“Your resentment trains you to see evidence of your rightness.” Briana and Dr. Peter Borten (The Dragontree) The above quote was part of my meditation material this morning. In 1939, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) identified resentment as a significant issue for persons with a substance use problem, and science has since produced significant research supporting the need for healthy habits...[ read more ]
Triggers: The Science Did you know?: The Recovery Therapist is in long term recovery For me that means that I have been clean and sober for 27 years. (33 as of the re-write) I want to share a scenario from 27 years ago. I had long since left the pattern of drinking in bars. I gave up recreational drugs and...[ read more ]
Motivating Recovery in a High Functioning Person with a Substance Use Disorder As a professional who specializes in treating high functioning persons with a substance use disorder (SUD)**, I spend a lot of time assessing what motivates people to seek treatment, and what motivates people to stay engaged with habits and activities that support the bio/medical/psych/social/neural changes necessary for contented...[ read more ]
Defense Mechanisms Intellectualizing, Rationalizing, Cockiness, Justifying, Explaining, Analyzing In my ongoing series of posts featuring the defense mechanisms used by persons with a substance use disorder (SUD), we've covered: Passive/mild styles: Denying, Lying, Silence, Withdrawing Dismissive techniques: Minimizing, Humor, Compliance Aggressive tools: Manipulating, Accusing, Judging, Projecting and Threatening, Blaming, Shouting, Defiance Today, we'll consider the cerebral set. These are common...[ read more ]
Defense Mechanisms Threatening, Blaming, Shouting, Defiance This is the next in my series on Defense Mechanisms used in substance use disorder**: drug, alcoholism, or behavioral (also known as process) addiction. Defense mechanisms are the behaviors that persons with a SUD use to protect their use by keeping those close to them away. These methods can be passive, aggressive, cooperative, or...[ read more ]
Defense Mechanisms (Denial Series) Manipulation, Accusing, Judging, and Projecting We have been introducing and delving into various defense mechanisms that persons with a substance use disorder (SUD)** use with family members, friends, and even themselves. The introduction to the series is here featuring denial, lying, silence. The post discussing the use of humor, compliance, and minimizing is found here. Our...[ read more ]
Parents, Teens, and Drinking It’s not uncommon for parents to adopt the perspective that they can teach responsible drinking by allowing supervised drinking at home, usually at the dinner table. I’ve been deeply concerned about this, but now there is meta-research supporting my concern. The perceived logic is understandable: We’ll allow our teen to drink at home, under our supervision...[ read more ]
Defense Mechanisms (Denial Series) Humor, Compliance, Minimizing In a series of blog posts, we are highlighting and discussing in detail defense mechanisms of persons with a substance use disorder.** To help concerned family members and loved ones understand the forms that "denial" takes, we are looking at the various ways an addicted brain finds to protect the addict’s use of...[ read more ]
What Is Addiction, Anyway? First, a brief science summary: A brain that is hijacked by substance use disorder (SUD) seeks to protect the use of substances (or the behavior – process addiction). A person who suffers with this disorder will develop defense mechanisms – what most people call “denial” – in order to keep people away from identifying the truth...[ read more ]
What To Do When Your Family Member Comes Home From Substance Abuse Treatment Welcoming a family member home after substance abuse** treatment is an emotionally charged time. Family members are usually excited, encouraged, and hopeful. They are also usually hesitant, guarded, and uncertain. Use my 6-point checklist below to help guide your decisions and interactions in the early days and...[ read more ]
