How to Explain Recovery to Family and Friends With the holiday season approaching, you might start seeing family and friends that you haven’t seen in a while. While it is great to see everyone, there is something new about you this year — you are sober. They might wonder why you are not partaking in […]
Overcoming Holiday Barriers to Recovery The holidays are just around the corner and, with only a few weeks to go until the festivities begin, many individuals dealing with addictions may be thinking that now would be the worst possible time to finally get treatment. This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you or your […]
Understanding SMART Recovery SMART Recovery is an acronym that stands for “Self-Management and Recovery Training.” According to the SMART Recovery website, the purpose of SMART Recovery is to “support individuals who have chosen to abstain, or are considering abstinence from any type of addictive behaviors (substances or activities), by teaching how to change self-defeating thinking, […]
What are the Stages of Change? At the University of Rhode Island, two researchers named Prochaska and DiClemente deciphered that there are 6 stages individuals go through and experience while seeking addiction, going through recovery and ultimately maintaining sobriety. These stages became a model known as “The Stages of Change”, which we base our individualized […]
Rebuilding After Addiction Treatment When you enter treatment for addiction, you are leaving behind a lot of negative consequences from your addiction. Chances are, you are finally getting help because of all of these negative consequences. You may also be thinking, “can I get my life back after treatment”? It will be hard to repair […]
The Role Compassion Plays in Addiction Recovery There’s a lot that goes on when someone enters treatment for addiction. Not only have they made one of the biggest decisions of their lives, but it likely came from a place of hitting rock bottom. Getting to a place where you have realized that you can no […]
Americans are drinking more than ever. In fact, a 2017 study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that 1 out of every 8 Americans struggles with alcohol abuse. The number is rising at a steady amount, and the study suggests the importance of “destigmatizing these conditions and encouraging those who cannot reduce their alcohol consumption on […]
Opioid Addiction is Predictable and Potentially Avoidable if Physicians Change Screening Habits Most people only use prescription opioids for a short period of time. According to a new study published in PAIN, The Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain, less than two percent of people prescribed opioid-based pain killers are still […]
We Need Leadership: Here’s How President Trump and Incoming HHS Secretary Tom Price Can End the Nation’s Addiction Crisis With the fate of the Affordable Care Act still up in the air, it’s not clear what health care will look like under President-elect Donald Trump. But as the opioid crisis rages on, Trump’s administration can’t […]
The DEA is Lowering Opioid Production in the U.S.: Here’s How that Might Affect the Opioid Epidemic In the latest federal policy meant to curtail the ongoing opioid epidemic, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced earlier this week that the overall volume of opioid prescriptions permitted in the nation’s pharmaceutical market would decrease […]
