Blogs

Real people sharing real stories about their experience with substance abuse and mental health.

The Insanity of a Family Disease

During my twenty-five year career in substance abuse treatment, I’ve frequently heard family members (and clients) insist that "Alcohol isn't his/her/my problem - drugs are!" and "Alcoholism isn't his/her/my problem - addiction is!" as if the same principles of recovery from chemical dependency don't apply to any dysfunctional situation where alcohol either isn't present or isn't present enough to be identified as the primary drug-of-choice.

How Does Alcohol Affect the Nervous System?

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that over 85 percent of people of legal drinking age have consumed alcoho

Process Addiction

Process Addiction – Overview Process addictions can take many different forms, but all occur when a person becomes addicted to a rewarding behavior that doesn’t involve an addictive substance. Compulsive…

Co-Occuring/Dual Diagnosis

Co-Occuring/Dual Diagnosis While evaluating people for substance abuse issues, addiction specialists may detect psychological, emotional, or behavioral symptoms that do not fir the substance abuse profile. When this happens, they…

PTSD

At Transformations Treatment Centers, we understand the profound impact that trauma can have on an individual’s life. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can develop after experiencing a…

Grief

Grief and Addiction Losing a loved one is traumatic, and it is something that takes time to get over. When grief sets in that is to be expected, and recovery…

Depression

How Depression is Diagnosed and Treated Depression is a devastating type of mental illness that affects millions of people. It makes it difficult to think, to focus, to function, to…

Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety Disorders and Addiction Treatment Anxiety is a normal human response to stressful situations, or to the anticipation of stress. But when anxiety becomes disconnected from triggers and begins to…

Living Active Recovery

Why do people relapse after leaving treatment?

Throughout my years as a substance use disorder recovery activist and interventionist, I’ve helped scores of people enter treatment. And while these folks flourished in a highly-structured setting,

We Are Both Victims and Victimizers

By: Jonathan Rios M.S. LMHC, Licensed Psychotherapist

We’ve all been victimized. This is a popular notion these days and it makes total sense. When we identify as an oppressed person who has undergone a tragedy or hardship it will often brin