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Tag: recovery

  • Keep your head up – no shame in addiction

    A client come in today for an addiction treatment evaluation. She had so much shame about her drug use that even the relative who brought her in didn’t know what drug she’d been using every day for the last year or so. I told her the same thing I tell all those who ask me…

  • Rubber-band addiction recovery – No shame

    There’s a specific issue that keeps coming up with nearly every addiction client I work with who is in early recovery. Regardless of whether they’re trying to stop unhealthy alcohol or drug use, sex or gambling behavior, or anything else, this issue keeps returning. It doesn’t even seem to matter if this is their first…

  • Recovery = Abstinence… Or not

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) just release a new definition of “recovery” from mental health and addiction: A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential. I’ll give you 10 seconds to find a key missing ingredient…

  • Addiction stories: How I recovered from my addiction to crystal meth

    By the time I was done with my addiction to crystal meth, I had racked up 4 arrests, 9 felonies, a $750,000 bail, a year in jail, and an eight year suspended sentence to go along with my 5 year probation period. Though I think education is important to keep getting the message out about…

  • The music must change! Obsesssion, compulsion, shame an guilt in addiction

    Guest co-author: Jeff Brandler from Changeispossible.org The nature of addiction is one of obsession and compulsion. Regardless of the substance, behavior, or process, the addicted person will continue to obsess (countless and endless thoughts) and have compulsions (repetitive actions). They will repeat this obsession-compulsion ritual over and over. Imagine a radio station that plays the…

  • 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…

  • The forest and trees of addiction

    It’s unfortunate that some people look at substance abuse problems from their vantage point only – Everyone seems like them whether normal users, light abusers, abstainers, or hard-core alcoholics (recovered, recovering, or not). The world is full of individuals arranged in loosely associated groups. Unless one can acknowledge that real, important, and consequential differences exist,…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Recovery from addiction: Stigma and many obstacles, but no excuses!

    Many of the people in my life nowadays forget that I’m an ex-convict. Still, I get daily reminders that the “ex” part of convict doesn’t carry much weight. I also know that I have it easy because I have a Ph.D. after my name. For many others in recovery, things are even harder. Still, when…