How to Have Fun in Recovery
Someone caught in the cycle of addiction will make just about any excuse to continue justifying or rationalizing their substance misuse. When you have gotten in the habit of using drugs or alcohol as a coping strategy to deal with stress and anxiety, you may come to believe being high or drunk is the only […]
Top Apps for Addiction Recovery and Mental Health
Within less than a decade of hitting the marketplace, smartphones evolved into devices many of us can’t imagine living without. According to a report from the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of U.S. adults have a smartphone, and use it for everything from staying in touch with loved ones to finding a new job. These […]
Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep in Recovery
Insomnia is a common withdrawal symptom for drug and alcohol addicts, especially in the early phases of recovery. When you find yourself routinely lying in bed wide awake at 3 a.m., physically tired but unable to slow your racing thoughts, it can not only be frustrating, but can also impact your mood and health. If […]
The High Financial Cost of Addiction
Substance misuse and co-occurring disorders take an enormous toll, both on the person who develops the addiction and everyone around them. While most people think about the cost of drug or alcohol addiction in terms of physical, mental and emotional health, there is also an undeniable financial cost of addiction and recovery that affects not […]
How to Create and Keep New Year’s Resolutions
As the calendar turns from 2019 to 2020, many of us are planning to make a fresh start and leave old habits behind. If you have set New Year’s resolutions in the past and failed to keep them, you’re not alone. Even with the best of intentions, the majority of people who set resolutions at […]
What Makes Addiction a Family Disease?
If you’re living with a loved one who has become addicted to drugs or alcohol, you may have heard someone like your therapist or counselor refer to addiction as a “family disease.” Why is that the case, and how does that affect your family member’s goal of successfully reaching long-term sobriety? Understanding Addiction as a […]
Erasing the Stigma Around Mental Health
If you’re living with mental illness, such as addiction or a co-occurring disorder, you’ve probably experienced people blaming you – either implicitly or outright – for your disease. Unfortunately, there’s still a great deal of stigma around mental health in modern society. The Burdens of Stigma Around Mental Health Stigma can be psychologically devastating, another […]
Avoiding Addiction Triggers on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving can be a joyous occasion surrounded by family and friends, but for people in recovery, it can also be a stressful event that surrounds them with addiction triggers. If you’re working daily to build lifelong sobriety, these can be very harmful things to subject yourself to because they often lead to relapse. However, by […]
How to Maintain Your Sobriety This Fall and Winter
Even in a beautiful place like Long Beach, fall and winter can be a challenging time for anyone – especially people in recovery from substance misuse. With fewer hours of daylight, and often some amount of social isolation because many of us feel less motivated to go out and do things, many recovering addicts become […]