Addictions

The holiday season can be really divisive. For some, it’s ‘the most wonderful time,’ while for others, it can be a real struggle. For those living with addiction or mental health issues, celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa can be a time filled with dread and nervous anticipation because of the number of hurdles and triggers...

So, you’ve made the decision to turn your life around – kudos to you! But now’s the time when taking the right next step is crucial. Your choice of recovery centre is the key to lasting sobriety. If you’re looking for addiction treatment this winter, South Africa has absolutely everything you need. Here are six...

The term “addiction” is most widely used when talking about substances such as drugs and alcohol. So, when it is used in relation to a more abstract concept such as love, it may seem a bit farfetched to some. But what are people referring to when they talk about a love addiction? While not an...

How can being addicted to work be a bad thing? Believe it or not, an increasing number of people are starting to think this way. That’s because modern life dictates that we must all be strivers. If you want to go backpacking across Cambodia, buy the latest tech or dine at the most popular eatery...

Gaming may have been around for almost 50 years, but there is still a lot to be understood about its effects. It all started in the 1970s, when very simple arcade games first appeared and caught the imagination of children and teenagers, in particular, across the world. It quickly became clear that such games had...

“Addiction” is a word that is both widely used and misused in modern-day society. On the one hand, you might hear someone flippantly describe themselves as a “chocoholic”. Or say that they’re “addicted” to online shopping because they spend a little more than they should on online purchases. On the other, there are those that...

It should come as no surprise that many people who have problems with addiction also have problems with anger. They are often interlinked, with statistics clearly demonstrating a correlation between substance abuse disorders and violent crime. For example, one study showed that up to three-quarters of those who begin addiction treatment have previously engaged in...

Many of us struggle to accept the traumas from our past or come to terms with challenging life events that trigger sorrow, pain, and heartache. Difficult experiences can be tempting to avoid but much harder to accept or forget. Thus many of us adopt specific coping skills that help to soften the blow or numb...

Buying medicines online seems to have increased in popularity over the years, with more people buying drugs online than ever before. The question is, is it safe? What are the risk factors for buying drugs online? A global drug survey report conducted in 2018 showed that many people turned to the dark web to buy...

Gambling disorder, a condition once referred to as compulsive or pathological gambling, is a behavioural addiction (sometimes called a process addiction). What is a gambling disorder? According to the Mayo Clinic, ''gambling disorder is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Gambling means that you are willing to...

Lacing drugs is nothing new but what dealers are cutting drugs with now is very scary. They’re using more potent substances in the adulteration process that puts lives at extreme risk for the sole purpose of making more money and increasing the potency of drugs. People addicted to drugs commonly laced can get very sick from...

Repeated drug use progresses from dependence and tolerance to addiction, known as substance use disorder. Addiction is a complex brain disorder and a mental illness caused by harmful substances that change how nerve cells send, receive and process information. It's helpful to know how drugs alter your brain structure to understand the mental disorder better....