Addiction is a mental health disorder that can cause physical changes in your brain that become permanent with long-term use. What is post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS)? For men and women who abuse drugs or alcohol for several years, they can continue to experience the psychological effects of withdrawals sporadically for months or years after detoxing.…
Relapse prevention after rehab takes more than willpower. You need to plan early to be strong against cravings and triggers that will inevitably happen. Having a solid plan like this will help you through stress, social struggles and other times that test your sobriety. After rehab, it’s important to keep your addiction at bay by…
No matter where you are in the addiction cycle, you can attain sobriety. Don’t ever imagine that you’re too far gone for rehab. Sometimes you may feel hopeless that you’ll ever get clean, but nothing is further from the truth. By taking the right rehab steps with a quality treatment facility, you can leave your…
The holidays are stressful for so many reasons. For a person struggling with mental health or substance use concerns, normal holiday stress can feel unmanageable. Dealing with difficult family members, financial stress, and feeling pressure to make everything perfect have the potential to derail even the most carefully planned holiday events. In this blog post,…
If your goal is to remain sober this Christmas, you aren’t alone. The holidays provide ample opportunities to reflect on past experiences, failures, and traumas that can make people want to drink or use drugs. If you know that using drugs causes problems in your life, using substances during the holidays is likely to lead…
What is nutritional therapy, and how does it benefit addiction recovery? When you check into a rehabilitation facility for treatment, you may receive one or more forms of counseling and therapy. These various therapy techniques can teach you the coping strategies and lifestyle skills you need to maintain sobriety. Nutrition is one component of overall…
Addiction is a vast and complex condition. Becoming dependant on addictive drugs causes people to lose their sex drive and rely only on drugs for a dopamine release. Using harmful amounts of psychoactive chemicals causes the brain to release a powerful and overwhelming rush of pleasurable neurotransmitters that are responsible for the positive effects of…
If you are concerned about having a relapse or you feel tempted by a past addiction sometimes, there are relapse prevention techniques that you will want to learn. At our alcohol treatment center in Portland, Oregon, we will help you learn more about relapse prevention and how it can help you on your recovery journey.…
Completing a Longview WA drug treatment program is both an exhilarating and challenging time. You have accomplished a huge goal in life by completing the drug treatment program in Longview, and you should feel very proud of yourself. At the same time, it’s a challenging time, too. Unfortunately, the chances of relapse are real. In…