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 […]
How to Have a Healthy Halloween in Recovery
If you’re in recovery from a substance misuse disorder, holidays like Halloween can be scary in more ways than one. At every turn, you may run into familiar relapse triggers that make you crave drugs or alcohol. How can you celebrate All Hallows’ Eve without feeling haunted by your past? Celebrate the Holiday at Home […]
Alcoholism Is on the Rise in America
With the national spotlight on opioids and similar “hard” drugs, many people have lost sight of another growing addiction problem that is far more common: alcoholism. As a 2017 study found, not only are more American adults drinking alcohol regularly, but many of them fall into the categories of high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder, […]