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Family Addiction – A Tough Nut to Crack
Guest author – Lisa Fredriksen from breakingthecycles.com: I was 49 years old when one of my loved ones entered a residential alcohol treatment program and I found myself plunged into a whole other world – a world that included terms and concepts like codependency, adult children of alcoholics, 12-step programs, co-addictions, dual diagnosis and the…
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The cost of quitting alcohol and drug addiction – treatment tips for addicts
Many users are discouraged by the cost of drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs. The treatment programs that advertise, which are normally the only ones most people hear about (you know them: Passages, Promises, Betty Ford and more) may offer services that are worthwhile, but they may not and consumers have no way to evaluate…
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Calling bullshit on addiction treatment bullies
About three years ago, I was attending a national conference on public health (American Public Health Association) and presenting my posters on the relationship between drug use and violence, and sexually transmitted infections and injecting drugs. As I walked the aisles I ran into a woman who runs a Florida addiction “treatment” facility. We talked…
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One day at a time, but not forever!!!
If you’ve ever gone to a 12-step meeting, you’ve heard the phrase “one day at a time,” so often as to make it a mantra. Personally, it always left me wanting more. Is “one day at a time” enough?! I think the notion is a correct one… when it comes to early recovery. However, once…
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Replacement therapy as addiction treatment – Why it makes sense
I’m a little sick and tired of hearing discussions that continuously talk about opiate replacement therapy (think methadone, suboxone, subutex) as not being true addiction treatment because those individuals are still using a drug. While some recent advances will hopefully allow more and more people to achieve medication assisted recovery through antagonist therapies (like naltrexone…
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People, places, and things – How important are drug-related triggers for addiction relapse?
In cognitive behavioral therapy they’re a big part of the “Five W’s” = When, Where, Why, With, and What. In the various 12-step programs they’re simply referred to as “People, places, and things.” But no matter how you refer to them, drug-associated cues, or “triggers” as they are more commonly known, obviously play a big…
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Is anonymity the final shame frontier in addiction?
I’m a drug addict and a sex addict, and as far as I’m concerned, staying anonymous let’s me remain buried in shame, and a double life, that keeps me always one step ahead of those close to me. Did I say too much? Did I give away my secrets? None of those questions matter when…
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How it doesn’t work – the dogma of the 12 steps
Imagine being diagnosed with cancer, going through a regimen of chemotherapy only to have the cancer return within months, and being told by your doctor that there must be something wrong with you and that he can’t treat you unless you let the chemo do its work. Absurd right? 12-Step dogma Unfortunately, if you replace…
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A million ways to treat an addict
When I was still attending my addiction counseling classes at UCLA, we often discussed the many different tools now available when treating drug abuse (CBT, 12 step, medications, rapid detox, etc.). Still, most of the class members focused on how many of these don’t work with everyone and how some have actually resulted in problems…
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Top down + Music = Loving life – 3 steps for remembering what’s important
In my opinion, the purpose of all this stuff about recovery from addiction is about loving your life again. Let’s face it, if addictive behavior continued to be enjoyable, few of us would look to end it. But the reality is that what seemed like fun at first become the bane of our existence, driving…