Nov 12, 2020 | Substance Use Disorder, Recovery
In high school, I had a therapist who was tough as nails. She didn’t listen to excuses, and she could not be manipulated. One day, during a particularly exasperating session, she told me that my biggest barrier to happiness was myself; I was creating self-fulfilling...
Oct 23, 2020 | Substance Use Disorder, Recovery
To people who have never struggled with addiction, the idea that anyone would fear sobriety might seem odd. Isn’t it abundantly clear that substances are the biggest barrier to an addicted person’s happiness? Why don’t they just stop using? Not That Simple Addiction...
Sep 3, 2020 | Substance Use Disorder, Recovery
Substance Use and Your Immune System Addiction can weaken and suppress the immune system. This makes a person more vulnerable to everyday infections such as the common cold as well as potentially more serious illnesses such as COVID-19. Seeking treatment for your...
Jul 13, 2020 | Substance Use Disorder, Mental Health
It is not uncommon for people with mental illnesses to use substances to self-medicate, or for people to manifest or exacerbate a mental illness for the first time after using alcohol or other drugs. Regardless of which condition arrived first, when a person suffers...
Jun 18, 2020 | Substance Use Disorder
My daughter loves her grandma’s stories. Sometimes grandma will talk about her deceased husband. I never had the opportunity to meet my father-in-law. Alcohol stole his life before I met my husband. After hearing her grandma’s stories, my daughter, who was only 5...
May 25, 2020 | Substance Use Disorder, Alcoholism
There is a tendency in my mother’s family to blame everything on her father. He was a violent, angry man, whose entire adult life revolved around alcohol. My mother and her siblings blamed him for the family’s poverty, for several of them being raised in foster care,...
