Donald G. Dutton, PhD Liz was finishing a watercolor painting, when her husband Greg returned home early from a friend’s house. His feigned cheerful “Hi Hon,” didn’t fool her. She knew he’d been drinking and that once he was settled in the house, the facade would disappear as his mood and behavior turned ugly. Liz […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →What Is The Difference? Q: What is the difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence? A: Alcohol abuse is described as any “harmful use” of alcohol. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV describes alcohol abusers as those who drink despite recurrent social, interpersonal, and legal problems as a result of alcohol use. […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →ADDICTION TREATMENT: WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE DOING? Robert Westermeyer, Ph.D. The field of Clinical Psychology has advanced considerably in the last several decades. From a field dominated in the early part of the century by nebulous and unsubstantiated theories of human behavior and psychotherapeutic techniques of questionable efficacy, clinical psychology has evolved into a […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →Addiction as a Disease By William L. White, MA Are alcoholism and other addictions diseases? If so, what manner of diseases are they, and how can they best be treated? If not, then how can we understand and respond to such conditions? Do we need more than one organizing concept to embrace the myriad patterns […]
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Leave a Comment (1) →Tools for Overcoming Emotional Eating *Supportive Group Facilitated by Karen Tyrrell, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist MFC#53705 When: Beginning Tuesday, March 4, 2014 Where: Full Spectrum Recovery and Counseling 601 E. Arrellaga St. Ste 102 Santa Barbara, Calif. 93103 www.fullspectrumrecovery.com *This Supportive Group is for adults who are serious about making long-term lifestyle changes and […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →Consider the following situation: I just discovered that my husband has broken his promise to stop gambling at our local Casino. I opened our credit card statement and there were several thousands of dollars taken out as cash. At first he denied that he did it and then he admitted he lost the money gambling […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →More and more therapists are approaching substance use problems with creative, alternative strategies. Strategies for safer use, reduced or managed use and abstinence are being reexamined in the light of growing research on the process of changing harmful behaviors. Therapists frequently see clients that have a desire to change substance use behavior along with a […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →The treatment of opiate dependence has been particularly unsuccessful over the years. There are more and more people abusing opiate-based pain medications. Oxycontin and Vicodin are the most abused prescription medications on the market these days. It has become clear that once dependence is established, opiate addicts are often not the easiest to manage. Thus […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →Consider the following situation: Yesterday I found a pill in my 17 year-old son’s backpack. My friend is a nurse and she identified the pill as a painkiller. Since my son is in therapy, I called his therapist to discuss this. I became very angry when the therapist was reluctant to even discuss my son […]
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Leave a Comment (0) →Parental involvement is critical to successful treatment of adolescents with alcohol and other chemical dependency issues. Research shows that family-based interventions can be very effective in reducing current alcohol and other drug problem behavior and future risk. The quality of the adolescents’ environment in regards to family, school and peers is critical for success when […]
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