Entries by Omar F

7 Ways Alcohol Abuse Can Affect the Brain and Mental Function

If you don’t drink alcohol, there’s no reason to start, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Drinking alcohol in moderation or not at all is key to avoiding related negative health consequences—including those that affect your brain. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports there are a number of factors that influence the extent to […]

Fentanyl Detox: Overview, How It Works, and Detox Length

Fentanyl detox is a medical treatment that helps people recover from physical opioid dependence. This treatment is widely available at drug rehab centers, hospitals, and health care practices that treat opioid use disorder. Fentanyl detox is the first stage of recovery from opioid addiction and usually involves the use of medications that can relieve withdrawal […]

What Are the 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery?

Modern science has made vast steps forward into understanding the science of addiction and mental health. While these fields are complex and multifaceted, they exist in a distilled form as the 10 guiding principles to the process of recovery. When carers and patients alike understand these principles, they can incorporate them together in the journey towards […]

The 5 Stages of Recovery

Once someone who’s suffering from addiction makes the decision to pick up the pieces of their lives, they have a complex journey ahead. While every individual has their own unique experience, successes, and pitfalls, recovery occurs in five stages. From the start of harm reduction and into general abstinence onward to long-term recovery, understanding these […]

Alcoholism: Signs and Symptoms

Alcoholism is widespread in the U.S., where an estimated 14.1 million adults are diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, reports the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). This number may even be higher, as it doesn’t include the number of adults who are suffering from alcoholism in silence. Knowing the characteristics of an alcoholic can help […]

Quarantine and Addiction: Numbers Rising for Substance Abuse

Some mental health professionals have been calling the Covid-19 lockdown “a pandemic within a pandemic” due to the rising numbers of people struggling with substance abuse as a result of the quarantine and its effects. While some people may think that being house-bound or having a limited number of people in their “bubble” would decrease […]

Drinking Too Much? Signs and Symptoms of Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol is the most commonly abused substance in the U.S., with nearly 55% of Americans report drinking at least one time during the past month, reports the NIAAA. When you drink alcohol regularly, sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether you might be drinking too much or just enough for it to be problematic and […]

The Importance of Aftercare and Alumni After Addiction Treatment

Recovery from drug and alcohol addiction can take several weeks, months, years, or even a lifetime, in some cases. During that time, you will need access to a strong support network of friends, family, addiction treatment professionals, and peers in recovery who can hold you accountable and help you stay on track with your recovery. […]