Love addiction isn’t as easy to recognize as addiction to substances or to gambling. When you are addicted to chemicals, you revolve your life around chasing the experience of getting high. Anything or anyone that gets in the way of that experience is quickly discarded. The whole purpose of your life is to get high…
Details
“I relapsed.” If you find yourself saying these words despite spending time, money and effort on your addiction recovery, you are likely feeling demoralized and distressed. How could you have jeopardized all that you worked for? How could you have let down not only yourself, but your family and friends? The tough truth about drug…
DetailsWhen someone you care about is addicted to prescription painkillers or heroin, it can feel like you’ve already lost them. Sadly, drug overdose deaths are more common than ever, taking the No. 1 spot in leading causes of accidental death in the U.S., surpassing even car crashes. As you watch your loved one spiral out…
Details
Flirting is a natural human behavior. We use it as a tool to connect with others, especially romantically. It can, however, be an innocent way to socialize. Not all flirting leads to a romantic or sexual encounter, and to occasionally get carried away with flirting, even when you have a committed partner, is not problematic.…
DetailsIt’s heartbreaking when someone you love relapses into drug or alcohol use and all the hope and joy you felt upon believing they had conquered their addiction evaporates. The mental torture then begins: “I should have seen this coming,” “I feel so stupid” and “How could they choose this over me?” It’s a painful time…
Details
Kristin Waite-Labott, a recovering drug-addicted nurse, vividly remembers the first time she took the opioid painkiller fentanyl. “There’s getting high and there’s getting lost, and I just feel like I got lost once I took that.” She was a talented and respected ER nurse at the time, as well as a loving mother, a trusted…
Details
Sexual addiction is still a difficult concept for many people to grasp. The fact that much of the behavior typical of people with sexual addiction is socially taboo makes it easy for others to suspect that the disorder is really a convenient excuse for people who want to redirect the blame when they have been…
Details
A new twist on cognitive behavioral therapy is gaining traction in the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. It uses techniques from psychodrama, an experiential role play therapy, layered over the research-based favorite, cognitive behavioral therapy. Although this combination is not officially recognized as a distinct form of therapy, it’s being used by some leading-edge…
DetailsImagine this scenario: You are invited by a friend to spend a week in Jamaica at an all-inclusive resort. All you need to do is pay the airfare. Your immediate response is, “Of course, I will go. Thank you very much.” Your secondary and quite visceral reaction is, “That means I might have to take…
DetailsHere’s a simple social anxiety test: When you hear a group of people laugh, do you wonder what they found so funny, or are you sure they’re laughing at you? That feeling of being judged and found lacking, of being doomed to embarrass yourself whenever you are around others, are hallmarks of social anxiety disorder,…
Details