One of the most powerful trauma healing methods we can use in our recovery is learning to work with our inner child. As adults, we still have our inner child, or our childhood self, within us. All of the pain we experienced when we were younger is still part of us, and to heal and… Continue Reading How Can I Heal my Inner Child?
Our addictions are often fueled by our escapism and avoidance. What many of us are trying to escape and avoid, and distract ourselves from, is the pain of our past. We will do anything to avoid having to face it. It can be terrifying look at the painful things we’ve been through – the hurt… Continue Reading Confronting the Past
Our addictions and mental health issues can cause us to create deep rifts in our relationships. When we are using and/or depressed, we can treat the people around us in ways we might not otherwise. We might be consumed with anger, bitterness and resentment that we unleash on the people around us. We might be… Continue Reading How Do I Rebuild My Relationships?
Learning to love ourselves unconditionally – through our addictions and depression, through all of our life challenges and obstacles – is one of the most important elements of recovery. Learning self-love is far from a quick fix. It is a lifelong process that involves unprogramming all of the limiting and self-disparaging beliefs we’ve adopted about… Continue Reading Healing our Brokenness with Self-Love
One of the best things we can do for ourselves in recovery is create a relapse prevention plan – a plan for how we will respond to addictive urges when they hit. Very often when we’re not prepared for urges, our instinct is to respond to them the way we always did, by using. Our… Continue Reading What is my Relapse Prevention Plan?
When we’re struggling with addiction, depression and other mental health issues and co-occurring disorders, we have a tendency to lose our sense of self-worth. We minimize and even forget all of our wonderful qualities and focus instead on our mistakes, weaknesses and regrets. We don’t value ourselves, and we don’t believe we are of any… Continue Reading Self-Worth, Insecurity and Addiction
When we are working towards recovery, one of our biggest challenges is the temptation we feel to use again. We’re hit with addictive urges that can be overwhelmingly strong. We got accustomed to giving into our urges and compulsions. We felt we had no control over ourselves. We didn’t feel connected to our willpower and… Continue Reading How Can I Cope with Addictive Urges?
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. At least 16 million American Adults suffered from a depressive episode in the past year, and depression is likely underreported. Awareness about depression and mental health in general has been growing in recent years as a result of public information campaigns and celebrities speaking out about their… Continue Reading 5 Ways Depression Affects Men Differently
Addiction can be sneaky. Just when you think you’ve got one addiction beat, another one can creep in. There are several reasons for this. A big one is that right after you quit a substance, you tend to have abnormally low dopamine levels for a while. That’s because most addictive substances give you a significant… Continue Reading 6 Replacement Addictions to Watch Out For
The opioid epidemic in the US seems to be getting worse every year. The CDC estimates that in 2017, nearly 49,000 Americans died of an opioid overdose. Fortunately, awareness of the problem is growing and there are more treatment options than ever for opioid addiction. However, recovery from opioid addiction must begin with detox. Here’s… Continue Reading What Can You Expect During Opioid Withdrawal?