Nearly 20% of people over 12 have substance abuse disorder (SUD). More than the simple use of drugs or alcohol, SUD represents a turning point where use has become excessive and dangerous. But despite the dangers of substance abuse, you may feel unable to quit using this substance, legal or not. Your body becomes more […]
7 Dangers of Substance Abuse Every Loved One Needs to Know Read More »
Mental health and addiction often go hand-in-hand. As mental health symptoms worse, they can cause people to feel the urge to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, living with a long-term addiction can cause chemical and physical changes in the brain, which can lead to mental health conditions. Living with dually diagnosed
Dual Diagnosis: Where Mental Heath And Substance Use Converge Read More »
If you have relied on alcohol or drugs for any length of time to escape from reality or to relieve bad feelings, learning to live sober can be very challenging. The intense symptoms of withdrawal from substance use disorder are only the beginning. Although you may wish you could just get through detox and then live happily ever after,
Addiction is a complicated disease. It has genetic components, but having a gene or a set of genes for addiction does not mean you will become addicted to a substance. It isn’t a death sentence or even a life sentence, for that matter. However, it can be scary. Whether you just found out the truth about those
You Have a Family History of Addiction, Now What? Read More »
A team of Canadian researchers says that people who inject drugs have an exceptionally high risk of suicide when using stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines. Injection drug users have relatively strong chances of developing diagnosable problems with substance abuse and addiction. They also have elevated chances of making suicide attempts and actually committing suicide. In a
Injection Drug Users Who Also Abuse Stimulants at High Suicide Risk Read More »
Addiction isn’t just an individual problem. How addiction affects families is far-reaching and profound. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) found that the majority of all violence against a spouse or partner involved substance abuse. However, addiction doesn’t just include things like drugs and alcohol. Excessive gambling, porn, video games, and social media are
What we experience early in life can influence our future responses. A psychologically traumatic event from your past may impact how you think, feel, and behave today. That’s how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops. While addiction is an illness of the brain, PTSD is more of an injury to the brain—something from the outside that
Staying quarantined because of requirements related to the coronavirus takes a toll on individuals with alcohol use disorders. It also takes a toll on those that have an addiction to other drugs. There are ways to fill your time sober in quarantine. There are also ways that you can still get the treatment that you
What all types of addiction have in common is the inability to stop using the substance regardless of how many times you’ve tried. Whether you are addicted to alcohol, prescription medication, or illicit street drugs, you may have formed a long-term dependency that has controlled every aspect of your life.Addiction is often a slow process
Change is hard. Think about the last time you tried to lose weight or quit smoking. Consider those yearly resolutions and how quickly they fall by the wayside, victims of procrastination. Things that we do by habit, even simple tasks such as reading in bed or drinking coffee in the morning, happen from years of
Motivational Interviewing and Addiction: The Impact of Being Heard Read More »