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 […]
Accountability Without Shame in Recovery
In recovery, it’s important to take responsibility for the ways you may have harmed others during active addiction. This isn’t to punish yourself for having an addiction. Taking accountability can also be part of your own healing. In my recovery, learning to face the harm I caused without shaming myself has been a long and […]
9 Things to Do When Your Loved One Refuses Help
When our loved ones are addicted to alcohol or drugs, it is normal to want to help, or “save” them. We can offer our loved one help, but they don’t always take it, which often puts us in uncomfortable or upsetting situations. At TruHealing Centers, we provide support for addiction in a number of ways, […]
A Brief Description of the Neuroscience of Addiction
Many factors can contribute to a person seeking drugs or alcohol in an addictive way—genetics, environment, trauma, co-occurring mental health disorders, and lots of others. What causes someone to drink or use is different for everyone, and often a combination of things. However, the ways addiction changes the brain tend to be consistent from person […]
A Conversation About Shame and Self-Compassion With Neuroscientist Marc Lewis
I had the pleasure of speaking with Marc Lewis over Zoom about addiction, neuroscience, shame, and self-compassion. Lewis is a neuroscientist and professor emeritus in developmental psychology. He is the author or co-author of over 70 journal publications in psychology and neuroscience, and the author of two books. Lewis currently writes for the popular press, blogs, and […]
Attachment Theory and Addiction
Attachment theory describes how people approach relationships. A child’s relationship with their caregivers plays a large role in how they relate later in life. However, it’s possible to start healing from an attachment style that is causing distress at any time. This typically takes building healthier relationships and doing inner work. The attachment types are […]
A Conversation About Boundaries and Recovery With Author Pixie Lighthorse
I spoke with author Pixie Lighthorse about her book Boundaries and Protection. Specifically, we discussed boundaries as they relate to addiction, recovery, and codependence. Boundaries and Protection is an incredible resource for anyone who is trying to figure out, as Lighthorse put it, “’Where do I end and the loved one in my life begin, […]
Olivia Ehret of Midwest Region on abc13
Northwest Ohio has seen a record number of overdose deaths this year. Our teams are working tirelessly to get people the help they need. Olivia Ehret, Clinical Director of Inpatient Services in TruHealing’s Midwest region, spoke with 13abc about how addiction treatment centers have been impacted by the alarming number of overdoses. Read the full […]
3 Common Holiday Addiction Triggers
Holidays should be happy occasions that provide an opportunity for friends and family to get together and enjoy the season. However, these gatherings can pose a risk of relapse due to addiction triggers such as stress and increased access to drugs and alcohol. If you are recovering from addiction, you surely know that treatment does […]
Memory and Recovery
Memory is a strange thing when it comes to recovery. Triggers are essentially memories-circumstances, people, places, or feelings that your brain has come to associate with drinking or using. But for many of us, memories of times when we were intoxicated are distorted and fragmented. In recovery, we can feel grateful that we’re able to […]