Author name: Kyle Schwartz

Here’s the scenario: Either yourself or a family member (or loved one) has made the COURAGEOUS decision to seek out professional treatment for their alcohol or substance abuse addiction.

I am a father, a son, and a brother, I have two daughters of my own. Funny thing being a son, as a son I just thought about what I wanted out of life, what was next for me. As I became a young adult, I never really thought about much more than that, I guess that’s just part of growing up.

Several years ago we had two members of our family hit their respective bottoms in rapid succession. For me, this was a brand new experience. Of course, I had put my family through the turmoil, horror, and pain of dealing with the consequences of my own alcoholism 12 years earlier.

Beginning in the early 1980’s researchers began studying individual resilience. That is, an individual’s ability to withstand and recover from traumatic experiences. Before this research, it was common to view people through a deterministic lens.

Typically in this blog, we try and bring our readers topics that will inform, educate, and inspire. At the risk of seeming self-indulgent, I wanted to spend some time today highlighting eight things I feel make Granite Mountain BHC special.

Much of the research into addiction shows that unresolved conflict within a family is a significant causal factor in the start of symptomatic addictive behavior. Within the family, we develop patterns of behavior and styles of relating that form the basis of our future social interactions and relationships.

Addiction can be defined as self-induced changes in the neurochemistry of the brain that result in negative consequences and unhealthy behavior. Many individuals employ various methods to change their neurochemistry in healthy ways such as meditation, exercise, certain forms of therapy, and others.