While neurobiological accounts of addiction suggest the main cause of relapse is due to responding to alcohol or drug cues, an effect heightened in the presence of stress, it often does not allow for the main arena in which this stress/distress occurs i.e. with loved ones or people […]
In the early weeks and months (years) of recovery I often had “drinking” dreams in which I would dreaming about drinking alcohol. In early recovery these used to scare the life out of me and confuse me greatly. Did I still want to drink? The study (1) we […]
I have just purchased a copy of this book which recently has received much publicity with The Huffington Post heralding this work and purporting it reveals the likely cause of addiction. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html I will be reviewing it in the next few weeks. In the mean time the author […]
New Guest Post From The Alcoholics Guide to Alcoholism Do we have to Hit Rock Bottom to Recover? by alcoholicsguide There has been much recent debate about whether a person has to hit rock bottom in under to surrender and start recovering, whether one has to go to the […]
Guest Blog Filling the Empty Self by alcoholicsguide In the first part of this two part blog – we looked at how addicts in recovery move from a more negative (perhaps chronically negative) self schema to a more positive recovering self schema and how this now sense of self […]
In the next few weeks we will be looking at Shame and Addiction – shame leads to the self pity and depression that can drive drinking and relapse – nicely summed up here in this quote from The Little Prince. “- Why are you drinking? – the little […]
In this two part blog I will look at how positive (as opposed to negative) views of self (self schema) lie at the heart of successful recovery and how negative self schema keep addicts in active addiction. I cite this study for much of these blogs (1)… “Psycho-social […]
It is often said that alcoholics and addict fear nothing more than rejection. Little did I know this is based on a maladaptive self schema many addicts carry, even in recovery. So why such a heightened sensitivity to perceived feeling of rejection from others.? I came across this […]
Addiction seen as a moral failing!? I came across this article from a few months ago which shows we as a collective have not come very far in understanding addiction and that society continues to stigmatize those suffering from addiction. It makes depressing reading considering the advances in […]
I have blogged recently about how insecure attachment is linked to various addictive behaviours. What is important is to establish a mechanism by which insecure attachment contributes to later addictive disorders. It may not be enough to say attachment and addiction are linked but that they are linked via a […]
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