What Is Dry Drunk Syndrome?   Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) coined the term dry drunk to describe a person who is no longer consuming alcohol but still exhibits behavioral and emotional problems of an alcoholic. Some of these behavioral and emotional problems include irritability, impatience, impulsivity, and passing judgment on others. Some dry drunks exhibit grandiose...Read More

  Where Does 12-Step Fit Into Substance Abuse Treatment? Where does 12-step fit into substance abuse treatment? The answer is everywhere! There are some treatment facilities that do not include 12-step programs in their recovery programs but the majority do. Twelve-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Gamblers Anonymous (GA) are...Read More

What Researchers Tell Us About Alcoholics Anonymous There exists a number of researchers who consistently attempt to find solid evidence of the treatment efficacy of Alcoholics Anonymous or AA. AA has been in existence for many years and millions of individuals have benefited from attending AA meetings. Still, researchers wish to know more about how...Read More

Can the 12 steps help with mental health recovery? Like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), there are 12-step groups that are designed to offer support for individuals suffering from a mental illness. The 12 steps are replications of those in AA, and are centered around spirituality and helping individuals understand themselves and their illness while forming a...Read More

What Is Treatment? Treatment is considered anything related to how someone deals with something. Treatment can include physical treatment, which involves seeing a doctor or other medical professional. Physical treatment involves getting prescription medication for symptom relief or having a procedure done to relieve pain or a dysfunctional body part. Psychological treatment includes seeing a...Read More

Join the voices, speak up, reach out…   Do you have family members or friends in recovery? How about long term recovery? When people first get sober, taking it “one day at a time,” receiving that first 24 hour AA chip and then a 30 day AA chip can feel like it takes forever. Considering...Read More

Hearing a voice from your past… It’s interesting how you can be awakened by the sound of a certain voice. It might be that of your spouse, your partner, your child, maybe your parent or roommate…or even that of a television personality. Our associate shared that yesterday she awoke to a familiar voice that brought...Read More

Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert in 1970, donated by Roger Ebert. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) “I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.” Roger Ebert Empathy vs. sympathy Do you remember how old you were when you came to understand that there is a difference between empathy and sympathy? Dictionary.com offers an illustrative explanation:...Read More

Sometimes news headlines seem to collide…Part 2 Yesterday in Part 1 of our Alcohol Infused News post we shared two news / opinion items that dealt with alcohol and alcohol use disorder (AUD). As we mentioned, the message delivered in those two items were juxtaposed; however, both could be used to start a conversation. Research...Read More

Nurse Jackie (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Do you work with a Nurse Jackie? If you don’t happen to subscribe to Showtime, The Movie Network or Movie Central, you may have no point of reference to Nurse Jackie. The series premiered on June 8, 2009, so soon it will be five years old and the sixth season...Read More