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Substance use becoming a problem?
Substance use becoming a problem?
There are lots of ways substances can become an issue in your life. Sometimes, a useful prescription has become a point of conflict with family members. You might be realizing that you have difficulty focusing until you have a drink or take an extra dose of medication. Maybe you're becoming more irritable with your spouse, coworkers, children, or friends, whether or not you've been ingesting substances.
Whatever the reason, we can help you explore how your use of medication, alcohol, and/or substances is impacting your life and the lives of your loved ones. Together, we can look at creating a plan that works best for you, whether that means exploring ways to decrease your use, connecting you with a physician or psychiatrist to adjust medications, or working towards a road of recovery.
Impulsive or Excessive behaviors
Impulsive or Excessive behaviors
Addictive disorders aren't just about substance use.
Often, addictive disorders can look like impulsive spending, gambling, repeated toxic relationships with others, cleaning (yes, really!), and dysfunctional relationships with food. Sometimes, these behaviors can come up in early recovery from substance use and dependency. Other times, there may not be a history of substance use at all. Nearly always, people feel intense shame about the behavior(s) and the consequences of those behaviors.
You are Not Alone
You are Not Alone
Together, we can explore how your behaviors are affecting your ability to think, feel, and connect with yourself, your loved ones, and the world around you. More importantly, we can explore methods to manage the behaviors to help you regain control in your life.
Defining addiction
Defining addiction
The disease of addiction is classified as a brain disease, specifically impacting the demand and reward pathways in the brain. Characterized by increased dysfunction in substance use behaviors, notably excessive, obsessive, impulsive, and compulsive substance seeking and use behaviors, the condition eventually impacts all areas of life: emotional, mental, spiritual, social, occupational, financial, physical, etc.
One of the most pervasive myths of addiction is that to engage in addiction is a choice. In reality, the concept of choice is largely what is lost in active addiction. A frequent analogy for the choice myth is envisioning an individual dying of thirst in the middle of the desert, and challenging them not to drink from a glass of fresh water set in front of them. The survival drive to drink the water, to quench the thirst, will overwhelm any efforts at willpower to abstain from drinking in such a situation.
As the condition progresses, the chronic compulsion to prioritize addictive behaviors over every other aspect of life becomes all-consuming. Due to this often gradual progression that can go on for months, years, or even decades, aspects of denial and delusion progress as well. The intense denial can lead to the addicted person dismissing any loss of control over behaviors, and simultaneous confusion, hurt, and overwhelm of loved ones as to what they are witnessing, up to and including questioning their own reality as it no longer matches what the addicted person believes they are experiencing. This dissonance is a hallmark of how addiction is viewed as a family disease, in that it impacts all individuals in the family, regardless of each individual's own use or abstinance.
There IS a Solution
There IS a Solution
Fortunately, there is a way to a better life.
Fortunately, there is a way to a better life.
In our work together, we may explore how you can check in with yourself, explore any of the fears known and unknown about decreasing or removing substances and/or addictive behaviors from your life, and nurturing healthier connections with your family members, friends, and coworkers. This may include inviting your spouse to a session or engaging the whole family in therapy to help make the vision of a happy family a reality for you and your loved ones.
Addiction doesn't develop in isolation, and recovery won't either.
We have found that community is a core element of a strong recovery. Some people find community in a specific recovery group, such as a 12-Step program or SMART Recovery; others have found (re)connecting with old, sober associates or nurturing new relationships with neighbors, colleagues, or a faith community to be beneficial. Rather than fitting your needs into a pre-defined fix, we will work with you and your life to help you discover what works best for your ongoing recovery process.
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