Codeine Misuse Can Lead to Bigger Problems When you think about the opioid epidemic in the United States, the odds are pretty good that codeine does not immediately jump to mind. Instead, you may think of codeine as a mild cough suppressant and source of pain relief. That is entirely understandable. Codeine has been around...Read More

Variety Packs You are probably familiar with variety packs. You find them in the grocery store, and they tend to have small individually packaged portions of something. Ten little cereal boxes with two boxes of five different kinds of cereal, for example. Or a big bag of candy that has mini versions of several of...Read More

“Top Five Answers Are on the Board” If you found yourself on a quiz show and the topic was “names of substance use disorder recovery programs” (we admit this would be an odd category), how many could you name? There’s an excellent chance you could name one—and a pretty good chance you could name two....Read More

Benzodiazepine Addiction There are so many different stressors in our lives. So many, in fact, that it might seem impossible to even begin to list them. But here’s a stab at such a list—woefully incomplete though it is: We have stress in our family lives. Our partners, kids, parents, in-laws, and on and on are...Read More

There is a famous moment in William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in which Hamlet asks a group of actors to put on a play that bears a strong resemblance to some misdeeds he believes his uncle and mother have committed. The goal, as Hamlet puts it, is to “catch the conscience...Read More

It Is Easy to Make Exercise Excuses Sometimes it can seem as if there are only two levels of exercise: intense and none. And let’s face it, given those choices, a whole lot of us are going to go with the second option. Of course, we all know that it is a good idea to...Read More

Sometimes it can feel as though you will never be able to go to bed. A Routine for Good Sleep There are dirty dishes in the sink or a school project that your kid didn’t tell you about until the last minute. Maybe your boss sent you an after-hours email and clearly expects a response...Read More

Mindfulness & Your Mental Health We have written before about the ways in which mindfulness can support your mental health and recovery from a substance use disorder. On the surface, the practice of mindfulness seems both straightforward and simple. The goal is to be present in the current moment rather than ruminating about the past...Read More

Both good and bad habits in addiction recovery can be powerful. Sometimes the power of a habit is good for us. Other times, the power of a habit is a problem. Take, for example, a habit like brushing your teeth in the morning and before bed. The odds are good that you don’t spend a...Read More

What Is Boredom? It happens to all of us from time to time. You are simply going about your day when suddenly you find yourself feeling restless or distracted. Whatever you are doing right at that moment isn’t any fun—and worse, you can’t really think of anything else to do that would be fun. Maybe...Read More