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Wildly addictive, short-lived and expensive.
Those are among the hallmarks of cocaine and on its face, it would seem like they would serve as more a deterrent than anything else. No one ever said addiction was rational though and the pull of cocaine is an incredibly tough one to fight back against.
Between 2013 and 2018 alone, the rate of cocaine use nearly tripled from 1.6 per 100,000 people to 4.5 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Adding that more than 16,000 people died from a cocaine overdose in 2019.
And the addiction can start young, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that 4.1% of high seniors had already tried cocaine in their lifetime.
But before we get into the signs, let’s get some backstory.
Going back to NIDA, they define cocaine as “a powerfully addictive stimulant drug made from the leaves of the coca plant native to South America” adding that “although health care providers can use it for valid medical purposes, such as local anesthesia for some surgeries, recreational cocaine use is illegal. As a street drug, cocaine looks like a fine, white, crystal powder.”
Famously, cocaine was an ingredient in Coca-Cola.
Given that cocaine is illegal and therefore bought on the streets, it’s not uncommon for dealers to “cut” or mix the cocaine with other substances, a trick that increases their profits.
The most common way to use cocaine is just as they show it in the movies: snorting it. Alternatively, it can be dissolved into liquid and injected or rubbed on the gums.
What makes cocaine so addictive is that it floods the brain with dopamine leading to a brief euphoric state of high energy and happiness, the brain craves that and which ultimately reinforces the need to take more.
Do you know what cocaine abuse looks like and what are the signs of cocaine addiction?
Cocaine addiction presents itself in quite a few ways, some more obvious than others, which only get worse the longer someone is hooked.
If you’re starting to see some of these, it’s important to not get in the habit of making excuses for the behavior. Take note and if more and more symptoms arise, it’s time to consider taking action.
Cocaine addiction is easy to fall into on your own and equally tough to get out of on your own.
Getting help requires acknowledging a problem exists. Once you do that, a world of options opens up before you.
Recovery starts after you break the physical addiction from cocaine through detox and what a program looks like will depend on your individual needs. An intensive outpatient program like ours at Inneractions allows you the freedom to carry on with your day-to-day life, with work and family, while also getting the dedicated care you require to overcome the mental side of addiction.
In practice that looks like a mix of one-on-one therapy and group work that helps you change your mental state and equip you with the coping mechanisms you need to avoid relapse and not succumb to triggering situations.
Help is only a phone call away! Give us a call and we can walk you through our program.
When you picture what rehab is like in your mind, what do you see?
Maybe an addict lying on a couch with a therapist listening and asking questions? Perhaps a group of people sitting in a small circle of chairs together and talking?
Pretty stereotypical scenes and also not far off.
Individual and group therapy for drug addiction are both hallmarks of the process for a reason. In a moment we’ll get into why group therapy, in particular, is so important.
But first, what does addiction look like?
A substance use disorder isn’t something that manifests and takes hold overnight. There are common signs and symptoms along the way that begin to paint the picture early.
Generally speaking, here’s what you should be looking out for:
Of course, different drugs have differing signs of addiction but the above can usually be seen across the board.
Now that you know what addiction can look like, what’s the added benefit of group therapy to your recovery journey.
Drug use and addiction are incredibly isolating. You might use in a group but once you stop, those people disappear and your addiction may have alienated your close family and friends. Loneliness and depression can set in. Group therapy shows you that you’re not alone and that others have gone through the same.
Because you’re in the company of people who’ve been there, you have a unique support system of people who really can support you from a place of genuine understanding. It’s easy for anyone to say “I get it” but those words mean a lot more when they come from someone who’s walked in your shoes.
In individual therapy, you work on several things en route to a sober life. One of those is coping mechanisms. In group therapy, you can talk those through and sharpen your understanding. Also, addiction isn’t known for working wonders on your communications skills, being in group setting forces you to hone those people skills.
Naturally, once you finish your rehab program, you shouldn’t go directly back to the same group of friends you hung out with before who continue to do drugs. You don’t want to let temptation get the best of you or find yourself in a triggering situation that leads to a relapse. In group therapy, you can build a new community of friends and acquaintances that you can stay connected with long after the therapy ends. Having those types of people in your life helps with accountability too.
Among the best aspects of group therapy is that you’ll likely find yourself in a group where people are at different points of their recovery. Those that are farther along than you can serve as an inspiration for you to strive towards. Likewise, you can be that for someone else.
There are plenty of other reasons why group therapy is often considered an integral part of the recovery process, we surely think so here at Inneractions. If you’d like to learn more about our group session, give us a shout.
Recovery from a substance use disorder (SUD) doesn’t stop when rehab ends.
Whether you’re coming from an inpatient setting or outpatient care, there’s going to come a point at which you’ll have to meld back into your daily life.
Understandably, an abrupt shift from the 24/7 care of inpatient rehab to the regular hustle and bustle of life outside can be incredibly difficult to manage.
In inpatient rehab, for example, you had a regimented schedule and very much had triggers and distractions removed so you could truly put all your energy into recovery.
Even with outpatient care, even though you didn’t live in a facility 24/7, you had regular touchpoints with addiction specialists in both group and individual therapy sessions. Something of a safe space to shelter from the difficulties you might’ve found in your regular days.
There has to be a way to transition, no?
That’s where sober living comes in.
A sober living home functions more or less as a bridge between your dedicated treatment program and the “real world”.
You’ll sometimes even see them referred to as “transitional housing” or “halfway homes” for that very reason.
The basics of taking up residence at a sober living home are that you’re in a place that’s free of drugs and alcohol where you’ll be able to put into practice and further develop the coping mechanisms you learned while in rehab.
You’ll also generally be required to participate in some type of support group.
Recovery is all about small wins that turn into larger ones over time. It’s about cementing positive habits and routines that make maintaining your hard-fought sobriety more manageable.
Look at it this way, it’s much more difficult to get used to a sudden change than it is to slowly adjust and then reinforce those adjustments through guidance and repetition. Sober living gives you a comfortable place to do that.
Some other key reasons sober living is an important part of the process are these:
Loneliness is part of addiction and it can linger after you’ve stopped using as well. Living in a home with others who have gone through the same thing allows you to build meaningful friendships and a whole sober network.
There’s tremendous value in being surrounded by people who understand you on a deep level and those relationships help immeasurably.
Being surrounded by sober people and those working towards the same overarching goal naturally creates a supportive environment. That’s further bolstered by the fact that you’ll be participating in some type of support group, often a 12-step program.
This introduces accountability and even more camaraderie with like-minded people.
A critical component of sober living is getting your independence back.
While there are rules at sober living homes, you’re largely free to do as you please. You can go to and from work and do all the things that come with day-to-day life while having the safety net of a supportive home which helps in re-establishing your independence.
Taken together, all these things are meant to lower the risk of a return to drugs and/or alcohol. If you’re surrounded by people who care about their sobriety journey, it’ll help you with yours, and the support you give one another coupled with group work means the risk of relapse diminishes greatly.
Sober living in Encino at Inneractions in the San Fernando Valley offers all of the above and more in a luxurious Southern California setting.
To learn more about The ISLE, or the Inneractions Sober Living Environment, you can read here.
The common denominator for those living in recovery is a need for support. No matter the nature of your addiction, what you were addicted to, for how long, etc. building a support system you can rely on is critical to maintaining the sobriety you worked so hard to achieve.
To be honest, it’s right near the top of the post-rehab checklist.
Support groups help with everything from dealing with triggers to accountability to just being a place where folks truly understand you, where they just get it.
In that sense, it’s less SMART recovery vs. AA in the competitive sense and more about how each is more uniquely suited, or better suited, to the needs of various people.
The first thing you’ll notice is the all caps and that’s because SMART, like AA, is an acronym; it means Self-Management and Recovery Training.
The fast facts are that SMART was founded back in 1994 and is currently headquartered in Ohio. Their approach focuses on science and self-empowerment in the battle to overcome addiction and meetings can be found across the whole of the United States as well as a number of countries around the world.
You can find their handbook in at least 10 languages.
Their reliance on scientifically validated methods to empower change is a key differentiator from the distinctly more spiritual approach of AA, noting in their purpose and methods statement that their “efforts are based on scientific knowledge and evolve as scientific knowledge evolves”.
Rather than a 12 step program, which AA relies on, SMART is defined by their 4 point program which is:
Arguably the most well-known support group on earth is AA or Alcoholics Anonymous.
AA dates back to 1935 and also has an Ohio link, having been started there. You may sometimes see AA meetings referred to as “Friends of Bill W.” in places like cruise ships with the Bill W. in question being the founder of AA.
They define themselves as “an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem”.
AA is where the concept of the 12 step program originated and it’s these very steps that form the core of the program itself.
A clear difference between the two programs is AA’s emphasis on spirituality in the pursuit of sustained sobriety. It’s not expressly required that you believe in God to join an AA meeting but the spiritual basis of AA is something to keep in mind. For some, it’s a wonderful thing. For others, they may prefer a different approach.
NA, or Narcotics Anonymous, was founded in 1953 and operates with the same 12-step program.
As for the meetings themselves, both SMART and AA are non-profits and their meetings are free of charge. Generally, only a small donation is recommended to cover the costs of putting on the meetings.
Conquering your addiction to drugs and/or alcohol is doable and among the best ways to go about it is through a professional treatment program that’s customized to your needs.
At Inneractions, that’s exactly what we do.
Moreover, once you complete rehab, we can help you transition back to your day-to-day life at our San Fernando sober living facility.
To learn more about support groups or aftercare, reach out to us today.
Recovery is a process.
Or, recovery is a journey, not a destination.
You may have come across lines like these when looking into rehab options for yourself or a loved one. Perhaps you even scoffed at them, feeling like you were reading trite cliches or platitudes.
Thing is though, recovery is a journey. Why? Well, let’s look to a definition of drug addiction from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to add some color here:
“Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite adverse consequences. It is considered a brain disorder because it involves functional changes to brain circuits involved in reward, stress, and self-control. Those changes may last a long time after a person has stopped taking drugs”
Because addiction is thought of as a brain disorder and not as a purely physical concept, it’s something you constantly work on and nurture. Moreover, if you stop working on it, a relapse is possible at any point.
Learning coping skills for drug addiction, therefore, becomes imperative to staying on the path of sobriety.
Addiction to drugs manifests itself in several ways that tend to compound the longer a substance use disorder lasts.
These are just some of the signs you may encounter and if you see any of them, it’s important to take note and monitor. Ignoring symptoms only makes things worse and harder in the future.
Coping skills are what help you stay the course, they’re the little “tricks” that help overcome those cravings and inevitable tough times on the journey of sobriety.
Among the best places to learn these new skills is in treatment for addiction.
In rehab, you’re in a place where all your attention is focused squarely on healing and developing the tools necessary to cope with triggers back in the real world.
As the physical addiction to drugs dissipates after detox, working on the mental side is what rehab programs are all about. You’ll work with professional addiction specialists in both individual and group settings to dig deeper into the root causes of addiction.
This is also the time you’ll be introduced to a host of coping skills ranging from practicing mindfulness, breathing exercises as well as general exercise, journaling, the importance of keeping busy, building a support system, 12-step programs and more.
As mentioned at the top, the journey of recovery doesn’t end when your time in rehab does, it’s something you actively work on but shouldn’t feel like work. Your post-addiction life is meant to be more fulfilling and enjoyable than the days of addiction and developing a routine that you love is crucial to that.
That’s where aftercare planning and sober living come into play, these are important parts of cementing a sober life. Sober living homes are particularly beneficial because you live in a supportive setting with a community that’s going through the same thing and building bonds with them. It also allows you to transition slowly back into your day-to-day life in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.
To learn more about the coping skills you’ll develop or what sober living is like, reach out to us at Inneractions today.
Heroin is an opioid.
The addictive nature of opioids is excruciatingly well known at this point. The lives it’s destroyed and the suffering endured by users and bystanders alike is incalculable.
In regards to heroin specifically, though, the numbers are numbing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Aside from being an opioid, an illicit one, what exactly is it?
As defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “heroin is an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance taken from the seed pod of the various opium poppy plants grown in Southeast and Southwest Asia, Mexico, and Colombia. Heroin can be a white or brown powder, or a black sticky substance known as black tar heroin”.
It can be injected, sniffed, snorted or smoked.
Since it’s an opioid, you may be wondering if there’s a link between prescription opioids and heroin use.
Unfortunately, that does look to be the case, NIDA notes that “research now suggests that misuse of these medications may actually open the door to heroin use. Some also report switching to heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription opioids”.
A 2013 study found that “nearly 80 percent of heroin users reported using prescription opioids prior to heroin”.
As a nation, we’ve collectively come to understand the incredibly addictive nature of opioids and heroin is very much part of that mix. The same mechanisms that make prescription opioids so addictive are at play with this illegal alternative.
Heroin is extremely fast-acting, particularly when injected and binds to opioid receptors in the brain. In addition to the pain vanishing in seemingly an instant, heroin also comes with a wave of euphoria and pleasure. It’s largely this euphoric surge and the hours it can last that people crave.
As you continuously seek that “reward”, you find yourself needing to take ever larger doses of heroin because you’ve built a tolerance where the same dose just doesn’t cut it anymore.
To put it in more scientific terms we’ll defer back to the National Institute on Drug Abuse; “heroin binds to and activates specific receptors in the brain called mu-opioid receptors (MORs). Our bodies contain naturally occurring chemicals called neurotransmitters that bind to these receptors throughout the brain and body to regulate pain, hormone release, and feelings of well-being. When MORs are activated in the reward center of the brain, they stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing a reinforcement of drug taking behavior”.
In a nutshell, that’s how heroin addiction works.
Deaths from overdose continue to be a widespread issue and the pandemic has only made matters with 93,000 lives lost last year – a tragic record.
Of course, this is on top of the ongoing opioid epidemic, heroin included, that the US has been trying to work through over the past couple of decades.
With respect to highly addictive drugs like heroin, it’s imperative to seek help because these drugs are frequently just too powerful to kick on your own as we’ve come to find.
Fortunately, help is never farther than a phone call away nowadays.
At Inneractions in the San Fernando Valley, our intensive outpatient program utilizes evidence-based methods to help you overcome your heroin addiction and avoid ending up a statistic.
If you or a loved one are struggling with this, don’t hesitate to reach out because as we’ve seen all too many times, opioid addiction can often end in heartbreak.
There’s an absolute abundance of choice these days with respect to places you can go to get treatment for substance use disorders.
Not all rehabs are created equally though. Some are focused on particular types of addictions, i.e., alcoholism or opioids. Some focus just on outpatient care, where you’d come in for scheduled sessions but not live at the facility like you would for inpatient treatment. While others base their programs on evidence-based treatment methods like cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, in contrast to those that put more weight on alternative modalities like yoga, mindfulness and the like.
These rehabs are spread across the entire country, creating easier access for all.
Just how many are there?
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimates that “more than 14,500 specialized drug treatment facilities provide counseling, behavioral therapy, medication, case management, and other types of services to persons with substance use disorders”.
Finding the right one for you or a loved one just takes some time and research.
A treatment center for addiction is a facility that’s specialized in providing treatment for substance use disorders.
Rehab can be broken down into two main silos: inpatient and outpatient.
Going back to NIDA for the definitions:
Inpatient, or residential, treatment can be either long or short term.
Long-term residential treatment “provides care 24 hours a day, generally in non-hospital settings. The best-known residential treatment model is the therapeutic community (TC), with planned lengths of stay of between 6 and 12 months”
Short-term residential treatment programs “provide intensive but relatively brief treatment based on a modified 12-step approach”.
Outpatient treatment, as mentioned above, means you wouldn’t live at the facility. This type of treatment is for those who’ve already finished inpatient rehab and are transitioning or for those with less severe addictions to begin with.
As noted by NIDA “Such treatment costs less than residential or inpatient treatment and often is more suitable for people with jobs or extensive social support”.
As far as who will be treating you, the team administering the rehab is full of licensed addiction specialists often with master’s level degrees. Additionally, rehab centers that offer alternative or complementary treatments will have trained specialists in those fields on staff as well.
At Inneractions, for example, our diverse team has over 30 years of combined experience working with addicts and includes counselors, therapists, a hypnotherapist, a breathwork specialist and more with the goal being to deliver as complete a treatment experience as possible.
After all that, you may rightly be wondering how to find a treatment center that’s fully aligned with your needs. There are nearly 15,000 out there after all!
It can feel overwhelming, we get it.
The good thing about having that many available to you though is that you have a great shot at finding one that fits your requirements perfectly.
During your search you’ll want to consider these questions:
These are just some of the big ideas to ponder when narrowing down your search and eliminating those that don’t match. It also helps to consult with experts in the field to help guide you.
If you have any questions on navigating the world of rehab, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Inneractions.
For those of us living in Southern California, the week brought forth several alarming headlines. For one thing, there was a tragic shooting at a synagogue near San Diego. And even more recently, a suspect was arrested who had been plotting to bomb the Santa Monica pier and several Los Angeles freeways. For those living with anxiety, stories like this can ignite deep rooted feelings of fear and paralysis. Even the idea of leaving your home can feel terrifying. But it is important to not let negativity overpower you and lead you down a dark path of phobias and addiction.
Therapist Jennifer Shannon recently authored an article titled Don’t Let Terrorism Hijack Your Brain. Unfortunately this subject matter is now timelier than ever and something that deserves to be addressed. Her piece referenced several other high profile incidents, such as the Orlando shootings and the massacre in San Bernardino. It is truly heartbreaking to know that these occurrences happen so frequently, but (as Shannon explains) there are ways to cope.
“When we become afraid—really afraid—our first instinct is to neutralize the threat,” Shannon explains in the article. “The primitive, survival-oriented part of our brain (the amygdala) sends chemicals and neural messages throughout our bodies prompting us to do something. We are not thinking with our more rational evolved minds. We get hijacked by negative emotion. When we let this primitive part of our brain do our thinking, we cannot calculate the likelihood of an event occurring. We can only imagine how bad it might be. When we act while in a state of fear, our attempts to stay safe actually make the problem worse.”
Those who become truly terrified tend to avoid public places altogether. Fears can include everything from the local shopping mall, to movie theaters to airplane flights. And sadly, those are all U.S. locales that have been affected by terrorism.
Shannon instructs her readers to recognize the fear instead of reacting to it. Don’t try to bury your anxieties. Rather, practice calming techniques and seek out professional resources to help you talk through your emotions.
The other major point is the toleration of uncertainty. Terrorism or not, we never know if some unplanned event may change our lives forever. Living in fear and worry will often make you feel less in control of your life and lead to even more mental struggles down the road.
In theory, your young 20’s should be a carefree time of life. It’s an era of freedom, setting goals and planning for a bright future. But for many college students across the country, that is simply not the case. And according to new research from UC Berkeley, there has been a sharp increase in anxiety issues among coeds.
Two of the biggest reported reasons for this spike are “financial difficulties” and “digital devices.” On the finance side, there are certainly more concerns now about setting up a successful life after graduation. Competition is fiercer, more jobs are being outsourced and degrees don’t hold quite as much weight as they did in years’ past. The money worries also come from lower income students, as they report to be constantly stressed about their parents not being able to pay the school’s bills.
Devices are a newer concern, but it’s something we have seen among many Millennials and Generation Z’ers. In this instance, issues like “cyber bullying,” social media flaunting and scary digital headlines can stir up uneasy emotions among students. In fact, according to the study, coeds who spend more than 20 hours a week of leisure time using a device are 53% more likely to have anxiety than those who spend less than five hours a week doing the same. Sadly, being constantly connected can lead to anxious consequences.
UC Berkeley professor Richard Scheffler was interviewed about the data for The San Francisco Chronicle. In his mind, these new stats should be very concerning.
“We have a new epidemic on college campuses,” he explained. “Our numbers show that (the number of) students being treated or diagnosed for an anxiety disorder has doubled nationally in the last eight years. It now outranks depression as the number one mental health issue for this set.”
And Scheffler emphasized that this research work was not taken lightly. Over nine years of data was studied from a variety of sources. Typical questions presented included “worry levels among students” and the persistence of ongoing, unnecessary fears. As Scheffler put it, “it’s the definition of anxiety.”
Frankly put…In 2018, roughly 1 in 10 students was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. As of the last two years, it has now become 1 in 5. There were also larger trends among females and minorities (particularly African-Americans).
Certainly research like this merits further discussions and perhaps a bigger awareness play about mental health services for students. We are always available to lend support to 20-somethings suffering from emotional distress. If this is something happening to you or someone you are close, please do not hesitate to reach out.