Sobriety

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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