Blog

Words Really Do Matter Sometimes people don’t think too hard about what they say. And sometimes that can have more serious consequences than one might expect. Think, for example, about the kinds of words that are commonly used to describe a person struggling with a substance use disorder. He’s an addict. She’s a drunk. They...Read More

Routine in Recovery As a general rule, we are believers in the power of routine in recovery. A good slate of routines can go a long way toward helping you maintain your sobriety. For example, it is a good idea to have a set of routines around things like attending 12-Step (or other) recovery meetings,...Read More

You have probably heard the old song that opens: “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” It is a nice thought, isn’t it? As the summer arrives in full force, it is nice to think that perhaps the living will, in fact, be easy. Turns out, however, that the season of the year has very little...Read More

Emotions have a way of sneaking up on a person. One moment, you are feeling perfectly fine, but then a stray memory makes you feel sad. Or you are working steadily on a project, but then a series of small setbacks add up to mounting feelings of frustration. Or you are feeling down in the...Read More

How Can You Help Your Loved One? When someone in your life is struggling with drugs or alcohol, it is only natural to want to help. It is also natural to wonder just how you can help. After all, a person with a substance use disorder is often unpredictable, unwilling to listen, and unable to...Read More

In the first entry in this miniseries about the different kinds of therapy, we explored cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and family systems therapy. Finding the Right Therapeutic Approach Our point, as you may recall, is that “therapy” is a generic word that can be applied to quite a...Read More

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