Is opioid addiction a mental illness? Yes. It’s a brain disease caused by changes in the brain that occur from opioid abuse. However, opioid addiction can also be at least partially caused by an underlying mental condition like depression, anxiety or PTSD. Someone addicted to opioids doesn’t necessarily have a concurrent mental condition, but there …
If you currently live with an alcoholic, you are likely familiar with that person’s mood swings and personality changes. Out of love for the person, you may have done everything in your power to help them put a stop to their alcohol use disorder. Maybe you have gone as far as to seek out every …
When you suffer from an addiction to either drugs or alcohol, the very thought of seeking help, getting clean, and being sober can be scary. Perhaps you are afraid to know how it feels to be sober. Many people who abuse drugs and alcohol use it as a form of self-medication. Drugs and alcohol provide …
You may have heard the term “halfway house” in the past but never fully understood what one is or how it can you in your recovery. A halfway house is a sober living home or community for recovering addicts and alcoholics. Halfway houses are not treatment centers, but they offer regular classes, meetings, groups, and …
Entering treatment for drug and alcohol addiction is one of the most difficult decisions that one can make in life; from admitting that addiction cannot be mastered alone to removing oneself from life to enter inpatient treatment and beyond, this commitment means a major life shift and a return to a life that is vastly …
Ever since substance abuse turned your life upside down, you feel like it’s something you have to drag around with you forever. You hit rock bottom, admitted you had a problem, and reached out for professional help. You completed rehab. It didn’t stick the first time around. Like nearly 50% of people who have chosen …
Addiction is an illness that could have serious, potentially fatal consequences. Therefore, those who complete treatment and conquer such dependencies have achieved a significant and commendable accomplishment. That said, addiction recovery is usually a perpetual, ongoing process. Eventually, healing subjects will undergo challenges to their sobriety. Many will overcome such challenges. Unfortunately, however, others may …
Relapse after drug and alcohol rehab is extremely common. Between 50 and 90 percent of all people who have completed a drug treatment program will return to their drug of choice within four years. This may seem like a discouraging statistic, but if you stop to realize that it’s an expected part of the recovery …