Addiction | Substance Use Disorders | Treatment
Substance 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 MoreDrug Addiction – Not My Son | Part II by Mother D
Drug Addiction – not my child! – is a common refrain. Parents can’t even imagine let alone consider their child may be developing (yes, developing) or have the brain disease of addiction. This is due in large part to society’s utter lack of understanding about the nature of this brain disease, the key risk factors contributing…
Read MoreAddiction Recovery – What Helps, What Doesn’t
Addiction recovery – what can or should you do to help a loved one get help? Do they have to hit bottom? Should you show “tough love,” or is there another way? How do you know you’re even an alcoholic or drug addict? Or what about the following statements: “Alcoholism a disease? No way! Cancer is…
Read MoreTreating Addiction Like Cancer – Guest Author Diane Mintz
Treating addiction like cancer – why don’t we? Why don’t we given there are 23 million Americans living their lives in recovery from addiction as compared to 14.5 million Americans living their lives with a history of cancer (as of 1/1/14)? For readers of my work, you know how passionate I am about this difference…
Read More#14Days on the Wagon – Accept the Challenge
Join CBS News.com’s #14Days on the Wagon challenge beginning Monday, October 6. And what is this challenge? The challenge is to give up alcohol and “any non-medically necessary drugs” for the next 14 days. As Parvati Shallow explains in the short video below, this is to help you experience the “real effects of healthier living and feel a little…
Read MoreCodependency in Addiction | When You Feel It Pays for Your Partner to Stay Addicted
Codependency in addiction is often written about, but the issue of a codependent “wanting” their loved one to stay addicted is rarely addressed. Today’s guest post by Liz Karter tackles this issue. Liz Karter is a leading UK therapist in addiction, practicing since 2001, specialising in gambling addiction and women. Author of Women and Problem…
Read MoreDo You Have a Codependent Attachment Style | Darlene Lancer
Finding out whether you have a codependent attachment style or a healthy one can be a key to figuring out next steps to change — something especially important if you’ve been affected by a loved one’s substance misuse. Author of Codependency for Dummies and Conquering Shame and Codependency: 8 Steps to Freeing the True You, Darlene Lancer explores attachment lifestyles in today’s…
Read MoreMaster of Manipulation – the Disease of Addiction
If you live with and/or love a person with the brain disease of addiction, you can probably relate to this poem I wrote several years ago. I know that until I finally understood addiction for what it is – a chronic, often relapsing brain disease, I never saw the real puppeteer pulling all of our strings…
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