Why does Stress often Trigger Cravings?
Stress has a big impact on your life when you have it. Anything from headaches to nausea, even social withdrawal and outbursts of intense anger. For people struggling with addiction, whether recently or years past, stress commonly triggers intense cravings for drug or alcohol use, and for many people, it’s hard to resist when they’re already stressed to the max. [...]
What to do When you Think you Have a Prescription Drug Problem
Coming to terms with the realization that you may have a prescription drug problem can be scary, and even embarrassing. Whether you’ve noticed some of the signs yourself, or a loved one has made a comment about some of your behaviors, it’s not a fun moment. After the initial shock that you could have allowed yourself to get into such [...]
Why are so Many People Addicted to Prescription Pills?
One of the biggest epidemics in the country currently is the crisis involving prescription drug addiction, specifically opioids. In the United States alone, more than 15 million people currently abuse or are addicted to a prescription drug, and nearly 9/10 poisoning deaths are caused by prescription drugs. We, the people of the United States, consume nearly 75% of the world’s [...]
What to do When a Loved One Won’t Let you Help Them
Addiction can destroy lives, not just the lives of the addicted, but their friends and family often suffer as well. Marriages and relationships are usually damaged heavily, parents and children don’t speak for years at a time and friends may say things they would never have before. When you’re the loved one of a person struggling with addiction, it can [...]
Why are Healthy Hobbies so Important?
When someone struggles with drug or alcohol addiction for any period of time, they may feel like life sober is simply too hard. They feel they may never find their purpose or a meaning for their life outside of drug or alcohol use, and it can seem overwhelming, trying to build a successful life after struggling with addiction. During treatment, [...]
The Truth About Forgiveness After Addiction
Our family, friends and coworkers often suffer when we battle addiction. They see it’s effects on us every day, and they feel our hurtful words, see the actions we often later regret. Forgiveness isn’t just about them. Forgiveness begins with yourself, spreads to them, and perhaps even helps them begin to forgive themselves for some of their own past choices [...]
Which Parenting Style were you Raised with?
There are four generally known styles of parenting most of us were raised with. The authoritarian style of parenting is best summed up as the parent’s way or the highway. There’s no room for endless questioning, no choices, and no discussion in this type of household. Parents with this style tend to give their children very little freedom simply be [...]
Ten ways Alcoholism Affects your Life
Alcoholism is a serious disease with a wide variety of signs and symptoms. These can be more or less intense depending on how severe the alcohol abuse is, and the frequency and amount of use. The longer alcoholism goes on, the worse the effect it has on the individual, jobs, loved ones and more. The physical side effects of alcoholism [...]
What is a Trigger?
One of the most important things when it comes to addiction treatment is learning to recognize, avoid or overcome triggers that might put you at risk for relapse. A trigger is any situation, person, thing or environment that reminds you of your past drug use. These usually bring about a strong urge to use a substance again, even if you’ve [...]
Seven Ways you can Find a Little Peace Today
Inner peace is usually what we strive for when we do just about anything, whether we realize what we’re looking for or not. Some of our most creative or our most destructive behaviors manifest when our goal is simply ‘to feel better’. Yoga, meditation, art or even cooking are all common ways that people try to find their serenity, but [...]