Midwest Recovery Centers Blog

When education and family counseling are combined with support group participation, family members stay healthier, and are better equipped to guide their addicted loved one to treatment and through recovery.

Use of cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol during pregnancy can cause great harm to both you and your baby. Combined use of these substances is even more dangerous.

If you want to help someone stop using marijuana, it is important to first understand how marijuana affects the brain, and how these effects can make it difficult for users to stop on their own.

Alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, and alcoholism are now known clinically as Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), which is recognized as a treatable, chronic disease. Although many consider problem drinking and AUD to be the same thing, there are important differences between them.

Addiction is a treatable, chronic disease, which can be fatal without treatment. If you believe a loved one has a problem with drugs or alcohol, do not let fear of “meddling” prevent you from having an honest conversation with that person. Your actions may save their life.

Most of us get a case of the “blues” from time to time. But clinical depression, also called major depressive disorder, is much more than occasional bouts of sadness or self-pity. Depression manifests both physically and emotionally and can lead to suicidal thoughts or actions.

Anxiety disorders are characterized by levels of worry and fear so high they interfere with the daily function of life. Those with anxiety disorders are also more likely to experience a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. Years of research have shown that substance abuse and anxiety disorder occur together far more often than would be explained by chance.

Multiple studies support the finding that those in recovery from an AUD often experience sleep disturbances that last up to months or longer, and that getting to sleep was the most reported challenge. The lack of quality sleep poses a threat to recovery, as it may be associated with adverse health effects or relapse.