A recent study recorded that one in every ten drug addicts has been to rehab at least five times before achieving abstinence. It is no wonder, then, why so many addicts and their families grow frustrated with the promise of rehabilitation. After experiencing the heartbreak of a drug relapse, it is especially hard to believe […]

They say there is an opiate epidemic. Growing up, all I knew was that an epidemic was bad. A wide-ranging widespread sickness or disease that, if I wasn’t careful, I could catch and end up dead. It was something to fear. Twenty-nine years later, I still have a similar emotional reaction. The Black Plague. Cholera. […]

Just as every individual is unique, every addiction story that a person bears is one of a kind. This is, perhaps, why choosing a rehabilitation program for a loved one can be such a trying decision for families to make. It’s hard enough to see your son face to face with addiction, but with all […]

Drug addiction is a complex disease of the brain that provokes compulsive behaviors and intensified, irrepressible cravings in an individual. Stemming from consistent substance abuse, addiction alters brain structure and disrupts its function over time, ultimately imprinting adverse changes in the brain that last long after drug use has ceased. Addiction is, therefore, deemed a […]

Prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications, after marijuana, are the most commonly abused substances in the United States. Adderall, the latest trend in prescription drug abuse, is the third most common drug used among 12th graders, according to the 2014 Monitoring the Future Study. People often think that, because prescription drugs have been approved by a […]

Substance use is a monster, addiction a persistent demon, and yet, Hollywood always seems to find a means of masking the two with lavish charm and glamour. All the while, the media continues to do just the opposite.  They’re all too eager to take down the tragic stories of celebrities’ drug use—another overdose, another relapse—as […]

For some of us parents, we find out that something has gone drastically wrong with our child’s journey (often by police or school).  In crisis, we place him into a drug and alcohol treatment facility to avoid consequences or to fix whatever the problem (which we have not really identified) our child is experiencing. For […]

This past summer, the world lost one of its most beloved, storied artists of all time, actor and comedian, Robin Williams. And of late, his tragic suicide has shed incredible light on a shaking reality: the persistent, disparaging battle between addiction and depression.  Addiction and depression are two internal demons that have housed themselves in […]