Video Game Addiction: A Recovery Story RecoveryBy PromisesMay 1, 2015Andrew Doan, MD, PhD, is a trained eye surgeon, father of three, a professor — and a recovering video game addict. Astonishingly he made it through medical school at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine while playing a real-time strategy game like StarCraft for 7 to 14 hours a day. He’d started gaming at the… Details
How to Help an Addict Develop Frustration Tolerance Relapse PreventionBy PromisesApril 28, 2015No matter what they’re addicted to, all addicts lack the ability to tolerate frustration. They become easily dysregulated and are unable to self-soothe, which leads them to depend on substances, people, or processes (self-injury, cyber porn, video games, compulsive sex) to stabilize themselves. Because of this dependence, addicts don’t develop internal support and healthy coping… Details
Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic Executive Alcohol AbuseBy PromisesApril 26, 2015It’s not easy to make sense of the high-functioning alcoholic (HFA), but there are more of them than we think. People earning more than $75,000 per year drink more alcohol than any other economic group. About 81 percent of these high earners consume alcohol on, at least, a semi-regular basis. While the majority of them… Details
Stress and Addiction: A Vicious Cycle Personal ResourcesBy PromisesApril 23, 2015Around one in five Americans experience extreme stress, and stress has been closely linked to addiction in a multitude of studies. Stress Awareness Month aims to shine the spotlight on stress, to help us all think about ways to reduce our stress and, in the process, to help us move away from poor coping mechanisms… Details
Using Food to Relieve Stress Can Lead to Eating Disorders Eating DisordersBy PromisesApril 22, 2015It’s the rare person who has never turned to food in times of great stress, be it the proverbial pint of ice cream after a bad break-up or some other soothing indulgence. But some people become too reliant on stress eating, to the extent that it becomes their only means of handling stressful situations. The… Details
Nightmares Have Unique, Damaging Impact on BPD Sufferers Borderline PersonalityBy PromisesApril 21, 2015People with borderline personality disorder often have nightmare-related problems that are separate and distinct from other significant sleeping issues, according to new findings from a group of German researchers. People affected by borderline personality disorder (BPD) have an unusually high level of exposure to chronic sleeping problems that can substantially reduce their ability to remain… Details
Are You Texting More Than Talking? Other AddictionsBy PromisesApril 20, 2015When you’re together, you feel that you’re completely in sync. There’s never a lull in the conversation. He makes you laugh. He always gets the door. He helps his elderly neighbor bring in her groceries. And the sex? It’s amazing. You feel like he could be “the one.” But there’s just one thing: You rarely,… Details
Staying Sober Through the Worst of Times Staying SoberBy PromisesApril 15, 2015Attaining peace and serenity in sobriety isn’t always easy, but it’s definitely easier when life is going smoothly than it is during difficult or challenging times. At some point in your sobriety, you will have to deal with situations that feel overwhelming or painful. No matter what happens, you don’t have to drink or drug.… Details
College Students Under Stress Turn to Alcohol Alcohol AbuseBy PromisesApril 14, 2015New findings from a team of Canadian researchers indicate that the presence of short-term or acute stress has a significant impact on the amount of alcohol consumed by college undergraduates. Compared to the general population, college students in the U.S. are heavily affected by a highly dangerous, drunkenness-inducing pattern of short-term alcohol consumption known as… Details
How to Deal With Stress in Addiction Recovery RecoveryBy PromisesApril 13, 2015There are certain things you can count on as you go through life sober, and one of them is that you will feel stressed from time to time. Sooner or later things happen in life that challenge your feeling of serenity and leave you feeling overwhelmed and anxious. The question isn’t if you will experience… Details
