma. These symptoms typically include avoiding anything associated with the trauma, re-experiencing the trauma in the form of flashbacks…
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In a rare display of bipartisan cooperation, Congress recently passed the SUPPORT Act, which combines policies from more than 60 pieces of legislation already passed by the House. The SUPPORT Act comes in response to the opioid crisis that gets worse every year and killed nearly 60,000 people in the US in 2017. The act…
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12-step programs can be a valuable resource for addiction recovery. There are several advantages of attending 12-step meetings as a way of managing addiction. First, meetings are easy to find. Unless you live in a remote area, there are probably several meetings nearby. They are also an easy way to start building a sober network.…
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Valentine’s Day can be challenging for some people, especially if you’re early in recovery. It’s a time for wine and champagne with your significant other, which means an avalanche of posts on social media by friends and family who want everyone to know how happy they are to be in such a wonderful relationship. That…
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A substance use disorder can demolish your self-esteem. It can impair your career, possibly leading to unemployment, it can damage your relationships and alienate you from the people who care about you, and, perhaps most importantly, it can make you feel like you have no control over your life. Recovering your self-esteem is an important…
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