Addiction Treatment

Grieving for Addiction

Posted on by Christy Weeks
grieving for addiction

Those in early recovery have taken a monumental step towards a better way of life. Leaving a life of addiction behind is one of the best decisions an individual can make, and their lives are certainly better in recovery. However, a strange phenomenon can occur in recovery that causes a person to miss, or grieve over, their prior addictions.

It is understandable that a person very early in recovery might feel this way. They are newly sober, and have yet to truly experience a life of recovery. This line of thinking can also be present to those further along the recovery path. Why would a person that has experienced a better way of life grieve over an inferior way of life?

The primary reason is that recovery is real. The life of addiction is many times romanticized, and the good parts of the old life are highlighted while the bad parts are forgotten. “Freedom” is replaced by responsibility, and old memories are skewed and thought of as better than they really were. Using buddies are remembered as loyal friends, drug seeking as adventures, and day-to-day life as carefree.

Individuals, deep down, are aware these thoughts weren’t the reality in addiction. If they were brutally honest, they’d say the “freedom” was the exact opposite, using buddies took advantage of them, drug seeking stole time from their lives, and life was anything but carefree. Addicts are aware of the realities of their addictions, but chose to entertain a false truth from time to time.

Allowing the thought process to go down this road can be deadly or beneficial, depending on the type of support system the individual has in their lives. If the correct support is there, this line of thinking can be analyzed to discover why it’s entertained in the first place. This can be an extremely beneficial exercise, and reveal much about a person’s makeup. Without the correct support system, the person may never be pulled back to a healthy way of thinking. They may venture so far into the fantasy that they chose to pursue the old way of life and relapse.

Having a proper support system is of the utmost importance in all stages of recovery. These fantasy thoughts are typical, and having others around you to talk truth is vital. A residential treatment center is appropriate for those brand new to recovery. These thoughts can occur more frequently in early recovery, and a greater level of support is needed. The appropriate level of support never tapers off, it simply changes. Outpatient or Aftercare services are appropriate after treatment, and a presence in the recovery community will be appropriate the rest of your life. The further you go down the recovery path, the more you are able to provide the support you need for yourself. You will become able to bring yourself back to reality, and know to seek help when you can’t. Eventually the script will be flipped, and you will help teach others of the realities of their addictions.

Harmony Foundation provides the recovery support needed during treatment, and for the rest of your life. The road to recovery begins here.

Young Adults Drink More Around Friends

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Young Adult Alcohol Rehab Colorado

A recent study found that young adults consume more alcohol when they are around a greater number of friends. The study took place in natural settings, not a lab. The subjects recorded when they had a drink, and how many friends were around them at the time they had a drink. Though both sexes showed a significant increase in the amount of drinks they had when a greater number of friends were around, the peak in consumption was especially prevalent in males.

Young adult’s drinking is affected when others are around them. Young adults also have an unrealistic view of others in their social circle. Many times, they see their peers as more daring than they really are. This can lead to attempting to live up to unrealistic expectations they place on themselves. They believe they need to make more daring decisions, and take steps to achieve that. With substance abuse, this can quickly lead to addiction.

Addiction treatment can often be tricky with young adults. Many times, they see treatment as a form of punishment, and therapists as extensions of parental authority. This can cause the young person to not be as open to retaining valuable knowledge gained in rehabilitation as their older counterparts. To truly reach, and treat, young adults a program must be designed specifically for them.

Harmony Foundation offers a young adult recovery track that caters to the unique circumstances of young people. If you would like to learn more about what Harmony’s young adult program offers, please contact us for additional information.

Decrease in Oxycontin Use Leads to Spike in Heroin Use

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Heroin vs Oxycontin Addiction

Around 2010 the Oxycontin epidemic was growing out of control. The strength and availability of the drug led to many people becoming addicted to the famous painkiller. The days of having to visit a dark alley to achieve a strong opiate high were over. Individuals misusing the prescription drug were on the rise.

In 2010 a misuse deterrent was introduced. This changed the formulation of the drug to make it more difficult to crush or dissolve. The idea was to lower the ease with which a person could snort or inject the drug. The plan achieved what it set out to achieve, as the number of individuals checking into addiction treatment centers who had used Oxycontin in the last 30 days dropped from 45 percent before the formula change to 26 percent in 2014. Addicts entering rehab who had used Oxycontin in he last 30 days has nearly halved in 4 years.

However, of the 19 percent of users who stopped taking Oxycontin during this time, it’s estimated that 70 percent of them switched to heroin. The secondary effects of the formula change had devastating results in the addiction world. Making it more difficult to abuse Oxycontin didn’t make addicts stop using drugs, it just made them switch drugs. Concurrently with this trend, heroin overdoses have skyrocketed in the last 4 years.

Changing the drugs formula, in the big picture, didn’t work. They changed some things, and addicts found a way around it. This is true of many scenarios that arise in addiction. Attempting anything, outside of relentlessly pursuing recovery, is typically useless. Many addicts will need professional help to get clean and stay clean.

Harmony Foundation provides the professional care necessary to help you or a loved one achieve a lasting recovery. If you would like to learn more about what our program has to offer, contact us for more information.

Overcoming Addiction

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Recovering Addicts less likely to develop new addictions

A recent study has shown that individuals who are able to overcome a substance abuse addiction are less likely to develop an addiction to another substance. The study found that 27 percent of those that had never developed addictions, or never recovered, and 13 percent of those who had recovered from their addictions had developed an addiction to a different substance after three years. The study shows that those who have recovered from their addictions are less than half as likely to develop a new addiction to a substance other than their original drug of choice.

Recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol requires drastic changes to one’s life. The addict has to change their life to stay sober long term. To ensure lasting recovery, new groups of friends are acquired and relationships with families are mended. Many times, the individual in recovery is a totally different person than they were in active addiction. They have left more than the addiction behind; they’ve left their old way of thinking and living behind. It makes sense that individuals such as this would be less likely to revisit addiction.

The study highlights the need to get proper, individualized treatment, and recover fully. Those who work to recover at full capacity are less likely to develop another addiction to a different drug. Those who give it half effort end up with the same likelihood of developing another addiction as those who never attempted to recover at all. Getting sober cannot be achieved by exerting anything short of a full effort.

If you or a loved one want to recover from a substance abuse addiction, and are ready to take the steps necessary to achieve it, contact Harmony Foundation to learn more about what our program can offer you.

Addiction and the Downward Spiral

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Actress June Fairchild, know for her roles in “Up in Smoke” and “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”, died Tuesday in Los Angeles from complications related to liver cancer. Fairchild appeared in several films in the 1970’s, and it appeared she had the ability to become a star before addiction came into her life. Fairchild’s drug and alcohol addiction led to her living in a cardboard box on skid row in Los Angeles.

Stories such as this highlight the destructive nature of substance abuse addiction. Going from appearing in films alongside Clint Eastwood to living in a cardboard box shows addiction affects everyone, and is detrimental to everyone.

Stories like this often don’t get as much notoriety as other celebrity drug stories. A well-known celebrity getting in trouble with the law or overdosing, while in the prime of their career, provides a juicier storyline. However, stories such as this probably show the nature of addiction in its truest form. There is a good chance addiction will lead to overdose or getting arrested, but it is a certainty that addiction will negatively affect the trajectory of your life. For every rock star that dies from a drug overdose, there are probably dozens of individuals who had promising careers that drifted into obscurity before their careers took off due to addiction. Many tragic Hollywood addiction stories happen when the camera is no longer around.

All addicts, regardless of their place in life, suffer from a gravitation pull towards rock bottom. This downward life trajectory may be “televised”, it may not. Many times, only recovery can reverse the downward trend. If you have an addiction, and would like to learn how to our program can help, contact us for more information.

Insomnia in Early Recovery

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Insomnia in Sobriety

Early recovery offers an array of challenges. In addition to being newly sober, those in early recovery are forced to face life and its problems without the use of substances. This is usually a monumental challenge, and anything from showering to going to the grocery store seems totally different in the early stages of recovery. Addiction likely leaked into every aspect of the individual’s life. Towards the end, every activity was completed with a buzz. Being under the influence became a prerequisite for all things. A common activity that is hindered by addiction is sleeping.

Sleeping is also hard to attain in early recovery. Mental and physical changes, coupled with having to process a drastically different life, lead to many hours lying awake in bed. Recent studies have indicated that individuals in early recovery are 5 times more likely than the general population to experience insomnia. These studies also typically indicate that insomnia in early recovery raises the risk of relapse.

Insomnia and addiction are closely linked across the board. Individuals who experience insomnia are more likely to develop addictions, and individuals with addictions are more likely to experience insomnia.

Sleep, like all other activities, was easier to achieve in addiction if a certain ritual was upheld. Many times, if any step in the ritual was excluded, the activity became difficult or impossible to complete. One aspect of the ritual will almost always include using the drug of choice, but many times the ritual goes deeper than that. The dose, method of consumption, time, and location must all be orchestrated perfectly to accomplish the task. Sleep is almost always one of these tasks.

With the ritualistic mindset so engrained in those with addictions, it can be hard to accomplish sleep or other tasks sober. The motivational engine behind the machine has been removed. Sleeping, and other day-to-day activities, will have to be completely re-learned.

The importance of recovering in a safe, supportive environment cannot be stressed enough. Trouble sleeping will lead to trouble doing everything awake. Without adequate sleep, those in early recovery face a difficult challenge with dulled senses and slower thinking. A residential treatment program, with a recovery curriculum that fills the addict’s day, leaves the body and mind tired and at peace at the end of the day. Facing early recovery with a fresh body and mind, coupled with profession care designed to help learn how to accomplish life’s challenges sober, provide the best chance for long term recovery.

If you are interested in learning more about our program, contact us for additional information about how to achieve long-term recovery.

The Consequences of Addiction

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Addiction Consequences

Individuals in active addiction frequently have an impaired ability to fully realize the damage their substance abuse is causing to their lives. They also typically can’t fully realize the toll their addiction is taking on the lives of others around them. More often than not, any consequences stemming from their addiction are given a pass. Losing a job, relationship, or financial security while in addiction is contributed to anyone and anything besides the substance abuse. A common opinion on this occurrence is that addicts contribute problems in their everyday lives to things other than their addictions in order to justify continued use.

A recent study suggests the misdirection of fault addicts place on the source of their problems may not be entirely voluntary. The study measured the brain activity of cocaine users and sober individuals while playing a simple gambling game. The results showed that the cocaine using subjects had significantly impaired loss prediction signaling, a signal a nerve sends the brain to regulate dopamine. This signaling occurs to alert the individual that the act produced an unfavorable outcome, and should be avoided in the future.

The study further proves that the disease of addiction physically, mentally, and emotionally affects addicts in forms that are deeper than they appear to the outside world. While those around the addict, who don’t suffer from addiction, see the addict’s decision making as poor judgment, the study indicates what is occurring is a loss of ability to make sound choices. While in the grips of addiction, an addict has a severely dulled sense of the harm they are causing to their lives.

To improve this dulled sense of consequences takes time. An inpatient addiction treatment program, incorporating the 12 Steps, provides the time, setting, and teachings necessary to help addicts fully realize the damage their addictions have caused. This not only allows the individual to stop the damage being done, but also teaches them the steps necessary to repair some of the damage.

If you or a loved one have an addiction that is causing negative consequences to lives, Harmony Foundation provides treatment programs that teach the methods necessary to stop these consequences. If you suffer from addiction, and are interested in reversing the trajectory of your life, contact us to learn more about the solution.

Dartmouth College Takes a Hard Stance Against Hard Alcohol

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Beginning March 30th students will not be allowed to consume liquor with greater than 15% alcohol on campus or at campus sponsored events. Pledging into fraternities will also be banned.

The motivation behind the Ivy League’s new policy is to cut down on student binge drinking and alcohol related hospital visits. The college’s president, Phil Hanlon stated in a speech on Tuesday that “The Steering Committee found that high-risk drinking is far too prevalent on our campus,” and that “the vast majority of alcohol-induced medical transports, it is hard alcohol—rather than beer or wine—that lands students on a hospital gurney.”

The ban on fraternity pledges came as no surprise after an article in Dartmouth’s student newspaper reached national headlines in 2012 when a student wrote about the hazing practices that occur with fraternity pledges. As an alternative to pledging fraternities, Dartmouth promised to create new opportunities and spaces on campus for social activities. Although he didn’t ban Greek Life on campus, Hanlon warned, “If the Greek system as a whole does not engage in meaningful, lasting reform, we will revisit its continuation on campus.”

Banning hard alcohol on campus echoes similar attempts by college campus to cut down on binge drinking, like Penn State University who pays local bars upwards of 170K every year to not serve liquor on St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Binge drinking among college students can have immediate health consequences and for a certain percentage, long term consequences. When the binge drinking episodes become more frequent they can lead to alcoholism. Many young adults who have sought treatment for alcoholism recall the start of their binge drinking while in college that persisted and quickly lead to negative consequences. Dartmouth’s new policy may deter many from drinking hard alcohol, but if a student has a problem greater than occasional alcohol abuse, they will find a way to abuse their drink of choice. For those that find themselves ignoring the ban or going off campus just to drink hard alcohol, may want to take a closer look at the precedence they give to alcohol in their lives and seek out help.

Alcohol Impacts Women Differently

Posted on by Christy Weeks

The gap between the number of male alcoholics and female alcoholics is closing quickly. Of the estimated 15 million Americans that abuse alcohol, around 1/3 of these individuals are women and this number is quickly rising.

Alcohol affects women differently than their male counterparts. Alcohol is more soluble in water than it is in fat. A woman’s body contains more fatty tissue than a male of the same size. Women also tend to have less muscle than men. Muscle contains more water than fat, and therefore men tend to have more water in their bodies than a woman of the same size. Finally, women produce less of the liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol than men.

All of these aspects of the biological makeup of women contribute to alcohol being more potent to woman than it is to men. Since less of the alcohol is absorbed or broken down in a woman’s body, more of that alcohol reaches the brain. If a man and woman of the same size drink the same amount, the woman will feel stronger effects than the man. This can lead to women developing dependence to alcohol faster than men. It also can result in negative physical, mental, and emotional consequences being experienced at a quicker rate in women than in men.

Adding to this is the fact that women have death rates 50-100% higher than men, with many women dying from alcohol related suicides, accidents, and circulatory disorders. And studies have revealed that even when women don’t drink as much or for as long as men, they have the same amount of damage.

Overall, alcohol abuse can be much different experiences for women and men and often the path leading to addiction is different. Therefore, treatment for women should be different. Unfortunately, there are few women’s programs that are geared towards recovery for women. Being a gender specific program is typically not sufficient.

That is why Harmony Foundation’s Colorado alcohol rehab offers an individualized treatment program for women. The program is not only gender specific, but specific to each woman. We believe that treating addiction in men and women requires a very different approach in each case. Learn more about our individualized addiction treatment program for women here.

The Thankful Addict

Posted on by Christy Weeks

To those who have been in the trenches of addiction, recovery frequently provides opportunities to be thankful. Recovery gave them their life back. Though it was certainly earned, the work and efforts put forth in the recovery process, resulting in an improved quality of life, is something to be grateful for. Many recovering addicts are even feel thankful for the addiction they endured, as it made them stronger and gave them a better life than they ever had before they ever took the first drink or drug.

Recovery requires work and personal insight. The gift of recovery, and the personal traits it equips its receivers with, is something very few people ever get to experience. Those in recovery strive for constant improvement in knowledge of themselves, improvement in relationships, and strive to find a meaning and purpose to life. They take pride in helping others, and try to improve the lives of everyone they meet. This is certainly something to be thankful for. Many float through life without ever taking a good look in the mirror. The continued self-awareness, desire for self-improvement and perseverance those in recovery have is a trait that’s shared by few.

Although they may not be aware of this, those in active addiction have much to be thankful for as well. They are actively involved with a very deadly disease, and remain alive. They are also blessed with the reality that, if they wish, they never have to use again. The qualities of those in recovery mentioned above are attainable starting right now. It isn’t easy to achieve, but a life of recovery is worth it.

Though recovery is obtainable, it can’t be done alone. Getting help at a reputable addiction treatment facility like ours is the first step to a better life. If a better life, a sober life and all that comes with it, is something you are interested in, Harmony Foundation can help you achieve it. Recovery is just a phone call away.