Texas Addiction Recovery Blog
May is Mental Health Awareness Month – How Does Substance Use Disorder Relate?
In any one year, 54 million Americans are dealing with the symptoms of a mental disorder. While some seem to believe that mental illness isn't common and more of a hidden ailment, it's far more widespread than you'd imagine. At some point or another, we might choose...
Is Portugal a Destination for Drug Tourism?
Portugal decriminalized drugs in 2001. Since that time, more Portuguese adults have used drugs and sought rehab, but fewer drug users have contracted HIV and fewer teenagers have tried drugs in that country. One of the concerns about decriminalization was that reduced...
Drug Decriminalization in Portugal
Thousands of miles away, a new approach to drugs might be what’s needed to fight drug addiction in the United States. Portugal decriminalized many drugs in 2001. If Portuguese police find small, specific amounts of drugs on people, such as marijuana, cocaine, or...
Abusing Concerta, Adderall, Ritalin, and Other Drugs Isn’t a Good Focus
Do Study Drugs Work? The True Cost Of Taking Study Drugs The abuse of study drugs is common, unfortunately. Even though you may read articles and see news reports about such drugs and think to yourself, “I don’t know anyone who uses those drugs,” there’s a good chance...
May Day and the Promise of Hope after Alcohol or Drug Abuse
Have you ever celebrated May Day? I haven’t. When I hear about May Day, I always think of people dancing around a Maypole, but maybe I’m confusing that with the Festivus tetherball pole featured in the television program Seinfeld. Of course, there’s also the May Day...
How Do You Socialize When Recovering from Substance Use Disorder?
In the early days of sobriety, some recovering addicts choose to avoid situations or events that may include alcohol. It can be easier to resist temptation when you aren't tempted in the first place. But after a while, it can be a bit isolating to feel left out. You...
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Substance Use Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and substance use disorder bear very similar symptoms—repetitive actions and unwanted thoughts. While an addict might compulsively use drugs or alcohol regardless of the consequences, someone with OCD might engage in repetitive...
Process Addiction vs. Substance Use Disorder – How Are They Different?
We're familiar with substance use disorder—using means that you're fixated upon a specific substance, like alcohol, cocaine, heroin, painkillers, and so on. A substance addiction means that you can't stop using your specific drug of choice. But a process addiction is...
Talking about Substance Use Disorder to Remove the Stigma
We’ve been talking a lot lately about hiding addiction and uncovering it, of acknowledging people and things as well as the unsung heroes of life. In just my lifetime, I’ve seen things change for the better when it comes to drug treatment and mental health. A lot of...
Women, Discrimination, and Admitting Alcohol and Drug Abuse
We recently discussed how the late Henrietta Lacks may be one of the most important figures in medical research, yet not many people had heard of her before the publication of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and the subsequent television movie based on...
