Liver Damage from Alcohol Abuse

Excessive drinking creates havoc in the brain and the body, particularly the liver. It is important to understand the function of the liver, how it is impacted by alcohol abuse and available treatments for these conditions including fatty liver disease, cirrhosis (scarring), and hepatitis. Role of the Liver The liver is a vital organ in

How Your Honesty Affects Your Addiction Recovery

Addiction recovery and rehab is all about breaking old destructive habits and establishing new patterns and codes of conduct that allow you to stay clean and sober. When you live life as an addict, you erect structures around yourself that support your addiction and substance abuse. One of the more common structures is deceiving yourself

Goal Setting in Addiction Recovery

Marathon runners predict their finishing times and set their running pace to meet those times Companies write detailed business plans that include two- and five-year sales projection and then set up operations to achieve those sales goals. These and other long-term endeavors typically start with goals and work toward meeting those goals. Your addiction recovery

Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms of Meth Abuse

You don’t have to look long or hard to find photo evidence of the physical effects of chronic meth abuse. After several years of meth abuse, an addict’s skin will be scarred and sallow. He may have lost several teeth and his remaining teeth will be discolored and cracked. He will be thin from malnutrition.

Alcoholism Pulls Fathers from the Home

Fathers play an important role in a family’s life. Children especially benefit when a father is present to spend time encouraging and demonstrating things in a unique way only fathers can. However, the difficult reality for millions of people is that addiction to alcohol fractures and damages families, often separating fathers from the home emotionally

Warning Signs of Opiate Addiction

Opiate addictions may once have been centered in opium dens of the nineteenth century and among heroin addicts in the 1970’s. Modern opiate addictions are broader and more insidious, as they affect every social strata and demographic group in virtually every part of the United States. If your physician gave you a prescription for an

Are You An Alcoholic?

If your drinking has progressed to a point where you’re asking yourself if you’re an alcoholic, you can easily convince yourself that the answer is “no”. You might have had one or two nights of binge drinking and woke up the next day with little memory of the previous evening, but in your mind those

Three Steps to Relapse

After recovering from a serious drug addiction, the last thing you want to do is consider going through that ordeal again. Once you’re done, you want to be done with that forever, right? Unfortunately, the nature of addiction is complex and frustrating and you will have to fight off temptations and relapse triggers for some

How to Choose a Treatment Plan that’s Right for You

Each of us are different and, when it comes to treating addiction, everyone has a unique set of needs and circumstances that must be taken into account when deciding on a treatment plan.  Addiction is a dependency the brain has formed on a particular substance or behavior. For things like opiate addiction, which is a

You’re Responsible for Your Own Happiness

We hear in recovery counseling a lot about people who turn to substance use in a search for joy or pleasure in an otherwise miserable or unhappy life. As understandable and universal as the desire for happiness is to all of us, it’s well understood that the fleeting rush afforded by drugs and alcohol are