by Devon Berkheiser, Psy.D. While addictive substances and behaviors can be satisfying in the short term, they typically prevent us from engaging in activities that provide a deeper sense of meaning and fulfillment. When you overcome an addiction, you will notice an increased enjoyment in daily activities and a greater overall sense of satisfaction with life (although it may take longer than you had hoped). Higher satisfactions come not from a quick fix, but from enduring relationships with others as well as productive activity. Relationships with other people are a crucial component of a happy, meaningful life. Take time to engage with family members and friends. Be open with your thoughts and feelings so that you can connect with others on a deep and intimate level. Reciprocate ...

by Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP Maybe. Unless the situation is desperate, there are several actions to take first. Have you been paying enough attention to your teen? Do you have regular and meaningful family time? Are you actively supporting your teen in activities that tend to prevent substance problems (such as sports, hobbies, lessons, etc.)? Have you been moderating your own use of substances? Are you living up to the same behavioral standards you expect of your teen? Have you talked with your teen about the concerns you have? Have you spoken with the school? In order to influence someone's behavior, we generally need to change our own. You may already have ideas about what you need to do. Are you prepared to make these changes? If you get a positive test, what are you going to ...

Originally posted on the Reunion San Diego blog on June 2, 2013 For a long time, addiction treatment programs have used the word “relapse” to describe a return to drinking or drug use following a period of voluntary abstinence by people with drug and alcohol problems. Often the words “lapse” or “slip” are used to distinguish a brief period of “using again” from a return to more extended and long-term use. At Practical Recovery, we’re joining hands with a number of experts in the field who want to do away with the use of the word “relapse” because we think it has negative connotations. As addiction scholar William White, M.A., author of Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America, points out, the terms lapse and relapse actually have their ...

Barry Hazle recently received media attention, and a nearly $2 million dollar settlement, after he challenged the legality of a mandate to a 12-step substance abuse treatment program. Hazle was convicted of possession of methamphetamine in California and sentenced to a 90-day treatment program. Because he was an atheist, Hazle had difficulty engaging in the treatment, which was 12-step in its approach and required a belief in God. When he was sent to prison for failure to participate, Hazle fought back, alleging that his First Amendment rights were being violated. He sued the parole officer that sent him to prison, California corrections officials, and Westcare Corporation (a company which contracts with the state to provide treatment facilities for parolees). The U.S. district court ag...

by Tom Horvath, Ph.D., ABPP There are multiple ways to experience any well-developed approach to addiction recovery, whether that approach is, for instance, SMART Recovery, a 12-step group or Stanton Peele’s PERFECT Program. In this article I present my observations about experiences in SMART Recovery. I acknowledge the foundation established for this article by The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James, and The Varieties of Recovery Experience: A Primer for Addiction Treatment Professionals and Recovery Advocates, by William White and Ernest Kurtz. This article is written to help celebrate SMART Recovery’s 20th anniversary, and the annual conference last month in Washington, DC, celebrating that anniversary. The highlights of that conference,...

Our very own Dr. Horvath questions Dr. Peele about defining addiction, recovery and many other important issues on this SMART Recovery podcast. Click here to listen to the entire audio clip.

Problems are an inevitable part of life, but we have choices about how to handle them. We can avoid or deny problems, which often makes them bigger, or we can be proactive and resolve them. Some problems cannot be "solved," only resolved. We often need to practice acceptance. For instance, if I consider dying a problem, then accepting that ultimate reality is the only resolution. However, even problems that may require a large amount of acceptance can also benefit from problem-solving some of their components. For instance, I am not able to avoid death, but I can have influence over many aspects of it. From a self-empowering perspective, acceptance is often Plan B, with active problem solving being Plan A. Here are five basic steps for effective problem solving: Define the pro...

Tom Horvath, Ph.D. talks to San Diego's Fox5 and responds to children's concerns regarding their parents' addiction to technology. As Dr. Horvath points out, there is an upside to this, and some surprising truths. Be sure to click for full screen view.

Sometimes we know what we should do, but we struggle with motivating ourselves to actually get it done. Going to the gym, finishing a project, cleaning the house … these tasks can be difficult when motivation is lacking. However, a lack of motivation does not have to derail you from meeting your goals. Here are some tips to try when you are struggling with low motivation: 1. Remember why the activity is of value to you-- Most people don’t exercise just to exercise…. They do it because they want to be healthy and fit. Remembering why you want to do something can make doing it more desirable. 2. Start small-- If a task feels overwhelming, it can be hard to get started. Tell yourself that you will just do a small part of the task rather than committing to the whole thing. Often, you ...

If you were a woman with breast cancer, you’d probably want to know that there were several treatment options you had: radical mastectomy, lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, holistic services, nutritional approaches, some combination of these options, do nothing, or wait until the next new treatment emerges.  You might be inclined to let your physician decide what to do.  However, most individuals would want to make a decision of this magnitude for themselves.  So, you would want to know how successful each approach is, what it costs, the recovery period involved, the side effects, and the likely complications.  You would want to talk to individuals who had used each approach.  You would search the internet.  You would get input from multiple sources.  Your final decision would probab...