Tag Archives: Holidays

Fight Addiction by Embracing a Bigger Story this Christmas

Man in recovery during Christmas “How do we end up like this? Living lives that we don’t care about? Too busy fixing things On computer screens While the grass grows green Me, I’m screaming out” -Ben Rector, Beautiful Until you realize the intended purposes for your life you will flounder in far lesser pleasures, beauties and glories. CS Lewis paints [...]
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Co-Occurring Seasonal Depression and Substance Abuse and During the Holidays

Man climbing to recovery of sexual addiction In 2007, the National Institute on Drug Use (NIDA) reported that approximately 60% of substance abusers have a co-occurring mental health disorder. Fall and winter can be a stressful time environmentally and situationally for sufferers. With darker months, individuals with seasonal depression are increased risks, some of which are boredom due to limited outside activity [...]
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Navigating the Holidays with a Food Addiction: Tips and Resources

Walking in fall leaves 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder (which includes anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and EDNOS). Eating disorder are not about food, it is about the underlying issues which can be triggered by anxiety and stress. Holidays can bring on both increased stress and anxiety and [...]
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Holidays and Suicide: The Relationship of Substance Abuse and Suicide

Holidays and suicide A completed suicide occurs every 16 minutes in the United States. Suicide costs the Nation almost $12 Billion annually. Drug poisoning deaths have increased 120% in recent years, rising from 17,415-38,329 in 2010. 58% of the drug deaths involved pharmaceuticals, and 75% of those deaths involved prescription pain relievers. In 2010, US emergency rooms treated [...]
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Resources to Effectively Cope with Triggers During the Holidays

Couple enjoying the holidays Contributor: Libby Lyons, MSW, LCSW, CEDS, writer for Addiction Hope. Holidays can bring heightened stressors and triggers that require further coping skills for someone struggling with a current or past addiction. It is first important to know what and how addiction works. Addiction is defined as a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by [...]
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