The Growing Rift Between Communities Even though addiction and mental illness are strongly linked, and many people consider addiction to be a form of mental illness, those struggling with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues are often viewed in a totally different light from the way addicts are perceived. Those with mental illness areRead More
There are various healing tools and techniques we can employ to help ourselves in recovery, and one of the most useful can be documenting our progress throughout our recovery. For some of us, this can be especially helpful, but for others, it can be detrimental, depending on the energy we apply to the process. CanRead More
As we’re working to heal from our mental health issues, we learn more about how to control our thought patterns so that we’re not causing ourselves mental and emotional pain, sabotaging our recovery and keeping ourselves sick. One powerful way to control our thoughts is by using the practice of detaching from and observing ourRead More
One of our most difficult challenges when living with addiction is the overwhelming temptation we feel, how much we feel pulled and tempted by our drug of choice, how strong and overpowering our addictive urges can be. As we’re working to recover, this temptation can continue to be difficult for us. We still think aboutRead More
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Mental Anguish We Experience When we struggle with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and panic attacks, we can feel totally dominated and overpowered by our thoughts. Our painful thoughts and emotions, our sadness, fear, anger andRead More
As we’re working to recover from our addictions and mental health issues, we learn more about the different things we’ve been taught over the years and the various ways we’ve been mentally and emotionally conditioned that are detrimental to our well-being. We discover that we have more power over our thoughts, and therefore our feelings,Read More
Those of us living with addiction and mental health issues have developed habits over the years that reinforce our addictive patterns along with the mental and emotional health challenges we experience. These habits feed our addictions and our overall lack of well-being. When we have habits that we consider to be bad habits, that constituteRead More
One of the most important things we gain from our experience with addiction is a changed perspective, on not only the addiction and mental health issues we’re struggling with, but also on how to prevent them from developing in other people. We acquire wisdom and intuition that can help us identify when other people areRead More
Part of our work in recovery involves looking at how we’ve been trained to think, act and feel over the years. Upon more closely examining our thought patterns, emotional responses, choices and behaviors, many of us discover that we’ve been perpetuating very toxic limiting beliefs that contribute to our mental health issues, including our strugglesRead More
It is a common conceptualization around addiction that the opposite of our addictions is connection, rather than sobriety. While sobriety is a main goal of ours when we’re struggling with addiction, another fundamental goal for our overall well-being is cultivating connection, within ourselves and with other people. When we feel disconnected from other people, weRead More