Category: Addiction Treatment

Looking Back On The Trouble and Turmoil

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.  Until I had the experience first hand of watching a family member go through their struggles with addiction, I didn’t have the empathy or compassion necessary to really understand the anguish I had caused those that loved me. For me personally, this was a very challenging time while at the same time it gave me a deeper appreciation of the pain caused by addiction to those who are bound by affection to an addict.  This has been an inspiration in my work and in my personal life. Below is a bit of that story.

At the time I was working for a Fortune 100 company managing an office of approximately 65 salespeople and staff, I had a young family with a wife and daughter, as well as, many community and recovery based commitments. The first thing I learned during this time is that life is not put on hold so that you can better meet the challenge.  On a typical day, I would talk to 3 generations of my family about our loved one before making it to my office in the morning. I would help my Grandmother try and understand that addiction is a disease that her loved ones were suffering from and that there was nothing she could do to change that, and most importantly that it wasn’t her fault. I would try to counsel my mom on how best to set limits and support her resolve to do so regarding family. On most days I would talk to 2-3 more relatives all before attempting to get through my workday productively and show up in the evening for my family. I was often left feeling like the guy in the old Vaudeville act where he runs up and down the stage spinning plates on sticks. The minute he seems to get them all spinning one begins to wobble, so he runs down to the other side of the stage and sets the wobbler spinning again. He breathes a deep sigh only to need to sprint to the others side of the stage to catch the next plate which has begun precariously wobbling itself. The strain was causing me to start to wobble.

Many days I found myself too emotionally drained to be productive or present. Often I had trouble falling asleep at night. I would lie in bed worried about my family, and unable to let go of the stress and strain.  I wasn’t exercising enough, and my eating habits weren’t great. In short, I wasn’t taking care of myself.

Getting The Right Help, And How It Happened

After being in long-term recovery for many years, I still found myself overwhelmed by the stress of coping with a loved one who was suffering from addiction.  I found it extremely hard to balance the demands of life during this time of crisis and transition. The great news is both my family members were able to get the help they needed.  They are both now in long-term recovery themselves and are doing great. Our family moved forward together and now are closer than ever. The experience taught me, and I’d like to share some of that with you.  Please find below a short list of lessons learned, and things I might do differently if this were to happen again.

1. Absolutely, manage your own self-care. Take care of yourself emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. As much as possible get enough sleep. Exercise regularly for both the physical and psychological benefits.  Eat well. In short, do everything you can to make sure your needs are taken care of. To take care of anyone else, we must take care of ourselves.
2. Pursue your own healing. Addiction doesn’t happen in a vacuum.  Most likely if a family member is symptomatic with addiction there is unprocessed trauma or stress within the family system.  If true, this is affecting all members of the family. We may find ourselves so preoccupied with our family members that we are unaware of the true nature of our own emotional and mental state.  Engaging in your own process of healing not only will help you personally but may also serve as an example to your loved one.
3. Know your own limits and stand up for them.  When a loved one is in crisis, it can be easy to fall into a mode of perpetually responding to them and their behavior.  We love our family and want to take care of them, this is natural. It is important though that we try not to take on a level of responsibility within the situation that hinders our ability to carry on with our lives.  

Create a plan for how the family as a system will deal with an emergency. An excellent suggestion is to ensure that every family member has a “buddy” they can call in a crisis. This provides both that no one need handle a crisis individually and that no one individual within the family ends up inundated continuously by the crisis.

Have someone outside of your family that is unaffected by the current circumstance that you can lean on for support. Sometimes we need an objective voice, other times we need a shoulder to cry on. Identify someone in your circle that you can rely on in this way and let them know who they are. This person can become an integral level of support for you.

I hope that these three lessons I learned can be helpful to others. My story might be inspirational to some readers that they too can weather the storm of addiction.  That there is light at the end of the tunnel.

At Granite Mountain, we are here to answer any questions or concerns.  Please contact us through our website or by phone at 844-878-3221. Reach out anytime, we are here to help.

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob

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To get help for substance use disorder today contact us today

How Families Can Become More Resilient in the Face of Adversity

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. The traumatic experiences he or she had survived informed and primarily determined the sort of person he or she would become.  In this view, if one were the victim of child abuse, they would go on to become a perpetrator themselves. Over time many experts recognized that this presumption was not born out in actual practice. Most who were the victims of abuse did not go on to become abusers, most people who survived great disasters natural or human-made went on to thrive in life.  This observation contradicted the established deterministic view and caused a surge of research into what is now known as human resilience. Viewed through the resilience lens an individual who has survived trauma is not regarded as “damaged” rather they are seen as having been challenged by life and as having the innate abilities to foster their healing. An entire new discipline within psychology is growing around these ideas.  

Around the turn of this century, psychologists began looking into resilience within a family system.  This work has expanded our understanding of what constitutes a thriving family system in adverse situations.  Resilience within a family system enables the family to face and successfully respond to challenging circumstances and to grow as a family through these experiences.  The family resilience framework views each family member not only in regards to his or her capacity but also in light of his or her potential impact on the strength of the family as a functioning system.  Resilience is a skill that can be learned and refined within individuals and family systems. In this article, I will present a framework of skills and attitudes which if practiced can maximize a families ability to confront and overcome challenging crises situations, thereby assisting the family in facing their current and future challenges more successfully.  

Based on the work of Dr. Froma Walsh we will consider three broad categories of processes involved in a family resilience framework: family belief systems, organizational patterns, and communication processes.

Systems of Belief

Talking about the narratives we tell ourselves

The stories we tell ourselves about our past, our present, and our future shape what we believe about ourselves as individuals, how we approach the world around us, and what options we feel are open to us.  Similarly, the stories a family tells one another about the family and its history shape the families systems of belief. This family belief system dramatically influences how the family views their shared history, their current situation, and their possible futures.  What a family believes will be a primary determinant in how they approach times of extreme stress.

Making meaning out of adversity

Looking past crisis to see what’s going on

Whether a family views a crisis as permanent, inevitable, and insurmountable or as temporary, comprehensible, and manageable may only be a matter of the stories the family decides to tell themselves about the event.  The shared story has a profound impact on the families ability to overcome the challenge and remain a connected family unit. Experiences are just that, things that happen, the meaning we decide both individually and collectively to ascribe to the state of affairs will largely determine how we can move past them successfully.   

Successful family systems have a sense of adversity as a shared experience and share a belief in the family’s ability to overcome the challenge together.  By relying on the family system, individual family members increase their ability to meet a crisis successfully. Also, by contextualizing and normalizing the distress of the family, the individuals can see their reaction and challenges, as well as, those of other family members as reasonable in the context of the current difficulties.  The understanding of crisis within the context of the family’s evolution allows them to see challenges as meaningful, understandable, and manageable challenges rather than viewing them as incomprehensible and insurmountable. By understanding obstacles as a shared challenge, normalizing the shared adversity, and understanding crisis as an essential experience within a family’s evolution we become better able to understand the experience and move toward exploring a more robust set of options for how to manage the situation. 

Keeping A Positive Outlook

Maintaining a positive attitude and an optimistic outlook for the future can be very challenging, this is never truer than in the face of great adversity.  If a family can maintain a positive outlook, it has a tremendous impact on the family’s ability to move through trouble successfully. The highest functioning families have been found to hold more optimistic views of life in general and appear more able to maintain this point of view during times of high stress.  

By encouraging family members in times of stress, affirming for one another the strengths inherent in the family, a family system can bolster the positive attitude needed to overcome the current challenge.  Encouragement can counter the sense of hopelessness during these times and enable family members to act with courage and perseverance in surmounting a challenge. A focus on strengths and perseverance are calling cards of resilience.  

I have seen this demonstrated in my own life.  My wife was thirty weeks pregnant with our second child at the time that her water broke, this is far too early and was an immediate medical emergency.  My wife was on total bedrest for thirty days at the hospital to forestall delivery. Throughout this period of stress, she experienced the full range of emotions, as one would imagine.   We are fortunate to live in proximity to family and many friends. Over the thirty days I watched as each visitor affirmed for my wife that she was capable, they reminded her of other experiences she had been through that were very challenging and how she had surmounted those obstacles, and always encouraged her to continue to stay strong.  When she reflects on this experience, she reports how during times of greatest despair she would recall these conversations and how they provided the strength to make it through one more day.

Additionally, my wife will recount that her commitment to only focusing on the elements of the experience that were controllable enabled her to stay focused on positive actions she could take.  The research shows this is much more than a mental trick. Having a positive mindset is not about fooling oneself about potential risks or realities of a particular circumstance. Instead, it is about dwelling in the possible.  That is, the ability to take a realistic appraisal of a situation, what are the possible outcomes, and then focusing time, energy, and effort on creating the best possible resolution for a given set of circumstances. In the case of our family it wasn’t that her positive attitude and perseverance changed the outcome of my sons birth, but these traits enabled Aimy not to give up,  Her strength, in turn, inspired the rest of our family, allowing all of us to experience both the challenge and the good of the experience. When we look back on this time now we think of it not primarily as a challenging time; rather our family story is one of love, connection, and strength. We all agree that it was one of the most important experiences we have shared and that it brought us together as a family, and to top it off we were able to add another member to our family.

 

The Importance of Transcendent Belief and Affiliation

Finding a power to propel you

Traditionally most people were able to tap into inner resilience through religious affiliation and practice.  Many people still do, for those that don’t actively participate in a spiritual tradition, it is essential to understand what the mechanisms are within these traditions that allow people to tap previously unseen strength and resilience.  Research has found that attachment to ritual tradition, connections to a congregation, and a belief structure that extends beyond one’s specific place and time are the crucial elements.

Ritual traditions have been prominent in every culture of which we are aware.  Rituals are employed to mark the significant transitions in life, moving from childhood to adulthood, partner coupling, the birth of children, death, and many others.  If not members of a tradition which includes these types of rites and rituals it can be crucial for a family to make a conscious effort to develop personal family traditions that celebrate these transitions.  Familial rituals can ease the stress associated with a change allowing members of the family to embrace significant life events instead of associating stress and negativity with these times.

We have many sayings in common usage that illustrate the understanding that connection and community are essential elements of human life.  “It takes a village,” “strength in numbers” for example. In times of high-stress deep connections to a community provide relief from stress and other negative emotions associated with the current crisis.  We don’t feel alone and have opportunities to be involved in the lives of others taking the focus off our problems.

Religious traditions provide a framework of belief that extends beyond our circumstances and gives individuals the ability to understand their challenges within a broader context.  Being able to take this more comprehensive view helps to lessen the perceived stress of a crisis. When families are overwhelmed with crisis transcendent beliefs, and broad community connections enable them to imagine a better future, cope with stress, and encourage a full sense of their ability to move forward into the future.  These are crucial elements of resilience.

This concludes part one of this multi-part series.  In part two I will examine how our understanding of family structure, connectedness, and a families social and economic resources impact resilience within a family system.  

If we can help answer any questions or concerns please contact us through our website or by phone at 844-878-3221, we are here to help.

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell.

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For those seeking help for substance use disorder don’t hesitate to reach out to us today.

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.  While I have a vested interest in the work we do, I am incredibly proud of our facility, and everyone who works for us. We were founded in a collective effort to improve on the typical treatment experience.  Every single person who works with us shares our vision of creating a recovery community that is second to none. We try to accomplish this lofty goal at every level of our facility. Below I have attempted to provides some examples of the things that, to me, make us so unique, and why, I think you’ll love us: 

1. Recover Strong

Recover Strong is the cornerstone of our treatment model.  It is an innovative approach to treating substance use disorder and its common comorbidities.  Based on the neuroscience of addiction, Recover Strong is a therapeutic modality which endeavors to unlock the brain’s potential to heal itself.  It does this through engaging the natural functions of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. Physical movement is an integral part of our evolutionary past, we have evolved to move.  Each time our Recover Strong group meets we begin with a warm-up, and then head directly into the WOD (workout of the day). This workout is purposely designed so that each participant is able to push themselves to their personal level of exertion for the day.  Each time in the gym we are aiming to have all participants get their heart rate to 75%-85% of max heart rate for 30-40 minutes. Hitting these two markers creates some extraordinary effects in the brain. The direct impact of increased information processing capacity and the flood of hormones into the mind will last for 2-4 hours.  Our trainers and other staff who are present ensure that whether a particular patient is an advanced athlete or someone who hasn’t worked out in years they are able to work out in a safe and supportive environment. The community and camaraderie that has grown around Recover Strong is something that needs to be seen to be believed.

2. Small in Size, Big in Heart

At Granite Mountain BHC we have made the conscious choice to keep our community small in size. It is of paramount importance to us that we ensure that each patient has truly individualized care.   Suffering from addiction is often lonely and isolated. It is one of our core beliefs that creating an authentic connection is essential to recovery, and we work hard to create a community that encourages these relationships to form.  With a low staff to patient ratio, we are able to make sure that each patient has as much individualized care as he or she needs. At Granite Mountain, each patient becomes an integral part of our community. We believe that while we may all serve different roles within the community each is an indispensable part of the whole. 

3. Innovative Treatment

The treatment industry is in many respects stuck in the past.  Many treatment facilities base their clinical approach on scientific research that is several decades old.  It is hard to imagine another healthcare environment where this would be the case. At Granite Mountain, we believe that when people’s lives are on the line “good enough” isn’t good enough.  We are continually finding ways to bring the newest and most significant research being done in the field to bear for the benefit of our patients and their families. Whether it is through the utilization of a neuro-scientific approach to addiction or utilizing some of the latest developments in the treatment of trauma we are continually striving to create better more permanent outcomes for our patients.

4.  Beautiful Natural Setting

Serenity may ultimately be an internal experience of one’s own consciousness, but it is often inspired by peaceful surroundings and the pure sublimity of nature.  Nestled in the high desert beauty of Northern Arizona, Granite Mountain BHC has its share of both. Our patients are treated to natural splendor on a daily basis. Each day we invite patients and staff to enjoy the sun and views from our facility. Additionally, we make many planned excursions into the local state and national parks including Sedona and the Grand Canyon. 

5.  Homestyle living

While a patient of Granite Mountain each person lives in a single family home style residence.  Each home is comfortable and well appointed. We have purposely avoided the institutional feel associated with many treatment programs.  We want our community members to feel comfortable and at ease while with us. After a long day of therapy, volunteering, or work it is great to be able to unwind in the comfort of one’s own home.  Whether watching TV, reading a book, or chatting with one’s housemates or one of the on-site staff, this time at the end of each day is often reported to be the most valuable. This style of housing also enables us to create a therapeutic environment that approximates living at home.  Patients are able to work with staff on many of the life skills that will be needed upon graduation.

6.  Commitment not Compliance

Too often when entering treatment, a new patient is greeted with a long list of “rules” that must be followed.  These rules aim to create compliance within the community. There is no evidence that this is an effective mechanism to generate long-term recovery.   We believe that for adults to recover they need to be engaged in their recovery process. One of the primary ways we accomplish this is by tapping into a patient’s fundamental commitment to growth.  Commitment, not compliance is the path to real change.

 7.  Committed and Involved Staff

The first thing most visitors notice when they attend our Recover Strong group for the first time is that our staff are in the gym sweating alongside our patients.  Our therapists, our house managers, and even our Executive Director, we all participate. You can’t just talk about community you have to build it actively. Our staff is hand selected for experience, training, and commitment to our patients.   No challenge is too big or problem too small for us. If it is troubling a member of our community, it is our top priority. Our leadership team is on site daily and is integrally involved in all aspects of community life. This sets the tone for the care and dedication we expect.  In addition to being “employees,” our staff are models of recovery for our patients. This is a responsibility all of our team take very seriously.

 8.  A Community dedicated to healing body, mind, and spirit

We are a community that believes in healing the whole person.  Our dedication to implementing innovative solutions to addiction, creating a community of authentic connection, and to all of our community members is what sets us apart and makes us a special place to be. 

Come schedule a visit at our facility and see for yourself what there is to love about Granite Mountain BHC.

Please reach out to us if we can answer any questions or provide other assistance, we are here to help.  We can be reached through our website or by phone at 844-878-3221

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell

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To get help for substance use disorder today please contact us today

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. When a family’s ability to cope with stressors and process traumatic experience breaks down many of its members may begin to exhibit symptoms of substance and process addiction, suicidality, depression, and a host of other challenges. These effects are not limited to the current generation. Often, once this cycle locks in place, its effects may continue into perpetuity unless a family addresses the underlying causes.  On the other hand, when a family can be equipped with the tools and skills to resolve the conflict they can change outcomes not just for the current generation but for future generations of the family as well.

In this article, I will examine the implications of the work of Landau and Garrett as presented in their landmark paper “Family Motivation to Change.”  Their work in Transitional Family Therapy provides many useful insights for any family suffering from addiction. By harnessing the inner strength and resilience of a family system, we can leverage the family’s motivation to change and improve the outcomes for several generations.

Transitional Family Therapy

Doing the work at home will help create a better family atmosphere  

In the Transitional Family Therapy (TFT) model the primary goal is to equip families with the ability to identify the tools and other resources that can enable the family to access their inner strength and resilience so that they can become the source of healing.  In this sense, TFT is an empowerment model of therapy. TFT “views the family as intrinsically competent, resilient, and healthy and the family can be a resource for individuals in times of stress” (Landau, Garrett, 2007). Most often TFT is a therapeutic model wherein the family system itself becomes the primary driver of change.  Change is accomplished through helping a family identify their competencies, strengths, and equipping a family with a belief in their ability to overcome transitional conflicts. Most often this enables a family not only to overcome current challenge but also makes it possible for them to handle future stress to the family system more efficiently, thereby limiting future symptomatic behaviors of individual members, including substance and process addiction.

Stigma still surrounds addiction and those suffering from it.  It is easy to view an addict’s behavior and assume that he or she lacks the willpower to stop, has a character flaw that is driving behavior, or is merely amoral.  While in some cases these observations may have some truth to them modern science conclusively demonstrates that addiction is a brain disease. However, the onset of substance use disorder is often left unaddressed in the research.  The Transitional Family Therapy model views the start of addiction as an adaptive response to a family system being asked to cope with more transitional conflict than it is equipped to handle. Please note that this is not limited to chemical addiction, process addiction, some forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and many other symptomatic responses of individuals may be attributable to this overload.  There is a great deal of research that has studied individual response to stress and has shown that on average an individual can effectively process three to four life transitions at one time. Life transitions can be anything from a job change or new child being born, to the untimely death of a loved one or forced migration due to geopolitical or natural causes. When one faces more than these three or four transitions within a limited timeframe, he or she will begin to suffer deleterious effects to their well being.  A family, as a collection of individuals, will experience the same results.

When a family system becomes overloaded with transitional conflict, one or more members will begin manifesting a symptomatic response; sometimes this causes the onset of addiction.  This response is an adaptive response to the stress placed on the family system. It can be viewed as an effort (albeit unconscious) by an individual within the family system to keep the family bond intact at times of overwhelming stress and upheaval.  This is done by taking the family’s attention away from the trauma caused by transitional conflict and by drawing the family together to deal with the problems associated with the new behavior. Now the addiction itself becomes the source of family closeness.  When the symptoms of the addiction begin to subside the grief related to past trauma will resurface, which serves to reinforce the “need” for the problem of addiction. Once set this cycle will be transmitted across generations until the time the family can resolve the underlying trauma.  

   The Family Healing Process

Allowing for time to heal and mend can help gain a new perspective

When a family can make the transition from viewing the symptoms of addiction as a shortcoming or as isolated incidences with some members of the family and can begin to understand it as an adaptive response to trauma that served to hold a family together they are on their way.  This understanding alleviates feelings of shame which hinder recovery and can create a space within which the current members of the family can better recognize their resilience and strength.

When this transition occurs within a family system not only are the individual members who are suffering the symptoms of addiction able to begin the recovery process but, indeed, all members of the family can start the healing process.  

Ironically, it is the same strength within a family system that created the initial adaptive behavior (an individual becoming addicted) that ultimately brings freedom from suffering.  To see this, remember that the initial adaptation was an unconscious attempt to ease the pain of the family and keep close family connectedness. By shifting the attention away from the current instantiation of conflict, the ongoing effects of addiction, and instead placing it on the family system as a whole we can address the underlying trauma within the system.  As this work is undertaken by an increasing number of the members of a family, the addiction itself becomes redundant and will no longer be efficacious within the context of the family.

Often there exists the mistaken belief that addiction is a personal challenge to be met by the individual.  On the contrary, research indicates that an addict’s family is an indispensable component of the recovery journey.  A family’s commitment to change is often as significant as the addict’s.

Any member of a family can break the cycle of addiction.  Once decided, bringing the family together is indispensable.  It is ideal to include all members of the family. Doing so harnesses the inherent strength and power of the family support system to heal.  A demonstrable correlation has been shown in studies between family involvement and an increase in treatment uptake rate, and also in individual patients being more likely to complete treatment.  A family’s core strength is in its care, love, and loyalty to each other and it is these strengths that are needed to help the family overcome the cycle of addiction.

It is my sincere hope that this article is informative and encouraging to all who read it.  We at Granite Mountain BHC are dedicated to helping families and individuals break the cycle of addiction.  We are here to help. Please contact us through our website or by phone at 844-878-3221.

Until next  time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell

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Landau and Garrett, “Family Motivation to Change: A Major Factor in Engaging Alcoholics in Treatment.”  Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. Vol 25, No. ½, 2007. Pgs 65-83

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To get help for substance use disorder today call 1-844-878-3221 today or reach out to us through our website

Spotting the signs that your loved one could be using could help save their lives

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.  Most people will even engage in some activities that cause changes in neurochemistry and are neutral such as, social consumption of alcohol, social gambling,eating, and many others. It can be challenging to identify when a loved one’s behavior has progressed from health behavior into addictive behavior.

Addiction to a substance differs from social usage in important ways.  First, addictive behavior results in negative consequences and unhealthy behavior. Second, addiction (when it is chemically based) is typically accompanied by increased tolerance for and dependence on a substance or substances.  Further, addicts typically express feelings of being out of control running parallel with a feeling that they don’t know how to stop. It is worth noting here that in the early stages of addiction it is often the case that the addict is suffering from high acuity levels of delusion and cognitive dissonance that inhibit their ability to properly self-diagnose and take personal responsibility for their actions. Addiction is a lethal disease and the earlier it can be identified and addressed the better, as the likelihood of recovery is then increased.  It is never too early to begin addressing a loved one’s behavior. Honest conversation with friends and family is indispensable.

In this article I will present three early warning signs that can help identify an addiction in a loved one.  This list is not meant to be comprehensive. If you are concerned with a loved one consultation with a professional is advisable.  

1. Behavioral Changes

The first category we will consider are changes in behavior.  Be on the lookout for:

• Increased mood swings
• Increased secrecy or demands for privacy
• Dramatic changes in sleep patterns or energy levels
• Lying and other deceptive behaviors including stealing
• Dramatic change in disposition (introvert suddenly becomes an extrovert or the opposite)

You know your loved one well.  If he or she is a family member you may have lived with him or her for many years.  If you notice major deviation from the behavioral norms he or she has expressed over the years this is cause for concern.  There are of course many potential causes in change in behavior, that said, at the very least you owe it to your loved one to investigate the possible causes of the change and will want to begin paying closer attention.  If you observe that these changes in behavior are happening in concert with the sort of changes discussed below you have cause to be very concerned.

2.  Social Changes

Social changes can take many forms but it is almost always the case that they are an escalation from behavioral changes.  This is not to say that one will necessarily notice the behavioral manifestations first. Yet, if you do notice social changes in your loved one this ought to be considered as a progression in severity.   Examples of these are:

• Absenteeism from work or school
• Loss of interest in hobbies and other pursuits
• Inability to meet family and social obligations
• Sudden change in friend group

Over time active addiction will consume increasing amounts of an individual’s time and attention.  This renders the individual unable to maintain involvement in and connection to the activities that used to provide meaning to his or her life.  During this stage of active addiction the consequences of one’s actions begin to accumulate. Loss of job, poor grades, loss of friends, and others can be anticipated.  Often early in this phase their will be stories and justifications the addict will express in an effort to explain the results to themselves and to others. Over time these stories will become less plausible.  Often when questioned the addict will become angry and attempt to escalate the situation rather than address the issue head on.

3.  Physical Changes

If your loved one’s addiction has progressed to the stage where there are obvious physical changes to their person he or she is in a serious condition which needs to be addressed immediately.  Delay at this stage may prove catastrophic. Be wary if you observe any of the following:

• Rapid fluctuation in weight
• Skin has a grey or yellow hue
• Limited responsiveness to stimulation
• Persistent itchy skin, excessive scratching
• Trembling in hands
• Dilated or constricted pupils
• “Track marks” marks left by persistent injection

Any of the three above observable categories of change are a cause for concern and should be addressed.  Two or more is highly suggestive of active addiction and all three is substantially conclusive. It is never too early to begin honest dialogue if you are concerned with a loved one, and it is never too late to intervene.  It is always better to overreact to these warning signs than to under-react.

While addiction is a serious and deadly disease it is treatable and many people do recover and go on to lead fulfilling lives.  If you are concerned that a loved one is struggling with addiction consult with a therapeutic professional, treatment center, intervention specialist, or all three.  There are many tools at your disposal in trying to help a loved one into recovery.

If you are concerned and need help please reach out to us at Granite Mountain BHC through our website or by phone at (844)878-3221 we are here to help.

Until next time

Your friend in Service,

Rob

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If yourself or somebody you love is struggling with substance use disorder please call us today! We understand what you are going through and are here to help.

How Will It Be Different This Time Around?

If you or a loved one has been through treatment for substance use disorder one or more times in one or more different facilities, and have yet to find lasting recovery, you are most likely asking yourself what will be different this time. This is a question which can plague the thoughts of those attached by bonds of affection to an addict. While there is no simple answer to this question I do believe I can give some helpful suggestions which can greatly increase the likelihood of success. 

When dealing with any disease of the brain, such as addiction, it is very challenging to know how to help a loved one “fix” their problem.  One reason for this is that brain science is still very much in its adolescent period. Our understanding of the brain and its functions is growing rapidly, but it has only been in  the relatively recent past that we have been able to begin to understand its functioning. This is as true with our understanding of addiction as it is for any other brain disease, as a result we are in the very beginning of our ability, as a community, to offer comprehensive solutions for those suffering from addiction.

Another aspect of the difficulty is that addiction is characterized by problems of perception.  Addicts suffer from high levels of delusion, cognitive dissonance, and other perceptual challenges that can make self-report and consistent decision making challenging, at best. The behavior patterns that can follow from these perceptual challenges can make assessment and treatment hard to manage for an individual.  

Third, and not unimportantly, the social stigma surrounding addiction can make it hard for an individual to feel confident in seeking needed help.  This is true certainly true leading up to the initiation of treatment. It is also true during recovery, when an addict may be suffering internally but is unwilling or unable to ask for the help he or she needs.

Commitment to Change

“Nothing Changes Until You Change Something”

Having a commitment to change is indispensable for the addict themselves. Much has already been written about this elsewhere. For our purposes today I am talking about the families commitment to change.  Often within a family afflicted with addiction there are dynamics that exist that are preventing each member from experiencing happiness and contentment.   Living with an addict and trying to cope with his or her behavior is most often a tremendous strain on loved ones.

One such dynamic that can develop is a tendency to treat information and secrets as a form of emotional currency.  When this is present within a family unit, trust and connection are the price paid. Left unchecked this can result in one or more members of the family suffering some form of attachment disorder. Instead of secrets and individual alliances transparency and togetherness need to be the aim.  Finding time and methods to communicate with one another honestly and transparently is vitally important for both the addict and his or her family.

Another form of trouble can be enabling behavior of members of the family toward an addict. This can take many forms but the simplest may be providing material support in the form or financial assistance (for rent, phone, car, other bills, etc).   In my experience very few addicts recover while they are still able depend on others for material support. For long term recovery it is indispensable that recovering addicts feel the full weight of responsibility for their lives. Of course we want to encourage this to happen in safe ways, that said, its importance cannot be overstated.  

Above are just two examples of the ways in which an addict’s behavior can impact a family, and the healing that needs to take place for a family to begin moving in a healthier direction together.  These changes can be quite difficult, especially if long standing patterns of behavior are present. Both individual and family counseling can be a great help. There are also many support groups, such as ALANON and ALATEEN, for the families of addicts that can be incredibly helpful.

Creating a Life of Meaning and Connection

A Happy Life Is A Life With Meaning and Purpose

Years of active addiction causes a hyperactivity within the stress and avoidance centers of the brain (primarily within the amygdala, and ventral hippocampus).  Practically speaking this means that within an addicts brain stress is felt more acutely than in the brain of an average person. There is no greater stress for humans, as social animals, than exclusion.  Throughout the years of active addiction addicts have lived lonely lives. This, of course, is primarily driven by their own behavior. The brain can heal itself, through a process of neuro-regeneration, but this takes time.   It is crucial then, especially in early recovery, that an addict is able to create a lifestyle that is centered around connection and community. This of course, can take many forms. Involvement with a 12-step fellowship or other recovery community is a great start.  Ideally though, the move toward connection should not end there. Family involvement, meaningful work, volunteerism, and social hobbies can all be utilized to create connection, community, and meaning in the life of a recovering addict.

Moving Toward Impactful Aftercare

Treatment Is Just The Beginning To A Life Long Journey Into Long-Term Recovery

Addiction is most often accompanied by one or more underlying co-morbidities. Most often unprocessed trauma or a mental health condition. It is imperative for long term recovery that these co-morbidities be addressed with a professional on an ongoing basis.  Treatment in most facilities lasts for between 30 and 90 days. This is truly not enough time to fully treat any trauma or mental health challenge. Increasingly, treatment centers are taking an active role in helping patients connect with professionals within a patient’s local area to continue the work that is started while under the care of the facility.  If a patient or the family is not given these resources from a facility they need to take it upon themselves to seek them out. Even in cases where there is no co-morbidity present it can be wise to continue treatment at a lower acuity level. This can take the form of out-patient treatment, or work with a local addiction specialist.

While the above should not be considered a comprehensive picture of how to make treatment succesful it can be regarded as creating a helpful starting point. Each individual and each family will have their own needs and consultation with one or more professionals is advisable. That said if:

1. If the family moves together in the direction of long term health
2. The addict can create a life of connection and community
3. And, a meaningful aftercare plan is put in place and executed

Then, you will be well on your way toward lasting recovery.  If after reading this you have any questions or you feel that we, at Granite Mountain, can be of any assistance to you and your family please do contact us through our website or by phone at 844-878-3221 we are here to help.

Until next time
Your friend in service,

Rob Campbell

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If you or someone you love is in need of help for substance use disorder don’t hesitate to call us. Reach out to us today to get the help you need and the life you deserve.

It can often be challenging speaking to a loved one about their substance use.  In the past, when we have tried to do so we have most likely met with resistance, denial, and anger.  These past experiences and the inertia of the current state of affairs can sometimes make us hesitant.  We are watching our loved one slowly descend into the depths of addiction, we feel we have tried all we can to help and yet it seems to not have had an impact.  In desperation we have begun investigating treatment options but now don’t know how to approach our loved one on the subject. Caught between fear, desperation, and sadness it can be hard to know how to proceed.  In the following article I have attempted to compile a list of tips that can make the seeming mountain into a molehill. This list can be used as a reference point for facilitating open and honest dialog. Any one of the following will prove useful, the more of these tactics one is able to employ the more likely a positive outcome becomes.

1. An Invitation To Interrogate The Truth

Fault finding and blame are to be avoided.  Instead we ought to try to invite our loved one, if possible, into a conversation that interrogates the truth and attempts tp create a shared reality.

Communication between any two people can be challenging.  Argument and misunderstanding arise when we argue over reality.  Effective communication takes place when two people are able to interrogate the truth of a matter.  Each has a view of the truth that is filtered through their subjective experience, beliefs, emotions, and values. Neither parties view of the subject is objective, neither is wholly right.   In order to create understanding we must invite our partner into a dialogue that interrogates the truth, rather than disputes it. When we are able to interrogate the truth together we have an opportunity to create a shared truth that both can agree on.  

First, this should, if possible be a planned conversation.  In a time of crisis it is better to have the conversation than not.  That said, we should plan to have this conversation at a time when all parties involved will be relaxed, not pressured for time, and are in a good place emotionally.  Also, if possible, this conversation should take place in a location that the addict is most likely to feel safe and comfortable. One can begin by saying something like the following:

“I would like to better understand how you’ve been feeling lately…”

“I have become concerned that life is not headed in a positive direction for you, how are you feeling?”

“Can you help me understand…..”

We want to stick to open ended questions that invite explanation from the other party.  Avoiding blame, and other tactics that create defensiveness is imperative.

2. Utilizing Authentic, Honest Communication

When emotions are running high, hurt and misunderstanding pervade, and we are feeling raw and rundown, argument, fault finding and blame can be easy to fall into.  It takes a high level of emotional intelligence and preparation to avoid these. What the situation calls for is authentic and honest communication. We are attempting to create understanding.  We need to share from our side of the street. How we feel, what our experience has been, our view on the situation. As a great friend of mine once shared with me, “we need to stay within our hula hoop.”  What he meant by this is that my thinking and my words need to remain focused on my personal experience of a situation while remaining open to acknowledging and validating the other parties claim to their own experience.  If we imagine spinning a hula hoop around our hips, I need to be responsible for the part of the shared experience that is taking place within the space of the hula hoop. It is my responsibility to reflect this experience clearly, authentically, and with compassion.

3. Creating A Shared Truth

The point of the proceeding is to bring your family to a shared reality.  Within which each party in the conversation feels heard, valued, and validated.  We are working to avoid arguing over the truth, the facts of the matter. Rather we are working to create an atmosphere of authenticity, and shared truth.  If we have done this (in some cases for the first time) we have begun to feel increased empathy and compassion for one another. Use this as a check on your progress.  Ask yourself, what does the body language of the participants tell me? Is it open and relaxed? Closed and stressed? Is there eye contact or avoidance behavior? If you have been successful you are well on your way.  If not, there are other tools which can be employed which are discussed below.

4. Speaking With Kindness And Connection

Dealing with an addict and the aftermath of their behavior can be extremely challenging.  It is easy to allow the addicts behavior to affect our mental and emotional states to the point where we ourselves become withdrawn, angry, and bitter.  If this happens it is important to recognize it and to address it within ourselves. We cannot help another if we are not firsts taking care of ourselves.  Work to ensure that your emotional needs are being met, you are getting plenty or rest, and are taking care of yourself physically. It is important that you have an outlet to release the emotional pressure living with the addict is creating.  Consulting with friends, family members whom are not directly impacted, or membership in a support group can be incredible resources for coping with the situation.

5. Help The Addict Understand The Toll Their Use Is Taking

Addiction is characterized by an inability to perceive accurately the impact one’s behavior is having on those around them.  Speaking as an addict myself, I was unaware of the extent to which my choices and behavior was having on those around me. From the outside this may seem incomprehensible yet, it is true.  Expressing honestly, and without blame the full scope of the impact that an addicts behavior is having on those he or she loves can be a powerful tool. It is often wise to spend some time prior to expressing this to an addict writing down one’s thoughts on the matter.  This will help to ensure that the conversation can happen without rancor or blame. Simply, we want to aim at taking responsibility for our own emotional reality. Additionally, we want to be able to highlight the actual cost associated with living with an addict. For example, I often find myself speaking to mothers and fathers who have become so occupied playing the role of banker, nurse, policeman, that they no longer are able to simply be a parent to a son or daughter.

6. Understanding Leverage

Using “leverage” can be a very effective way to obtain ascent from one who needs treatment.  Using leverage amounts to the removal of material support provided by the family to the addict until such time as the addict enters or successfully completes treatment.  For example if the family is paying the addicts rent. The continued support of rent can be used as leverage to obtain the addicts assent to enter treatment. Removing material support from an addict can be a powerful tool to motivate a decision to enter treatment.  

For many this is their first port of call when trying to help a loved one into treatment.  I disagree with this approach. In my experience this sort of consequence driven communication should be used as a last resort.  I believe this for several reasons.

First, addicts more than most people crave connection, utilizing leverage or other consequence models of communication inherently create opposition rather than connection.  Your loved one is suffering from a brain disease that lies outside their ability to control or comprehend. He or she feels isolated, alone, and desperate. This is true whether or not he or she is able to verbalize these facts.  As stated above inviting one into a conversation which shares truth, is full of honest communication, authenticity, and kindness, is to be preferred as it will inherently create connection.

Second, once a consequence is expressed it must be upheld.  This has the potential to create increased hardship for the family as a whole. As it now has the dual role of dealing with the addicts behavior and with managing whatever consequences were agreed upon.  

If a family elects to utilize a leverage conversation, my preferred language is as follows.

“We can not force you to go to treatment.  You are a grown person and you have a right to make choices for your life.  However, if you choose not to go to treatment the life you currently know, ….(a detailed explication of material support provided by the family that is at risk should be given) is over, and will not return until you go to treatment.”

7. Utilizing a Professional

Often times loved ones find an addict wholly unapproachable, or unresponsive to our pleas.  In these cases it may be necessary to enlist the services of a professional. Many clinicians, therapists, and social workers can provide intervention services.  Better still a professional interventionist can be utilized by the family. Interventionists are professionals who have received specialized training on how to help families facilitate these sorts of conversations and help addicts find a new life through therapeutic placement.   Professional interventionists help facilitate these conversations with families multiple times a month and as a result possess a wealth of helpful experiences that can be brought to bear on your personal situation. Referral to an interventionist can be obtained from ones doctor, helping professional, or treatment centers.   

Remember that the effort to help a loved one get the help they need is not always an event.  Often it is a process, sometimes a long one. Be prepared that the first effort may not be a “success”.   Stick with it, your loved one’s life may hang in the balance. I was taught many years ago, “no good effort goes unrewarded.”  I believe this is true in life in general and in helping addicts in particular.

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It is my hope that the above provides a family in crisis with a good starting point to facilitate a conversation with their loved one.  It is always advisable in such situations to consult with one or more professionals. If we at Granite Mountain BHC can be helpful to you please don’t hesitate to reach out to us by phone or through our website.  

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell

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If you or someone you love is in need of help for substance use disorder give us a call today at 1-844-878-3221

Studying The Brain Functions

In this talk Markus Heilig presents new findings in the science of addiction, as viewed from a neuroscientific view point. Dr Heilig is a professor of psychiatry and the founding director of a new Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience at Linkoping University. His research group studies brain processes connected to stress and negative emotionality and how these contribute to psychiatric disorders including addictive disorder.

In this video Dr Heilig illustrates the role social exclusion plays in the addictive cycle. He begins the talk by illustrating that while early on in an addicts using history the brain’s reward center is primarily responsible for triggering using behavior, this is not the case by the time an addict is seeking help. At this point in the life cycle of addiction the individual is not being motivated by the brain’s reward center he or she is now being driven to action through the brain stress and aversion system. That is to say early on in someone’s substance use, they are trying to capture a good feeling, but by the end they are trying to avoid feeling miserable.  The stress and aversion system has been compromised in such a way that it is overactive. The addicts brain is super sensitive to feelings of stress, anxiety, and fear. Meaning that in the absence of a mood altering substance the addict is plunged into a state of misery.

Understanding The Damage

This damage to the brain, and its particular instantiation is complicated by our very nature a social group orientated primates. For us, as humans, one of the most profound stressors is social exclusion, being marginalized. The particular problem for addicts in this respect is that their lifestyle creates, by its nature social exclusion. Acute experiences of these stressors drive craving. Intense craving causes relapse. Relapse begets behavior that results in social exclusion. This cycles is repeated over and over again. Dr Heilig states, that unless we can create an intervention in this cycle by offering alternative measures to diffuse the stress the addict has little hope of recovery.

While neuroscience may be a long way from “curing” addiction. As a discipline they have begun to take the problem seriously. At Granite Mountain Behavioral Healthcare we also take addictive disorder seriously. Our program is based on current neuroscientific research. We engage in physical exercise as a way to generate neuroregeneration within our patient population. In effect we are working to undo the damage to the brain’s stress and aversion system that has rendered it hyperactive. We do this in a community setting that is grounded in an effort to help our patients feel a real sense of connection with each other and with the staff. Working to minimize or eliminate feelings of social exclusion within our community. We are attacking the addictive cycle on at least two fronts each day.

As the science of addiction continues to evolve so will our program in lock step. We are committed to bringing to bear the newest advances for the benefit of our patients. We are currently working to develop a fully realized nutritional component to our program. This element of programing won’t simply be about nutrition for general health and wellbeing. Rather it will be a nutritional plan specifically designed to support and create neuroregeneration.

If you or a loved one is suffering from addiction please contact us.

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell
VP of Communications & Market Development

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If you or someone you love is struggling with substance use disorder please contact us today

I spent a good portion of my day yesterday speaking to a potential new patient. She, very clearly, was nearing the end of her road. She was depressed, lonely, and afraid. She had a very common story to tell. She told how alcohol had slowly but surely taken a greater and greater role in her life over the years. Leading her to the point where there was essentially nothing about her life that made sense to her any longer. She has been drinking, on most days, merely to stave off the shakes and the other symptoms of the DT’s. More than anything else as I was speaking to her I had the impression that she was tired, profoundly tired. I really related to her story, the pain and humiliation, the loneliness and despair, and being tired.

Reflecting On Past Experiences

Your Past Doesn’t Define You

Our conversation yesterday led me to spend a great deal of time reflecting on my own experience with alcoholism, and recovery. It has been a little over nineteen years since I have had to consume alcohol. I say “had to” intentionally, during the last several months of my drinking life there was nothing more I wanted to do than not drink. In fact, I would wake up each day and promise myself that I wasn’t going to. Everyday I had plans and designs built around this one ambition. Yet each day I would find myself drunk by mid-afternoon. Bewildered, terrified, and alone. I could not explain to myself how this kept happening. Nothing about my life made sense any longer. I was useless to all who knew me. Above all else I was tired. It was from this pit of despair and futility that a miracle happened.

I would love to share with you what my journey into recovery was like (and I may some day). The joys, and setbacks, the miracles that defy explanation that happened along the way. This however is not why I am writing today. I am writing today merely to extend a simple promise to any who read this that may be suffering like I was. When I first entered recovery a simple promise was made to me. I was promised that if I did the work necessary to stay sober, I would be able to have a life that made sense to me. What I have received is that and infinitely more. Upon the simple basis of minding the few things I learned early in recovery to do each day I have been able to stay free from alcohol for nearly half my life. In that time I have gone to university, been married, have two amazing kids, and am working in a career that is both personally meaningful and socially impacting. Just as importantly though it’s the simple things. I can sit in a quiet room at peace. My mind, for the most part, feels calm. I wake up most days excited for what the day will bring. This is not to say that this life has not been without its struggles. I have lost loved ones, bravely (and not so bravely) walked through health crisis, lost jobs, you name it. Life has continued to take its course, through it all, the good times and the tough, I have not found it necessary to put alcohol into my body (nothing short of a miracle)

Believing You Can Overcome Addiction

The First Step To Getting Clean Is Always The Hardest

Nineteen years ago if you would have told me this was possible I would not have believed you. If I had made a list of everything I had wanted out of life, I would have sold myself way short. All I wanted was to be able to make it through a day without needing to be drunk. What I have been given is a life of purpose, meaning, and usefulness, that gets better and better with each passing day.

Please know, I have not written this account to be self congratulatory. Rather, if you are reading this and are suffering from addiction I want to make you a simple promise. One that was made to me many years ago. If you will daily do the simple work that recovery requires, you can have a life that makes sense to you.

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell
VP of Communications & Market Development

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If you or your loved one is in need of treatment for substance use disorder call us today at 1.844.878.3221. We are here to help!

In the above video clip, Michael Botticelli makes a compelling argument for the necessity of changing the stigma attached to addiction. In it, He makes an impassioned plea from personal experience. At one point in the clip he makes the statement that he feels more comfortable coming out as a gay man than being transparent about his history of addiction. This he feels after more than twenty years in recovery. Those of us who have addiction in our lives either actively or in our past doesn’t need to be told this. We know first hand about the stigma of addiction.

I have not had a drop of alcohol in my body for more than nineteen years and still find myself hesitant to disclose my recovery to people outside the recovery community. I want to be clear, I am in no way ashamed of my past. Perhaps it sounds paradoxical but, the single greatest thing to ever happen to me is that I became an alcoholic. How many people move through their lives feeling not quite right, being sad, isolated, or alone but don’t know why? I felt all these things and more. When alcoholism finally brought me to my knees, and I had nowhere to turn I found my answer. Through treatment and membership in a 12 step fellowship, I was able to understand why I felt the way I did. I was also offered a solution. I have accepted that solution and have since been able to enjoy a life beyond my wildest dreams. A life of purpose, meaning, and connection.

I do not bring this up to be self-congratulatory. On the contrary, I want to illustrate what is possible for every single person suffering from a substance use disorder if they are able to access treatment and recovery. In his talk, Mr. Botticelli makes the point that the stigma attached to addiction is the single greatest hindrance to people who need help getting it. As a community, we need to begin to recognize addiction for what it is. A brain disease, a medical condition. If we are to come to grips with our current opioid epidemic we need to begin to treat those afflicted as what they truly are, sick people who need help. There is no doubt this can be hard to do, but it is necessary.

I agree with Mr. Botticelli that in order for this to happen those of us who have overcome this disease need to be open about that fact. This may enable those around us to begin to form a different viewpoint about addiction. They may be able to see that as Mr. Botticelli states, “people are more than their disease.” Moving forward I am committed to being open and candid about my own recovery with anyone who asks. I will weather the inevitable questions, the confusion, the awkward attempts at “protecting” me. I will do this not for myself, but as an example that addiction does not define a person, that as with most other diseases we can and do recover.

Until next time
Your friend in service,
Rob Campbell
VP of Communications & Market Development

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If you or someone you love is in need of help for substance use disorder please give us a call today. We understand and we are here to help.

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https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_botticelli_addiction_is_a_disease_we_should_treat_it_like_one#t-570345