Addiction Recovery: A Social Model

photo of a group during therapy session addiction recovery

If you are new to addiction recovery there is a good chance that you have been scratching your head about many things. Which is more than common. You may be trying to understand how the program works. when nothing else that you tried in the past helped. Looking around the rooms you see scores of people, many of whom with smiles on their face—when you can hardly find anything to be happy about. Our hope is that you do not become discouraged, how you are feeling will in time pass and before you know it early recovery will be long behind you.

It is of the utmost importance that you try your hardest to not overthink the program, to not harp on things that seem to make little sense. Or in some cases, illogical. We assure you that everything you see and hear is part of the formula which has been used to save lives for nearly a century. The keystone of the entire program is spirituality, which manifests itself via the group’s connection. You speak and are heard. Others speak and you listen. And together, we work the problem of “self.”

People often say that Albert Einstein would not have been able to recover from addiction by way of programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, et al. They also say that you can’t be too unintelligent to recover, but you can be too smart. Given the fact that most addicts and alcoholics are above average intelligence, the former platitude presents some problems if you let it. The point is; however, that if your best thinking brought you to your knees and in need of the rooms of recovery, then it might be a good time to take suggestions and follow directions.

Hit the Ground of Recovery, Running

On the onset of your introduction to the program it is likely that you will still be a bit foggy. Years of substance use and abuse takes its toll on cognitive function and how you respond to new surroundings. For the first couple weeks, whether in treatment or at a 12-Step meeting, it is vital that one gives their body and mind time to flush the lingering chemicals from their system. After a couple weeks, you may still feel a little down about the loss of your good friend Jim Beam, but you will be in a much better position to be an active participant in the community of recovery.

At such time, you will have probably heard a multitude of people share their story, you may have even shared some of yours. There is a good chance that someone has shared some things about recovery that resonated with you. That may be the first person that you want to approach to discuss sponsorship. Working with another alcoholic or addict is paramount to achieving long-term sobriety. A sponsor is someone who has worked all the steps, and can in turn help you work them. They are essentially, among other things, a guide.

Sponsors also have a role in calling you on you. They will see when you may be slipping or are in a place that seems unhealthy. Giving you a chance to correct course before something bad happens, specifically relapse. Just as someone else calls them out when they appear to be risking their recovery. Together, we provide support for others, just as they provide it to you. When times are hard, and they will be, you always have someone to talk to about your feelings. Without fear of judgment. We implore you to not put off finding a sponsor. We know that you can find a million reasons to not ask someone to sponsor you, and that’s OK. But all you need to do is find one good reason, and the journey of working the steps begins and the gifts that come along with it will surely follow.

The Social Model of Addiction Recovery

Just as 12-Step programs rely heavily on community, so too does effective addiction treatment. At 10 Acre Ranch, our male clients not only go to groups and meetings together, they share a living space. As a result, our clients always have someone they can turn to for a hand, if they are feeling anxious or depressed about their life. Just like what members of AA or NA do for each other in their day to day lives.

The social model of recovery puts people in the ideal position to never leave anything in their program to chance. There is always the fail safe known as the fellowship. Whenever you find yourself in doubt about something, or going to make a life-changing decision, the hand of recovery will always be there.

If you are still out there in active addiction, please contact us today. The longer you put recovery off—the worse it gets.

Depression Advocate Michael Phelps

young man with depression sitting near a river during sunset silhouette

At the end of last month and at the beginning of June, we focused heavily on post-traumatic stress disorder. Which makes sense. Considering the passing of Memorial Day and that many people suffering from the symptoms of PTSD also have a co-occurring mental health disorder, such as addiction. What’s more, June is National PTSD Awareness Month, a time for everyone to have an active role in encouraging people to talk about and seek help for the debilitating mental illness; which, left untreated, is a sure path to both substance use and suicide.

PTSD, without a doubt, is a serious problem in America and abroad. But, it cannot be stressed enough how pervasive other forms of mental health disorders that often accompany addiction are, such as depression. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that more than 300 million people worldwide are living with depression. Calling the condition the number one cause of poor health on the planet.

With that in mind, our hope at 10 Acre Ranch is that more Americans will realize the importance of destigmatizing mental health conditions. Only by doing so can we encourage people who need help to get help. It is a fact, the majority of people living with a mental illness of any form have never been diagnosed. Without screening and treatment, people cope with their symptoms by any means necessary, often with drugs and alcohol. When those substances stop having the desired effect (as they always do at some point), suicide often follows.

Screening for Depression

Helping people get screened for mental illness has become the mission of Michael Phelps, who hopes to make waves outside the pool. Phelps was named the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) honorary chairperson of National Mental Health Awareness Day 2017, The Baltimore Sun reports. And now the Olympian, with more gold medals than anyone else in history, is on the board of directors of Medibio, an Australian-based medical technology company that’s developed a comprehensive test to help accurately diagnose depression and other forms of mental illness.

“I have personally experienced Medibio’s technology and believe it can help make a profound impact in diagnosing mental health and empowering people to seek the help and support they may need,” Phelps said in the company’s news release. “In sports, there is so much focus on the physical aspects of performance, and athletes are analyzed from head to toe. But for many athletes, mental health has not been a topic of focus, and the data analysis aspect of it has been missing up until now.”

The Digital Mental Health Platform is the world’s first FDA approved diagnostic test for mental illnesses like depression. The technology is non-intrusive, quick, objective, decisive and will (according to the Medibio) revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of mental health. The company believes that Phelps will be an important asset to the company, and the mental health community.

“His lifelong dedication to excellence in the pool, his advocacy for mental health, and his understanding of data-driven solutions will provide a great addition to our board,” Cosentino said in the release. “Michael’s significant public profile will raise substantial awareness of mental health challenges and the real, tangible solutions that Medibio’s diagnostics can provide.”

Depression and Addiction Treatment

It is quite common for people living with the debilitating symptoms of depression to also have an alcohol or substance use disorder. If you, or a loved one, are struggling with co-occurring mental health disorders, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today.

Alcohol Use, Even Moderately – Impacts Brain

alcoholic person drinking behind bottles of alcohol

Yesterday we wrote for our readers about binge drinking and high-intensity drinking. Binge drinking is associated with men consuming 5 or more drinks and women consuming 4 or more drinks—over a 2-hour period. Whereas high-intensity drinking is defined as men having 15+ drinks and women 10+ drinks per occasion. Both methods of consuming alcohol have been associated with alcohol poisoning, alcohol-related trauma, dependence and alcohol use disorder.

Drinking in the “unhealthy” ways listed above can cause a number of other problems as well. In the short term, those drinking in such ways are apt to experience blackouts, memory loss and anxiety. One can often recover from all of these problems in a day or two. But over longer periods of time, long-term drinking can result in mental health problems, and permanent brain damage resulting in learning disabilities, as well as cognitive and motor function damage. And that is just the damage that heavy alcohol use can have on the brain. A whole other article/post could easily be dedicated to the substance’s effects on vital organs, like the liver and pancreas.

With all the potential harm that alcohol can cause, one may ask themselves how this substance could be legal. Sure, someone could counter by saying that when used in moderation, alcohol is relatively harmless. But is it really? After all, alcohol can remove paint, is flammable and certain combustion engines can even run on the substance. Yet, every day millions of Americans ingest it and many would even argue that they have earned it.

Is Alcohol Worth It?

Over the years, there has been shaky research disseminated, which claimed that alcohol in small amounts may be good for the certain organs, like the heart for instance. However, the little evidence that exists in defense of such research is questionable at best. If you are drinking because you think you are doing yourself a healthy service, you may want to rethink the practice.

Scientists will probably continue to argue over the health benefits of alcohol consumption for years to come, but in the meantime, we should all do our best to continue to learn about the negative health consequences of alcohol use, even in small amounts.

New research out of the United Kingdom has found that alcohol use can have adverse effects on your brain and impact cognitive function, BMJ reports. I know you are thinking, ‘hold on, you’ve already mentioned that that can occur.’ And you are right. What makes this new study so interesting is that the researchers found that the aforementioned impacts can occur from even moderate drinking.

“Our findings support the recent reduction in UK safe limits and call into question the current US guidelines, which suggest that up to 24.5 units a week is safe for men, as we found increased odds of hippocampal atrophy [a form of brain damage that affects memory and spatial navigation] at just 14-21 units a week, and we found no support for a protective effect of light consumption on brain structure,” the researchers write. They conclude that: “Alcohol might represent a modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment, and primary prevention interventions targeted to later life could be too late.”

You May Not Know You Have An Alcohol Use Problem

It can be easy to rationalize one’s alcohol use as being well within the social norms. But who established the limits on safe alcohol consumption? One can always find someone who seems to have a more insidious relationship with alcohol in order to justify continued use. The takeaway from research like this is that there is probably no such thing as healthy drinking, sure it may not lead one down the road towards alcohol use disorder—but it’s certainly not doing your health any favors.

If you have started experiencing negative effects on your health from alcohol, it is strongly suggested that you talk to someone about your relationship with alcohol. There may be a problem that needs to be addressed, sooner rather than later. Please contact 10 Acre Ranch today to discuss your options.

Binge Drinking Among Young Adults Increases

Binge Drinking Among Young Adults

It is probably fair to say that drinking alcohol socially is an American pastime. Or, at the very least, involved in many activities that Americans take part in. Teenagers and young adults across America congregate every weekend to imbibe at parties and sporting events. For a lot of people, a ball game would not be a the same without a cold beer. While in many cases, drinking alcohol can be a benign, or relatively harmless, experience there is a significant number of young adults who consume alcohol in far from healthy ways.

Alcohol and the use of the substance is pervasive in the United States. It can be purchased at grocery stores, restaurants, sporting events and concerts. Just to name a few vendors. It can become easy to forget that liquor can severely disrupt the course of one’s life, wreaking havoc on people’s health. For a substance that is so addictive, with an impact on the body which kills far more people every year than any other substance, (including the deadly opioid narcotics which have been in the spotlight for nearly two decades)—it is hard to understand why prevention and treatment efforts are not emphasized more.

Sadly, and because young people are not generally given all the facts about the dangers of alcohol consumption, unhealthy relationships with liquor often develop. It is quite common for young men and women to “binge drink” alcohol on regular basis. That is, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks—over a 2-hour period.

Binge Drinking Among Young Adults

The National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) funded a study that looked at binge drinking and high-intensity (10+, 15+ drinks per occasion) drinking among U.S.12th graders and young adults from 2005 to 2015, Newswise reports. The findings indicated that binge and high-intensity drinking was highest for young adults aged 21/22 to 25/26, increasing the highest among people in their late twenties. The research was published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Both binge drinking and high-intensity alcohol consumption can cause serious harm to one’s health, and is a sure path to dependence and/or addiction. It is absolutely vital that these trends are acknowledged and that prevention experts and addiction treatment professionals respond accordingly with efforts to educate young people about the inherent risks of these methods of consumption. Setting the long-term health effects aside for the moment, people who engage in binge drinking are at greater risk of traumatic accidents and alcohol poisoning—which are often deadly.

Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment

Young adults are often unaware of the potential harm of the aforementioned manners of drinking alcohol. They are usually drinking that way among their peers, and justify the behavior as something that everyone is doing. Sure, some people binge drink socially in the early twenties and don’t progress to alcoholism, but that is not the case for others.

When such people seek help by way of addiction treatment, one that utilizes the social model, much emphasis is placed on adopting healthy ways of living surrounded by peers working towards the same goal. Recovery is a process, but over time one learns how to have fun with others without the social lubricant that is alcohol.

If you are young adult male, or have a loved one who is, and has formed an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today. We connect young men together in a safe environment and teach them how to live a life in recovery, and form healthy relationships with their peers, without alcohol or any other mind-altering substances.

What You Need to Know About Men’s Health

photo of a man stretching inside a track oval field

June is Men’s Health Month and there’s no better time to start taking proactive steps to safeguard your health. Along these lines, let’s take a look at three common conditions that affect men more often or more severely than women – and what you can do to prevent becoming a statistic.

Heart attack: More adult men than women die of heart attacks – and, what’s worse, 50 percent of guys who die from heart disease have never experienced previous symptoms before.

What you can do:

  • Eat a healthy diet that’s low in salt, saturated fat and cholesterol
  • Ditch cigarettes
  • Exercise regularly
  • Schedule regular doctor’s visits

Lung cancer: More men smoke and smoke more heavily, so it’s not too surprising that lung cancer is the leading cause of death for both men and women.

What you can do:

  • Quit smoking
  • Get screened: The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that adults aged 55 to 80 who have a heavy smoking history and currently smoke, or quit within the last 15 years, be screened annually for lung cancer.

Suicide: Four times as many men as women die from suicide. In addition, men who have depression, bi-polar disorder, PSTD, or other mental illnesses are less likely to seek treatment than women with the same disorders. Instead, they tend to self-medicate.

What you can do:

  • Learn the warning signs. Anger, irritability, recklessness, exhaustion and substance abuse are a few red flags.
  • Get help. Don’t suffer in silence or take matters into your own hands. There’s no shame in seeking professional treatment for depression or other mental health issues.

Dual-Diagnosis Treatment in Southern California
At 10 Acre Ranch, we specialize in helping men who feel hopeless learn a new way of life. Our staff offers hope to those struggling with addiction as a cause or result of mental illness. To learn more, call today: 877-228-4679.

Addiction Signs On Facebook

iphone 6 with facebook login display Social Media

In today’s world, practically everyone uses social media of some kind. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to name a few. Even people who dislike Facebook (no pun intended) tend to at least scroll through their timeline, from time to time. After all, social media can be a great tool for keeping in touch or checking in with friends all over the world. Given the fact that people will share anything from wedding announcements to what they plan to have for breakfast tomorrow, it stands to reason that they will also reveal their emotional state, whether knowingly or not. In some cases, your friends may be constantly posting about partying with drugs and alcohol or that they have been isolating a lot lately. Both of which may be signs of dis-ease.

Over the last year, Facebook announced that they have begun “spidering” their platform with an algorithm to help identify troubled users in order to determine people who may be a risk to others or themselves. The goal is to identify troubled users, potentially open the door for intervention before something tragic happens. Many people who are struggling with mental illness, like addiction or depression, are usually pretty guarded as to talking about it. This is generally out of fear of judgment or social stigma. Both of which can deter people from seeking the help they need. Which is why there is an inherent value in “combing” social media for users in distress, who may be subtly crying out for help.

Spotting Substance Abuse on Facebook

At the Addiction Recovery Research Center in Roanoke, Virginia, a team of researchers may have found a way to identify users struggling with addiction by looking at social media messages, MIT Technology Review reports. The findings come from mining millions of “status updates,” looking for various keywords that were associated with substance use.

The researchers also looked at myPersonality, a project on Facebook which more than 4 million users participated, according to the article. The project involved a series of psychometric tests.

“Our best models achieved 86% for predicting tobacco use, 81% for alcohol use and 84% for drug use, all of which significantly outperformed existing methods,” say researcher Warren Bickel and co. “We believe social media is a promising platform for both studying SUD-related human behaviors as well as engaging the public for substance abuse prevention and screening.”

Getting Help for Addiction

Sometimes you personally can spot signs of trouble among your Facebook friends. If you think that your friend is struggling with drugs or alcohol, you might try to encourage them to seek help in a compassionate way. Ignoring the signs, or passing it off as just a little too much partying could have disastrous consequences. We can all have a hand in looking out for our friends and loved ones, just showing that you care can be immensely important.

If they intimate that they need help, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today. We can help them break the cycle of addiction, and learn how to live a life in recovery.