Addiction Archives | Oceanside Malibu

Why A Relationship May Be Difficult For An Addict

Why A Relationship May Be Difficult For An Addict An addiction is a relationship. When someone is addicted to a substance and/or a behavior, that person is in a relationship with their substance or behavior of choice, the same as if they were involved with a person. Further, the relationship with the object of their addiction is the most important relationship in his/her life. He or she will do anything to protect that relationship and keep it alive, i.e. deny it, lie about it, cover it up, minimize it, blame others, etc. When a person with an addiction enters into a significant relationship, he or she is not entering more »

The Importance Of Addressing Your Core Issues

The Importance Of Addressing Your Core Issues The average approach to substance abuse treatment for the past several decades has been a crash course on the 12 steps. There is no doubt that the 12 steps provided a much needed solution to issues related to alcoholism, however AA’s stated intention was not to discount or deny the importance of treating core issues as an adjunct to the 12 steps. Moreover, Alcoholics Anonymous was to be forever non-professional, with the stated primary purpose “ to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.” The vast majority of the treatment industry has been teaching the 12 steps as the primary more »

What To Expect During Detox

Detox & withdrawal occur when an addict ceases using. Symptoms can present themselves in several ways including but not limited to stress sensitivity, sleep disturbances, memory problems, impaired concentration, emotional overreaction or numbness and cravings. Substance abusers in early recovery often struggle with situations which bring about stress. It is important to remember that addicts while in active addiction participated in addictive behaviors as a means to cope or get away from the stressful events. Many times addicts describe themselves as raw. Treatment needs to include coping skills to replace the abusive behaviors. Sleep disturbances will subside as time passes & non-addictive medications may be prescribed by a medical more »

Food Addiction

Any of us can be affected by unhealthy eating habits. Making things worse, we must eat to live. While food addiction makes us feel that we live to eat, there are ways to break free from food addiction. The first step is to acknowledge that a problem exists. We also need to understand that food addiction is just like any other addiction: cigarettes, drugs and alcohol, etc. While moderation is the key here, it is also the problem faced in most addictions. For those who suffer from food addiction, an all or nothing approach tips the balance into deeper addictive patterns. All or nothing thinking is a hallmark of more »

Getting Help For Opioid Addiction

Opioids are оnе оf thе world’s оldеѕt addictive drugs, ѕurраѕѕеd only bу аlсоhоl іn tеrmѕ оf hоw lоng humаnѕ hаvе uѕеd thе ѕubѕtаnсеѕ. Thеіr роwеrful ability tо mіtіgаtе pain аnd tо make lіfе ѕееm less stressful comes at a tеrrіfуіng рrісе: an opiod аddісtіоn thаt most people саn’t ѕtор wіth their оwn will. The mоѕt сhаllеngіng аѕресt in treating addiction is taking thе fіrѕt ѕtер оf recognizing thаt thеrе is a рrоblеm. Like many other drugѕ, opioids аrе subtle in thе wау thаt they ѕlоwlу fоrсе thе bоdу tо become рhуѕісаllу dependent uроn thеm. Thаt’ѕ why realizing thаt you or уоur lоvеd one has a рrоblеm wіth аddісtіоn is more »

Binge Eating

Binge Eating When you think about an eating disorder, you might think about restricting food, like in anorexia, or purging food, like in bulimia. But the most common eating disorder has nothing to do with either of those. It’s called binge eating. These days when we hear the word ‘binge,’ we mostly think of watching like 6 episodes of the Netflix show in one day. And If you’re less TV-inclined, maybe you think of binging on food. Say, on Thanksgiving. But what if you found yourself overeating like that multiple times a week? What if it felt like a cycle and it got really difficult to control? This is what more »