Our experiences with addiction can come with some very complex interpersonal relationship dynamics that can be very hard for us to understand. One of these dynamics is our resistance to the compassion and support of our loved ones. Most of us would probably assume that anyone would want to be helped while struggling with somethingRead More
Our struggles with addiction have a way of overpowering us and taking over our lives, so much so that they dominate the ways in which we self-identify. We come to identify ourselves as addicts and little else. We forget all about the interesting lives we lived before addiction took over our days, routines, lifestyles andRead More
When we struggle with addiction, we associate our addiction with a dependence on a particular substance or behavior. What we sometimes come to discover is that we’re not only addicted to our drug of choice and the patterns we’ve developed over the years, we’ve also come to be addicted to the drama of it all,Read More
When we think of our addictions, we tend to define them as an ongoing problem we have with an addictive substance or behavior. We know we’ve formed a dangerous dependence, but we aren’t always sure why. We usually associate our addictions with mental and emotional health issues, such as our depression and anxiety, the traumaticRead More
One thing we learn in our recovery is just how widespread the misunderstanding and misinformation continue to be around both addiction and mental illness. People who don’t struggle with addiction often don’t have the information, experience or understanding to really comprehend what we’re going through, and sometimes they can’t connect with us in real waysRead More
As we’re working to recover from our addictions, many of us discover that one of our greatest triggers to relapsing is being bored, feeling fulfilled, and not having enough to occupy our time in useful ways. We don’t have healthy ways to express ourselves creatively. We don’t have outlets to help us stay productive andRead More
Many of us can relate to feeling as though we’re living with an inner critic that is constantly assessing and criticizing everything we do, think and feel, from our important life choices to mundane everyday decisions, from our mistakes and wrongdoings to our usual slip-ups and bad habits. We see everything around us with aRead More
Sometimes our recovery can feel separate from our daily lives, from the routines we grew accustomed to, from our work and relationships, from the lifestyles we’ve created for ourselves. It can be hard to figure out how to combine the work we’re doing in our recovery with the rest of our lives. One way weRead More
Those of us struggling with behavioral addictions, or process addictions as they’re sometimes called, have a unique set of challenges relating to our recovery. Behavioral addictions can include any behavior, process, or combination thereof that we become dependent upon. We can become addicted to anything that brings us feelings of release, relief, detachment, escapism, distraction,Read More
We might think of our attitude, our outlook, and our ways of thinking and feeling as all being totally separate from our recovery. We think of our recovery as abstinence from our drug of choice, and all the work we do as part of our recovery program – the therapy, the support group meetings, communicatingRead More