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Being addicted can feel like a full-time job since it occupies so much of your thoughts, time, and energy. Keeping up with this lifestyle is not easy and because of the shame often felt surrounding your actions, hiding your addiction becomes a huge part of your life. Lying and hiding your addiction contributes more to the shame and creates a vicious shame cycle.

Terminology in the addiction community may sound like a new language to someone first introduced to the vocabulary unique to recovery. Two words often confused and misused are dependence and addiction. These are two fundamental terms in the addiction world, as they differentiate between someone having a physical dependence on a substance or a full-blown, life-impinging addiction.

Cravings are an unfortunate inevitability throughout the recovery process. They can be extremely intense in the early phases of recovery, such as during detox and residential care, but can persist throughout any stage of recovery. Those who have worked hard to maintain their sobriety for years can still experience cravings from time to time. Each individual needs to remain prepared to combat these intense feelings to avoid regressing to more destructive practices regardless of the length of their sobriety. Cravings can manifest in many ways. While some may stem from identifiable sources or stressors, others may be unclear in their roots and need more focus and dedication to uncover their origins.

For many, addiction is a selfish disease, and when stuck in the depths of the disease, they put their addiction above everything and everyone in their life. Selfishness is taking care of your wants and needs first, and in addiction, your wants and needs are monopolized by using your drug of choice. The selfishness seen in addiction is not to be confused with taking good care of yourself, but rather taking care to feed your addiction.

The first step to getting sober is the physical aspect of not using anymore. Taking each day at a time is a key pillar to success in the early days of recovery, but just avoiding the use of drugs or alcohol isn’t a sustainable solution to long-term sobriety. This is where what’s known as emotional sobriety comes into play, requiring a mindset and lifestyle shift to learn to regulate your emotions.

The term “depression” is often used to encompass many different conditions or behaviors. However, depression is more than just one thing and can present itself in unique ways.  Different forms of depression can have episodes that last varying lengths of time and unique symptoms. Moving past the idea of “depression” as a “one-term-fits-all” idea and understanding the nuances that characterize different types of depression can help each individual create an effective recovery plan for their unique needs. Major depression, persistent depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, atypical depression, and postpartum depression are all common and are just a few ways in which depression can manifest and affect a person’s life.

Adolescents today face a world with different challenges than what adults grew up experiencing. To parents of adolescents, understanding your children’s internet habits and determining how much time spent online is too much is difficult to discern when your child’s daily lives are so deeply interwoven with it. If you are concerned about your teenager’s internet habits, understanding the warning signs of internet addiction and how your child may be affected can help you encourage a more positive relationship between your adolescent and their time online and find help if necessary. What is Internet Addiction? Just because your teenager doesn’t want to put their phone down doesn’t mean they have a full-blown internet addiction. Internet use disorder, or internet addiction, doesn’t happen unless the uncontrolled use of the internet interferes with your teen’s daily life out in the real world. The use of the internet in this disorder is not limited to just one activity but covers several different activities, including excessively using social media, blogging, gaming, gambling, or pornography. When constantly going online for one or several of these activities affects a teen’s physical health or social skills, this becomes a reason for concern of addiction. Underlying Causes Discussing internet addiction in teens can not be complete without discussing one of the major underlying causes of developing this type of addiction. Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety are an underlying thread that makes teens more susceptible to developing an internet addiction. Other co-occurring disorders may be influencing factors developing this addiction, like obsessive-compulsive disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Warning Signs in Your Teen of Internet Use Disorder

When you are battling addiction, your brain will work at any angle to keep you in the cycle of using. Even if you feel shame every time you drink or use drugs and don’t feel the same high like you used to, you still feel stuck in your need to continually use. Part of what may not be allowing you to stop using can be attributed to the different types of cognitive biases happening in your brain. If you aren’t versed in what a cognitive bias is, it is our way of distorting our intake of information to match what we already believe. There are three main types of cognitive biases in play with addiction that we will explore below to understand why you think the way you do in addiction. #1: Attentional Bias to Support Behaviors Attentional bias affects your mind by clinging onto anything that supports the desired behavior, even if it’s harmful or dysfunctional. In attentional bias related to addiction, your brain directs your attention to your drug use, and you focus more on your triggers and what makes you want to use. By diverting your focus to anything encouraging you to use, you simultaneously ignore what is in front of you telling you to stop using, like concerned loved ones. #2: Optimism Bias Meets Reality In optimism bias, you grasp on to the unrealistic belief that everything will be okay in the future, and you’ll be able to get your drinking or using under control without it becoming a problem. Thinking that this time quitting will be different, even though you’ve failed to quit every time so far, is a common belief to prolong addiction. With the optimism bias, you find yourself always pushing the responsibility of quitting into the future and believing that you will recover all on your own when you decide to stop your drug use in the future. #3: Coloring Your Memories with Recall Bias With the recall bias, you recall the feelings or events as you want to believe them. In recovery, you selectively remember your times using or drinking as fun or liberating and choose not to remember all the bad times, too. When you experience the recall bias, you associate your substance use days as the good times and leave out the details of hurting others or the ugly sides of yourself that would come out when you used. Cognitive biases like attentional bias, optimism bias, and recall bias hold you back from thinking realistically about your addiction. Growing your awareness of the cognitive biases that perpetuate your addiction can help you correct your thinking and get you one step closer to sobriety. At Avalon Malibu, we specialize in tailoring individual treatment programs to give our clients safe, supported recovery treatment. With our team of professionals, we will find the right blend of holistic and clinical treatment to help you overcome your addiction obstacles and restore your mind, body, and spirit. Call us at (844) 857-5992 if you are finally ready to say “Yes!” to recovery.

Living with social anxiety causes someone to experience a great deal of discomfort in many different social settings due to feeling extremely uncomfortable in the presence of other people. For those suffering from social anxiety, the intrusive worry of being perceived negatively by others creates extreme distress while in their company. Talk therapy, mindfulness practices, or certain prescription medications are all excellent options for overcoming your social anxiety, but unfortunately, all too often, people turn to substance use or avoidance to treat the symptoms of their social anxiety. The Problem With Substance Abuse and Social Anxiety Comorbidity Using substances to dial down or mute the uncomfortable feelings caused by social situations is not a sustainable approach to treating social anxiety. One of the biggest problems posed by using substances to treat social anxiety is that continual substance use builds tolerance and requires an ever-increasing dose to achieve the same effects. Using substances to cope with social anxiety might build dependence and a cycle for substance abuse, only compounding the original problem for a person and distancing them further from any social circle. As is often the case of substance abuse, many people turn to avoidance behaviors to escape feelings of nervousness, anxiety, and fear in the presence of others. Choosing to avoid social situations that promote anxiousness only perpetuates your anxiety, gives power to irrational fears, and prevents you from ever learning that your negative beliefs are not true. Only by dealing with your fears head-on can you truly overcome social anxiety. Finding the Proper Treatment Just because you regularly experience severe social anxiety doesn’t mean that has to be the case forever. Given the correctly tailored treatment approach, you can treat your social anxiety and finally live your life free from worry, fear, and anxiety. Treatment options available include talking therapy, like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to identify irrational thought patterns and correct them by replacing them with realistic thinking. Part of CBT treatment for social anxiety may include exposure therapy, where a person gradually increases their exposure to a situation to desensitize themselves. Certain medications like antidepressants can be used in whole or in part for the treatment of social anxiety. Drugs like benzodiazepines should not be used by people with a history of substance abuse. Trying to escape your social anxiety doesn’t work and will only cause you further problems. By directly addressing your social anxiety through proven treatments like therapy or medication, plus treating any co-occurring substance abuse, you can finally experience lasting relief from nervousness, worry, and anxiety. It’s time to take the first step and end your struggle with mental health difficulties or addiction. At Avalon Malibu, our caring team of professionals will provide you with support and the right tools you need to overcome your mental health concerns or addiction. Allow us to heal your mind, body, and spirit with our unparalleled offerings of holistic and clinical treatment options. Call us today at (844) 857-5992.

Learning to cope with stressors, triggers, and urges is a part of each step of the recovery process. Whether an individual is just beginning their detox program or is preparing to celebrate their first year sober, managing triggers is essential for maintaining sobriety. However, that doesn’t mean that triggers can’t also be a guiding force. After addressing a trigger or particularly stressful event, the scenario can be a great source of information on how an individual can further fine-tune their recovery strategies or better understand the kinds of triggers that are more difficult than others. This approach can empower each individual to overcome stressors or triggers in the moment and further understand their relationship with recovery and how they can mold their environment and lifestyle to avoid such triggers in the future. What Are Triggers in Recovery? Triggers are commonplace throughout recovery and can take any number of forms. Objects, topics of discussion, commercials, specific environments, or anything else that reminds a person of their previous engagements with an addictive substance and tempts them to use substances again are classified as triggers. Reminders of past guilt, anniversaries of traumatic experiences, and stressful experiences can all influence one’s recovery. The brain might be programmed to react to this extreme stress by demanding an addictive substance if it is how an individual used to cope with stress in the past. These are intense experiences where an individual comes into contact with a thing or situation that causes an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness, guilt, and desire to reengage with addictive substances. Learning to navigate these experiences and ground oneself in their sobriety is a complicated and essential task for those in recovery. While it may be common to slip or relapse during the recovery process because of the intense nature of triggers, it is not a necessary part of the recovery process. Preparing to cope with the inevitability of these triggers is essential from the beginning of one’s recovery journey. It is never too early to begin searching for and building upon effective grounding techniques to cope with them daily. How Triggers Can Guide You Despite the potential for a destructive outcome, triggers can also help guide an individual if looked at objectively. Experiencing a trigger can indicate that certain aspects of one’s life may need more direct attention than others. For some, experiencing triggers more often while tending to errands or otherwise engaging in social events can indicate that such interpersonal skills may need to be further tuned. Those in recovery and the professionals involved can begin to explore more interpersonal strategies. This can result in a heavier focus on group therapy, team-based activities and practices, and effective communication techniques to help express themselves to supports effectively during grounding. Others may find that triggers become more prevalent when moving through certain physical spaces. This can indicate a need to look at one’s various environments and turn a heavier focus on one’s living situation and the availability of supports. It can also prompt the repurpose of certain rooms or spaces to take on new connotations. Exploring more experiential therapies, such as art, writing, or music, can help create new hobbies in an area that previously caused a trigger and helps to ascribe a new connotation to that place. Finding Ways To Objectively View Triggers Using a trigger to inform one’s recovery path is a powerful tool, but it can only be adequately utilized if an individual can objectively understand the nature of that trigger. Experiencing triggers is an incredibly intense experience, and all of one’s focus needs to be set on trying to ground oneself. However, after a trigger has passed and an individual has successfully grounded themselves, it can be essential to look back on the different factors involved. Journaling about which people were present, what was going on, and the location can provide important information, even if they seem innocuous at first. By looking back on these things, especially if an individual experiences another trigger that seems to share certain traits, they can become more empowered to understand their unique situation and hone in on unique elements, strengths, and difficulties throughout their recovery journey. Texting supports in the moment can also be another way of recording certain pertinent pieces of information and can be used to get another opinion on the intricacies of one’s unique situation. Comparing one’s notes over time and sharing these things with professionals can uncover otherwise latent areas that may need more focus. Triggers are an unfortunate inevitability throughout the recovery process. Learning how to handle their intense effects and how they can guide you through refocusing your recovery efforts can be a crucial skill. We at Avalon Malibu understand the unique and challenging role that triggers and stressors play in addiction recovery and invite you to embrace your unique recovery story. We offer an array of therapeutic approaches, including art, writing, music therapy, neurofeedback, and individual and group approaches, all designed to help you better understand your triggers, work on relapse prevention, and thrive in your newfound recovery strategies. All of these services are available on our beautiful campus, which provides an atmosphere of fresh air, support, healing, and community. For more information on how we can individualize your time with us or speak to a caring, trained staff member about your unique situation and recovery, call us today at (844) 857-5992.

Working to deconstruct the idea that addiction is some kind of moral failing is still an ongoing process. Therefore, it is important to discuss what factors do play a part in the development of addiction. Genetics can have a large role in the development of addiction. While any person can develop an addiction to drugs or alcohol, or behavioral addictions such as gambling or shopping, looking at one’s biological family can indicate one’s predisposition to developing a dangerous addiction. In fact, one’s genetics may play a much larger role in the development of addiction than one may realize. The American Psychological Association concluded that “at least half of a person’s susceptibility to drug addiction can be linked to genetic factors.” Internalizing the Genetic Component Addiction and substance use are dependent upon many factors. Two people drinking the same amount of alcohol can have wildly different reactions to its use. As a result, it is important not to gauge one’s own relationship with an addictive substance based on how others may be using it. While unfortunate, those with a parent who has suffered from addiction will be at an increased risk to develop a dependence of some kind themselves, making each use of an addictive substance much riskier. Addiction is something that is not only personally destructive but impacts entire families. This increased risk of developing an addiction can be extraordinarily dangerous to all involved. Internalizing the genetic component of addiction means understanding that an individual has an increased risk of developing an addiction and that they will have to prepare for the difficult and tense discussion about their own, or a family member’s use, with other family members and especially children. Find a Time to Talk Because of the major role that genetics play in the development of addiction, it is crucial that those who suffer from addiction are prepared to talk about their experience with family members. Not only is discussing one’s experience with addiction important to relationships, but it can also be critical information that is directly related to the safety of a family member. While this conversation may not be easy, it is necessary for the sake of the relationship and the well-being of others. Talking to a child about addiction is difficult, and it can be hard to determine exactly how much information a child may understand. However, children can be full of surprises. For parents who are struggling with an addictive substance, it is common that a child has already recognized that something is different about their living situation, even if an individual is trying to hide their use. Those who have gone through a recovery program and are successfully employing strategies to mitigate any persistent urges or guilt may also want to approach the conversation from the current standpoint, highlighting their progress before diving into the more difficult, painful memories of addiction. Regardless of how difficult some memories might be, this conversation is essential to prepare for and should be conducted with planning and allocated time for questions and discussion. Prevention by Education Anyone who has gone through the recovery process can attest to the intricate difficulties involved with navigating their transformation. However, the best way to combat addiction is to address it in a meaningful way before it develops. The genetics of addiction can make even infrequent use of a substance habit-forming. Therefore, it may be beneficial to acknowledge and address the complex difficulties and personal experiences of addiction at a younger age before a child is exposed to these substances on their own. Having a parent who has suffered from addiction may leave children at an increased risk of developing one themselves. These parents who have fought to overcome their addiction can also be a valuable resource of personal information that can be incredibly impactful. Part of the Whole Genetics play a large role in one’s susceptibility to addiction. However, it is not the only factor at play. One’s genetics, combined with their living environment, mental health concerns, social circles, relationships of any kind, all play a role in the development or prevention of addiction. Knowing one’s predisposition to addiction can be beneficial in creating a plan that consciously addresses the genetic risks while learning to identify problematic factors that may also influence one’s use of an addictive substance. Recovery is a personal journey, but it can affect the lives of entire families. Talking about the genetics of addiction is one way to open this dialogue and create an understanding of how families can not just address the topic of addiction together but move past it towards a healthy lifestyle. The genetic side of addiction is a complicated and important part of understanding the interconnected nature of addiction and addiction recovery. If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction and are ready to take the first step towards healing, Avalon Malibu can help you today. We offer various therapeutic approaches and encourage each individual to customize and personalize their experiences with us. Our trained, caring, supportive staff will help you find the therapies that are right for you and help you take healthy steps forward through recovery. Art therapy, music therapy, and many other experiential approaches are all part of our supportive atmosphere and are staffed with professionals that can help you tackle addiction and mental health issues in an effective, holistic manner. For more information on how we can help you, or to speak to a caring, trained staff member about your unique situation, call us today at (844) 857-5992.

Calling someone a narcissist sometimes gets casually thrown around, but what makes a person a true narcissist with a narcissistic personality disorder? Anyone with a personality disorder will think, feel, and behave differently from the norms of generally accepted behavior, and this behavior causes problems with normal functioning and relating to others. Narcissistic personality disorder is one of the ten types of personality disorders and is characterized by having a sense of self-importance, entitlement, and lack of empathy for others. They May Not See a Problem, But You Do Someone with narcissistic personality disorder usually doesn’t realize anything is wrong due to their self-perceived superiority. However, those in a relationship with a narcissist are likely to sense that something feels problematic about them. By identifying if you are in a relationship with someone with narcissistic personality disorder, you can decide whether you want to make it work or protect yourself from emotional exhaustion and release yourself from the relationship. 5 Signs Your Partner Has Narcissistic Personality Disorder: