I Got 99 Problems and They Weigh a Ton
When we are struggling with mental health issues and addiction, we typically mask our feelings and experiences that we may have been repressing for years. This type of behavior, whether it is conscious or unconscious, creates a cycle of avoidance to ensure we don’t feel pain. When we get in this cycle, it can feel like […]
Talking to Family and Friends About Your Recovery
When we are in pain, it can be difficult to find the right words to reflect how we feel. It can be especially tricky when we have suffered from a relapse along our mental health journey, but communication is the bridge between the whole of humanity. We can’t expect people to assume how we feel […]
Transitioning Towards Healthy Coping Mechanisms
We’ve probably all heard the term ‘coping mechanism’ especially if we’ve been in treatment before. Coping mechanisms are behaviors we enact in moments of tension, stress, and trauma. When we are struggling with addiction, we can teach ourselves negative coping mechanisms such as drinking after a bad day or spending time with someone who isn’t […]
Pain Doesn’t Make Us Special, Overcoming it Does
When we’ve experienced significant trauma, it can be easy to close ourselves off from the rest of the world and disconnect from the people we love. Our pain makes us feel isolated as if no one else could ever possibly understand its significance and its effect on our lives, but it’s this narrative that keeps […]
7 Reasons to Go to Therapy
As a nation, we have progressed when it comes to mental health. More often than not, people are acknowledging the importance of mental health just as they would take care of their physical health, but there are still a lot of obstacles, financially and socially, that stop people from seeking the treatment they need to […]
People-Pleasing and Self-Worth
Change, especially when it comes to honoring our mental health and removing addictive patterns, means shifting multiple facets of our lives. This could look like removing people who we were once close with, removing ourselves from certain situations, even removing ourselves completely by moving our homes or changing jobs. While these literal and figurative moves […]
When You’re Too Smart for Your Own Good
An old portrait of the addict may look like someone living on the streets, a person who is not well-dressed, or someone who is uneducated. But when we look at the spectrum of addiction, we might be surprised to find that most addicts are highly intelligent. They excel at communicating, and they have a keen […]
A Look into the Brains of Opioid Users While They Attempt to Quit
There are scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) beginning to look into the brains of opioid users, attempting to find answers regarding medicines that treat substance use disorders (SUDs). Specifically, these researchers look at medicines for opioid use disorder (OUD), such as methadone, and recognize the fact that they ease cravings and […]
Computer Games May Help Predict Opioid Relapse
Currently, estimates state that more than 2 million Americans have a type of opioid use disorder (OUD); therefore, it is a substantial public health problem. Preventing opioid use in the first place is the best way to battle the opioid crisis. Unfortunately, there are not enough resources available for prevention to be the norm. Furthermore, […]
Stress Can Harm Addiction Recovery
We’ve all experienced stress in some way or another: an intense amount of pressure can build up within us, causing us to experience backaches, stomachaches, headaches, frustration issues and more. In fact, previous studies have explored the issue of stress and have found that the political climate, along with work expectations and financial issues, are […]
