Getting sober is tough – staying sober is tougher. Let’s explore strategies that are proven to work and which promote greater health!
Addiction & Mental Health, which comes first?
Addiction and mental health go hand in hand, but which one should be addressed first?
Trading Addictions
It’s rarely a conscious choice to trade addictions, so how do we safeguard against it?
Am I An Alcoholic?
Alcohol is entrenched and celebrated in our society. It is expected that adults drink in most social situations. It’s normative for people to use alcohol as a way to relieve stress and have fun. Social norms dictate that all we need to do when drinking causes us problems is
New Years Resolutions That Actually Work
In the coming days, otherwise reasonable and intelligent people are going to set themselves up for failure. It’s our annual ritual of self-deception: establishing New Year’s resolutions. We’ll decide that it’s time to, “go on the wagon.” We’ll talk about cutting down our use, lowering stress, getting to the gym,
Debunking: Alcohol Is Never Good For You
In the midst of America’s opioid epidemic (roughly 72,000 deaths annually), the increased devastation caused by alcohol is being overshadowed. Our country is losing approximately 88,000 people each year to alcohol-related deaths. A recently released study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows
Using music to boost your recovery
It’s endlessly amusing to me that for all my training and education, I quote Facebook memes all the time. One of my current favorites: “I love music because it stays when everything else goes away.” If you’ve been through addiction or any other kind of hell, there’s an excellent chance
Addiction Looks Like Mental Illness
One of the biggest failures of dual diagnosis treatment is that we often label those active in addiction or early in recovery with mental health conditions that they don’t have. One of the benefits of “old school” treatment was the recognition that an accurate baseline is unattainable prior to significant
Doing Recovery Alone: The Hamster Wheel @ 100 MPH
One of the best (though sadly, true) statements I’ve ever heard about active addiction comes from the television series, Suits. “An addict will jump out of a third story window because they’re afraid of falling out of the penthouse.” Halfway between where you were and where you want to be