The Insanity of a Family Disease

During my twenty-five year career in substance abuse treatment, I’ve frequently heard family members (and clients) insist that "Alcohol isn't his/her/my problem - drugs are!" and "Alcoholism isn't his/her/my problem - addiction is!" as if the same principles of recovery from chemical dependency don't apply to any dysfunctional situation where alcohol either isn't present or isn't present enough to be identified as the primary drug-of-choice.

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Reach Your Goals: 4 Ways to Beat Negative Thinking

I dare you to read this without thinking about an orange gorilla. Now, think of anything you can without thinking of the orange gorilla and count to 10. No matter how hard you tried, you thought about the orange gorilla, didn’t you? No matter how h

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The Benefits of Vibroacoustic Therapy for Addiction Recovery

Vibroacoustic therapy is the use of low frequency sound waves and therapeutic music to heal people from pain, addiction, and other medical issues. Not many people have heard of vibroacoustic therapy or are aware that it exists, but we all know how mu

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FMLA and Addiction: Go to Treatment Without Compromising Job

Making the decision to go to treatment for your drug or alcohol dependence is an important first step towards living a healthier life. It is a difficult decision and there are typically some common barriers that prevent people from seeking the trea

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Mental Illness Awareness Week 2016: Replacing Stigma with Hope

October 2nd-8th marks Mental Illness Awareness Week in the United States. During the first week of October, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) raises awareness of mental illness. Each year, NAMI and participants all across the nation figh

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The New Face of Fentanyl Addiction: Kati’s story

At a visit to The Strip, one of Surrey, British Columbia’s most notorious drug hangouts, investigative journalist Eric Ranklin interviewed Kati Mather, a 22-year-old fentanyl addict. Ranklin, reporting for CBC News, describes Mather as seeming as t

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First Responder Addiction Treatment: Need for Specialized Treatment

For firefighters, police officers, combat veterans, and EMTs, witnessing violence, abuse, and death are daily occurrences. In order to cope with the stress of their jobs, many first responders turn to drugs and alcohol. First responders have high

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Holistic Drug Rehab And Alternative Therapies

The word holistic is often used in discussing a person’s health or treatment, but many people have a misperception of exactly what holistic treatment is. Holistic comes from a Greek word meaning “whole.” Rather than some far-out or weird defini

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Defining The Holistic Approach

Defining The Holistic Approach What is “holistic?” The word holistic is often used in discussing a person’s health or treatment, but many people are still uncertain exactly what it means. …

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