Gaming is one of the world’s most popular leisure activities — enjoyed responsibly by billions of people without any clinical consequence. The vast majority of even heavy gamers do not have gaming disorder and are not at meaningful clinical risk. This is an important starting point: the clinical concept of
Shopping Addiction Help IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This article is informational and not medical advice. Compulsive buying disorder requires assessment by qualified professionals. Financial consequences may require consultation with financial or legal advisors. Compulsive buying disorder — known historically as oniomania, from the Greek onios (for sale) — is a behavioral pattern
This article is informational and not medical advice. GAD and other anxiety disorders require assessment and treatment by qualified professionals. All medication decisions are made by qualified physicians. Everyone worries. But for people with generalized anxiety disorder, worry isn’t occasional or proportionate — it’s persistent, pervasive, and extremely difficult to control. The worry in GAD covers multiple life domains simultaneously, jumps from one concern to another, and doesn’t resolve when a specific problem is solved.
Addictions, whether to substances like alcohol or drugs or behaviors like gambling or compulsive shopping, profoundly affect both the individual and their family environment. Dependency and associated behaviors can cause significant disruptions in family relationships, creating an atmosphere of stress and distrust. Family therapy is a beacon of hope for families struggling with addiction. It’s a valuable resource for healing and strengthening relationships, promoting recovery and well-being for everyone involved. In this blog, we will
When a loved one returns home from residential treatment, families often feel a mixture of relief, hope, and uncertainty. The treatment period — structured, supervised, intensive — is ending, and the real test of whether the work translates into sustained recovery begins. The post-treatment period is statistically the highest-risk time for relapse, particularly the first 90 days. And families play a significant role in whether that risk is navigated successfully. But “playing a significant role”
Veterans experience substance use disorders at rates significantly higher than the civilian population — and carry specific burdens that shape both the addiction and what effective treatment requires. Combat trauma, moral injury, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, the culture of military service, and the challenges of reintegration to civilian life all intersect in ways that standard addiction treatment programs often don’t address with the depth and specificity that veteran experience requires. Effective treatment for veterans
Ketamine occupies an unusual and evolving place in medicine and culture. On one hand, it’s a long-established medical anesthetic, and in recent years ketamine and the FDA-approved derivative esketamine have emerged as legitimate, supervised treatments for certain cases of depression — genuinely helping some people. On the other hand, ketamine is also used recreationally as a dissociative drug, and recreational and unsupervised use can lead to real problems including dependence and serious physical harm. This
Completing alcohol rehab is a tremendous achievement — but it is a beginning, not an ending. The real test of recovery, and its real rewards, unfold in the months that follow. The first year of sobriety is a journey with recognizable stages, predictable challenges, and meaningful milestones. Knowing what to expect makes the path far easier to walk. This article maps the first year after alcohol rehab: the critical first 90 days, the shifting
Few topics in behavioral health generate more heated claims — and more scientific controversy — than pornography addiction. Public conversation polarizes between those who insist pornography addiction is as real and devastating as heroin addiction, and those who dismiss the concept entirely as moral panic dressed in clinical language. The scientific picture is, as it often is, more nuanced and more interesting than either extreme. This article presents what the research actually shows — not
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: This article is informational and not medical advice. CSBD/sex addiction involves sensitive personal topics; assessment by qualified mental health professionals is appropriate. All treatment decisions belong to qualified clinicians. The terminology around what is popularly called “sex addiction” has been both clinically contested and culturally loaded — which has created confusion for people seeking to understand their own experience or access appropriate care. The good news is that clinical clarity has improved: the
Acupuncture has become a common fixture in upscale rehab program marketing — often listed alongside yoga, meditation, and swimming as a feature of “holistic” care. Whether the evidence supports this prominence is a fair and important question. The answer, based on current research, is nuanced: acupuncture has a mixed and limited evidence base for addiction treatment specifically, though there is one particular application — the NADA protocol — with some support. This article presents an
