Tag Archives: Relationships

Toxic Relationships in Eating Disorder Recovery

Toxic Relationships in Eating Disorder Recovery

The Risk of Cross-addictions in Early Recovery A leading cause of eating disorder relapse is getting into a relationship too early in recovery. Early recovery is emotionally volatile; add in the additional ups and downs of a romantic relationship and you’ve got a recipe for relapse. In the vulnerable early stages of recovery, there is[…]

Failure Can Become Freedom

Failure Can Become Freedom

Failure Can Become Freedom: 5 Tips for Overcoming Impulsivity Losing your fear of failure can be very freeing. Being a failure phobic can lead to avoiding risk, which is necessary for success. The best way to get over any fear is “exposure therapy” – being exposed to failure and realizing it doesn’t have to stop you. Lara[…]

The Pursuit of Happiness–Or the Quest For Wealth

The Pursuit of Happiness–Or the Quest for Wealth

The Materialistic Search For Happiness is Laden With Paradox Sadly, in our capitalistic culture today, the two aspirations denoted in the above title–to me, sharply contrasting–are frequently confused. They can be (and have been) viewed as virtually identical. And if in fact happiness is conceived in monetary terms, then the more money gained, the more material objects acquired, the[…]

People, Places, and Things – How Important are Drug-Related Triggers For Relapse?

People, places, and things – How important are drug-related triggers for relapse

Drug Associated Triggers Are Powerful Re-activators of Addictive Behavior In cognitive-behavioral therapy they’re a big part of the “Five W’s” = When, Where, Why, With, and What. In the various 12-step programs they’re simply referred to as “People, places, and things.” But no matter how you refer to them, drug-associated cues, or “triggers” as they[…]

Feening For a Technology Fix

Feening for a technology fix

Technology – The Midnight Snack That Consumes You! Imagine this, you wake up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water or a late-night snack. As you walk into the kitchen and open the fridge door, out of the corner of your eye you spot your iPhone. Suddenly you are no[…]

Mindfulness Meditation & Addiction

Mindfulness Meditation & Addiction

Causes For Addiction & How Mindfulness Meditation Can Help With Them One of the first steps in dealing with addiction is to discover the emotional cause of it, whether it is fear, depression, anxiety, or pessimism.  Many times these unwholesome thoughts and beliefs come from what I call the “wanting mind.”  In our wanting mind, we feel that our current[…]

Correlation, Causation, and Association

Correlation, causation, and association

Let’s Clear Something Up, Correlation isn’t Causation, But It’s Important! A comment posted by a reader on a recent post reprimanded me for suggesting that marijuana caused relationships to go bad. In this instance the reader was mistaken, as I had specifically used the word “associated”, but the comment made me think that maybe I should explain the differences between[…]

The Visible Need Not Apply

The Visible Need Not Apply

Healthy Behavior Comes in All Kinds of Packages I would personally like to thank Congress and, most especially, President Obama, for finally passing a national health care package, as imperfect as it may be.  National Health is not merely a social issue but a Constitutional one, to my mind, in that it begins to “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings[…]

Heads I Win; Tails You Lose

Heads I Win Tails You Lose

“gambling is a Principle Inherent in Human Nature” — Edmund Burke “One of the healthiest ways to gamble iswith a spade and a package of garden seeds.”Dan Bennett Compulsive or pathologic gambling is the addiction marked by a nagging inability to resist the temptation to gamble. Up to 3 percent of the adult population are known to[…]