What are the traits of functional families? We’re glad you asked. According to family experts Friel and Friel, authors of Adult Children, The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families, healthy functional families have […]

Is addiction a disease? It depends on who you ask. Classifying addiction as a disease is most prevalent and most accurate. Yet this still remains controversial as so many are hurt by someone else’s addiction. Here […]

The 5 phases of compulsive spending take you through the highs of an actual addiction. And if you’re a compulsive spender, you’re not alone on this rollercoaster ride. The 5 phases of compulsive spending are what […]

Compulsive spending is not what happens when people indulge for occasions like birthdays, Christmas or other holidays. Problem spending is something that occurs year round. Relentless, buying with no real need or […]

If you are a compulsive spender, you know the highs and lows that accompany the 5 phases of spending: anticipation, preparation, shopping, spending, remorse.  You also know which phases are the most fun, and […]

Some people grow up feeling good and strong, while others carry the burden of damaging shame that persists no matter how much love they receive or great their achievements later in life. There is a difference […]

The denial cycle has a special meaning for families coping with substance use. We all have denial in our lives. Denial is a way to help us to cope with overwhelming problems, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. At […]

Shifting the family balance from dysfunctional to functional is a challenge where there is substance or alcohol use. Secrets have to be kept. Crises need covering up. Abuse is ignored. Family members, especially […]

Who get addicted and who doesn’t? Teen addiction is fact of life for 15% of high schoolers, and it’s important to take any teen use of alcohol and drugs very seriously. But not all experimentation ends in […]

Self talk is that inner voice that often chatters to us about all types of things. Unfortunately, it is often negative. Negative self talk impairs our ability to cope with life’s ups and downs. Buddhists refer t […]

Most teens know someone who passed away do to drug or alcohol use. The loss may be the friend, or sibling, who is no longer able to attend school or be part of your life because of his or her lifestyle. Or it may […]

Healing from codependency takes time to develop roots just like plants. Codependency doesn’t exist only in families where there is substance use disorder. This unhealthy conditioning can occur in any family, love […]

What’s the difference between guilt and shame? Shame lies. Basically, guilt is a healthy feeling and shame is an unhealthy feeling. Let’s take a closer look.
What Is Guilt?
When we’ve done something wrong, we f […]

Family addiction is complicated, and it isn’t isolated to one person who may be using. Addiction is passed on through generations and everybody is affected.  Intergenerational addiction studies examine how a […]

Addiction is actually the very opposite of taking care of your needs, so we need many tools in our recovery first aid kit to stay mentally and physically healthy. Self-care both for people struggling with […]

We live within a culture of chaos. A 24 hour news cycle flashes before us. Multi-tasking means epic to-do lists with fragments of completion time. We’re simultaneously running here, posting there, and making plans […]

Talking to teens about family substance use is difficult, especially when it is a parent’s. Without the full understanding of what is happening to a loved one, however, teens can’t heal or enjoy healthy […]

Healthy detachment? It sounds like a recipe for the impossible. We often hear that we need to detach from a dysfunctional family system. But how do you detach from perhaps the only family you’ve ever known? Or […]

Enabling is not about just one thing. It can be allowing anything from verbal abuse to laziness, addiction, risky behaviors, even lying.
Enabling is basically ignoring, or encouraging something you know is not […]

We often think we need to protect kids and addiction shouldn’t be discussed. We think they’ll be too young or immature to understand this, but they probably already know what is happening. In fact, they’ve likely […]