Substance Use Disorder Recovery Needs to be a Family Affair

For some family members, it's difficult to forgive and forget a loved one - even after years of sobriety.

Substance use disorder recovery needs to be a family affair for one simple reason. A person’s substance use disorder (SUD (whether it involves alcohol or other drug) affects nearly every member of a family.  Much of my work has been around raising awareness of the little understood fact and the importance of treating both “sides”…

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Building Resilience Through Understanding Substance Use Disorders and Their Impacts on Others

building resilience through understanding substance use disorders and their impacts on others

Building Resilience Through Understanding Substance Use Disorders and Their Impacts on Others was the topic of a 3.5 hour presentation I delivered to three different organizations this spring; these organizations were also the program sponsors: San Joaquin County Office of Education and the San Joaquin County Children’s Services Coordinating Commission (Stockton, CA, March 5, 2019)…

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Managing the Fear and Anxiety of the Unknown

The following is a guest post by Stan Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” – an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to: http://www.managingfear.com/. All…

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Teen Stress and the Substance Misuse Connection

There is a definite connection between teen stress and underage substance misuse. It has to do with the way substances work on the dopamine pleasure/reward pathways, which is what makes using drugs or alcohol pleasurable. And we all know how stress makes us feel, so using drugs or alcohol can seem to help – at…

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The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study

Astounding findings about the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) on brain development are now available. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) – Childhood Trauma If you’ve been following my blog or my books, you will have repeatedly read that one of the key risk factors for developing a substance abuse problem and/or addiction is childhood trauma.…

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