We at Patient Support International opened our first Smokers Treatment Center in 1989 and have since evolved into a full-scale residential treatment team for tobacco addiction. We have been involved in the treatment process of over 6,000 patients, many of whom were in recovery for alcohol, cocaine, opiates and prescription drugs. Queens University conducted a [...]

It has been difficult to watch treatment centers allow smoking clients to continue their devastating addiction while in treatment. Some clients, juveniles and adults, first started to smoke while in treatment.  Special smoking areas (e. g. “butt huts” and “smoking pits” etc.) are set up and become the place where the “action” is.  Clients want [...]

As clinicians working in the field of addiction, we become familiar with patterns of relapse. Identifying those circumstances or behaviors that lead to relapse is critical in the recovery process.
An important part of therapy is to help the addict identify the circumstances that may trigger a relapse, and ultimately to assist him or her in [...]

Problem gamblers use deceit and lies as freely as racing forms, lotto tickets, or other gambling paraphernalia.  A person in the grasp of a gambling disorder uses a tremendous amount of secrecy and manipulation to squander any available financial resources, so much so, that their families often feel as though their “money is on fire”.  [...]

According to research published in Pain Physician Journal as recently as 2006, 90 percent of people in the US receiving treatment for pain management were prescribed opiate medication. Of that number 9 to 41 percent had opiate abuse/addiction problems. The research also stated that 16 percent of pain management patients experienced illicit drug use along [...]

While most of us experience sex as a pleasurable experience with few negative consequences, Sex Addicts are more likely to define their sexual exploits as driven, secretive and shameful, rather than fun, playful or intimate. Sex (and Love) addicts repetitively engage the pursuit of sex, romantic intensity and the sex act itself, much like the [...]