Dual Diagnosis | Co Occurring Disorders – what do these terms mean? How are they treated? A dual diagnosis | co-occurring disorders is the name of the diagnosis given when a person has both a mental illness and an addiction. According to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), 50-75% of Americans who seek treatment… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: January 2012
Brain Damage in Sports – New Research, Devastating Risks
Brain damage in sports – what does this have to do with substance abuse and addiction? Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease – anything that changes the brain is worth understanding for the brain controls everything we think, feel, say and do. In this particular post, I am talking about brain damage in… Continue Reading
A New Can in Town — the 12 Ounce Can of Scotch
by Lisa Frederiksen Be on the lookout for a New Can In Town — the 12 ounce can of scotch. Learning of its arrival prompted me to want to share information that can help a person stay in control of their drinking and avoid the regrettable behaviors that can happen when they unintentionally have too… Continue Reading
Continuing Care – the Equally Important 3rd Phase of Addiction Treatment & Recovery
Continuing care – the equally important and often neglected 3rd phase of addiction treatment. This sentence in Abigail Sullivan Moore’s January 20, 2012, article, “A Bridge to Recovery on Campus,” appearing on NewYorkTimes.com, really grabbed my attention: “….Until recently, public policy focused on prevention and treatment. “We never talked about recovery as a kind of… Continue Reading
Detach With Love? You’ve Got to be Kidding!
Detach with love? You’ve got to be kidding! At least this was my reaction when first presented with this concept years ago. Detachment | Detach With Love I’ve been in a number of situations lately where my heart went out to the wives, husbands, children and parents of alcoholics and drug addicts who were brand… Continue Reading
Starting the “Talk” About Substance Abuse Grades 5 – 9
by Lisa Frederiksen So often the effort to prevent underage drinking does not start until a child is in middle school or high school. NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) urges all of us to start the conversation earlier — in grades 5 – 9. To that end, NIDA has created a new website, “Mind… Continue Reading
PTSD and the Sleep Connection
by Lisa Frederisken Given mental illness (of which PTSD is one) is one of the five key risk factors for developing an addiction and that sleep (the peaceful, restful kind) is one of the key things a person can do to heal their brain from an addiction, I was fascinated by Amy Stanton’s NPR Morning… Continue Reading
The First Step — The First Truth
The following is a guest post by Tim Cheney, who has been in long-term recovery for over 30 years, and shares his thoughts on the first step of AA. Tim is co-founder and managing partner of Chooper’s Guide, a web-based substance abuse and addiction treatment and information resource. Tim has been in long-term recovery for… Continue Reading