How do I say no to my triggers?

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…

How long does recovery take?

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…

beach at houses at Laguna Beach

How successful are addiction treatment programs?

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…

Is it wise to go through treatment more than once?

For many, rehab is an experience like no other. They enter a treatment facility broken, battered shells of themselves, ravaged by the disease that is addiction, and with very little hope for a bright future. A few months later, they emerge afresh, with a new lease on life and a new attitude, ready to conquer…

What is rehab like?

Individuals that have not entered addiction recovery before may have questions about what the process is like. There are always many ideas about what addiction recovery entails. Though every addiction recovery process is different, there are many similarities. Taking a look at these will give you a good idea to expect through treatment. An early,…

What happens if you relapse?

Most addiction recovery plans and treatment options focus on one thing: preventing a victim of addiction from ever touching the substance they were addicted to again. Actually, if the plan works well enough, the ultimate goal is to dissuade the victim from having any inclination to touch any illegal substance, and to have no interest…

How do I convince myself to stick with treatment?

The hardest part of any addiction recovery effort is often not the treatment itself. Rather, it is the mindset of the individual receiving the treatment. Because addiction is essentially a hijacking of the mind, individuals will often face their biggest battles in recovery when their will comes to a crossroads with the disease and what…

Do you really want to spend the rest of your life addicted?

The short answer, of course, is no. Unfortunately, however, if you let it, your body will tell you otherwise. When consuming substances, the brain begins to depend on these substances for stimulation and the euphoric feeling we know as a “high.” Over time, the natural hormones and endorphins that your brain used to create begin…

How Do I Encourage My Loved One to Get Help?

Addiction, like many chronic illnesses and diseases, is an issue that affects a lot more than just the victim. In many cases, in fact, the victim may be the only one that does not have a problem with the disease and its debilitating effects. Family members and loved ones often tend to be the most…