Between a Rock and a Hard Place: 3 Reasons You Can’t Ignore Trauma When you face difficult times, you have two options: work through the difficulty you’ve encountered or try to avoid it. For many who have lived through a traumatic experience, going around or burying traumatic memories can feel like the only feasible […]
Yes, You Can: Four Ways to Strengthen Your Resilience Everyone knows someone who’s been through a horrifying experience, yet somehow manages to keep smiling. People like that usually come to mind when we lose it over small things, like having trouble finding a parking spot or unloading the groceries only to realize we forgot […]
Therapy and Horseplay: Four Things You Need to Know about Equine Therapy When it comes to equine therapy, I’ll be the first one to advocate for its use. I’ve been an avid rider all my life, and there were many times I walked away from the barn feeling more relaxed and rejuvenated, and emotionally healthier […]
Six Ways to Maintain Your Sobriety at a Thanksgiving Celebration I first tried to quit drinking on November 11, 1995. By Thanksgiving of that year, I was clean, but I was scared to death of facing a holiday dinner without a drink. I remember standing by the bar in my grandmother’s house, downing Diet Coke […]
There are some issues that can remain a struggle well into recovery. Though I have been clean from drugs and alcohol for nearly 17 years, staying off the sugar – or at least trying to consume it in reasonable amounts – is an ongoing challenge. Sugar abuse, misuse, and addiction are common; recent research suggests […]
In an excellent piece in The Atlantic, writer Gabrielle Glaser gives an exposé on the lack of scientific evidence on the efficacy of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the preponderance of evidence that shows that not only does the lauded program fail to work for most people who try it, there are many other more effective […]
Frederick Douglass is reported to have said, “It is easier to build strong children than to fix broken men.” It is something I think about often in my work as an addiction researcher. When I hear the life stories of those who seek treatment for their addictions, if I am not careful to do my […]
At addiction treatment centers across the nation, more and more individuals are being seen for opioid addiction. Opioids are pain medications including morphine, codeine, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl or hydrocodone. These pain-killing drugs are addictive and even when prescribed correctly, can be dangerous. It is recommended that opioid therapy should be used only as part of […]
The Middle East is dealing with an epidemic of methamphetamine use. Could this be a factor in the growing tension in the region and offer at least a partial explanation for the lack of willingness to attempt negotiated resolutions? Consider a few facts: Meth releases a surge of dopamine, causing an intense rush of pleasure […]
The chemical methamphetamine hydrochloride is generally simply known as methamphetamine. Common street names for methamphetamine include crank, speed, meth, crystal meth, ice and crystal tea. It has been a popular drug of abuse for many years in its conventional, powdered form, which is usually snorted or injected. Methamphetamine differs from amphetamine in that, at comparable […]