“We can all help prevent suicide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255).” Traumatic events can lead to substance use as a way to cope with emotional or physical…
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…
Making the decision to get help for your addiction is one of the best decisions you will ever make. The road may not always be smooth and easy, but sticking it out and really applying yourself to the concept of addiction recovery and all it entails is the key to really turning your life around.…
Drug and alcohol abuse destroys the brain. By sending mixed signals to your brain’s neurotransmitters, drugs effectively trick your brain into craving more and more of them, as they wreak havoc on organs and bodily functions. This craving turns into full scale dependency– a term that indicates that the body has transitioned from simply enjoying…
Yes. Known usually as “polysubstance dependence,” addiction to more than one drug is possible, and it is unfortunately becoming more common as access to illegal substances becomes more and more open. There are typically two instances in which an addiction to more than one drug occurs. The first typically happens when an individual suffers from…
Drug use is an unfortunate epidemic that affects millions of Americans. Ranging from casual use to severe addiction, individuals from all walks of life suffer the dangerous effects of consuming toxic substances on a daily basis. There are some, however, who very much believe that their drug habit is completely under control, and that there…
As with many illnesses, it is hard to self-diagnose addiction, particularly because of the disease’s wide variety of symptoms. While addiction is always associated with physical dependence on a substance, some addicts go years without ever noticing they are dependent at all. As substance abuse becomes more and more habitual, it is quite common for…
Just as drug and alcohol use harms your body and brain, it can also have a devastating impact on unborn children. In pregnancy, your baby receives all of its nutrients from you. As both food and oxygen travel through the umbilical cord and to the placenta without dilution or filtration, it’s important to remember that…
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…
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…