Should Families Ever Abandon an Addict?

Dr. Sack Talks to Huffington Post Live

How should families deal with a loved one who has an addiction and help get that person into treatment? Madonna's 56-year-old brother, who is homeless and an alcoholic, made news in March when he said his famous sister hasn't tried to help him. Dr. David Sack, President and CEO at Elements Behavioral Health, addressed the issue on a recent Huffington Post Live segment that asked whether an addict's family should ever walk away and end the relationship.

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Top 10 Myths about Drug and Alcohol Treatment

Promises | April 8, 2013

For alcoholics, drug addicts, and their families, treatment and rehabilitation offer the hope of redemption and healing. But substance abusers and the people who love them are often unsure what exactly to expect from treatment, and their tentative sense of optimism is often tempered by uncertainty and trepidation. Complicating things further, misconceptions about the rehabilitation process abound. Much of what people think they know about drug and alcohol treatment bears only a slight resemblance to the truth.

Separating fact from fiction when the subject is substance abuse treatment is not always easy. But it is vitally important that people struggling with addiction or alcoholism enter rehab with realistic expectations and at least some understanding of what the process of recovery from chemical dependency will entail. Therefore, in the spirit of setting the record straight, we present the top 10 myths about drug and alcohol treatment, each of which is widely believed despite its disconnection from the truth.

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An Interview with Alyssa Stines, Primary Therapist

The Ranch | April 12, 2013

As a primary therapist and trauma specialist at The Ranch, Alyssa Stines has seen the wide gap between what trauma is and what most people think it is. So what is trauma?

"Trauma occurs when a person's sense of self is threatened," Alyssa says. "Children perceive danger in a much different way than adults as they have to rely on their caregivers to provide them with their basic biological needs as well as those of safety, belonging and self-esteem. When these needs are not met, or when there is a perception of them not being met, trauma is experienced and an unhealthy belief can be developed; for example, that they are bad, not enough or worthless. These are not beliefs we are born with. They are perceived by or taught to us and integrated into who we believe we are, creating trauma."

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Unmasking the Neurobiology of Love

Sex Addiction Expert, Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S in The Huffington Post

Romantic love has always been one of mankind's greatest mysteries - difficult to define, yet equally difficult to miss when it happens. Certainly love is within us. We feel it, we enjoy it, and we ache both for it and from it. We chase it, we crave it, and sometimes we think we can't live without it. Nevertheless, we seem to know very little about it... until very recently. Thanks to increasing insight into our own neurobiology, we now know unequivocally that love lives not in our hearts but in our brains. In fact, and somewhat amazingly, we even know where in the brain this exhilarating emotion resides.

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How Teens Use Slang to Conceal Drug Use from Adults

Right Step | April 15, 2013

Staying on top of trends and drug nicknames is extremely useful if you think your teen may be using drugs or has been using terminology you don't understand. Learning a little about teen slang can also help you to differentiate between ordinary communications and terms that could relate to drugs.

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More Basic Tools for Sexual Recovery

Sexual Recovery Institute | April 9, 2013

There are many tools that are useful to recovering sex addicts. A few weeks ago we presented information on three of these: HALT, the Three-Second Rule, and Bookending. Today we discuss three more tools that sex addicts often find useful: Boundary Plans, 12-Step Meetings, and Gratitude Lists.

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