Addiction & Recovery
Screen Addiction: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Young Adults
By Janet Hamm-Tuverson Director of Addictions Counseling Services Are you worried your young adult might be glued to their screens a bit too much? In the digital playground of today’s world, screen addiction has emerged as a common challenge among young adults, often disrupting their daily lives. This guide aims to help parents understand screen…
Read MoreAlcohol and BPD: The Effects on Young Adults
Written by, Janet Hamm-Tuverson, Director of Addictions Counseling Services at Optimum Performance Institute in Woodland Hills, CA Young adults grappling with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and alcohol often face an uphill battle when it comes to emotional regulation and can experience an increase in BPD symptoms from drinking and partying. Here’s what parents of…
Read MoreComputer Addiction
We live in an age when nearly every interaction or transaction can be facilitated through an Internet-connected device. The Internet allows you to do anything from catch up with classmates on social media, find a job, pay your bills, and even get mental health therapy online! There is no doubting that the Internet, digital devices,…
Read More5 Internet Addiction Recovery Techniques to Bring Back the Life You Want
If you find yourself or a loved one spending an unhealthy amount of time online, know that you’re not alone. Internet addiction is affecting a greater number of the population with every year that passes. People who have experienced long-term internet addiction have up to 20% brain shrinkage in the surface area of their brain,…
Read MoreDrug Addiction and Bipolar Disorder: What are the Risks?
By: Jennifer Scott Addiction is alarmingly common among people with bipolar disorder. Approximately 56% of those living with bipolar disorder will struggle with addiction in their lifetime. While alcohol is the more common addiction at 46%, drug addiction is a very close second at 41%. Both substances can act as a temporary means to subdue…
Read MoreUnderstanding Addiction as a Disease: Overcoming Perceptions to Support a Loved One Suffering from Substance Use Disorder
Recently, I watched as a good friend went from a happy, charismatic goofball to a withdrawn, quiet loner. He was falling deeper into his alcohol addiction, and the more I watched helplessly the more I tried to understand. There are so many misconceptions about drug and alcohol addiction. Some say addiction is an excuse and…
Read MoreSobriety: A Realistic Way of Life for Young Adults
“I was so inspired, because I personally know the owner of the skate apparel company, and a few years ago his life was so different than it is today. The art show came just days after his one year sobriety birthday, and he was able to create and follow through with this project because of…
Read MoreAddiction in Young Adults & Failure to Launch Syndrome
Addiction in Young Adults For many young adults, identifying as an addict is a terrifying and foreign notion that doesn’t come easily and isn’t well understood by their peers. The field of addiction is growing and changing every day, with research continually working to identify the factors in the environment and genetic makeup of individuals…
Read MoreDisconnecting to Connect
At Optimum Performance Institute we treat the WHOLE person. While this is a familiar phrase to most, what does “the whole person” actually mean? What constitutes a whole human being? Most think of their minds and bodies as separate parts of a self, whereas treating the whole person means looking beyond a physical diagnosis and…
Read MoreHow to Recognize the 8 Warning Signs of Internet Addiction
For the last two decades, maladaptive Internet use and addiction have been on the rise among adolescents and young adults. Residential and intensive outpatient treatment centers have emerged with treatment programs for Internet addiction. Community centers and college campuses have also begun to address the maladaptive use of online gaming and internet use. The Internet…
Read More10 Lively Ways to Have Sober Fun
Most people struggling with addiction have found it challenging to rebuild their lives on a foundation of sobriety. Each new activity is approached with thoughts like, “How can I do this sober” and “I was only able to do this before because I drank/used.” Life met with sobriety can be a whole new learning process.…
Read MoreThe Reality of Addiction: Bath Salts
Jacqueline Mullis, MA, Director of Addiction Counseling Services at OPI, recently visited La Ventana Treatment Center for an educational seminar on Bath Salts, given by Neva Chauppette, Psy D. The following notes highlight some of Dr. Chaupette’s key points about addiction, and then more specifically, the drug Bath Salts. To begin with, the drug is…
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