Coping With Memories From Active Addiction

In recovery, you hear a lot about triggers. These are essentially memories—feelings, places, people, or circumstances that remind you of your substance use. Addiction and the Brain Addiction affects the reward circuit in the brain, which normally gives you pleasurable feelings from healthy activities like eating, socializing, or listening to music. Dopamine plays a large […]
What to Look for in an Alcohol Rehab Center in Atlanta

Alcohol statistics in the state of Georgia indicate the ongoing need for education and treatment for alcohol addiction. For example, 17% or more of Georgia high school students engage in binge drinking, and approximately a third of those report they have attempted suicide at least once. In addition, annually in Georgia, nearly 3000 deaths result […]
Coping With Obsessive Thoughts in Recovery

Many of us with histories of addiction deal with obsessive thoughts. During active addiction, we might have channeled them into—or numbed them with—alcohol or drugs. Not everyone with addiction is obsessive, but I certainly have this trait even nearly six years into recovery. It’s one I share with many of my sober friends. Telling Unfounded […]
John Mulaney
John Mulaney’s pandemic relapse made a lot of news, but before that he’d been sober since 2005. He first quit drinking and using drugs at age 23. Mulaney started drinking at 13; at that age he felt awkward, and thought alcohol made him funny and gregarious. He also started using cocaine and prescription drugs. “I […]
Coping With Anhedonia in Early Recovery

Drugs and alcohol interact with the brain’s reward circuit, which normally helps you experience pleasure from healthy rewards like eating, socializing, listening to music, or having sex. With chronic substance use, the brain adapts by lowering dopamine receptors and diminishing the reward system’s sensitivity. This is why in early recovery, some people experience anhedonia, the […]
All About Medication-Assisted Treatment
Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the use of medications—typically in combination with therapy—for treating addiction. Medications like Vivitrol or Suboxone help curb cravings and stave off some of the more unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, so that a person can focus on recovery. For now, there are only approved medications for opioid and alcohol use disorder, but research […]
What is Self-Care?
The term “self-care” gets thrown around a lot, but it’s not just bubble baths and saunas. Self-care is an important part of recovery—but in order to enact it, you need to know what it is. Put simply, self-care is what you do for yourself to promote well-being. This includes caring for your physical, mental, and […]
Is Alcohol and Drug Treatment Necessary?

There are more than 14,000 addiction treatment centers in the United States. That fact alone does not prove that addiction treatment is necessary, but it is a strong indicator of demand. When you realize that 21 million Americans are addicted to at least one substance, and only 10% of them receive professional drug or alcohol […]
Healing From Unhealthy Family Dynamics During Recovery
Getting some sober time brings clarity. This may make it more obvious that the family dynamics you grew up with were unhealthy or destructive. You might realize you picked up patterns of relating that don’t serve you in recovery. Changing Instinctual Ways of Relating Therapy is a really useful tool for both excavating and healing […]
Kaveh Akbar
Poet Kaveh Akbar got sober in 2013. Since then, he’s released a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic, and his first full-length poetry collection, Calling a Wolf a Wolf. The latter—which draws from his experience as a Muslim Iranian-American in recovery—won several major awards, including a Pushcart Prize. Akbar says that he didn’t write with any […]