Addiction Blog. Insight and Advice from our expert team.

Finding Help for Families When someone you love becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol, the whole household is affected. Substance use disorder creates chaos, impacts relationships, and turns lives upside-down. That’s why it’s so important to find help for families of addicts. Here are a few ways to connect with resources as your loved one navigates active addiction, treatment, and recovery. Learning About Addiction The first step is to learn more about addiction. While many people consider this disorder to be a choice or a moral issue, it’s actually classified as a medical condition. The American Medical Association has classified …

There’s a persistent misconception that addiction results from poor judgment or an inherent flaw. The truth is that substance use disorders are a brain disease that can affect anyone, especially if they have a family history of drug abuse or mental illness. This Men’s Health Month, knowing the warning signs to look for can help you figure out if someone you care about is risking harmful consequences by abusing drugs. 1. Tolerance A tolerance occurs when someone’s brain has adapted to having drugs in their system. These substances are literally mind-altering because they cause the brain’s reward and pleasure centers …

If you have PTSD, you’ve probably already discovered it can interfere with your quality of life, including your connections with loved ones. Issues with trust, intimacy, and other foundational aspects of healthy relationships can cause you to pull away from the people you care about, leaving you lacking the support you need to start overcoming your mental health challenges. In observation of PTSD Awareness Month, what do you need to know about managing this disorder and reclaiming your well-being? PTSD Symptoms and Triggers Four leading PTSD characteristics include: Having recurring flashbacks or nightmares about the negative experience Avoiding people, places, …

Xanax (generic name alprazolam) is a benzodiazepine prescribed for anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, some men take it without a prescription, just to get a quick relaxation effect. Over 100,000 people a year wind up in emergency rooms due to nonmedical use of Xanax, often in combination with alcohol or another depressant drug. Even when taken as a legitimate prescription, Xanax carries risks—notably the risk of addiction. Avoiding Xanax Addiction Benzodiazepines are particularly addictive drugs, largely because physical tolerance develops quickly. So if your doctor recommends a Xanax prescription, plan on taking it for a limited time (ideally no more than three …

Situational depression is a short-term change in mood related to a specific traumatic or stressful incident. This issue may affect you if you have trouble adjusting to an unexpected life change or circumstances beyond your control. While situational depression is usually less severe than clinical depression, it can still impact your quality of life and leave you feeling bereft and joyless. Here’s what you need to know.  What Causes Situational Depression? One critical difference between situational depression and major depressive disorder is that the former condition has a specific, identifiable trigger. Examples of events that might cause situational depression include:  …

Depression is a complex condition affecting more than 260 million people worldwide. It can be brought on by life events, like the loss of a loved one, or suddenly appear as one ages. Men experiencing depression tend to lash out, become reckless, and misuse drugs or alcohol. Often, they do not realize that they need to seek treatment. We hope to change that. Today, we’d like to explore the various types of depression documented by psychologists. If you recognize your symptoms below, we ask that you reach out for professional help. A Note About Mood Disorders The Diagnostic and Statistical …

For many busy professionals, the day is almost fully occupied by work. Even when you’re not in the office, you’re probably thinking about looming deadlines, pending sales, and important meetings. Unfortunately, these thought patterns can contribute to chronic stress, which leads to its own host of consequences. Learn the facts about sleep procrastination and burnout among professionals. Sleep Procrastination: A Growing Health Concern When you finally finish your work, you feel like there aren’t enough hours left in the day. As a result, you make the decision to stay up later at night. Putting off your bedtime in favor of …

When COVID-19 became a public health issue in 2020, it had the side effect of aggravating other health problems. With hospitals overloaded, human contact limited, and nearly everyone under chronic stress, even people never exposed to COVID were at higher risk of mental and behavioral disorders. Even as the COVID pandemic continues to abate, higher levels of mental illness and drug use remain as an unpleasant legacy. Sad to say, illegal drug trafficking was one industry that saw a major increase in business during the pandemic—and, given drugs’ addictive nature, there was no automatic reduction in that business as society …