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Tag: addict

  • Crystal meth addiction and the Miracle of Letting Go

    This is a guest post by Cathy Taughinbaugh of Treatment Talk.org. I am a parent of an addict. I would say looking back, that I was naive and in denial about the drug use in my home. The last two years of high school for my daughter were challenging. One day of her senior year, I found what looked like drugs in her back…

  • Compulsive choices in addiction?

    Is addiction an issue of bad choices or is it a case of biological, compulsive, necessity? If you know anything about me and my views, you know that I think little of anyone who tries to separate these. I see and talk to people all the time who are stuck in compulsive behavioral patterns but…

  • Releasing the motivation bottleneck – Helping addicts by making recovery easier

    My friend Patrick as SpiritualRiver reminded me of an issue that I think is somewhat obvious to many drug addiction researchers but may not be to others. The way I see it, there is a specific reason behind much of the research into medications, or other interventions, that will help drug addicts in their transition…

  • “Addicted” – Recovered and Helping: The reality (tv) of addiction treatment.

    With the success of shows like A&E’s Intervention and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, America has shown an almost insatiable appetite for television programs that deal with addiction. Whether this reflects the breadth and depth of the addiction problem in this country or a national appetite for tragedy and schadenfreude is open for debate, but…

  • Anonymous No More: Jennie Ketcham and her sex addiction story

    As part of our Anonymous No More series, we bring addiction stories of addicts who are in different stages of recovery and are willing to share their take with you without the veil of anonymity. The point is to once and for all humanize addiction, and addicts, and reduce the stigma of addiction as a…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Crystal meth withdrawal – It’s not like heroin, but don’t expect it to be easy

    Heroin, or opiate, withdrawal symptoms is the gold standard of addiction withdrawal. Imagine the worst flu of your life, multiply it by 1000, and then imagine knowing that taking a hit of this stuff will make it all better. Think sweats, fever, shaking, diarrhea, and vomiting. Think excruciating pain throughout as your pain sensors get…

  • Am I an addict? A simple new test may help us get the answer!

    Originally posted on Psychology Today: One of the biggest problems with addiction is that we never know who is truly an addict. Yes, we have tests and notions, interviews and criteria, but all of those are simply tools we’ve used to get around the problem of not knowing. Well, a recent study by a couple…