#relapse-prevention

#relapse-prevention

Faith is a significant part of treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as humility. Just continuing to live is a struggle for many diagnosed with OCD.

Being methodical usually involves creating a process that you trust will eventually lead to an acceptable result, and then committing to executing it over and over. This reduces a lot of mental load, and helps when you don't know exactly how long something will take or how many attempts you'll need to make.

Giving up alcohol feels like progress. But if you're reaching for cannabis instead, you haven't changed the pattern-just the packaging.

The Burlingame property, which previously housed a treatment facility, is already configured for services, allowing for a quicker opening compared to the El Camino Real site.

Many situations contain irreducible uncertainty. No matter how many variables we try to control, we can't reduce uncertainty to zero. It's inherent in the messiness of life.

The Alaska Department of Corrections does not provide comprehensive access to this life saving medication. "I'm gonna give you a little pinch," Spencer said, sliding the needle into a fold of skin on the patient's belly for the subcutaneous injection. Alaska's not an outlier. Despite the fact that those recently released from incarceration are some of the most vulnerable to dying from drug overdose, addiction experts say that many jails and prisons around the country don't provide medication treatment.

Some experts have mischaracterized smoking fentanyl as "safer" than injecting, seeking to reduce risks among users. Narrowly considered, the statement is accurate, as inhalation avoids needle-sharing, reducing risks for HIV, hepatitis C, bacteremia, abscess formation, and infective endocarditis among users. However, there's no clinical-trial-level evidence (randomized trials with real patients) showing smoking illicit fentanyl is safer than injecting it. It isn't, and that conclusion is unsupported by toxicology, environmental exposure science, or emerging data.

Many mess-ups relate to loss: the bowl we drop and break, the airline miles we accidentally let expire, the job interview we worked hard to get, then blunder. We know from research on loss aversion that losing something we had already acquired stings intensely, even though these losses pale in comparison to opportunities we never pursue. This insight can help you see that there are many ways to counter a loss.

For decades, addiction treatment in the United States has relied on a familiar explanation when people relapse: recovery is hard, addiction is chronic and setbacks are part of the process. That narrative is often delivered with compassion, but it can obscure a more troubling reality. Many treatment failures are not personal shortcomings. They are predictable outcomes of how recovery is currently designed.