Collateral Damage of Addiction | Family and Friends
When it comes to addiction treatment, recovery, prevention, intervention… it’s common to focus on the drinker or the drug user. It’s estimated there are more than 23 million Americans who struggle with the brain disease of addiction, of which only 10% are getting the help they need. What’s little understood is that more than 100…
Read MoreBeing the Designated Driver Doesn’t Necessarily Mean You’re Safe
We are closing in on the end of December’s National Impaired Driving Prevention Month and heading for one of the biggest drinking nights of the year – New Year’s Eve. So it’s a good time to remind ourselves that just because a person steps up to be the designated driver for a carful of tipsy passengers doesn’t necessarily mean…
Read MoreLiving with an Addict | Alcoholic – Darlene Lancer
Living with an addict | alcoholic can spiral one’s life into a place of confusion, anger, frustration, despair…, leaving a person a shell of their former self. Here to help us understand this dynamic and what to do about it is Darlene Lancer, author of Codependency for Dummies and Conquering Shame and Codependency: 8 Steps to Freeing the…
Read MoreDual Diagnosis Treatment – A System Broken | Guest Author Athena Kay
In a previous post, Addiction is Not a Choice | a Mom and Dad Share Their Daughter’s Story, we learned a great deal of what happened to Athena Kay, a pseudonym Cindy and Nick K’s daughter adopted following her rape at age 15 and subsequent PTSD, rape trauma syndrome, dissociative behaviors, depression, flashbacks, panic attacks…
Read MoreAddiction is Not a Choice | a Mom and Dad Share Their Daughter’s Story
Addiction is NOT a choice, contrary to the common belief and presumption “it” is a moral weakness, a shameful lack of willpower. I have been working in this field for over a decade, now, and that has NEVER been the case. With every person I’ve met or worked with, who either struggles with the chronic,…
Read MoreSubstance Abuse Recovery on College Campuses | David Greenspan
Substance use disorders are complicated. Meaning: a person is not born an alcoholic or drug addict. Rather they develop the disease, typically influenced by five key risk factors, one of which is early use. The other four include: genetics, social environment, mental illness and childhood trauma. Often, early use (early misuse) begins in middle school,…
Read MoreNational Impaired Driving Prevention Month | 3 Things You Can Do
Annually, the President of the United States issues a Proclamation declaring December as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. In the past, it’s also been known as National Drunk Driving Prevention Month and National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month. This year, President Obama issued his 2014 Proclamation, from which I quote: “Reducing impaired driving and…
Read MoreSecondhand Drinking Impacts on Children
Unless you’ve been a child in a home with untreated, unhealthily discussed alcohol (or drug) misuse or addiction, it’s difficult to image what it’s like to be a child in such a home. Devastating. Scary. Shame-filled. Life-robbing. Sadness. It’s a set-up for a “rest of your life” that NONE of us would ever wish on a child.…
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