Even though addiction is a common phenomenon in our society, affecting so many of us and our families and communities, there are still many misconceptions about addiction in our mainstream culture. The negative stereotypes surrounding addiction and addicts, coupled with serious confusion and misinformation, cause many people to believe things about addiction that simply aren’t […]
Category: Resource Center
The Importance of Enjoyment in Recovery
Because addiction is such a devastating and debilitating illness, we tend to think of recovery as a very serious undertaking. While it is a very significant endeavor in our lives, incorporating enjoyment into the process is just as important as any of the serious elements involved. In addition to the therapy and deep emotional work, […]
Can Addiction Be Stopped Before It Starts?
Many of us living with addiction were genetically predisposed to it. We were raised in families where addiction ran rampant. We inherited traits and learned emotional patterns that conditioned us for addiction. Could we have stopped our addiction before it took hold? Is there a way to halt addiction in its tracks, before it gets […]
Emotional Attachment to Fear and Pain
Because our difficult emotions are so hard to handle, we would think we wouldn’t want to stay so closely attached to them, but for many of us, we develop a strong attachment to our fear and pain. We cling to them, afraid to release them. Our attachment is so strong that we don’t allow the […]
Feeling Resistance to Recovery
When we’re in recovery, our emotional journey with addiction is far from over. We’ve started doing the emotional work we need to do to heal, but we still have a lot of work to do. For many of us, beginning the recovery process means we’ve just barely begun to scratch the surface of our deeply […]
Was I Already Self-Destructive as a Child?
Think back to your childhood. Do you remember displaying any worrisome signs such as experimenting with drugs and then finding relief from your emotional pain in them? Did you show signs of being self-destructive or self-harming, such as cutting yourself or having risky casual sex? Did you drive drunk with your friends, or steal your […]
Healing from Burnout
When we’ve experienced burnout, total exhaustion and a dangerous decline in our overall health, it is so important that we take the steps to heal ourselves. Burnout makes us more susceptible to substance abuse, dependency and relapse. We can’t tackle our addiction recovery when we’re not at our best and strongest. Here are some things […]
What Do Our Habits Have to do with Addiction?
Our daily lives and the habits we develop can play a role in our addictions because mentally, emotionally and physically we set ourselves up to develop certain patterns that can contribute to how we function. Our habits might seem irrelevant to the deeper illness of addiction, but there is actually a strong relationship between the […]
Understanding Substance Dependency
Abusing and overusing substances such as narcotic drugs and alcohol can cause us to become mentally, emotionally and physically dependent upon them. We feel as though we can’t live without them, and our dependence can very quickly and easily lead to a debilitating addiction. It is not uncommon for us to start to think that […]
Logistical Challenges to Reintegration
As if our emotional challenges during the reintegration process weren’t enough, we also face logistical challenges, the difficulties in our daily lives and routines that can threaten our sobriety if we don’t learn how to deal with them. These challenges can cause us a tremendous amount of stress and overwhelm, adding to our feelings of […]