Addiction causes self-destructive behavior despite harmful consequences. The brain changes chemically and physiologically when a person is addicted. The individual becomes physically dependent on the drugs or alcohol and experiences painful withdrawals when he or she stops using them. Lifestyle changes must be made for recovery when treatment ends. The brain needs time to learn…
Addiction is treatable and recovery is a lifelong process. A person recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol must completely change his or her lifestyle. A person in recovery goes through daily struggles to stay sober and will need encouragement and support to maintain sobriety. Drinking alcohol when your spouse is in recovery creates…
Addiction is a complex disease that alters brain chemistry and puts a person a risk of severe mental and physical health issues. Getting help for a substance use disorder or addiction can seem overwhelming and scary. Treatment helps people transition to a healthy, substance-free life in recovery. In treatment, people also learn how to mend…
People say it often, but it is often a lot harder to avoid common triggers of your addiction when going through your everyday life. If you are not careful, you can find yourself in situations where you feel powerless to stop yourself from engaging in activities that you could put you at risk of falling…
When an individual regularly consumes toxic substances like drugs and alcohol, he or she may consume with the impression that quitting will be as easy as starting was. In fact, several surveys indicate that individuals in these situations often deem themselves perfectly capable of quitting anytime they’d like. Their strategy is typically one that includes…
All 50 states recently adopted a .08% blood alcohol concentration limit as the new legal limit for DUI’s and DWI’s. This means that for a 140 lb person, more than two drinks before driving would get them into trouble with the law. While the drinking and driving limit is more or less cut and dry,…
Addiction in and of itself is a sick, debilitating, invasive disease that affects all manner of people. It has no definitive characteristics, nor does it have a particular type of individual that it seems to prefer. The truth of the matter is that it is one of the very few diseases that science simply cannot…
It’s no secret: millions of Americans fight the chronic struggle of drug dependency every day. While addiction recovery centers nationwide are working effortlessly to provide resources for these victims, the simple fact of the matter is that while some are getting better, many others are regressing rapidly. In fact, studies indicate that the volume of…
Measuring the success of addiction treatment programs is almost the same as attempting to measure the success of a particular medicine or prescription. Both addiction treatment programs and medicine have been designed to be as successful and efficient as possible. Whether they are, however, is completely up to the patient! Studies indicate that the success…
According to the National Institute of Health, addiction recovery centers are starting to embrace models of service that closely resemble service models used to address chronic conditions. Researchers indicate that this change is due in part to the fact that drug use, recently characterized as a chronic condition as well, has been found to drastically…