Addiction | Substance Use Disorders | Treatment
Science of Addiction Focuses on Sustainable Recovery
Understanding the science of addiction can help a person sustain long-term recovery. The following is a guest post by Judith Ann Miller and Leslie Carol Botha. Judith Ann Miller, Ph.D. is the founder and CEO of Courage to Change Addiction Recovery Ranch in southeastern Colorado, “integrating holistic modalities in addiction recovery; use[ing] your brain for change.”…
Read MoreOne Man’s Share; Another Addict/Alcoholic’s Hope for Recovery
The following is a guest post by Joel Christiansen, president of Joel Christiansen Speaking Services, a firm that specializes in speeches, workshops and retreats that empower people to get on the right side of their life and business, and the author of the books: Out of the Ashes the Resurrection of an Addict and Stop Whining…
Read MoreChoosing Not To Drink
Choosing not to drink can be difficult – not because a person necessarily has trouble not drinking, but rather it’s because of the prodding, probing questions of peers, friends and family, such as: “Why aren’t you drinking?” “Come on, just have a beer.” “Let me pour you a glass of wine – one can’t hurt…
Read More“Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?” A Story of Bipolar Disorder
As you know, I often write about dual diagnosis (co-occurring disorders — having both a mental health illness and an addiction), as well as the fact that mental illness is one of the five key risk factors for developing an addiction (whether it’s to drugs or alcohol). [The other four are childhood trauma, social environment,…
Read MoreWhat is an Intervention?
An intervention is an effort to confront (in a loving manner) a friend or family member’s substance misuse. To help readers understand what’s involved, Rachel Corbett, Business Development Director, and Alexander Tellez, Director of Administration, of Recovery Power Intervention Programs, a professional services organization providing intervention, recovery and care management services, shared the following guest…
Read MoreDisease of Addiction – What New Research Is Telling Us About This Brain Disease
Disease of Addiction — one of the most difficult aspects of this whole “thing” — from substance abuse to addiction to secondhand drinking/drugging — is to understand and accept that addiction (whether it’s to drugs or alcohol) is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease. Disease of Addiction Explained Everything about our body — what we…
Read MoreBrain Development Ages 12-25: Major Changes; Major Implications for Underage Drinking
by Lisa Frederiksen As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, “Teen Stress and the Substance Misuse Connection,” I thought I would repost one that I wrote in October 2009 and updated March 4, 2011. The connection between the two posts has to do with the potentially devastating consequences of underage drinking (or drug use, for that…
Read MoreAdult Children of Alcoholics | You? Or Someone Like You: Picking Up the Pieces Bit by Bit
Adult children of alcoholics are individuals who’ve grown up in a home where there was constant tension caused by a parent’s drinking. This tension takes many forms and is often passed off as caused by someone or something else, which is, of course, confusing to a child. To help us understand this better, Diana “ATL”…
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