The advantages of a long term rehab. Why sometimes 3 months or more just offers more.

I love to watch football, go camping and make slow smoky BBQ. These are also three things that I associate pretty strongly with cold beer, and 3 things that I now have to consider triggers, and avoid. The sacrifices of sobriety.

That first month can be a tough one. While using, Friday night's (everynight's) entertainment was as easy as opening a bottle. Now, we actually have to do things.

How to have fun, not feel ridiculous and stay sober in that tough first month.

Going from drunk to sober freed up about 70 hours a week for me. How was I gonna fill up those hours without drinking!?!

European researchers, in a multi year study involving thousands of participants; have conclusively linked alcohol consumption with an increased risk for often fatal colon cancer. Even the consumption of small amounts daily increases the likelihood of cancer, and when only 2 drinks are consumed each day, the increased probability of cancer is almost 25% higher than for non drinkers.Alcoholics tend to drink huge amounts of alcohol daily, and as such they are at incredible risk for this and other cancers, and this is yet another reason to stop drinking...before it's too late.

The Federal Govt. estimates that almost 10% of the population is need of, but not receiving, drug or alcohol treatment.

Wow

We need to do better, here's how we can.

Parents worried about the risks of binge drinking and wanting to pick a more sedate school for college aged children need only count the number of bars near campus to get a pretty good idea of how much drinking will be going on come September.

About a quarter of people who admit that they need treatment, but who don't get it, say that it is a fear of the stigma of being labled a drug addict or alcoholic that keeps them using!

A recent Japanese study indicates that alcoholism induces brain damage, and that this brain damage is occurring before any cognitive declines or structural changes are evident. The problem is that this early brain damage progresses unnoticed by all, and as such never scares people into getting help, and stopping the damage.

Literally billions of annual dollars are invested in beer and liquor marketing campaigns, and these advertising spots seem determined to influence a public perception that drinking makes you better looking, more successful, and more fun to be around...and the people most vulnerable to these untruthful subliminal messages are our kids.

Although Naltrexone helps some people to stay sober, it actually makes others want to drink more!

You may have done some terrible things while under the influence of alcoholism or addiction, and you may be ashamed of what you have become; but at the core, you are not a bad person you are a sick person, and the things you may have done do not reflect who you are and what you believe.

Enabling is a pretty tricky thing. Loved ones are convinced away from doing the sorts of things that feel natural - helping - and convinced that tough love is the only kind of love that is going to work. And it's all true, enabling doesn't help us get better, but when we are finally ready to get some treatment, helping us get that treatment is not enabling it is just helping. It feels right because it is right.

A step by step guide to finding treatment that you can afford - right now!

Recovery statistics are always of questionable merit, and when so many are in a position to profit from impressive statistics of result and recovery, you have to wonder just how these stats are collected and to what extent they accurately reflect reality. Intervention stats are different though, and addictions professionals universally recognize that an intervention is the absolute best way to convince a reluctant and still using addict of the need for treatment. Interventions will work the vast majority of the time, conservatively with an 80% or better success rate.

A new study conducted throughout New England health care clinics that was looking to evaluate teenage substance use prevalence brings us some astonishing…and worrisome, results.

Lord help me be the kind of person my dog thinks I am

What's the old saying, "No man is an island..."

Some people can get better on their own, most need a little help.

You never need to let a loved one hit rock bottom before intervening - in fact, if you do wait that long, the odds of successful treatment are lower

We know we are going to die, eventually, and from this somewhat questionable gift of sentiency, we search for Big Picture answers. We are all spiritual beings, and whether through organized religion, any other frameworked belief system or through individual puzzling, humans fundamentally seek answers to life's more elusive mysteries.

Overconfidence has been the end of too many happy recoveries. Don't let it kill yours - remember what those drinking and drugging days were really like.

Can problem drinkers be taught to drink responsibly? Do alcoholics really have to quit for life?

Dr. Levy of Harvard University thinks they can, some of them anyway, and he has developed a system to help them drink, in controlled moderation.

There is truth to the AA mantra "One day at a time" but sometimes one day, one whole day without drinking or using, feels far too long.

One minute at a time? Sounds silly, but it can work.

Addiction hijacks the mind, and then confirmation bias boots free will right out the door.

It can drive a family crazy trying to understand "why they won't stop...why they can't see what they're doing to themselves..." when surely things like losing a job or a wife are pretty clear indicators of a problem.

Understand confirmation bias and get a sneaky look inside an alcoholic mind - and understand why they never seem to see the problem.