Making the decision to quit drinking is an important step for your health, both physically and mentally. If you have been drinking heavily or for a long time, you will need to detox your system from the addictive substance. It is wise not to try...
We’re all probably a little more stressed than usual these days. After months of being isolated, facing financial difficulties, and worrying about the COVID-19 virus itself, we are struggling to deal with the stress in a healthy way. Stress and drinking do not mix well....
Alcohol plays a small role in some people’s lives and a much larger one in others. How problematic alcohol use becomes depends on many factors. When drinking starts to cause serious consequences, the question becomes when is someone considered an alcoholic? There are several ways to...
December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, and it’s the perfect opportunity to talk about the impact of drug- and alcohol-related crashes in the U.S. These crashes highlight the fact that drug and alcohol use have consequences that extend well beyond the person using them....
Words carry incredible power. We rarely think about the many hidden meanings of the words we use to describe others, particularly when it comes to addiction. It’s important to understand that there are reasons addiction professionals choose their words carefully. The medical community has come to...
People often think about how addiction impacts our brains, emotions and cognitive abilities. Though we all know that substance use has physical consequences, it’s tempting to think about addiction as solely a disease affecting the mind. However, once you truly understand how addiction affects your...
Binge Drinkers More Likely to Misuse Opioids Prescription opioid misuse is more common among binge drinkers, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. In their analysis, researchers discovered that the prevalence of prescription opioid misuse increased significantly with binge drinking...
Recently, BRC was asked by our good friend Ken Seeley of Intervention 911, and the producers of The Doctors TV Show to accept a patient struggling with heroin addiction for treatment. I flew to LA to meet with Ken, the family of the patient, and...
Fear of accepting Many fears kept me on the fence with sobriety for a long time. Fear of accepting I had a problem, fear of the label of alcoholic and the fear of a new way of life I heard about in recovery. When I drank,...
If you’ve spent any time around Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous, or other recovery-oriented groups, you’ve heard at least a few slogans and acronyms. Most of them seem to fall into one of three categories, and they include our relationship with: Our addicted loved one. Ourselves. Our...
If you’ve spent any time around Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous, or other recovery-oriented groups, you’ve heard at least a few slogans and acronyms. Most of them seem to fall into one of three categories, and they include our relationship with: Our addicted loved one. Ourselves. Our...
Deathiversary of my son’s death Yesterday was the fifth anniversary (deathiversary?) of my son’s death of a drug overdose. Brandon was one of those people who are larger than life. He was the life of the party. He had a loud voice, a lot of friends,...