addiction treatment Archives | Oceanside Malibu

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… Read 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… Read More

The Harm Reduction Approach To Treatment

Harm reduction is an approach to treating addiction that focuses on keeping addicts safe and minimizing death, disease and injury associated with higher risk addictive behavior, while recognizing that the behavior may continue despite the risks. At the conceptual level, harm reduction maintains a value neutral and humanistic view of drug use and the drug user. It focuses on the harms from drug use rather than on the use itself. It does not insist on or object to abstinence and acknowledges the active role of the drug user in harm reduction programs. At the practical level, the aim of harm reduction is to reduce the more immediate harmful consequences… Read 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… Read More

Addiction & Ego

Many of us identify with our ego, the self that is attached to everything around us. The self that takes offense to others negative comments about us and identifies when we have been harmed in word or deed. The self that experiences the world on a personal level. This self-attaches to everything in relation to your ego, positive or negative. The world at this level is ego based and never neutral. Things are either good or bad. Often people abuse drugs as an attempt to reach this higher spiritual plane and seek to have ego-less experiences, but instead, get trapped in the ego because instead of removing oneself from… Read More

Types of Bipolar Disorder

Maybe you’ve heard the term “bipolar” used to describe someone who’s moody, or who has mood swings, but this colloquial use of the term is different from bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, which used to be called manic depression, is a serious mental illness that causes a person to have dramatic shifts in emotions, mood, and energy levels: moving from extreme lows to extreme highs. These shifts don’t happen moment to moment, they usually happen over several days or weeks. There are a few different types of bipolar disorders, but there are some common features. First, the low moods are identical to those in a related disorder – major depressive disorder,… Read More