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Stigma

Why Do Addicts Attack and Insult Each Other?

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Clinic Reviews / Disease of Addiction / drug addiction / Enabling an Addict / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Nature Vs. Nurture / Relapse / Stigma / Substance Use Disorder / Support / Understanding Addiction
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Why is it that men and women in long term recovery resort to insults and calling other addicts in long term recovery “druggies’, “junkies”, “drug addicts” and other stigmatic names when they’re angry or mad at them?  It just doesn’t make sense.  While men and women in recovery are human and destined to get in arguments with one another, calling one another insulting names that only serves to further stigmatize addicts  in inexcusable.  And it happens all the time.  If addicts in long term recovery can’t stop the stigma, how can we expect others to?

An Addicts Call to Stop the Stigma

Addicts in long-term recovery are desperate for a second chance at life.  And while addiction treatment and recovery provides individuals with addiction issues with that chance, many people who either don’t understand addiction or have never been affected by it in someway often use stigmatizing names like those mentioned …

Why Stigma Hurts, Not Helps!

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Drug Rehab / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction
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Do you remember the book The Scarlet Letter? This novel, written in 1850 and set in a Puritan community in the 1600s, features Hester Prynne, a woman forced to wear a red letter A on her chest. She wears this letter because her fellow townspeople believe she has sinned and should be ashamed of her actions.

Although our society does not shame people by forcing them to wear large, colorful letters, it does sometimes take Puritan approaches when addressing problems. It negatively labels people in other ways. One of ways society labels people is by attaching stigmas to them.

A stigma is a symbol of shame. People assign stigmas to others, but the people who bear such stigmas often internalize them and feel the shame themselves.

People who carry such stigmas often have to bear the burden of their actions (or alleged actions) and the stigmas that others have attached to them.

Effects of …

Saying “Addiction is NOT a Disease” Supports Stigma

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Disease of Addiction / Drug Rehab / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Myths About Addiction / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction
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Stigma toward addiction, in my opinion, is the biggest hurdle that people need to overcome if we want a shot at ending the current opiate and heroin epidemic our Country faces. Stigma is the reason people don’t seek addiction treatment. In their mind the moment they admit to struggling with substance use they will be labeled forever. People end up trying to face it alone with little to no long term success.

The stigma comes from the belief that addiction is not a disease. It’s believed to be a moral failing, a matter of self-control, or that the person suffering just wants to have fun.

The first thing that needs addressing in that statement is that no drug addict is having fun. Nobody wants to be an addict when they grow up, we don’t daydream about becoming one when we are adults either. You either are an addict or you aren’t.

“Addiction …

Addict Vs. “Normie” – Why Doesn’t Everyone Become Addicted?

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Alcohol / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Disease of Addiction / Drug Rehab / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Myths About Addiction / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction
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Why are some people able to drink and even use drugs recreationally (not that it’s a good idea) without actually becoming addicted?   I’ve heard this said more often than not on my journey through addiction and recovery.  “You can just stop”, people will say.  The other day this question came to mind “why did I become addicted?” “Why couldn’t I take one pill, one drink or one bag of heroin and just walk away like 90% of everyone else?” I mean, it truly perplexed me. The notion that I was born with a different chemical, spiritual or even genetic make-up blew my mind. One so specific, that the DNA in my body was imprinted in a code that said “Boy if she ever does one, lets make sure she’ll want two.” What a bizarre trait, seriously.

The trait, characteristic, genetic material that makes one susceptible to the disease of addiction can be compared to finding a …

No Drug Rehab For the Uninsured? This is a Major Problem! Everyone Deserves Treatment!

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Disease of Addiction / Drug Rehab / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / InPatient / Opioid Addiction / Protecting Our Children / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction / What to Expect
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Private drug rehab and addiction treatment center facilities can be a true life-changing experience for those who have the ability and luxury of affording to go.  In fact, Kill The Heroin Epidemic Nationwide is very selective in which drug rehab facilities and addiction treatment centers we recommend and work with.  At the end of the day, those who come to us for addiction treatment need the best help and we want to rest easy knowing that we’ve sent them to an outstanding drug rehab facility.  But what about those who don’t have the right insurance plan or policy?  What about the other 90% of addicts who can’t afford treatment?

Denying Addiction Treatment to the Uninsured and Cashless

Regrettably, not everyone suffering from drug or heroin addiction can afford rehab nor do they have the right insurance policy.  What’s even more unfortunate is that the actual resources available for those who can’t afford it or have no …

The Modern Addict

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Depression / Detox Centers / Disease of Addiction / Drug Rehab / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Poetry / Protecting Our Children / Recommendation / Stigma / What to Expect
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The Modern Addict is a brief first person narrative that demonstrates how today’s addicts are stigmatized and go unnoticed in an otherwise far too busy society.  You can also view The Modern Image on the Huffington Post.

The Modern Addict

I am the modern addict. I am not the dirty “junkie” you perceive me to be. I am the all-star athlete, a good husband and a thoughtful son. I am the nice neighbor in a 3100 square feet beautiful, suburban home with multiple fast cars.

I am the modern addict. I am not a “loser” with no job. I am not a “druggie” with no future. I am the nice looking young man with muscles who holds the door open for the older couple at the grocery store. I am the life of the party and the “go to guy” when someone else is hurting.

I am the modern addict. I don’t live …

Drug Overdose is “Natural Selection” – Wait, What?

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Drug Rehab / Enabling an Addict / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Epidemic / Heroin Treatment Options / Narcan / Overdose / Protecting Our Children / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction / What to Expect
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Some of you may think that the obituary you just scrolled past of a person who overdosed and died was just another “junkie” and it may, in some questionable way please you that “natural selection” is taking its course in America.  Unfortunately, this is what several people tell me on a daily basis.  So is this really “natural selection” taking place?  Of course not.   But who’s really dying?

This is modern day America where many men and women suffering from the disease of addiction are middle class, blue collar, working citizens. Many are your nurses, your police officers, your social workers, your school teachers, your telemarketers, your lawyers and your technicians.  This may sound like a difficult concept to grasp at first – that addiction could effect “good” people.  But I assure you it does.

The Modern Addict

Many individuals – including myself early in life – picture an addict with greasy hair, baggy clothes, missing teeth, dirty …

Why I’m Proud To Be a “Junkie”

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Depression / Disease of Addiction / Drug Rehab / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Myths About Addiction / Naloxone / Narcan / Recommendation / Stigma / Support / Understanding Addiction / What to Expect
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My throat got dry to the point where I swore there was something large lodged in it and my stomach sunk to the floor. “You f***ing junkie!”.  You could have just ripped my beating heart out and held it up to your ear to hear it stop for a minute. I was already so ashamed, so beaten down and I felt so worthless that when I heard the “J” word, I about dropped. It cut me deeper than the wounds I had inflicted on myself. But that was then and this is now.

I get called a junkie all of the time now and I have been in recovery for over 2 years. When I first started doing videos online, the junkie comments would pour in and they would hurt me. “Why does the world hate me? Why is it so vicious towards me? Why don’t they want me to have a …

The Failing War on Drugs – Modern Day Persecution of Drug Addicts

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Center / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Call to Action / Disease of Addiction / Drug Rehab / Enabling an Addict / Family & Friends of Heroin Addicts / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Epidemic / Heroin Treatment Options / Myths About Addiction / Overdose / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction / What to Expect
warondrugsordrugaddicts

A newborn baby has virtually no capacity for emotional regulation. This is why newborns cry until they are held, soothed and comforted. Infants have absolutely no capacity for self-soothing and rely almost completely on external care to feel nurtured and comforted.  Thus, when parents love and nurture their children, endorphins are not only released, but endorphin receptors form and are created by their sweet release. If a baby is loved and nurtured properly, their brains form healthy levels of endorphin receptors and endorphin release. Without love and nurturing, their brains create and possess a deficit of these.  But does a lack of endorphin and its receptors create additional susceptibility to drug use, abuse and addiction?  Why does the world discriminate against men and women who suffer from addiction and what does a “war on drugs” really mean?

The Making of a Drug Addict and How the Brain Responds

Not only do individuals who are susceptible to the

Potential Problems with Methadone & “Liquid Handcuffs” – A Patient’s Point of View

Category:Addiction & Recovery General / Addiction Treatment Centers / Best Treatment Centers Nationwide / Heroin Addiction / Heroin Treatment Options / Long Term Recovery / Medicine Assisted Treatment (MAT) / Methadone / Naltrexone / Recommendation / Stigma / Understanding Addiction / Xanax
methadoneclinic

I have always been an outspoken proponent of medicine assisted treatment which includes methadone, Suboxone and naltrexone. I genuinely believe that all three of these medications can be a valuable tool to help heroin and opioid users conquer their drug addiction. However, every treatment option comes with a laundry list of potential problems along with their inherent benefits. I’ve been thinking long and hard about this recently and have some concerns that I want to share with everyone.

Why Methadone is Called “Liquid Handcuffs”

Now I will admit upfront that I have always hated hearing this. The whole concept of methadone trapping you and keeping you from moving on with your life, hence the term/phrase “liquid handcuffs” bothered me from the very beginning. This is simply because I have seen the power of methadone being used as a valuable tool that has literally taken the heroin needle out of peoples arms and …

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