Black Friday and Cyber Monday loom as some of the biggest retail holidays of the year. As with last year, most shoppers will be purchasing items online. For those with online shopping addictions or who struggle to control their spending habits, the holidays can be a difficult time to resist…
There’s something in human nature that is drawn to gambling. Even children bet on who can hold their breath the longest or who will dare to jump over a small stream. It’s no wonder casinos and betting shops do big business. As adults, we still crave the buzz, the adrenaline,…
Binge-watching Netflix; getting sucked into a YouTube channel about cats or cars; scrolling through Instagram and Facebook; shopping online; engaging in a heated discussion on Reddit; playing Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Fortnite; reading the news; taking personality quizzes; gambling; googling your symptoms; swiping left and right on dating apps. What…
Since the 1970s, video games have captivated imaginative minds across the world. While they were once viewed as a new fad for younger generations to enjoy, the scientific community has begun to accept the numerous cognitive benefits that playing video games can provide to both children and adults. Today, video…
According to the National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health, 9.2 million adults in the United States struggled with substance use disorder and another mental illness (such as an anxiety or mood disorder) in 2018. These statistics show that substance use disorder and other forms of mental illness tend…
While talking to a young woman in recovery (with over 100 days), the topic of change arose. She said that she was unhappy with who she was. I probed further, asking what worried her about her life. She went on to tell me about all of the things she’d done…
I have been sober for over four years. I am in amazement as I type that, but I also reflect on the terribly long and hard road it took me to get to where I am today. I used to be known as a “chronic relapser.” In other words, I…
Incorporating healthy habits into your life can aid addiction recovery and benefit your overall health and wellbeing. In recovery, it is important to both treat addiction and attend to the entirety of your mental health, as those who fail to pay attention to their mental or emotional health are more…
Spirituality often varies in definition and in practice—however, it’s ultimately about connecting to something greater than ourselves to live a happier life. Doing so can help us cope during difficult times, which means spirituality can prove important to addiction recovery. Those in addiction recovery (and others) can practice spirituality and…
Steroid use could increase the risk of cocaine use and addiction among teens. This, from researchers at the University of Puerto Rico who studied female rats. The team first exposed half of the rats to nandrolone, a performance-enhancing steroid commonly used by teens. After ten days, they split all of…
If you are in recovery from addiction, you know what I’m talking about when I say, “relapse dreams.” This is when you wake up anxious, covered in sweat, because you just had a hyperrealistic dream that you were taking, or about to take, your drug of choice that previously caused…
Some people aren’t capable of identifying when they’ve had enough to drink. Consequently, they drink way too much. A UC Santa Barbara study found a brain mechanism that senses the negative effects of alcohol, like headaches and dizziness. It alerts us to these effects and helps to control the urge…