Struggling against alcohol or drug addiction is a very rough position to be in. For so many people battling addiction, there’s a sense of helplessness to overcome it and sustain recovery long-term without relapsing.
Recovery is more about a journey than a destination and the fear of relapsing back to old ways is very real for those who have suffered from addiction. Therefore, it is critical for everyone who is in recovery from drug abuse and addiction to rely on the help of trained medical professionals.
Many adults can go to a party, have a drink, socialize, and go home happy and sober. For them, this is normal. Others of us, however, struggle with this situation. Some of us can’t stop at one drink. One drink becomes two and two drinks become five.
Recovery is a lifelong process. Self-care is important throughout that process to foster growth in areas of self-awareness and to prevent relapse. Self-help in recovery includes care for the whole person: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional.
The holidays are upon us. That means it’s time with family and friends. And for many of us, it also means being in the presence of alcohol or drugs, and we know what challenges that bring to the dinner table.
Addiction is a personal human struggle as old as time. In its latest iteration, addiction has resurfaced at crisis levels. Clinically, addiction is a condition that begins when a person takes a chemical substance (or engages in a behavior), which begins as hedonistically gratifying, but quickly evolves to an uncontrolled compulsion that interrupts your life.
Addiction is a personal human struggle as old as time. In its latest iteration, addiction has resurfaced at crisis levels. Clinically, addiction is a condition that begins when a person takes a chemical substance (or engages in a behavior), which begins as hedonistically gratifying, but quickly evolves to an uncontrolled compulsion that interrupts your life.
In the world of addiction recovery, there are many different tools that we have available to us to help people who are struggling with addiction. However, our options are sometimes mitigated by the trends of the market around us. The rising prices of many lifesaving drugs on the marketplace have been commonplace for years, and have recently become a hot topic in the national conversation about healthcare. In particular, Naloxone is one drug in the addiction recovery world that has been particularly susceptible to this issue...
Accountability is a critical element in recovery. It helps keep you grounded, gives you a sense of routine, and sometimes it might be what keeps you going in sobriety when your motivation to stay clean is running low. Because accountability comes in so many forms, it will look different in every individual’s recovery. Here is a look a some of the many ways that you might find and build accountability in your own recovery.
Earlier this month we discussed in this blog post what the downward spiral of addiction looks like, taking you through a cycle that involved repeated negative feelings and compulsive actions. It can be easy to see addiction as a downward spiral, where there appears to be no way out; but the good news is that it’s possible to break the cycle of addiction. In fact, you might imagine breaking the cycle of addiction as a kind of “upward spiral,” where the individual actively rewires the brain and engages in positive actions as they progress in recovery.
