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The Biology of Anxiety
To most of us, anxiety is that uneasy feeling we get when confronted with an uncertain future — it’s fear in the absence of clear and present danger. But to a psychologist, it’s a complex process that...
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Early Recovery: Twelve Pitfalls
Early recovery -the first few weeks of sobriety, usually in the context of an inpatient or outpatient treatment program- is a vulnerable time. There’s a lot of ambivalence about recovery, and it’s...
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Slips and How to Avoid Them
If you think of recovery as the acquisition of a set of skills, it’s not difficult to understand how slips happen. They’re a sign of real-world flaws in somebody’s recovery program. Working definition...
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HALT-ing Relapse Before it Starts
We’ve all heard the phrase HALT, as in “Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired” but why is it so important? Everybody gets hungry, angry, etc.—it’s normal. Can’t avoid that, can you? That’s life. To get the real...
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Crisis Management Cheat Sheet
One requirement of modern treatment is the ability to manage client crises without resorting to risky physical restraint. Staff receive training on de-escalation techniques, but in the heat of the...
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The Grief Exception
One of the more controversial changes in DSM5, the removal of the grief exclusion is sometimes cited as evidence of the increasing ‘medicalization’ of normal human behavior. That’s a reasonable...
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Recognizing Depression
One valuable skill in early recovery is recognizing when you’re feeling depressed. Here are four signs to look for, in no particular order: People remark on your negative attitude. They may see you as...
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The Anger Trap
I was talking with an old friend about his experience with his father’s recovery. “Our family did the whole sequence: intervention, inpatient treatment, follow-up counseling, family therapy. And it...
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Not-So-Early Recovery
It can hit any of us in recovery, at any time. “Early recovery” is a specific, time-related state. It may last longer for some than others, but it’s generally the first six months to a year of...
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Solid at the Core
John Nash, Nobel-prize winning mathematician, died very recently in a tragic auto accident. His own struggle with mental illness was portrayed in the film A Beautiful Mind, which won Best Picture....
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Shame
I recently read an article by a therapist who touted the so-called invitational method of intervention– where the substance user accepts an invite to the family meeting, fully aware of what will take...
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Recovery at Christmas
For many people, the upcoming Christmas holidays will be a joyful time of celebration. But for recovering addicts, Christmas can be a difficult time of year packed full of stressful situations and...
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Slips and How to Avoid Them
If you think of recovery as the acquisition of a set of skills, it’s not difficult to understand how slips happen. They’re a sign of real-world flaws in somebody’s recovery program. Working definition...
View ArticleClik here to view.
HALT-ing Relapse Before it Starts
We’ve all heard the phrase HALT, as in “Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired” but why is it so important? Everybody gets hungry, angry, etc.—it’s normal. Can’t avoid that, can you? That’s life. To get the real...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Crisis Management Cheat Sheet
One requirement of modern treatment is the ability to manage client crises without resorting to risky physical restraint. Staff receive training on de-escalation techniques, but in the heat of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Grief Exception
One of the more controversial changes in DSM5, the removal of the grief exclusion is sometimes cited as evidence of the increasing ‘medicalization’ of normal human behavior. That’s a reasonable...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Recognizing Depression
One valuable skill in early recovery is recognizing when you’re feeling depressed. Here are four signs to look for, in no particular order: People remark on your negative attitude. They may see you as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Anger Trap
I was talking with an old friend about his experience with his father’s recovery. “Our family did the whole sequence: intervention, inpatient treatment, follow-up counseling, family therapy. And it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Not-So-Early Recovery
It can hit any of us in recovery, at any time. “Early recovery” is a specific, time-related state. It may last longer for some than others, but it’s generally the first six months to a year of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Solid at the Core
John Nash, Nobel-prize winning mathematician, died very recently in a tragic auto accident. His own struggle with mental illness was portrayed in the film A Beautiful Mind, which won Best Picture....
View Article
