The Journal

You may feel as though you’re traveling the recovery path alone, but nothing could be further from the truth. There are millions of people, right now, hoping to move their lives toward a healthier future. The first steps are the hardest, but they open the door for many more options to better your life. We are here to lend a hand as you find your way.

Here you’ll find inspirational and informative articles from people on the path with you.

 
Featured
The Ambulance at the Bottom of the Hill
The Ambulance at the Bottom of the Hill

The residents of Great Town would live nowhere else. Its’ qualities were innumerable. As this reputation spread the town grew with permanent residents and visitors.

One problem was that the town was accessible only by car, down a steep mountain face, and a very winding road. Naturally, cars would often go over the bank and tumble to the bottom. It happened more frequently in inclement weather. Great Town maintained an ambulance service at the bottom of the hill to transport the injured to the local hospital. As the resident population and visitors grew there were more accidents, and the ambulance service was overrun.

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Why I Will Maintain Anonymity At The Level of Press, Radio and Film
Why I Will Maintain Anonymity At The Level of Press, Radio and Film

Why I Will Maintain Anonymity At The Level of Press, Radio and Film

It is increasingly common to hear from individuals, both the highly recognizable and everyday people, discussing their treatment and recovery from alcohol and drugs. They do so in public forums including newspapers, television and radio. LinkedIn, purportedly a platform for professional connectivity, and Instagram are regular platforms for individuals to declare their anniversaries of recovered time.

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Substance Use Disorders in Older Adults: A Growing Threat
Substance Use Disorders in Older Adults: A Growing Threat

Those of us born between 1946 and 1964 have been blessed by advance in public health and medicine. Not only is our life expectancy well beyond that of our parents, but we can also expect to live healthier lives with a bit of attention to our health.

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Nor Is It A Bright Line

Recently we wrote that the popular view of addiction in America is misinformed. A well-intentioned media creates the false impression that addiction to alcohol and drugs is a problem for the young, often minority individual living in poverty or, perhaps, living in homeless encampments. Our discussion showed that while this image is often the “bottom” of the addiction curve, it portrays only a fraction of alcohol and drug use, abuse and addiction in America. So what does substance use, abuse and addiction look like? We suggest that rather than a bright line between “normal” drinking and drug use on the one hand, and the individuals who have “hit bottom” on the other, drug use, abuse and addiction in America occurs over a continuum. There isn’t a bright line; it isn’t that simple.

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Old Timers For Change
Old Timers For Change

A recent exchange in “Dear Annie” with “Follow the Data” revisits an important, current discussion in addiction treatment. That this discussion is occurring in more popular sites rather than technical journals is a positive sign. The contention surrounding the discussion seems unnecessary and unhelpful.

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You might be codependent if…
You might be codependent if…

Codependency can be challenging to define, and sometimes even harder to recognize in yourself. Still, there are some common characteristics and behaviors that can tell you if you may be codependent. Some of the signs of codependency include:

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How to know if you or a loved one has Substance Use Disorder.
How to know if you or a loved one has Substance Use Disorder.

Substance Use Disorder, Dependency, and Addiction can be frightening to think about. We are told from a very young age how harmful certain substances like drugs and alcohol can be, but people continue to use them. In the United States, you can go to almost any sized town and be sure to find two things, a post office and a bar.

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The Age Old Plague Continues
The Age Old Plague Continues

In The Plague Albert Camus was less prescient about plagues to come, or even descriptive of a certain plague among the many that had visited Oran over the centuries, than using that metaphor to describe “plague” inherent in the human reality. Today our reference defines plague as a highly contagious bacterial disease that comes in many forms and spreads globally as our world is interconnected. We want to highlight a plague that kills over 600,000 Americans every year, year in and year out.

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Shame

I'm not sure when I first learned what shame was, but I remember a time when I didn't feel it. As a child, I would climb trees, sing, and ride my bike around town. I wasn't worried about what I was wearing, and I wasn't thinking about what others might say about me, I was just being my authentic self. At some point, though, I realized that people were judging

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Who are Addicts?

We’ve all heard stereotypes about what an “addict” is, and they are often hard to avoid. We are taught in school, and shown in movies, television shows, art, magazines, and the news, what happens when you use drugs or alcohol in excess. Many are left with stereotypes about addicts; they are usually in bad living situations or homeless, or that they can’t manage their money, or are “strung out.” (you could still get even less polite here if you wanted for effect)

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