addiction treatment Archives | Oceanside Malibu

Remaining Active In Recovery

Remaining Active In Recovery The people you surround yourself with may influence your recovery or hasten a relapse. The people that surround you are a reflection of yourself. When you leave treatment, you are no longer the person you once were, but are instead a brand new version of yourself. If you go back and hang out with the friends or family members that got you into trouble in the first place, you are setting yourself up for failure. A person’s environment is an important factor to maintaining recovery. Your living space can be another contributing factor for relapse. Most former active addicts lived in an area that had easy more »

Treating The Person, Not Just The Addiction

Treating The Person, Not Just The Addiction The whole person treatment approach to substance abuse recovery focuses on the balance of the spirit, mind, and body in order to achieve a healthy state of being. Oceanside Malibu Addiction Treatment Center offers various treatment approaches to help guide individuals or couples towards tailoring a unique treatment plan designed for healthier, more balanced outcomes in their lives. Throughout the course of recovery, an addict or alcoholic may encounter challenges beyond just dependency on a particular substance. A whole person treatment approach may guide a person towards better coping skills, accelerated healing, and a healthier outlook. A whole person treatment approach may also help to more »

Improving Self Esteem

Improving Self Esteem It is not unusual for people in treatment for addiction to describe feeling like they never belonged, how they never fit in or how they always felt ‘less than’ other people around them. For anyone who felt that way growing up, using substances may have been the first time they were able to quiet those feelings. Briefly and early on in substance abuse, drugs and alcohol can give an individual a glimpse of what if might actually be like to feel good, about life and about oneself. The factors that contribute to low self esteem include trauma, disapproval from parents or authority figures, uninvolved parents/caregivers, extensive bullying more »

Medication-Assisted Treatment

The medications traditionally used in harm reduction or medication-assisted treatment programs for opiod addiction are Suboxone, Subutex & Sublocade. Suboxone is really made up of two medications with the main med being Buprenorphine. It is a long-lasting opiate. Now why would you take someone off of opiates and put them on more opiates? Well, Buprenorphine attaches to those opioid receptor sites in such a way that makes it very difficult to overdose. Consequently, it increases safety for anyone addicted to opioids or heroin. Another thing is, since suboxone has a tiny bit of naloxone, which is an opioid blocker, it adds a bit more of a safety net. Thus, adding 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 »