Guides & Articles
Explore Topics
Plain-language guides on addiction, recovery, and mental health — written and reviewed by people who work in the field. Browse by theme, or jump straight to a condition.
Popular Topics
Addiction Treatment & Recovery
Understanding the Insanity of Alcoholism: How the Alcoholic Thinks
One of the finest compliments I receive from recovering alcoholics is that despite the fact that I am not an alcoholic, I understand how their minds work. I have profound respect for all the old sayings in AA. Some are open to interpretation - the "insanity of our disease" is a literal statement.
Xanax Withdrawal Symptoms & How to Quit Xanax
Learn what to expect from a Xanax detox, and how to deal with Xanax withdrawal symptoms.
70 Reasons Why Life is Better without a Heavy Marijuana Habit
Thinking about giving up marijuana but not sure you’re ready to take the plunge? Well, here are 70 benefits of quitting – all first-hand accounts from previously heavy users about how life changes for the better once you don’t need to get high all the time.
Benzodiazepine Withdrawal: What to Expect - How to Taper – How to Cope
Done wrong, a benzodiazepine detox can turn into months of agony. Done right, by slow taper, it’s very manageable. Read on to learn more about what to expect, how to taper, how to minimize your withdrawal symptoms and how to cope with those you do experience.
How to Taper off Benzodiazepines – 11 Secrets to Success
11 tips for making a tapering plan that minimizes the discomfort, puts you in control of the process and gets the results you want.
How Long to Stay on Suboxone – Advice from a Suboxone Doc
Four pieces of advice on how long you’ll need to use Suboxone from one of America’s leading experts on the use of the drug.
Zubsolv vs. Suboxone: Similarities and Differences
Zubsolv is a new drug for opiate dependence. Like Suboxone, it’s composed of a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone. Read on to learn about how it works and how it differs from Suboxone.
Addicted to Alcohol? Learn About Alcoholism & Treatment
The difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction (alcoholism), what puts you at risk of becoming an alcoholic and what to do once you’ve crossed that invisible line to addiction.
How’s Your Liver? 8 Ways To Mend Your Liver After Quitting Alcohol
How’s your liver? Find out more about alcoholic liver diseases, and most importantly, learn 8 ways to heal your liver now that you’re no longer drinking! (If you’re still drinking too much, there’s really only 1 thing you need to do - stop hurting your liver.)
Marijuana Detox: Withdrawal Symptoms and How to Cope
How to get past the first 2 weeks of marijuana withdrawal symptoms. Learn what to expect from marijuana withdrawal, with tips and suggestions for coping with individual withdrawal symptoms.
OTC and Prescription Medications Used to Alleviate Suboxone Withdrawal Symptoms
A list of SAMHSA recommended medications for managing the withdrawal symptoms that occur during Suboxone tapering.
Tips for Coping with Opiate Withdrawal Induced Restless Legs Syndrome
Those creepy-crawly-jumpy legs that make sleep impossible – there are few things worse than the restless legs of opiate withdrawal. Only time will solve the problem, but there are medications and home-remedy treatments that can minimize their severity. Read on to get the tips you need to get to sleep.
Mental Health
Why Does Drinking Release the Rage? Understand Alcohol-Related Anger and Aggression
Why does alcohol lead to aggression and rage for some, but not for others? Learn more about how alcohol facilitates aggression and learn what kinds of people are most prone to alcohol related anger.
Using Coping Cards and Coping Statements to Improve Mental Health
Coping cards filled with coping statements can help you trade negative self talk with healthier, more positive replacements. Writing coping cards is an easy, no-cost intervention that might just help you. Read on to learn how to get started.
Mindfulness and Depression: Learning to Feel Good Again
How Mindfulness can overcome depression, teach us how to ignore unwanted thoughts and help us choose what is healthy for ourselves.
Dealing with the Brain Zaps during SSRI/SNRI or Tramadol Withdrawal
Get the basic facts about this distressing symptom of SSRI/SNRI and tramadol withdrawal. What they feel like, what makes them worse and what (might) make them better.
Can You Have a Relative That Needs Treatment Committed?
When they are a danger to themselves or to others, can you have them committed? Will the state do what you cannot, and force someone in need of treatment to get help?
The 12 Steps without God or Alcohol: Key Concepts to Improve Any Life
The 12 Steps of AA provide opportunities for healing, self discovery, and spiritual growth... even for individuals who never experienced addiction.
Suicide Risk Assessment: The SBQ-R Test
Protect yourself and those you love - Take this 4 item suicide behaviors questionnaire and find out if you’re considered ‘at risk’ to commit suicide.
Adult Trauma Therapy for Complex Childhood Trauma
Could childhood trauma, abuse or neglect be the root cause of your substance abuse or unhappiness in adulthood? Learn how to recognize adult symptoms of complex childhood traumas and learn what types of treatment work best to help you move beyond a difficult past.
Gut Bacteria Protect Your Mental Health. Learn How to Protect Your Microbiome
Imbalanced gut bacteria may increase your risk of anxiety, depression, obesity and a host of other diseases. Learn how digestive bacteria can cause anxiety and find out how dietary changes can help you instill or protect an optimal balance of beneficial bacteria.
Reverse the Health Consequences of Chronic Stress with ‘The Relaxation Response’
Could 10 minutes a day save your life? You can’t avoid stress, but if you’re smart, you can use techniques like ‘the relaxation response’ to offset the chronic health consequences. Read on to learn how to get started…
Tough Love - for a Dual Diagnosis Patient - It's the Only Real Kind of Love
Treat the disease, not the symptoms. Dual diagnosis addicts use manipulation as a way to continue to drink or drug, and family can only influence change through tackling the real root of the problem, and by being tough...tough love
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) – An Effective Supplement for Trichotillomania and Other Impulse Control Disorders?
Could an inexpensive over-the-counter amino acid supplement really help you best your hair-pulling, skin picking, nail biting or other form of impulse control disorder? Initial research suggests that it just might.
Behavioral & Process Addictions
Gamblers Anonymous - 12 Steps of Recovery
Just as the 12 steps help alcoholics reclaim sobriety, they also help many to overcome an addiction to gambling.
4 Steps to an Effective Gambling Intervention
The 4 secrets to a successful gambling intervention – Convince someone you love to get some help for their problem gambling.
Recognizing Problematic Sexual Behaviors
A list of some common behaviors of sexual addicts.
Is It Problem Gambling or a Gambling Addiction?
As many as 15 million Americans have a problem with gambling, and an estimated 2 million or more are gambling addicts. Learn how to differentiate between problem and pathological gambling.
Why Video Lottery Terminals Are So Addictive
Learn why VLTs earn their reputation as the crack cocaine of gambling.
Signs of an Internet Sex Addiction
A listing of some common signs and behaviors associated with internet pornography addiction.
Your Partner Has a Gambling Problem: Here's How to Help
If your partner has a gambling problem here are 5 tips for bettering the situation.
The Three Stages of Gambling Addiction
From recreational gambler to pathological gambler, all addicts pass through three stages of behavior and irrational thinking.
The Neurological Model for Food Addiction – How the Overconsumption of Food Causes Addiction-Like Changes to the Brain
NIDA researchers explain food addiction by showing how overeating can lead to changes in the dopamine pathways of the brain, and showing how these changes alter our ability to regulate impulses to eat
Understanding Randomness – Why the Machine Is NEVER ‘Due’ to Pay Out
No matter how long a slot machine goes between payouts – when you press that button, it’s never more or less likely to pay off. Understand the true nature of randomness and understand that past events do not influence future outcomes. People who fail to understand the truth about games of chance are more likely to make poor betting decisions and are more prone to developing gambling problems – so get educated and save your money and yourself!
Treating Co-occurring Sex & Substance Addictions
Is it really sex addiction? If it is, how do you treat it and substance addiction at the same time?
Understanding Internet Addiction - Why It's So Addictive
Why is the internet addictive? Is it a real problem? How do you know if you (or somebody else) has the problem?
Family & Relationships
Guidelines for Ending an Addiction-Destroyed Relationship
What do you do when the person you love gets consumed by a disease (addiction) that's beyond your control? How do we know when it's time to leave and how do you manage to adjust to life without your actively addicted partner?
How Recovery Affects Relationships. Guidelines for Rebuilding
Recovery brings a lot of changes and upheaval. Couples can grow and thrive throughout recovery by being mindful, establishing boundaries and expressing needs.
Rebuilding a Relationship after Your Partner Gets Clean and Sober
Your partner's in recovery... now what? Tips on rebuilding a relationship while making your own needs a priority: building trust - one day at a time, setting measurable goals to work toward, taking care of yourself... rather than your partner.
Is Your Teen a Narcissist? Learn the Warning Signs and Treatment Options
If an adolescent acts entitled, grandiose and self obsessed, does that mean she's a narcissist? Maybe...but probably not. Learn the differences between normal traits of teen development and those of narcissistic personality disorder.
Loving an Addicted Partner - Enforce Boundaries but Don't Manipulate
Learn how setting personal boundaries and demanding accountability works better than trying to manipulate behavioral change.
Loving a Recovering Addict/Alcoholic. Tips for Navigating Your Newly Sober Relationship
As difficult as it is to love someone in the spiral of addiction, adjusting to life with a person in recovery is no small task either. Many of us found we lost ourselves while loving an addict/alcoholic. Now we start our own journey - one in which we focus on self.
Communicating Effectively with an Active Addict or Alcoholic
The most powerful tool is the truth. Mincing words or walking on eggshells are common mistakes 'affected others' make. Simple, direct, and clear communication gives us our best chance to be heard.
For Teens - Is Mom or Dad an Alcoholic? Take This Quiz to Find Out
Six or more yes answers in the following quiz indicates that your mom or dad is an alcoholic.
How to Support Addicted Loved-Ones without Enabling
You have to let them face their natural consequences, but does that mean there's nothing you can do to help? Fortunately, you CAN support without enabling and your assistance today can make a big difference for their tomorrow.
Best AL Anon Quotes – Find Out if Al Anon Makes Sense for You
Do you worry about a loved-one’s drinking? Are you curious about AL Anon but not sure if it’s a good fit for you? Read on to learn a bit more about the benefits of Al Anon family meetings and find a selection of quotes that really encapsulate the wisdom of this 12 step program.
Your Adult Child Has a Drug Problem - Get Past Guilt and Useless Worry
Moving past guilt and powerlessness as we wait for adult children to find recovery.
Anger Does Not Demonstrate Parenting Authority
Anger has no place in discipline. It does not assert authority nor does it ensure that you've been heard. Learn better ways to communicate with your children.
Specialized Populations
For Teens That Want to Quit Marijuana – 10 Situations That Lead to Relapse and 5 Ways to Overcome Cravings
If you prepare yourself for high-risk situations and learn strategies to prevent relapse you have a great chance of being able to quit on your own – learn how to succeed here.
How Can You Get Your Teen to Stop Smoking Marijuana
When your worst fears are confirmed, and when you do find your son or daughter experimenting with marijuana...what can you do and how can you get them to stop?
Adolescent Marijuana Addiction Self Test
Smoke marijuana? Got 2 minutes to spare for a self test? If so, answer yes or no to 12 questions to make sure you don’t have a marijuana problem.
15 Signs of Marijuana Use Parents Need to Watch For
Is your son or daughter smoking marijuana? Learn the signs of marijuana use and be ready to spot a problem before it gets out of hand.
Late-Onset Alcoholism – Alcohol Rehab for Older Adult
Late-onset drinking: The causes and consequences, the differences between late-onset and early-onset drinking and the unique treatment needs of older alcoholics.
Drug Treatment for Teens - The ASAM Adolescent Levels of Care, with Case Study Examples
So many options - outpatient, intensive outpatient, residential, high intensity residential…how are parents supposed to know what’s needed? Here’s a brief explanation of the different American Society of Addiction Medicine Adolescent Levels of Care with case study examples to illustrate.
Marijuana Risks for Teens – Help Your Kids Delay Marijuana Use to Avoid Cognitive, Academic and Mental Illness Consequences
What are the real marijuana risks for teens? Regular moderate marijuana use won’t do an adult much harm, but it will harm a teenager. Brain development continues through adolescence. If you smoke marijuana regularly during certain key periods of adolescence, you pay a lifetime price. Parents – get your son or daughter to just delay marijuana use to the age of 21 and save them from a host of permanent cognitive impairments.
16-Point Safety Checklist before Sending Your Teen to Residential Treatment
Considering residential rehab treatment for your teenager? First read this warning-sign checklist to spot and avoid dangerous or ineffective programs.
A Guide to Finding Adolescent Trauma-Sensitive Addiction Treatment
Learn more about how trauma and substance abuse co-exist, the importance of trauma-sensitive care (and where to find it) and what parents can do on their own at home to help.
Addiction in the Elderly - Is Grandma Addicted?
Why do older people become addicts? What drugs are they likely to abuse? What to do if you suspect your beloved senior citizen relative is using drugs.
5 Reasons Why Teens Abuse Drugs and Alcohol. Understand the Motivation So You Can Stop It.
The 5 most common reasons why adolescents use drugs or alcohol - Until you understand the motivation behind the drug use it’s hard to respond appropriately.
7 Characteristics of Effective Addiction Treatment for Older Adults and Seniors
It's a given that older adults and seniors do better in treatment programs with peers of a similar age, but what else do you need to look for to find a great addiction treatment program that's going to work well for an older adult or a senior?
Therapies & Approaches
L-Theanine for Anxiety – Self Medicating Anxiety with Tea?
How about a cup of tea? L-theanine may not replace your need for therapy or medication, but if you struggle with stress or anxiety, or even if you don’t, the soothing and cognition enhancing effects of this tea amino acid may be just what you need.
Discovering Your Spiritual Side - A How-to Guide
Believing in something greater than yourself can bring meaning to your life and help you feel connected to the world around you. Learn how to open yourself up to your spiritual side and find what you believe in.
How to Interview a Potential Therapist. Twenty Three Questions to Ask
Find the right therapist! Here are 23 interview questions to ask to get to know a potential therapist.
Nigella Sativa (Black Seed) a Natural Opiate Withdrawal Cure?
Used for thousands of years as a traditional medicine, nigella sativa is a safe and effective complementary medicine that treats everything from cancer, to arthritis - and possibly opiate withdrawal. Learn more about the benefits (and risks) of this affordable and natural home-remedy for opiate withdrawal.
Creating Balance and Life Satisfaction: A 23 Question Diagnostic Tool to Identify What’s Missing from Your Life
You don’t get addiction treatment to create a life without drugs or alcohol - you get it to create a BETTER life without drugs or alcohol. Finding moderation and balance in life helps to protect you from relapse and ultimately, to be happier and more fulfilled. Take this quick self test to find out what areas you need to work on.
Passionflower to Treat Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms
Learn more about this herbal medicine that’s research-proven to reduce the agitation, irritability, insomnia and anxiety of an opiate withdrawal.
Ayahuasca as an Addiction Treatment: Shamanic Visions to Cure Your Addiction?
Can an intense Amazonian hallucinogen help you to overcome drug or alcohol addiction? Read on to learn more about how Ayahuasca works and to find out where you can get treatment with this traditional shamanic medicine if you so desire.
The Difference between Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
A brief explanation of the differences between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
Do You Have an Addictive Personality? How to Tame Your Drives
While "addictive personality" is not an actual diagnosis it does seem that many people who do not abuse substances still show aspects of addictive behavior.
Addiction Recovery & Meditation: 8 Ways Meditation Keeps You Sober
If you aren’t meditating already, here are 8 very good reasons for you to consider taking it up. Whether you’re still drinking or using and trying to control yourself, just starting off with treatment or long down that winding and difficult recovery journey, stopping yourself from taking that next drink or line or hit is always going to be a challenge. Fortunately, while you may never be able to erase temptation from your life, you can take some steps to build up your resilience against cravings as you also build up your overall levels of health and happiness.
Considering Milk Thistle for Alcoholic Liver Disease – an Overview and Review of the Evidence
If you have alcoholic liver disease should you be taking milk thistle? The research evidence is inconclusive, but a number of studies show real benefits and no studies show significant harms. Read on to learn more about this potentially life-saving herbal medicine.
The Different Types of Counselors – Which Kind of Counselor Do You Need?
An overview of the different types of professionals that commonly offer therapy and counseling services.
More Topics
Adult Children of Alcoholics and Addicts: Haven’s Story
As we focus on adults in recovery from addiction, we often overlook the needs of their children. In many cases they have to find their own way.
Children Living with Addicted Parents – Spotting Neglect and Knowing When to Intervene
Children living with drug or alcohol addicted parents may experience neglect and endangerment. Here are 13 situations that warrant outside intervention.
The Importance of Harm Reduction Programs: Why Abstinence-Only Programs Aren’t Enough
Some drug users are willing to get help but aren't ready to quit at this moment. Recognizing this, harm reduction programs exist to minimize the health, economic and social costs of drug use at the personal and community levels.
When Addiction Counselors Relapse: Overcoming Professional Obstacles to Recovery
Substance abuse counselors are supposed to take a whole year off after relapse. Don't these people also need to eat and pay bills? Here's a different approach to getting treatment and getting better - without losing everything.
Medical Marijuana; the Facts
Is marijuana good or bad, and if it offers so much to people with cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis...why does it remain illegal? Learn the facts, the benefits and the risks, and learn why medical marijuana faces some significant challenges to acceptance and legality.
Drugs and Prisons
The number of Americans imprisoned on drug offenses, the cost of keeping them within the corrections system and the racial disparity of this offender population.
Marijuana Amotivational Syndrome?
Does it exist? Learn about marijuana amotivational syndrome; the truth, the facts and the hearsay.
Marijuana Caused Infertility
Marijuana, smoked by either a man or a woman, reduces the chances of a successful conception.
Addiction – A Brain Disease, Not a Moral Failing
As much as some would like to call those with addiction weak willed or immoral, the truth of it is that addiction is simply a treatable brain disease.
Binge Drinking: Health and Societal Costs
Binge drinking is bad for you and bad us. When you binge drink you put yourself at an increased risk of accidents, trauma and assault, and when you binge drink regularly your risks for a host of chronic disease go up substantially; but binge drinking affects more than the individual alone, at the societal level, binge drinking costs Americans well over $100 billion dollars per year.
Infectious Disease Risks Associated with Drug Use and Abuse
Unfortunately, the damage done through drug abuse far exceeds the sometimes substantial destruction of the drug alone, and can also include infectious diseases and other health risks. Don't risk your health and happiness for a few hours of dwindling pleasure; get help and get better today.
Alcohol Policies and Laws to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harms – Which Programs Work and Which Programs Don’t
Although a legal substance, a lot of legislation regulates how we can buy, sell and consume alcohol – and this is understandable, since alcohol misuse costs Americans an estimated $223.5 billion per year. Find out what types of alcohol polices actually work well to reduce the harms of excessive alcohol use and which ones – though they may sound good – do not work very well at all.