January 1st, 2019
At their center, addictions are an attempt to regulate and control our emotional experience. They are always a misguided attempt to ensure that life unfolds in an emotionally comfortable and predictable way. . .
December 23rd, 2018
Addiction can be viewed as a great opportunity. Addictions develop as a misguided attempt at emotional protection. Though it may seem as if the focal point of addiction is that to which we are addicted, and while separating ourselves. . .
December 16th, 2018
On the continuum of mental health that runs from emotional and mental chaos on one end to rigidity on the other, addiction lies painfully on the rigid end. Addictions are created both to numb painful emotions as well as to endeavor. . .
December 9th, 2018
Never are we the same person that we were yesterday; at least incrementally we are always changing—emotionally and physically. Physically, most of the cells in our body imperceptibly die and replace themselves continuously. . .
December 2nd, 2018
At their most basic level, addictions are based on dependence upon external sources to relieve internal emotional discomfort. Over time, these dependencies often become obsessions with particular substances or behaviors, sometimes complicated by physiological dependence, but they remain, at their core, an attempt at internal regulation. . .
November 25th, 2018
In many ways, today’s quotation could be read by replacing “self-discipline” with “addiction recovery” and it would become a very apt description of healthy recovery. Recovery is so much more than keeping ourselves away from that to which we are addicted. . .