While the weather here in Southern California has yet to make up its mind about the season – summer, fall, summer, fall – we’re moving full speed ahead into our holiday preparations. Like many people, it happens to be our favorite time of year, mostly because we get to gather our family and friends around us and remind ourselves how much we have to be grateful for. While we try to cultivate this attitude of mindful gratitude throughout the year, somehow, as the temperatures dip and the calendar lights up with multiple celebrations, we tend to settle in more, look around us and breathe a prayer of thanks.
Among the many things we are thankful for is the amazing collection of authors we’ve been blessed to assemble for this newsletter. We are thrilled to have not one, but two of the country’s leading addiction doctors contribute articles about their experience with and perspective on the increasingly hot topic of the use – and abuse – of buprenorphine. Drs. Mel Pohl and Jim Golden bring decades of clinical practice to these extremely informative and intriguing articles.
CC Nuckols explores how we were programmed to be unhappy – with ourselves and our world – and offers insight into how to make a positive change for good. Alan Downs discusses the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and its efficacy as part of a comprehensive drug and alcohol treatment program. Another returning author, Dr. Kevin Fleming, challenges the “common knowledge” that years of brain research has provided those treating addiction and asks, does it hold true today? Drs. James Gagne and Sonnee Weedn delve deeper into the complex world of treating chronic pain, illuminating what many doctors miss, simply because they haven’t been trained to look beyond the obvious symptoms – a real challenge to view and treat patients holistically.
A new contributor to our Recovery View family, Dr. Charlotte Reznick, specializes in treating families and children and offers her perspective on “The Healing Power of Family Play”. Meanwhile, Carol Teitelbaum, MFT, takes an honest look at boys who have suffered sexual abuse – an often-forgotten population in this field.
Sherry Gaba, licensed clinical social worker and resident Celebrity Rehab therapist, uncovers an emerging addiction among teenage girls, in particular – celebrity addiction. And Tian Dayton shares why a quiet evening at home is exactly the kind of thing that excites her.
We are also pleased to announce the expansion of our call center through our new addictions’ resource site, Drug-Treatment.com. As the calls pour in every month, we are able to provide education through both the original articles on Recovery View, as well as the daily news feed we hand-select for the most current and relevant treatment information on Drug-Treatment.com. Additionally, we refer callers to the wide array of services available to them via Recovery View, both inpatient treatment programs and outpatient practitioners to equip them with everything they need to begin on their own journey to recovery.
To be well – body, mind and soul – is the biggest gift any of us can be blessed with. For these and so many other things, we are grateful and pray you can take a moment in your holiday preparations to smile and appreciate your blessings too.
