addiction treatment center westlake village

How to Prepare for Grief and Loss in Recovery

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Grief and Loss | Lakehouse Recovery Center

When you get sober, there are many facets of your life you’re letting go of. Not to mention that recovery also means letting go of a part of who you are and an old way of relating to the world. Plus, in recovery, you might recognize just how much you’ve lost as a result of the addiction. The illness of addiction can destroy relationships, create financial harm, ruin a career, and divide a family. Addiction can create turmoil, loss, and reasons to grieve. And often, that grieving doesn’t happen until after recovery begins.

In fact, many men and women in recovery find themselves becoming more emotionally aware. As the numbness of addiction wears off and as they grow their ability to feel their emotions, people may feel more and more of the losses they’ve experienced in the past.

If you’re in recovery and you’re looking for a way to manage grief and loss, here are a few suggestions.

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The Pros and Cons of Traveling Abroad for Addiction Treatment

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What to Do When Your Ready to End Your Addiction If you’re ready to end your addiction, perhaps you’re exploring the options you have for addiction treatment. There are many to choose from, depending upon your needs and financial means. You can go to a facility that provides the bare minimum, making cost of treatment less expensive. Or you might …

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The Challenges of Going to Jail for Drug Use

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Incarceration for Drug Use Only Makes Life Harder Lawmakers are learning that when a person is incarcerated for their drug use, life only gets harder for them. While they are in prison, the underlying problems that might have contributed to the drug use might only get worse. And returning to their home community becomes even more challenging when they are …

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Addiction and Its Effect on the Brain

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Addiction | LakehouseRecoveryCenter.com

It wasn’t until recently that the illness of addiction has been seen as an illness of the brain. In other words, addiction can have such a severe effect on the brain that it can continue to deteriorate one’s life. This article will review the relationship between addiction and the functioning of the brain.

Brain research has revealed that a healthy brain is one that can continue to make new neural connections and release old ones. The connections between neurons are important in a person’s learning, behavior, communication, memory formation, mood regulation, and overall mental health. Yet, when a drug enters the brain, it locks onto the receptors and activates the nerve cells. However, because the drug is not the neurotransmitter that is intended for that receptor, the neurons end up sending abnormal messages throughout the brain. Of course, this leads to hallucination, abnormal thoughts, and change in perception.

And this is precisely what brings pleasure. It’s fun at first to feel a buzz from alcohol or a high from marijuana. These experiences lead us to go back again and again for more of those pleasurable experiences. But returning again and again to a drug begins to create a physical and psychological dependency, and this is where the trouble starts.

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