Am I Addicted to Cocaine?
People use cocaine every day. While some may consider the popular stimulant a popular party drug of the 80s and 90s, it is just as prevalent today. In fact, many people take cocaine to increase productivity and enhance focus at work or school. Unfortunately, cocaine is highly addictive and hard to stop using without clinical […]
Cocaine Effects on the Brain
Like other stimulants, cocaine can have lasting effects on a person’s brain and body. While people may think of cocaine as a party drug from a bygone era, it’s commonly used today. Contrary to popular belief, many people who use cocaine live relatively normal lives. This can make it challenging to know what someone is […]
Moving Past Fears of Sobriety

When it comes to getting sober, many people have lots of starts and stops. Six years before I got sober for what I hope to be the last time, I quit drinking for a couple months—only to pick up right where I left off. There were many times throughout active addiction that I tried to […]
5 Signs You Are Addicted to Prescription Drugs

Prescription drugs are a common part of daily life. People across the country are prescribed medications like benzos, opioids, Adderall, and SSRIs every day. What most people don’t know is that it’s easy to develop a dependence on prescription drugs. For many, prescription drug abuse happens slowly. While prescription drugs may seem more benign than […]
A Conversation With Carl Erik Fisher About His Book the Urge: Our History of Addiction

I spoke with Carl Erik Fisher over Zoom about his book The Urge: Our History of Addiction. Fisher is an addiction physician and bioethicist. He is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University’s Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry, and maintains a private psychiatry practice focused on addiction. Fisher’s writing has appeared in […]
How to Respond and How Not to Respond When Someone Tells You They’re Getting Sober

Deciding to get sober can be very challenging and intimidating. People who pursue recovery from addiction need support from those in their lives. This not only gives them strength through the life-changing journey they’re about to take. An addicted brain is more likely to rationalize drinking or using, so a lack of support can make […]
Breaking Addiction Cycles

Addiction is a cycle. When you’ve been using drugs or alcohol chronically, your brain comes to expect them. It adjusts to the floods of dopamine by lowering dopamine receptors, making it harder for you to feel pleasure from other, healthier activities. Additional changes in the brain—like alterations to the prefrontal cortex, which helps with impulse […]
Building Closeness in Recovery

Many of us in recovery spent our formative teen or early adulthood years drinking or using. During the time we might have been learning to build authentic closeness, we were cut off from ourselves by substances. I’ve always kept many relationships of all varieties, even during active addiction. But there are layers to true intimacy […]
Building Empathy for People in Different Stages of Recovery
Recovery allows the space to cultivate empathy. During active addiction, your brain changes so that you may seek out the substance above other things in life. When alcohol or drugs are no longer your main priority, it often follows that you’re less self-centered. You are better able to understand other people’s experiences. Still, sometimes we […]
Settling in After the Pink Cloud

After detoxing or in early sobriety, some people experience euphoria for a few days or weeks. This is referred to as the “pink cloud.” Sometimes people worry that after this wears off, real life in recovery will be a harsh reality check. As someone who experienced the pink cloud when I was just over two […]