Like most medical conditions, substance use disorders (SUDs) range from mild to severe. When seeking a rehab program, it is essential to understand the types of programs available so that you can choose the one best suited to your needs. Typically, outpatient and short-term residential recovery programs work well for individuals who have not already…
It is tempting to think of the recovery journey as moving in a straight line. The fact of that matter is that somewhere around half of all people who take the critical step of getting treatment for their addiction issues will relapse at some point.1 Relapse is such a common occurrence, in fact, that at…
We tend to think of the difficulty of recovery as happening early in the process. The first steps can be challenging both psychologically and physically. The early stages of rehab, including detox programs and the stages that immediately follow, are as demanding as they are critical. But the idea that recovery simply gets more comfortable…
“So, how long should my son stay in treatment?” a worried mother asked me yesterday. For those of us who work in drug and alcohol treatment, this is probably the question we hear the most from anxious husbands, wives, parents, siblings and friends. How long should your loved one stay at alcohol or drug rehab? Despite all…
Clients at drug and alcohol treatment centers often have more than one issue when they come into rehab including problems with depression, anxiety and food. A lesser known and discussed issue is that of sexual addiction. Although sex addiction isn’t listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V (DSM-5) it is still a…
For many, New Year’s Eve is a day filled with friends, family, fun and parties. For people in early sobriety from drug and alcohol abuse, New Year’s is generally the last day of a stressful season filled with uncomfortable situations and the need to be vigilant at all times since temptations are, seemingly, never-ending. The secret…
Developed in the 1970s by Dr. Marsha Linehan, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an effective treatment for people with serious self-harming behaviors or those with complex or severe mental disorders. DBT has also been successful with many substance abusers as addiction can be viewed as a self-harming behavior. Addicts often suffer numerous negative consequences from…
Many people want to know the optimal amount of time to stay in drug and alcohol treatment to have the most positive effects. We posted a blog on this a couple of years ago, but the question is raised so often, that we thought we’d talk about it again. According to the National Institute on Drug…
A common thing we tell clients in drug and alcohol treatment centers is to stay away from “people, places and things.” What we mean by this is that clients (especially in early recovery) shouldn’t hang around with people they used to use drugs and alcohol with, go to places where they used or partied or…
This is the second installment of a two-part series on drugs to treat drug and alcohol addiction. Currently, there are three categories of drugs used to treat drug dependencies. Methadone Used for opiate withdrawal and replacement since the mid-1960s, methadone has been prescribed to thousands of opiate addicts. While methadone can be used to lessen withdrawal…