Blog | Luxury Drug and Alcohol Addiction Rehab

What is Trauma Informed Treatment?

March 14, 2016 April 7, 2020 / Holistic Care and Treatment, Mental Health

Trauma: a very difficult or unpleasant experience that causes someone to have mental or emotional problems, usually for a long time; a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury; an emotional upset; an injury to living tissue caused by an extrinsic agent -Merriam Webster Dictionary Many individuals seeking mental health or addiction services have experienced some form of trauma in their lives, yet there is still a disturbing lack of education on its pervasive influence. The trauma-informed treatment model, set forth by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is …

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Special Report: Games of Addiction

March 10, 2016 April 6, 2020 / Mental Health, Research/Trends/Statistics, Young Adults/Teens/College-Aged

The DSM-5, the most current manual detailing diagnostic criteria for mental health disorders, includes a controversial section on Internet Gaming Disorder. It is described as “a condition warranting more clinical research and experience before it might be considered for inclusion in the main book as a formal disorder.” Current research indicates that, like substance use disorders, excessive gaming can lead to depression, anxiety, and other symptoms. The idea of video game addiction is still fresh and seen by the general public as a moral issue of self-control as opposed to a disease, but the tone may change as more data …

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Senate Blocks $600 Million in Additional Funding for Bill Aimed at Combating Addiction

March 8, 2016 April 6, 2020 / Public Health

The United States Senate voted against a fund-related amendment to the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The original legislature predicted spending $80 million in the fight against the opioid endemic, but the actual funds have yet to be attained through an appropriations bill. Senate Republicans justify the block by arguing that hundreds of millions of dollars are already potentially available for use as part of the omnibus-spending bill passed in 2015. Read More Here

Link Between Chronic Pain and Depression

March 3, 2016 April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Pain

If you suffer from chronic pain, you certainly know what that feels like. Whether it’s your lower back that aches, your shoulder that gives you trouble or your entire body that hurts from head to toe on a regular basis, it’s no fun being in agony. After a while, you may feel like giving up, and feel like there’s no solution to the pain that wracks your body on a day-to-day basis. And that may be when depression sets in – when you feel like there’s no end in sight to the pain you’re experiencing. Furthermore, you may be finding …

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Urine Drug Testing Facts

March 1, 2016 April 7, 2020 / Addiction Science, Drug Testing, Research/Trends/Statistics

Urine Drug Testing Around 21.5 million Americans suffer from substance use disorders, and approximately 90% of them go untreated. On average 43,982 people die every year due to drug overdoses, amounting to a shocking 120 deaths per day. Overdose deaths, especially from prescription drugs and heroin, have reached alarming levels and addiction professionals are concerned to say the least. Clinical recommendations are quickly emerging in an attempt to alter these disturbing statistics. For example, urine drug testing has long been used as a therapeutic device in addiction medicine, but use has been largely unstandardized. There is a significant lack of …

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Why go to Rehab?

February 29, 2016 April 7, 2020 / Inpatient, Outer Banks

If you’ve found yourself struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, you may have considered entering an inpatient rehab program. But you have your doubts about the effectiveness of various programs. Perhaps you have had an addiction problem in the past, entered a residential alcohol or drug rehab program, and now find yourself back at square one, addicted to drugs or alcohol again and feeling like a complete failure. Or perhaps this is your first time considering a drug or alcohol rehab program and you’re saying to yourself, “Why can’t I just handle my addiction problem on my own without entering …

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Six Weeks Until Christmas – Chapter 2

February 29, 2016 April 6, 2020 / Alcohol, Sober Living

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 2: Alcohol Test It had all the hallmarks of a typical Monday morning. Feeling lethargic from a weekend dominated by alcohol consumption—sweats, shakes, sickness and paranoia of how I looked and felt. Nothing new there. In fact, I felt okay because I stopped my binge at 8:00pm the night before to sleep off the day-long session at the soccer game. My neatly pressed pale blue shirt was complemented by camel trousers. My hair was neatly styled and although my eyes were bloodshot, that could be attributed to tiredness. But deep down I …

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Care Plans for Chronic Pain

February 25, 2016 April 6, 2020 / Holistic Care and Treatment, Pain

The ongoing opioid overdose crisis has prompted the CDC to take action in the form of developing new guidelines for qualified prescribers. First and foremost, the CDC stresses that opioid therapy should be utilized only if all other treatment options have been exhausted. Opioids can vastly improve functionality and quality of life, but the benefits must be weighed against the risks of tolerance, addiction, overdose, etc. If opioids are absolutely necessary, the prescribing physician and patient should work together to formulate a safe plan of approach and establish realistic treatment goals before starting therapy. These goals should be re-assessed throughout …

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Hope – February 2016

February 24, 2016 April 6, 2020 / 12 Steps, Addiction Science, Art Therapy, Chicago, Dream Journal, Holistic Care and Treatment, Inpatient, Intensive Outpatient, Mindfulness, New Orleans, Outer Banks, Outpatient, Recreation, Research/Trends/Statistics

Dream Journal Volume XXXVI / February 2016 Note From Dr B. Hope is the driving force behind recovery. You can see it in the glowing smile of the elderly man who finally made it through a full year without a drink. You can feel it in the bouncing step of the middle-aged woman whose regular physical therapy sessions have caused her pain levels to decrease. You can hear it in the proud applause of parents watching their now drug-free son walk across the stage to receive his college diploma. You can taste it in the glass of water that the teenage …

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Outpatient Suboxone Treatment vs. Methadone Treatment

February 23, 2016 April 6, 2020 / Addiction Science, Heroin and Opioids, Outpatient, Suboxone Treatment

Addictive drugs directly activate the brain’s reward pathway, a system involved in behavior reinforcement and memory production. Activation of the reward system can be so intense that normal activities, like eating and sleeping, may be forgotten and/or neglected. Drugs of abuse characteristically enhance dopamine signaling in an area of the reward pathway called the nucleus accumbens (NA.) The NA is sometimes called the “pleasure center” of the brain. It releases dopamine when the brain senses a rewarding stimulus, such as a narcotic, and this rush of chemicals reinforces the behavior that caused the sensation, for example ingesting a pill. Thus, …

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Two Dreams