When dreading the thought of getting clean, a lot of the concern centers around the painful process of detox. Opiate withdrawal in particular is so miserable that it’s earned the ...
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“Clean” Addictions: Compulsive Behaviors in Recovery
Ever wondered why AA and NA meetings are full of donuts, cookies, coffee, and post-meeting chainsmokers? It’s not just a way to tempt newcomers into staying for the long haul. …
Why Did My Boyfriend Get Me into Drugs?
It’s a sad tale, and unfortunately all too common. The stage: a relatively normal, functional girl grows up in a loving and secure home. She ambles through life learning how ...
Being Honest to Family About Your Recovery
Working a program requires a unique head space. It’s like all normal decision-making gets turned upside down, and recovering addicts find themselves reeling and relying on counselors for how to …
The Small Window for Addicts Wanting Help
The mind of an addict is chaotic. Even once they’ve hit rock bottom (or somewhere close), the rational mind remains chained beneath chemical dependency. Addiction hijacks the brain in a …
Separating the Addict from Their Addict Behavior
One of the most gut-wrenching results of addiction is how it turns people we love into strangers. Somewhere along the line, loved ones who once thrived with shining personal traits ...
Avoiding Treatment: What are Stages of Change?
We all know the story… and perhaps have acted it out a few times ourselves, too. Some substance habit causes major life problems, yet somehow rehab gets put off over ...
Matrix Model: How Rehab Therapy Actually Works
Remember the days before the opiate epidemic, when the world was drug-free and no one had addiction problems? Of course not. Substance abuse has been ruining lives since humans first ...
Leaving Against Clinical Advice (ACA) in Rehab
Our culture has a fixation with individualism. Although “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” may seem like a brave and noble idea in theory, it seems less enticing when it …
Harm Reduction: Does It Work?
If you’ve spent any prolonged amount of time in the recovery community, you’ve probably arrived here with a bias either for or against harm reduction. Maybe you vehemently fight against …