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Emotional sobriety is the theoretical end of a journey undertaken to recover from addiction or substance abuse. To some extent, becoming emotionally sober is like reaching satori in Zen Buddhism. You’ll suddenly feel it in a flash of spiritual enlightenment. When this happens, two aspects of life will become crystal clear. The first is a deep assurance you won’t relapse or develop a new addiction. The second involves knowing when to set and keep boundaries. You will feel, in retrospect,…

At Casa Pacifica Men’s Sober Livingin San Diego, residents have developed powerful tools and traditions that help them stay grounded, connected, and sober during the […]

Depending on the context, social awkwardness can be described as a personality trait, behavioral condition, or an uncomfortable situation. It’s generally viewed negatively from various perspectives, particularly when it causes concern from a self-awareness standpoint. For instance, you may feel uncomfortable around others because you think they’re uncomfortable around you. When recovering from substance abuse and addiction, feeling socially awkward can be a heavy cross to bear during the journey to sobriety. Social Awkwardness as a Matter of Perception Admiration…

Final Gambit, one of the racehorses that finished at the top of the 2025 Kentucky Derby, was trained by a man on an addiction recovery journey. According to an article published in BloodHorse, a magazine that covers the thoroughbred horse racing community, Blane Servis has been caring for Final Gambit since 2022. He was part of Stable Recovery, a special program that gives addicts a second chance in the thoroughbred industry. Servis comes from a family of racehorse trainers. Unfortunately,…

During the prestige era of American cable television, which spanned from the late 1990s to the late 2010s, a few crime dramas explored intriguing plotlines about addiction. Series like The Sopranos and The Wire on HBO and Brotherhood on Showtime portrayed substance abuse and dependence realistically. They didn’t hesitate to show the emotionally raw dynamics of attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after lapsing, relapsing, or trying to stay sober. We’ll reference these acclaimed cable shows, which many younger viewers are discovering…

In November 2018, Outside magazine profiled a gym in Denver where recovering alcoholics and drug addicts enjoyed working out in a dedicated space. The Phoenix was founded in 2006 by Scott Strode, a triathlete who succumbed to a liquor and cocaine addiction. These days, The Phoenix is a national organization that promotes physical activity and fitness as integral aspects of a holistic approach to recovery. Exercising and pursuing fitness goals complement other aspects of addiction recovery, including health, social interaction,…

In July 2025, singer AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys gave a candid interview to Fox News about celebrating four years of living in “straight sobriety.” The founding member of the most successful boy band of all time was in and out of rehab for two decades. He calls himself a “chronic relapser” whose journey to recovery hasn’t followed a straight path. Although McLean went through more lapse episodes than full relapse crises, he acknowledges having dodged many bullets along…

The essence of accountability in recovery involves taking responsibility for actions, behaviors, and positions. In the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship, accountability is a core factor in many of the 12 steps, starting with an admission of being powerless over an intoxicating and addictive substance. If you maintain accountability throughout recovery, your journey will be easier and more effective, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. Understanding Accountability in Recovery After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers leaned on Thomas Paine…

In May 2025, comedian Nick Kroll appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast hosted by Dax Shepard to talk about the intervention he coordinated for his friend and fellow comedian John Mulaney. Beyond his talent as a stand-up comedian, Kroll is known to be a stand-up guy and a great friend, so he covered the costs of retaining a professional addiction interventionist. He also offered to pay for the travel expenses of celebrity comics Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers, who had…

In 2025, the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) fellowship is holding various events to celebrate its 90 years of existence. As the most commonly known program for recovering from alcohol use disorder (AUD), AA conducts daily meetings in 180 countries to help two million individuals. Many historians and clinical researchers label AA as one of the most significant developments of the 20th century, a societal milestone comparable to the invention of the personal computer. Two decades after its founding in 1935, AA…

In the 2024 comedic film Sweet Dreams, misfits from a sober living home in Los Angeles come together as a softball team to win a cash prize and save their beloved facility. The movie features an ensemble cast of American comedians popular on the podcast circuit, and one of the quirkiest characters is Cruise, played by Bobby Lee. Cruise has somehow stayed in the sober living home for seven years. A high risk of relapse prompts his case manager to…

Case management has been an important aspect of addiction recovery since the early 20th century. Essentially, it refers to the strategy of delivering treatment services based on the specific needs of patients. It’s often applied to the treatment of substance abuse and chemical dependence because such conditions often require complex support. Clinical case management began in the early 20th century with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. These days, it extends to four heuristic models: generalist, brokerage, strengths-based, and…

To a certain extent, substance abuse and neurochemical dependence are highly subjective medical conditions. For example, not everyone who is negatively affected by substance abuse will need to follow a treatment plan. Likewise, some people think or feel some substances are harder to quit than others. This subjective aspect of addiction treatment explains a maxim often heard in recovery circles: “The hardest drugs to quit are the ones you’re on.” Please keep this expression in mind as we review the…

The process of recovering from alcohol use disorder (AUD) or other types of substance abuse isn’t monolithic. There are many approaches, strategies, and treatment plans. For example, individuals who are referred to sober living homes benefit from transitional treatment, but not everyone would be a candidate. Many patients who transition to outpatient counseling from a sober living environment such as Encinitas sober living housing get strong recommendations to attend peer support programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Such recommendations are…

The addiction recovery process features various levels of treatment, supervision, and guidance. Patients with severe alcoholism or opiate dependency are clinically treated with detoxification. Others may enter an inpatient rehabilitation program with some clinical aspects, and they may be referred to a facility such as a Solana Beach sober living home as part of a transitional strategy before switching to outpatient counseling and community programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Various levels of counseling are provided through all stages. One of…

In February 2025, the son of British music icon Rod Stewart shared some details with the Daily Mail newspaper about his recent admission to a rehabilitation facility in Southern California. Sean Stewart is 44 years old. As the second of eight siblings, he has a history of substance abuse, addiction, and relapse. In the Daily Mail interview, Sean explained he checked into rehab voluntarily. However, he was encouraged by his family with an intervention he appreciated. Sean agreed to the…

In March 2020, a team of researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine conducted a longitudinal review of 35 studies on Alcoholics Anonymous. The review featured 10,080 individuals who followed the 12-step program and achieved various outcomes. As the researchers expected and their analysis confirmed, AA is a highly effective method to recover from alcohol use disorder (AUD), mostly through abstinence. Although this research finding reflects the common sense of staying sober by not drinking, the question of how to…

The ongoing expansion of medical and recreational cannabis markets in the United States is enabling researchers to conduct more studies about long-term effects. In June 2024, the Psychiatric Times journal published a special report about cannabis withdrawal syndrome, a condition associated with prolonged cannabis use disorder (CUD). The report was presented by Columbia University researchers during a conference for mental health professionals, and one of its highlights focused on the growing numbers of CUD patients who require treatment for withdrawal…

In the January 2022 issue of the Health Affairs journal, the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse wrote about the need to make addiction treatment more pragmatic. Dr. Nora Volkow is a research psychiatrist who has pointed out the continuing failures of the “War on Drugs.” She argues that the 100,000 overdose deaths reported in 2021 underscore an urgent need for reforming existing policies on substance abuse disorder (SUD). One of the arguments presented by Dr. Volkow focuses…

In November 2024, two mental health researchers from the University of Illinois published a study in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse about the dynamics of anger and substance abuse disorder. The data for the study was collected from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, and it involved 28,753 adult respondents. The substances studied included liquor, tobacco, stimulants, opioids, and cannabis. Of the various study findings, one that stands out is the link between anger…

One of the most intriguing proposals in the complex field of neurochemistry appeared in the scientific journal Nature in November 2024. French researchers used an advanced optogenetics technique to modulate the dopamine levels of laboratory mice. In other words, they used a neurochemical remote control to turn brain cells on and off with light. One finding from this study is particularly interesting in the context of addiction. When the researchers turned on dopamine in a specific brain region, they observed…

In the 2024 Hollywood comedy Sweet Dreams, actor Johnny Knoxville stars as Morris, a video director whose addiction recovery plan includes staying in a sober living home and coaching its misfit residents to compete in a softball tournament. While Sweet Dreams relies on slapstick and absurdity for comedic effect, many of the scenes are permeated by the realism delivered by actors such as Jay Mohr, Bobby Lee, Davionte Ganter, and Theo Von. These are all American comedians whose struggles with…

During the 2022 publicity tour for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a musical biopic about the career of the famous American pop music satirist, actor Daniel Radcliffe revisited parts of his life when he was struggling to recover from alcoholism in 2010. Radcliffe began drinking heavily as a way to deal with the pressures of fame and growing up in the public eye as the actor who played the young Harry Potter. These days, he speaks candidly about his early…

In the growing and complex field of addiction research, the work of neuroscientists has been eye-opening, particularly in studies focused on alcohol use disorder (AUD). Dr. Nora Volkow from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, for example, has used brain neuroimaging techniques to study the brain changes that occur during withdrawal and relapse. Renowned addiction specialist Dr. Gabor Maté has extensively reviewed neuroscientific research on AUD, and he agrees with Dr. Volkow about how dangerous ethanol dependency is. Both physicians…

In October 2024, pop music star Liam Payne fell to his death from the balcony of a hotel in Argentina. The former member of the globally popular British boy band One Direction had gone on a three-day drug and liquor binge inside his Buenos Aires hotel room. Preliminary information from the forensic examination showed Payne had taken high doses of “pink cocaine,” a dangerous mix of methamphetamine salts and opioids. News about Payne’s history of substance abuse wasn’t reported until…

Country music superstar Darius Rucker has won many awards and sold millions of records since Hootie & the Blowfish, his original college rock band, went on hiatus in 2008. In May 2024, Rucker published a memoir that explained what caused his band to stop performing for eight years while he continued enjoying substantial acclaim in country music. At the time, he was abusing liquor, cocaine, and MDMA. His addiction was getting in the way of musical performance, so he requested…

Hollywood star Nicolas Cage has been working since the early 1980s, and he doesn’t seem to be ready for retirement. In 2024, the 60-year-old actor appeared in Longlegs, a thriller in which he plays a serial killer, and he was involved in two other projects. During the Longlegs publicity tour, Cage was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about his long acting career, which he was able to salvage when he stopped drinking in 2014. He didn’t go through a…

In pharmaceutical research, substances that affect the mind or behavior are defined as psychoactive. This definition extends to substances that alter perception, mood, consciousness, or cognition. Then you have psychotropic substances, which are also psychoactive but are mostly used to treat mental health conditions. Psychoactives can range from tobacco and coffee to liquor and methamphetamine. Psychotropics may include antidepressants such as Prozac, antipsychotics like Haldol, and mood stabilizers like lithium. Both psychoactives and psychotropics can put you in altered states,…

The word “phobia” denotes irrational fears. For instance, Arachnophobia, a Hollywood horror film from the early 1990s, is named after the fear of spiders, which is irrational when we consider that 99 percent of arachnids pose no significant threat to human health.  Nifaliophobia is the irrational fear of being sober. However, discussion of this mindset shouldn’t be limited to its literal meaning. Although we can think about chemical dependence and psychological addiction as the results of irrational behaviors, we can’t…

Many film critics who reviewed Rob Peace, a 2024 biopic starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jay Will, were surprised to learn about the strange life and death of Robert DeShaun Peace. The 30-year-old Yale graduate declined lucrative offers to join the executive boards of pharmaceutical firms. Instead, he chose to grow and sell cannabis from a New Jersey row house while working as a high school science teacher. In 2011, Peace was gunned down by a man who broke into his…

All psychoactive substances have the potential to affect normal physical activity to a certain degree. Impairment is a hallmark of drinking too much. Many people who drink at nightclubs call it a night when they’re too drunk to be on the dance floor. With opiates, the impairment is different in the sense that it forces your breathing and heart rate to slow down, thus hindering your physical performance. The extent of the effects on physical activity will depend on the…

Accountability, the rational process of assuming responsibility for actions and behaviors, is everything in addiction recovery. It’s implied in the first step in the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship. It can’t be skipped, and it becomes a cornerstone, meaning the recovery structure could crumble if accountability is eroded or taken away. When compared to other life situations, accountability looks and feels different in addiction recovery. Painful Initial Accountability According to 164 and More, a reference e-book that compiles AA literature, the term…

Like many other substance abuse disorders, alcoholism presents strong emotional and behavioral aspects intertwined with neurochemical anomalies. For many alcoholics, the moment of clarity happens when they realize they hate the way they feel and act when they’re under the influence or going through withdrawals. This is when they say to themselves, “I detest who I am at this point in my life. Why am I angry all the time?” This kind of realization assumes anger will dissipate through recovery.…

In the acclaimed HBO crime drama series The Wire, some of the most memorable scenes featured 12-step group meetings where some of the actors essentially played themselves. Walon, the sponsor to the streetwise and hopeless addict Bubbles, was played by outlaw country music star Steve Earle, a man who struggled with recovery and severe relapse for decades. Earle was also a recovery consultant for the series, and he wrote some of the dialogue, specifically the heartbreaking scene in which he…

There was a time in the life of Michael McDonald, one of the founding fathers of the 1970s California rock style that evolved into soft rock and yacht rock, when he finally surrendered to reality and decided to recover from a lifetime addiction to liquor and drugs. In 1997, three years after hip-hop stars Warren G. and Nate Dogg famously sampled McDonald’s hit “I Keep Forgetting,” his wife entered a clinical rehabilitation center, but he wasn’t allowed to visit her.…

In March 2023, during a guest appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, rapper Macklemore spoke about his struggles with relapse at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept many people in recovery from attending meetings at Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs. For the 39-year-old musician, it was the second relapse since he had begun his journey to recovery four years before his song “Thrift Shop” became a chart-busting hit. Since Macklemore entered rehab for opioid and…

Going through addiction recovery is a therapeutic process that consists of various healthcare treatments. Recovery is a healthy activity in and of itself. However, it can always be formulated in ways that make it healthier and more effective. The modern holistic approach to recovery encourages healthy practices at every stage. For example, staying at a Solana Beach sober living home is a practical strategy to provide a healthy environment that can ease lifestyle transitions while teaching new life structures. If…

In November 2023, Canadian actor Dean McDermott was interviewed by the British newspaper The Daily Mail about the status of his journey to sobriety. At the time, McDermott was staying in a sober living home after spending 40 days in a drug rehabilitation clinic to recover from chronic alcohol and cocaine abuse, and he had been there for two months while getting divorced from Hollywood actress Tori Spelling. The 56-year-old reality TV star spent the holidays in the sober living…

In February 2024, former NBA star Rex Chapman went on a publicity tour to promote It’s Hard for Me to Live with Me, an autobiography some book critics describe as a hard-hitting addiction memoir. Chapman started his career with the Charlotte Hornets, and he spent the 1990s as an explosive shooting guard with three other teams. His final seasons with the Phoenix Suns were underscored by multiple injuries that required surgical interventions for which he was prescribed Vicodin.  In his…

In November 2023, two developments in the world of Hollywood celebrities dealing with the stigma of alcoholism made news headlines. Actress Jessica Simpson celebrated six years of sobriety with an Instagram post that discussed how she felt labeled and stigmatized by many people, from fans to business associates and relatives.  During the same week, mental health researchers published articles praising the work of the late Friends star Matthew Perry, who’s remembered for steering Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and having sponsored many…

Neurochemistry is a scientific field often compared to quantum physics in the sense that both generate prodigious quantities of research, but the steady flow of findings often raises more questions instead of providing absolute answers. Both fields focus on mysterious particles we can barely measure in the nanometer range. While quantum researchers scratch their heads at the complexity of the Higgs boson that somehow creates cohesion between elementary particles, neuroscientists are fascinated by the growing body of research surrounding the…

The complex disease most people refer to as alcoholism is classified as alcohol use disorder (AUD) by the medical community. In the 21st century, addiction recovery specialists and neuroscientists have been forming a consensus to treat AUD on a spectrum. Instead of generally mild and severe AUD, physicians and counselors are leaning toward a modern classification that reflects behavioral patterns in Western societies. In 2019, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published a landmark study with categorized conclusions identifying five…

In August 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the results of a longitudinal survey on alcohol use disorder (AUD) statistics compiled […]

In the history of Hollywood stars whose careers were impacted by alcoholism, a few leading men tragically stand out as having lost their good looks just as their careers were taking off. Errol Flynn and William Holden are examples from the Golden Age of Hollywood. More recent examples include Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone fame and the late Matthew Perry of the iconic ’90s television sitcom Friends. Although Culkin and Perry also struggled with addiction to other substances, their excessive…

In the 2018 film Beautiful Boy, which is based on two poignant memoirs written by a methamphetamine addict and his father, actor Timothée Chalamet plays the role of Nic Sheff, a best-selling writer whose life now revolves around promoting mental health awareness among young people. Beautiful Boy is a heartbreaking film that ends with an uplifting title card featuring a message Sheff always mentions when he delivers lectures: that he owes his life to the friends and family members who…

When evaluating the various therapeutic strategies for the treatment of substance abuse disorders, there’s a strong need to shift the outdated narratives of addiction as a choice or character flaw. These incorrect perceptions only succeed in creating harmful stereotypes that ignore human nature, particularly in the context of neurochemistry. Early Neurochemical Processes of Addiction Learned experiences, cultural factors, and behavioral patterns aren’t the sole foundations of addiction. Dopamine, the main neurotransmitter in the brain’s reward system, plays a crucial role…

When actor Matthew Perry passed away in November of 2023 at the age of 54, he left behind a set of business plans to form a charitable organization that would provide mental health advocacy to addiction patients. Perry had struggled with addiction and relapse since he was a teenager. His 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, surprised many of his relatives and close friends who didn’t know about the crippling guilt he’d lived with for more than…

In modern American society, there are two places where you can fully appreciate its rich diversity. The military is one, and Alcoholics Anonymous is another. The former is an institution, while the latter is a community, but they’re both comprised of people from all walks of life who share something important in common: a life-affirming desire. Those who join the military do so to serve their countries, while those who enter AA do so to recover. These are fundamental desires…

The year 2023 has been significant for American medical researchers who specialize in the science of sleep as it relates to substance abuse. At the University of Missouri, Dr. Mary Beth Miller was awarded a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue her research into developing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) strategies that may alleviate insomnia and alcoholism simultaneously.    At the MRI Global Institute, a private research facility also based in Missouri, the results of a…

In the world of celebrities, a few couples stand out as examples of why recovering from addiction is wonderful. Hollywood actor Rob Lowe, a notorious playboy in his younger years, recently celebrated 32 years of marriage with Sheryl Berkoff, a jewelry designer whom Lowe adores for having returned to his life after his many years of alcoholism and substance abuse. Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne has been extremely candid when describing how his wife, Sharon, supported him through addiction, recovery,…

Certain Hollywood actors can carefully manage their stardom so it doesn’t seep into their private lives too much. Sir Patrick Stewart, the British actor famous for his franchise roles as Captain Picard in Star Trek and Professor Xavier in X-Men, recently published a memoir titled Making It So in which he goes into painful detail about his struggles with alcoholism and painkiller addiction in the early 1990s. The celebrated actor turned to liquor and drugs after separating from his wife,…

In the long history of ladies who sang the blues and lived tragic lives, the death of Amy Winehouse at the age of 27 is particularly painful. Winehouse died in 2011 from an accidental alcohol overdose during a relapse episode. She had completed a residential detox and recovery program in the Caribbean just a few months before she was found dead in her London apartment surrounded by empty vodka bottles. According to famous grunge musician Courtney Love, Winehouse’s life was…

Recovering from substance addiction requires you to embark on a journey that could last anywhere from a few weeks to several years. In the Alcoholics Anonymous program, for example, some individuals become active sponsors who frequently attend meetings and collect multiple bronze chips for their years of sobriety. Psychology researchers estimate the average length of time people stay active in AA and similar programs is about 18 months, and this period coincides with the hardest years on the journey to…

In 2018, an acclaimed scientific journalist and a renowned physician teamed up to publish The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery, a book that was mostly written as a guide for people seeking to recover from chemical dependence. Interestingly, this book has been embraced by readers whose lives intersect with those of addicts. We’re talking about loved ones, community leaders, and concerned individuals who now understand addiction doesn’t only exist on a spectrum. It’s also one of the…

During a court hearing in July 2023, the son of United States President Joe Biden took the witness stand in a criminal case underscored by his struggles with substance use disorder. As part of an effort to avoid a prison sentence for lying on his tax returns and during a background check to purchase a firearm, Hunter Biden explained that his criminal behavior was underscored by the six times he entered rehabilitation programs and relapsed during two decades of alcoholism…

In the world of social media celebrities, Caroline Calloway is one of the most enigmatically controversial. Calloway is a young and attractive woman who posted digital content about her life as an American student in England. In 2015, just two years into her newfound career as an influencer, she received a $100,000 advance fee to write an anthology of her Instagram activity, but she quickly burned through the cash and later reneged on a half-million-dollar book offer as she sank…

In the June 2023 issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine, researchers from the University of Washington conducted a review of studies related to managing the recovery of opioid addicts, and they concluded that the FDA guidelines for attenuating withdrawal symptoms through methadone therapy are wrong. One of the most aggravating factors in the American opioid crisis is the high level of fatal relapse, which often occurs among patients who are experiencing severe and harmful cravings. Withdrawal management is at…

In May 2023, the founder of the popular blog Dooce, which focuses on life advice for American mothers in the Generation X cohort, was found dead at her home in Utah. Heather Armstrong took up blogging in the early 2000s as a personal project that featured her musings about balancing work, relationships, spirituality, and addiction recovery. Dooce started off as a "mommy blog" that only took a few years to start generating more than $40,000 per month in advertising alone.…

In 2016, a study conducted by researchers from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and Stanford University focused on how long alcoholics participated in 12-step programs. The target horizon for the study was 16 years, meaning the findings were gleaned from individuals who could affirm they had been sober for at least that long. On average, these individuals participated in programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous for a year, and not all of them became abstinent despite being sober. What…

Even though the power of human emotions is subjective, regret stands out as being one of the most complicated and negatively powerful. Regret is invariably associated with sadness, disappointment, and remorse. It can be painful and crippling, but it can also be a powerful motivator for change. Regret is what drives many individuals to substance abuse and addiction in the first place. Moreover, this negative emotion can be a major obstacle to recovery. Ironically, many alcoholics and addicts will embark…

American actress Jamie Lee Curtis, winner of the 2023 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the blockbuster film Everything Everywhere All at Once, isn’t widely known for her work as a photographer. A couple of decades ago, Curtis was hopelessly addicted to opioid painkillers that were prescribed when she was recovering from a surgical procedure. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Curtis explained that she initially took up photography as a fleeting interest after her final stay in a…

An unwritten rule among newspaper and magazine editors involves publishing lifestyle articles related to sober dating during the period between the beginning of the holiday season until February or so. These trend pieces have been around since the middle of the 20th century, and nothing suggests they’ll be going away. In fact, they’ve inspired other trends, such as the Dry January challenge, which started as a British public health initiative in 2013.  Liquor is intrinsically tied to dating because of…

When looking at substance use disorder as a spectrum, the most desirable end is sobriety, which can be interpreted as a life without the perturbation of substance abuse. The least desirable end will always be addiction. Going from one end to the other isn’t always easy for people who fall into alcoholism or drug dependence. The factors that drive someone to addiction can become barriers to sobriety, and this is when mental preparation is essential. There are various thought processes…

When someone makes the wise decision to embark on a journey to recovery from substance abuse and addiction, sobriety is one of the main goals, but it’s not the only one. Sobriety is a condition that allows individuals to refrain from using liquor and psychoactive substances because they’re aware of the risks involved. It’s a conscious decision that can lead to a better way of life. Recovery is the process of healing from substance abuse and dependence. Healing begins with…

The journey to recovery from alcoholism or other kinds of substance abuse is often marked by sobriety milestones. Addiction counselors use these milestones to guide treatment plans along. This is largely based on the chip tradition established by Alcoholics Anonymous and its 12-step program. Color-coded chips are given to AA members when they reach monthly milestones of sobriety—for example, red chips after one month and blue chips after six months. Getting a blue chip from fellow AA members is a…

Insomnia and other sleep disorders that prevent a good night's sleep are quite common among people who are in search of sobriety. In Between Breaths, an addiction memoir written by American journalist Elizabeth Vargas in 2016, the subject of sober insomnia takes up a few chapters, and it’s described as one of the most physically uncomfortable aspects of her journey to recovery from alcoholism.  In 2003, a longitudinal study published in the Sleep Medicine Reviews journal estimated that up to…

When people embark on a journey to recovery from alcoholism or substance abuse, they may not realize that achieving sobriety doesn’t automatically bring the recovery voyage to an end. Sobriety is a wonderful stage in the journey to recovery. It serves as a prelude to what needs to be at the center of an addict's new life, and it deserves full respect and attention. During and after a stay at a Solana Beach sober living home, the process of recovery…

All psychoactive substances are potentially transformative in the physiological, mental, and behavioral sense. Almost invariably, the changes caused by substance abuse are negative. For example, alcoholics are at greater risk for developing cirrhosis of the liver after years of daily drinking. Even though the harmful effects of substance abuse and addiction can differ substantially from one person to another, many changes are reversible and can start being felt soon after detoxification. As the journey to recovery continues, recovery patients are…

In the world of addiction recovery and 12-step programs, the goal of rehabilitation can be achieved through various means. Mental health professionals know recovery plans must be designed and implemented in ways that are suited to the personalities and life circumstances of individual patients. For example, some plans may strongly recommend completion of a residential program after detox, while other plans may focus more on talk therapy and behavioral counseling. The assignment of sponsors is common in 12-step programs, and…

Going from addiction to sobriety is a process that seldom follows a straight line. There are steps to take and stages to complete, but many individuals who go through recovery do so by retracing some steps or taking longer to get through certain stages. Every step toward recovery requires motivation and reasoning, particularly during the later stages, such as participating in an Encinitas sober living residential program. At these advanced stages, staying sober should feel more natural. However, some people…

When you look at the basics of addiction recovery strategies, you’ll find they all share the goal of preventing relapse situations. In fact, this is an important aspect of Solana Beach sober living facilities such as Casa Pacifica. If individuals are able to complete the program without having to worry about relapse, the rest of their journey toward recovery should be smoother. Every stage of recovery entails a risk of relapse, which is why understanding how to prevent such situations…

In October 2022, two Hollywood actors released memoirs they wrote as part of their respective addiction recovery journeys. Matthew Perry, star of the successful Friends television sitcom, and Tom Felton, known for his work on the Harry Potter film franchise, struggled with substance abuse for years, and they both agree recovery would have come sooner if they had paid close attention to certain signs of addiction, such as the ones listed below. 1. Obsessive Self-Medication When Tom Felton was a…

The American Society of Addiction Medicine has as of late amended and extended their meaning of habit past the indications of withdrawal and resilience.

In the event that you attempt any of these de-focusing on choices yet find that you are experiencing issues lessening your liquor utilization, it might be an indication that you have a liquor issue.

Cherishing somebody who is making a course for recuperation can be a difficult encounter. With regards to self consideration, you can't pour from an unfilled pitcher.

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