What To Know About Drug Addiction Treatment in Westlake Village

Drug Addiction Treatment | LakehouseRecoveryCenter.comSometimes it’s necessary to pack your bags and move to another city or state in order to find sobriety. If you’re living on the East Coast, for example, getting away from friends or family or peers who encourage a drug addiction might become necessary.

In order to get sober once and for all, you might you might be looking for a drug and alcohol treatment center that is not only not in your neighborhood, but far from the circles you used to keep.

One city to consider for participating in a drug addiction treatment center is Westlake Village, CA. The community straddles Los Angeles and Ventura county with plenty of open space for hiking, horse riding, and spending time in nature.

Nearby is the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains and the Malibu hills. Westlake Village is located nine miles inland from the Pacific Ocean with sea breezes sweeping up through the canyons keeping Westlake Village 10 degrees cooler than nearby San Fernando Valley.

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Addiction Help: Knowing the Traits of Adult Children of Alcoholics – Part One

Addiction | LakehouseRecoveryCenter.comExperts in the field of psychology have studied the character traits of those who’ve undergone drug addiction treatment and/or who have struggled with addiction in their lives. For instance, in 1983, Dr. Janet Woititz wrote a groundbreaking book titled, Adult Children of Alcoholics. The book outlines the characteristics of adults who were raised in homes in which there was at least one form of compulsive behavior. This could be an addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, or eating.

The articles in this two part series outlines these character traits. However, it should be noted that these traits may exist even if there is no overt addiction in the home. For instance, there might intense levels of shame in members of the family or repressed anger or where one or both parents exhibited controlling behavior. In fact, since the publication of her book, Woititz acknowledges that there are various dysfunctional family backgrounds that possess the traits similar to those of an alcoholic family.

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Drug Addiction Therapy: Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention

Drug Addiction Therapy | LakehouseRecoveryCenter.comThe Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington developed Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for working with those who suffer from addictions. The therapy is intended to rework the imprisoning thoughts that keep an addictive cycle in place. With a practice of mindfulness, those addicted to alcohol, for example, can become aware of the triggers that lead him to drink, to participate in destructive habitual patterns, and to follow the unconscious and automatic reactions that lead to making poor choices.

Using mindfulness as an aspect of drug addiction therapy has proven to support success in arriving at sobriety. Mindfulness is the practice of becoming conscious of your internal and external environment. It is a mental state achieved by focusing on the present moment, while acknowledging and accepting the existing feelings, thoughts, bodily sensations, and surrounding activity. Today, it is often used as a therapeutic practice among therapists and psychologists. And because of recent research on the effects of mindfulness on the brain, more and more drug treatment centers are beginning to incorporate the therapeutic modality.

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Drug Treatment Aftercare: Long Term Sobriety Means Progress not Perfection

It’s common for recovering addicts to discover the perfectionist in them. There’s a strong desire to do it “right”. Whether you’re in an Alcoholics Anonymous community or in private therapy or in another drug addiction therapy program with a regimen for staying sober, you might feel the need to be perfect about it. And it’s understandable; there’s a fear that says if you’re not, you might relapse.

However, there’s a saying in the recovery community: “Progress, not perfection.” Although perfection is a trait of many addicts, it’s not the goal of sober living, progress is. What happens is this: self-doubt sneaks in and seems to create a lens through which to look at your recovery. There’s a lingering feeling, no matter how well you’re following the steps to your drug treatment, that you’re not doing it right somehow.

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