Tag Archives: addiction

Overcoming Addiction

Overcoming Addiction

A daring approach to therapy puts substance abusers where they belong—among family and friends. Knowing the effect they have on their loved ones motivates many addicts to live a substance-free life. I was contacted by Paul, a physician practicing at a local hospital. He was concerned that Nancy, whom he hoped to marry, was an[…]

Video Game Addiction

Video Game Addiction

Video Games Create Addictions Akin to Drug Addiction If you don’t think kids get hooked on video games, think again. If you Google “video game addiction,” you will find more than a dozen pages of Web sites dealing with this issue. There are also many pages of formal research papers found via a search on Google[…]

Stress & Addiction

Stress and Addiction

Chronic Stress Can Increase Vulnerability to Addiction Stress is a key risk factor in addiction initiation, maintenance, relapse, and thus treatment failure (Sinha & Jastreboff, 2013). Stressful life events combined with poor coping skills may impact the risk of addiction through increasing impulsive responses and self-medication. While it may not be possible to eliminate stress, we[…]

10 Patterns of Addictive Behavior

10 Patterns of Addictive Behavior

How Do You Know You Have an Addiction? Drawing from research on addiction in neuroscience, psychology, and clinical practice, the following list identifies several key behavioral patterns associated with addiction: Shahram Heshmat, Ph.D., is an associate professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield with a Ph.D. in Managerial Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He specializes in the Health Economics[…]

Feeding Your Addiction

Feeding Your Addiction

Distinguishing Between Food & Drug Addiction Research is beginning to uncover that the brain reward systems responsible for making drugs of abuse so addictive are the same pleasure systems that are activated by the foods we eat. While it’s easy to list differences between foods and drugs our brains can have a very hard time differentiating between the pleasure derived from[…]

Setting Boundaries For Loved Ones

Setting Boundaries for Loved Ones

Why Do Loved Ones Struggle to Set And Maintain Firm Boundaries? Setting Boundaries for Loved Ones: Another relapse. Another midnight call. Another sleepless night. Another round of fear, frustration, and fatigue. Fear. What will happen to my adult son? Will he lose his freedom, his apartment, his possessions, and his beloved dog? Will he become homeless? Will[…]

Addiction, Recovery & Loss

Addiction, Recovery, and Loss

Unbeknownst to Most, Significant Loss is Intrinsic to Addiction Recovery As I wrote in last month’s post, the loss is an unavoidable part of life. Over time, everyone experiences a range of significant losses, and as painful as it often is, the grieving process is a necessary and healthy part of mourning and getting through those losses.[…]

Autism & Screen Time: Special Brains, Special Risks

Autism and Screen Time Special Brains, Special Risks

Children With Autism Are Vulnerable to The Negative Effects of Screen Time. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are uniquely vulnerable to various brain-related impacts of screen time. These electronic “side effects” include hyperarousal and dysregulation—what I call Electronic Screen Syndrome—as well as technology addiction, to video games, the internet, smartphones, social media, and so on. Victoria L. Dunckley,[…]

Six Reasons Teens Turn to Drugs

Six Reasons Teens Turn to Drugs

Understanding The Motive Behind Teen Drug Use There comes a time in a teen’s life when he or she is faced with the single decision to take a drug. The power of that one decision is oftentimes underestimated. Some teens are able to say no and others can’t resist the urge and give in to[…]

Is Fear of Emotion Driving Our Addiction?

Is Fear of Emotion Driving Our Addiction

How Facing Our Emotions Helps Us Fight Addiction As human beings, the deepest, most core conflict we face is whether or not to feel. Do we seek vitality, love, passion, compassion, and the unpredictable roller coaster that comes with being engaged in life and emotion? Or do we engage in behavior that detaches us from the[…]