Oops, I Ate the Whole Pie (and Other Tales of Holiday Addiction)

Elements' Rob Weiss in Huffington Post

It's hardly a secret that holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's, and the like cause many of us to overdo it with food, booze, spending, sex and a wide variety of other intensely pleasurable distractions. For the majority of us, those intensely pleasurable foods, substances, and behaviors are utilized not just to celebrate, but to socially lubricate, and perhaps even to escape the stress and emotional discomfort that the winter holidays inevitably bring. And for the most part there is nothing particularly wrong with any of that. Unfortunately for some people, using substances and/or behaviors as a way to "numb out" can become a habit, and those habits can escalate over time into addictions.

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When Do the Holiday Blues Become Something Major?

Elements Behavioral Health | December 9, 2013

The holidays are often escorted by the holiday blues, so do not feel alone with this winter funk. But how do you know if you're feeling a seasonal condition or a more lasting depression?

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Elements' Dr. Pamela Peeke on How to Reclaim Your Brain From Addictive Living

Elements Behavioral Health | December 4, 2013

Dr. Pamela Peeke makes confronting our unhealthy habits positively funny and inspiring, as attendees recently learned at TEDx Wall Street. We often cope with challenges propped up by "false fixes" that flicker out fast, Peeke told the audience. Binging on sugary food or TV, these are all short-term imposters to real coping, said Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, a New York Times best-selling author, and Elements Behavioral Health's senior science adviser. She has appeared on national news shows such as "Nightline" about what she terms "addictive-like" lifestyles. "Falling asleep at the meal," she dubs it.

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Lucida Addiction and Mental Health Treatment Center Opens in Florida

Elements Behavioral Health opens Lucida, a luxury substance abuse and mental health treatment center that blends evidence-based and alternative therapies, exceptional clinical and medical staff, personalized care, and resort-style amenities in a safe, private location just steps from the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida.

Learn more about Lucida...

10 Ways to Stop Being Lonely in Recovery

Elements' Dr. David Sack in PsychCentral

Given the connection between social ties and mental health, it comes as no surprise that people who feel socially isolated are more likely to struggle with substance abuse. New research shows the reverse is also true: Drug abuse may be the cause, not just an effect, of social isolation. Thus, an important part of addiction recovery is restoring close ties with other people. After bidding farewell to their drug-abusing associates as well as many of the healthy relationships they once had, most addicts in early recovery are faced with building a social network from the ground up.

Read 10 ways to break through the isolation and get connected...

The "Recovery Value" of Guilt, Shame, and Remorse

The Ranch | December 9, 2013

Many addicts feel as if they are the problem, as if they are flawed in some deeply meaningful way and therefore doomed to a life of misery, isolation, and regrettable behaviors. Oftentimes addicts in recovery need a great deal of time before they can even begin to understand that they are not inherently defective, that it was their choices and not their true selves that caused their addiction and its related negative consequences. The good news is that once recovering addicts finally begin to understand that they are good people who've behaved badly rather than bad people who are just doing what bad people do, the process of healing can begin.

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Gender-Specific Residential Addiction Treatment Program for Women Opens at Right Step Dallas-Fort Worth

Right Step | November 14, 2013

Right Step, a network of inpatient and outpatient addiction treatment programs in Texas, recently opened a 28-bed residential drug rehab for women ages 18 and over at its Dallas-Fort Worth treatment center. This program features:

• Individualized treatment delivered by an all-female staff
• Master's level therapists who specialize in women's issues
• A gender-specific environment with separate housing, staff, services, programming and activities
• Treatment that blends 12-Step recovery principles with proven, evidenced-based therapies