Binge Drinking & Hangovers – Changing the New Year’s Norms
It is almost the new year, and folks around the globe are feeling the need to mark the occasion with parties, family gatherings, fireworks, and drone displays. It seems important to celebrate the milestone and enter the new year with a bang. In fact, drinking is socially sanctioned and normalized, and it is even expected […]
A Few of Our Favorite Things to Maintain Recovery
Mocktails at parties and awe walks on beaches, family dinners where nobody preaches, 12-step meetings when traveling – these are a few of our favorite things. (Sung to the tune of My Favorite Things with apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein.) We are in the thick of Spirit Week at Sanford Behavioral Health, and we have […]
Holidays in Rehab – The Best Gift
It’s the holidays—the time for pageants at church and school, traditions, office parties, and family responsibilities. At Sanford Behavioral Health (Sanford), we understand that those with substance use disorders, eating disorders, and mental health conditions try to find reasons to put off getting treatment. Of course, the holidays present the ultimate excuse, no matter whether […]
Hopeful Resolutions – How to Make Behavioral Change Stick in 2024
In less than two weeks, it will be 2024. In your social circles, the “buzz” is probably already about New Year’s hopeful resolutions. Have you made any? According to the Statista Global Consumer Survey, the top resolutions for the coming year are to exercise more, eat healthier, and lose weight. The resolution to deal with […]
The Sober Holidays Q&A
If you or a loved one are experiencing your first sober holiday season, you might worry unnecessarily about saying “no thank you” in the “yes please” season. We want to put your concerns to rest by answering some of the questions you are probably asking yourself. One of the difficulties of recovery is saying no […]
10 Tips for a Thankful Sober Holiday
As a person in recovery, I am thankful every day. During the holidays, I am particularly aware of my blessings, and this is Thanksgiving, the time to be loud and proud about the things one is grateful for. I do remember the early days of recovery and how nervous I was that the festivities would […]
Women and Alcohol – The Downside
The most recent government data show that from 2019 to 2020, rates of alcohol-induced deaths for females “increased across all age groups for those aged 25 and over.” According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly half of adult women report drinking alcohol. 13% of adult women and 18% of women of child-bearing age […]
Holiday Anxiety – Women Feel It More Than Men
It’s almost the Thanksgiving holiday, a time for gratitude and reminiscence about holidays past, but my memories of Thanksgiving mostly involve my angst-ridden mother bustling about while the rest of the family watched the Macy’s parade and played cards. She used to do this predictable “thing” whenever I would indicate frailty, especially during the holidays. […]
Is DETOX Scary? We Answer Your Fearful Questions
There is a big parking lot outside the welcoming entrance to Sanford Behavioral Health’s Detox Center. A scenario often takes place when our clients and their families arrive. We can only imagine what is being discussed or the second thoughts being expressed. However, it usually takes time for them to leave the car and make […]
The Isolation of Addiction
At Sanford Behavioral Health, we have a case study of a client in the final days of their isolation and active addiction. They were a smoker but not allowed to light up in the house. So, this individual would take a bottle of Jack Daniels to an unheated garage behind their house, sit on a […]
