We live in an age in which everyone looks for the quick fix, the pill, the relationship, the instant gimmick or technological gadget to make things change right away. This mindset is prevalent in treatment. There are no quick fixes in addiction recovery. Many people think if…
Too often people in early recovery think they can get by with a few beers on holidays like the 4th of July. There’s so much cultural pressure to drink on these holidays that many succumb to the pressure. There’s no holiday from addiction. In…
Every once in a while, I like to post the facts and statistics on alcohol use and alcoholism. Because of advertising showing the benefits of alcohol, it’s not often we see the damage caused by misuse and the total cost of untreated alcoholism. Misuse of alcohol…
There’s a tendency for some people to confuse AA with addiction treatment. Often we’ll ask someone if they’ve had addiction treatment before and the person will say they attended a few “classes”. When we ask what type of classes, they describe AA meetings. Nowadays, judges will…
Suboxone has become standard use in Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction. In the latest news on Suboxone, Congress has formed committees to create national standards for opioid addiction and MAT is seen as a vital part of any treatment plan. Because the withdrawal from…
Thanks to scientific research and the modern capabilities of medicine, there’s good news for alcoholics in early recovery. First of all, research has shown that a certain receptor, mGluR5 , in the brain related to craving alcohol actually reduces in number after a heavy drinking bout —…
This is a follow-up from the previous post, more on relapse prevention. For those who’ve never been addicted to a drug and don’t understand how someone can go back to a drug that is obviously killing them, think about something in your life to which you…
If I had to state the fundamental goal of treatment, I’d say relapse prevention in addiction recovery is a vital piece that can’t be emphasized enough. A person in early recovery is often blindsided by so many cues to drink or use drugs because they aren’t prepared, it’s imperative that the person…
The heroin, opioid problem is devastating some parts of Mexico. Below is an excerpt from the linked Washington Post article: Mexico provides more than 90 percent of America’s heroin, up from less than 10 percent in 2003, when Colombia was the main supplier. Poppy production has expanded by about…
I’ve written several times about recovery from opioid addiction, but it’s a complex subject and requires a great deal of explanation. Most people now have likely heard the horror stories of addiction, overdose and death, but not so much about recovery. The horror stories sell and…
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