In all of these situations, it’s important to utilize the practice of mindful eating in recovery to reap the many mindful eating benefits at your disposal.

What is Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating refers to an element of mindfulness in which you take the time to be fully present in all of the sensory experiences involved in your meals. This type of mindful meditation keeps you grounded in all of the elements of your food so that you can avoid emotional overeating or anxiety eating, which is when you eat too quickly and make yourself ill.

In some situations, mindful eating can be considered a form of eating meditation. Eating meditation relies on a concerted effort on your part to focus on several elements of your meal while you are enjoying it, such as:

• What the foods look like
• Where they came from
• Gratitude for the people who grew/harvested/prepared your food
• What the food feels like in your hand or in your mouth
• What the food smells like
• The feel of your mouth as you chew the food or swallow it

This process is a great way to alter your perception of food and change unhealthy relationships you might have with food, like purging, binging, or starvation.

The mindfulness aspect of eating forces you to slow down, remain focused on the present, and appreciate the value of your food.

Who Can Use Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating benefits can be enjoyed by anyone in recovery, whether you are struggling with an eating disorder, anxiety disorder, or substance abuse. 

Benefits of Mindful Eating

As part of our women’s eating disorder programs in Santa Barbara, we focus on mindful eating habits. Explore the benefits of mindful eating and discover tips on how to incorporate this practice in your daily life.

Focusing on the Present

One of the biggest benefits of mindful eating is the ability to focus on the present moment. Too often, when people eat, they are focused on other things, such as upcoming meetings or other personal matters. This makes it easy to overeat or binge or eat things that are unhealthy for you. To start practicing mindful eating, have your meals in a space that is free from electronics and other distractions. Too often, when people struggle with eating disorders in recovery, they sit in front of the television, scroll on their phones, or work at the computer while they are eating. Sitting in a space that is free from these distractions will help you focus exclusively on your meal.

Managing Portions

Another of the benefits of mindful eating is the ability to manage your portions. When you are not focused on mindful consumption, you are more likely to eat an excessive amount of food or more calories than you need. This is because you don’t focus on the sensations you are feeling, such as hunger or fullness. You’re focused instead on something like a television program, the anxiety you might have, or your to-do list. Start with smaller portions on a smaller bowl or plate. Use small salad plates instead of large dinner plates and fill them. When you sit in your distraction-free zone for your meal, try to eat thoughtfully so that your meal takes more than two minutes. 

Getting the Right Nutrients

Mindful eating means you are more aware of what you eat, the amount of effort it takes to cook that food, and how healthy something might be. You also have a chance to be more aware of how you feel after eating certain foods, such as recognizing what foods leave you feeling energized and what foods leave you feeling groggy. Being mindful of how you feel can help you not only choose healthier foods but also consume an amount of food that makes you feel better.

Mindful Eating with Casa Serena

Mindful eating is a way for you to remain focused in the present and be aware and appreciative of all of the sensations involved in each meal you enjoy. Doing so during recovery can provide several benefits, including a greater appreciation for your food and a changed relationship with nutrition. At Casa Serena, the premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara, we offer eating disorder treatment programs that aim to promote whole-person healing. Our programs include specialized treatment for anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder.Contact our team today to learn more about how our women’s mental health treatment center in California can help you find healing and happiness.

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Holistic relapse prevention offers a chance to explore things like energy healing, nature therapy, yoga, and meditation as ways to manage triggers and cravings and cope with your new life. 

Casa Serena is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara.

Holistic Relapse Prevention: What Options to Consider

When you are looking for ways to prevent relapse, you need to consider both how to manage cravings associated with substance abuse, as well as environmental triggers.

Depending on the substances that were abused, things like cravings can persist for several months after treatment. Cocaine withdrawal, for example, usually results in up to six months of cravings after treatment. 

Holistic relapse prevention is effective in providing coping strategies that enable you to avoid stress, triggers, or cravings in the first place rather than trying to substitute addictive behavior with a secondary addiction. 

Yoga and Meditation

Yoga and meditation are two of the most effective forms of holistic relapse prevention. These two practices complement one another as elements of mindfulness.

Yoga utilizes several forms of exercise, stretching, and assuming poses while focusing on your breathing. This keeps you grounded in the present moment rather than worrying about past mistakes or future anxiety.

Moreover, different holistic practices can encourage you to breathe through temporary discomfort associated with assuming different poses. This teaches you to recognize that discomforts like cravings or the emotions tied to triggers are temporary and that staying mindful and present at the moment can help you move beyond those temporary feelings. 

Meditation offers dozens of mental and physical health benefits. 

For example, individuals struggling with cravings or triggers might experience high levels of anxiety and fear, which can lead to things like panic attacks or hyperventilating.

Hyperventilation is often exacerbated by individuals who start taking shallow, clavicular breaths from the top of the chest rather than deep in the belly. Knowing how to meditate offers an opportunity to recognize when you are struggling with clavicular breathing and to change it into that deep breathing that tethers your body to reality and the present moment.

Not only does this help circumvent things like anxiety attacks or triggers, but it’s good for:

• Blood pressure
• Circulation
• Cortisol levels 
• Caving management

Nature Therapy

Nature therapy is much like yoga and meditation in that it helps you focus on the present moment while also boosting positive neurotransmitters that can overcome symptoms of secondary mental health issues like anxiety or depression that are often contributors to relapse.

Another benefit is that nature therapy, alongside yoga or meditation, can be designed to fit any skill level. With nature therapy, for example, individuals can go on regular walks in a nearby park, along a river, or other natural environment.

Those who are looking for something more advanced to boost endorphins while also providing physical exercise that overcomes stress, cravings, and triggers by focusing the mind on the present and on achievement can turn to things like:

• Walking
• Hiking
• Camping
• Bicycling
• Rock Climbing 

All of these require the development of new sets of skills, goal setting, and the benefit of self-reliance and meeting those goals. Each incremental improvement contributes toward overall success after therapy, decreasing the risk of relapse.

Energy Healing

Energy healing is a form of holistic relapse prevention that focuses on more traditional Avenues of the mind-body approach. With this form of therapy, you can work to restore balance in your body, recognizing that energy flows through your body at all times and bad energy from things like trauma, depression, or addiction can remain stagnant and disrupt that flow much the same as a blood clot can disrupt the flow of blood.

Get Holistic Relapse Prevention with Casa Serena

With Casa Serena, you can immerse yourself in all of these forms of holistic prevention treatment in group settings. Not only do you reap all of the benefits of each activity, but you add to it the benefit of overcoming feelings of isolation and loneliness, which are two of the most significant contributors to relapse after treatment.

Figuring out which of these prevention measures you like best or works well for you can enable you to find things like community groups, online resources, and classes that can provide continuing support after treatment.

Reach out to Casa Serena today for more information on relapse prevention and our lifetime aftercare program.

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Casa Serena is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara. Contact us today to learn more about how our women’s treatment programs can help.

How to Help a Loved One with Addiction

There are several ways that you can learn how to help a loved one with addiction.

Talking to Them About Addiction

In some cases, the person you love may not realize that they have an addiction, in which case you can help them by talking to them about it. When you talk to someone you love about their addiction, you can use professional intervention services or have an open, honest discussion on your own.

If you opt to talk to them on your own, follow these tips:

• Talk to them in a neutral, quiet place
• Don’t talk to them if they are high or drunk
• Talk about how you care deeply for them and you are worried about the effects that addiction is having
• Be prepared for different reactions, including anger directed at you
• Have recovery resources like Casa Serena available if they want to pursue more information

You might have to repeatedly talk to your loved one about addiction. 

• You’ll have to talk about your concerns when they demonstrate bad behavior. 
• You’ll have to express your fears when they try to cross boundaries.
• You’ll have to talk to them about your feelings and how addiction has impacted your life whenever there is trouble at home.
• You’ll have to continually let them know that help is available and you are there to support them when they are ready.

Give Space

If you are helping a loved one with addiction by talking to them about the issue, they might not respond the way you want or respond right away. And that’s fine. Never pressure your loved one to respond immediately.

Instead, let them know that you are there to help them and you’ll be there to support them when they are ready to make their next decision. Understand that no one appreciates being told that their behavior is wrong, so your loved one might experience some feelings of betrayal or hurt at first but with some time, they might respond more in line with a willingness to get help and gratitude.

Set Boundaries

If someone in your life is struggling with addiction, it’s imperative that you set and enforce healthy boundaries. This can feel like an uphill battle the entire time, but if you really want to help your loved one with their addiction, you need to prevent them from becoming dependent on you; you need to prevent yourself from becoming self-sacrificing and risking your own health.

It’s perfectly fine to enforce boundaries and tell your loved one no, but explain why.

But what about helping a loved one with addiction who already knows they are addicted and isn’t willing to get help?

Take Action with Them

If you are living with someone who knows they have an addiction and they don’t want help, sometimes you have to initiate recovery by taking action yourself. What does this mean?

It means:

• Going to therapy yourself
• Attending family support groups
• Going to AA or NA meetings
• Researching treatment programs and keeping them concealed until your loved one is ready

Sometimes your loved one will see the excellent example you set, and you will learn better ways to help your loved one with addiction, communicate daily, and reinforce granular boundaries that don’t seem consequential at first.

Now what about helping a loved one with addiction who has already tried rehab and relapsed?

Get Continued Help at Casa Serena Treatment

It’s important to remember that up to sixty percent of people will relapse. Even if your loved one has tried some form of treatment and struggled with a relapse, that doesn’t mean they failed. 

• There are several types of treatment programs, and in some cases, the treatment plan wasn’t the right level of care.
• In others, the treatment wasn’t the right type of therapy.
• Treatment was received years ago, and significant gains have been made since that time to better understand addiction and provide more comprehensive treatment.

Treatment really works, and if loved ones and families stay involved in treatment and recovery goals, individuals have a higher chance of successfully completing their program and avoiding relapse long-term.

With Casa Serena, your loved one can try gender-specific programs, several levels of care that might be more appropriate for their situations, and involvement in family therapy that increases the likelihood of recovery. Contact Casa Serena today at (866) 590-8601 for help.

The post Why You Shouldn’t Give Up On Your Loved One: How to Help a Loved One With Addiction appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Access to gender-specific care and multiple levels of cocaine women’s addiction treatment means you or your loved one are more likely to find the level of care that suits your needs today.

Casa Serena Treatment is a premiere women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara. 

Are Women More Likely to Develop Cocaine Addiction?

Research indicates that women are more likely to experience the effects of certain drugs differently because of their hormonal and genetic makeup. Cocaine is one such drug that affects women differently. Hormones in women can increase the risk of developing a cocaine addiction.

Compared to men, women have much faster highs and more intense feelings when they use cocaine. For women, there is more activity in the brain’s reward center than in their male counterparts, and this increased activity leads to severe cravings. As such, even when women try small amounts of cocaine, they are more likely to develop an addiction, and it becomes even harder to overcome that addiction.

Thankfully, if you are struggling with addiction to cocaine as a woman, you can find women-specific treatment at facilities that understand these genetic differences and can curate your recovery plan accordingly.

Facts:

• Women are more likely to become addicted to substances after smaller amounts compared to men
• Over twenty-six million women over the age of eighteen have used illegal drugs in the last year
• Women are more likely to relapse after treatment
• Hormones can make women more sensitive to certain drug effects
• Women experience different changes in their brains compared to men
• Women are more likely to experience an overdose or be admitted to a hospital for an overdose compared to men

Finding Cocaine Women’s Addiction Treatment

If you are ready for cocaine treatment, the hardest part of admitting you need help is behind you, but now you have to find the right facility. 

Resources

Verify the types of resources the facility has. Check on things like the credentials of any mental health counselors, what kind of medical professionals regularly work at the facility, and any unique resources or programs they provide.

When you talk to the admission staff, don’t be afraid to ask about this information and make a list so that you can compare different programs at a given facility or different facilities.

Payment

Covering the cost of treatment is one of the biggest inhibitors to getting help. That is why asking admissions teams about payment options, including what insurance plans they accept, is so important. Most people are unaware that their healthcare will provide rudimentary mental health services, including addiction treatment. While some of the cost might come out of pocket, saving a significant percentage can make a recovery possible.

In addition to their insurance options, ask about alternative payment options. You might want to set up a payment plan or get directed toward any financial aid options a facility might provide.

Tour the Facility

Don’t be afraid to tour the facility. Many facilities offer in-person tours or virtual tours. This can give you an opportunity to see how you feel in the setting before you commit to treatment. Some facilities specialize in outdoor environments near the ocean, in the woods, or outside of a busy town, which might be preferred. 

Why Choose Casa Serena Cocaine Womens Drug Rehab Center

Casa Serena has a beautiful facility along the Southern California coast. As a women’s treatment center, we provide specialized cocaine addiction recovery plans for women led by women. 

Casa Serena specializes in women’s cocaine addiction treatment, with multiple levels of care available. Many clients benefit from transitional levels of care. This means moving from residential, full-time care to something more flexible like PHP or IOP. 

We might start you with a detox program and an inpatient plan. If you have already participated in an inpatient or residential program, a partial hospitalization program gives you continued access to the daytime structure and a full-time commitment to your recovery but an opportunity to practice the skills you have learned when you return home in the evenings.

Call us today at (805) 892-6332 to learn more about our cocaine women’s drug rehab center.

The post Are Women More Likely to Develop Cocaine Addiction? appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Co-occurring disorders refer to any co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders an individual has. Understanding co-occurring disorders makes it possible to recognize the symptoms and understand the importance of participating in co-occurring disorder treatment sooner rather than later.

It is common for people with substance abuse disorders to also struggle with the following:

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• ADHD
• Bipolar disorder
• Personality disorders
• PTSD
• Schizophrenia

Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders: Why Are Co-Occurring Disorders Common?

There are a handful of reasons why the rates of co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders are so high.

Self-Medication

One of the most common reasons people need dual diagnosis therapy is because they have an undiagnosed mental health disorder, they were misdiagnosed, or they were given a diagnosis with medication that is insufficient. In any of these three scenarios, individuals are more likely to use drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. Clients may not realize that’s what they’re doing. They might not recognize that drugs or alcohol are helping them to mask their symptoms temporarily. Unfortunately, without proper treatment, individuals are more likely to develop an addiction if they start self-medicating with drugs and alcohol for symptoms of mental health disorders. This leads to the need for co-occurring treatment.

Brain Changes

In other cases, the need for co-occurring disorder treatment arises because an individual struggling with a substance abuse disorder ends up developing a mental health disorder. This is quite common in those who struggle with addiction for an extended length of time. Drugs and alcohol change the way the brain functions. Long-term exposure to drug use and alcoholism can cause severe changes to brain structure and function, leading to the development of mental health disorders like depression or anxiety.

Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders: Why You Need Treatment

It’s important that you get help as soon as you recognize the need for dual diagnosis services. If you believe that you or someone close to you is struggling with co-occurring addiction and mental health issues, the longer you wait to get help, the worse it can get.

Additional Complications

Without proper dual diagnosis therapy, you risk developing additional physical or mental health disorders. This is particularly true for individuals struggling with co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders. For example, clients with bipolar disorder who don’t find treatment are more likely to develop depressive disorders. Similarly, individuals struggling with depression are likely to develop anxiety disorders. Those with untreated PTSD are more likely to develop depression or substance abuse disorders.

Dissatisfaction with Life

Mental health disorders cause disruptions to the way the brain functions. This can make it difficult to experience any pleasure in everyday activities. Without therapy, you position yourself to experience long-term disruptions to your brain functioning, which can worsen your symptoms. Eventually, you might reach a point where you don’t have any satisfaction with life at all.

What is Dual Diagnosis Therapy?

Individuals struggling with co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders need dual diagnosis therapy. Dual diagnosis therapy is a treatment that provides services for both addiction and mental health disorders. Many therapies and services received can have overlapping benefits, like cognitive behavioral therapy for addiction and mental health disorders, mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. Other services might be specific to one of your conditions, like a detox for addiction or DBT for personality disorders. At professional treatment centers like Casa Serena, clients can receive customized mental health disorder and addiction treatment. This type of dual diagnosis therapy is more effective because it gives clients things like coping skills that can be applied to symptom management and addiction cravings. By treating both concurrently, clients are better able to avoid additional complications, relapse because of mental health symptoms, or self-medication.

Reach out to Casa Serena today to learn more about how our facility can help you with dual diagnosis therapy. 

The post Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Call us today to learn about our top-rated women’s residential treatment programs.

What is Inpatient Treatment?

Inpatient treatment is the highest level of care for substance abuse treatment. You have supervision around the clock and reside at your treatment facility. With Casa Serena, we provide comfortable rooms located on a beautiful property complete with outdoor gardens, ping pong tables, and lounge spaces. Inside, you will melt into our overstuffed pillows, cozy chairs, and idyllic surroundings as you move seamlessly through your program. 

Participation in inpatient treatment has been scientifically proven to have better outcomes and higher completion rates. Not only does it help you complete substance abuse or coexisting mental health treatment, but inpatient rehab can teach you to more effectively manage chronic pain from either of these conditions.

Benefits of Inpatient Treatment

Inpatient treatment comes with some of the biggest benefits. 

Privacy

One of the key benefits of inpatient addiction treatment is that you get complete privacy and confidentiality. You don’t have to worry about driving to and from a rehab center multiple days per week, leaving work early, or running into someone you know. Instead, you leave your current environment and get help in a private facility without distractions. Our facility makes you feel at home during your stay. 

Full Support

Many people love the privacy benefits of inpatient addiction treatment, but another of the many benefits of inpatient treatment has to do with the full support you receive during your stay.

• This full support means twenty-four-hour care from multiple staff members. If you have questions or are struggling with new symptoms, all of these aspects can be addressed by your care team.
• This full support means access to amenities you wouldn’t have elsewhere, like natural environments, outdoor activities, fitness centers, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness.
• This full support means meals are catered for you, so you get healthy food to help improve your physical strength while focusing on improving your mental strength.

Individual Therapy

One of the benefits of inpatient drug rehab is getting to work with the same therapist regularly during your program. 

The individual therapy received will vary based on the issues you struggle with. One common treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy. This is one of the most effective therapies for addiction, depression, and anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps you recognize the way your emotions impact your thoughts and the way your thoughts impact your behaviors. Recognizing these relationships helps you identify negative automatic thoughts or emotions and replace them with positive alternatives.

Individual therapy sessions allow you to develop a trusting relationship with your therapist, open up and share any concerns or fears, and discuss how you have applied lessons from your individual therapy sessions with good or bad results.

Group Therapy

Another of the many benefits of residential substance abuse treatment is the engagement you have with others and how group sessions can alleviate common feelings of isolation or loneliness. 

Group therapy is a chance to participate with other clients. The leader will drive the conversation forward during group therapy sessions, discussing recovery and encouraging others to share. These social engagements build comradery and help you realize you are not alone in your addiction struggles. 

Group sessions give you a chance to:

• Process emotions
• Learn life skills as a group
• Participate in recreational group activities
• Discuss recovery topics

Sharing during group therapy can help you achieve emotional healing. Group members connect with others, develop trust, and enjoy sincere empathy, compassion, and support during their sessions. The skills and comradery achieved during group sessions can continue after treatment through twelve-step programs like NA or AA. 

Specialized Treatment

At Casa Serena, you get these benefits of inpatient treatment, all while participating in specialized treatment for women only. Casa Serena is located along the idyllic coast of Southern California, where you can feel confident, safe, and comfortable sharing your fears, past, ambitions, and emotions with like-minded women.

Other benefits of inpatient drug rehab at our facility include specialized programs for trauma. Unresolved trauma can result in coexisting mental health disorders. Without treating both concurrently, you might undergo substance abuse treatment only to find yourself relapsing when your mental health disorder symptoms reappear. We specialize in women’s only trauma-centered therapies to avoid retraumatization and coexisting mental health support.
Casa Serena Treatment is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara. Call Casa Serena today to learn more about our specialized inpatient treatment.

The post What Are the Benefits of Inpatient Treatment For Addiction? appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Casa Serena is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara that offers comprehensive addiction and mental health treatment. Contact us today to learn more about our available treatment services.

What is Gray Area Drinking?

Gray area drinking is defined as alcohol consumption that is not yet a qualifying substance use disorder but is only a few steps away. 

As the name suggests, this type of alcohol consumption is a gray area of drinking which means it’s somewhere between moderate consumption and an inability to control yourself.

Some people are gray area drinkers if they drink in non-social situations, perhaps by themselves, and they don’t have any reason to and question why they are doing it in the first place.

Other examples of gray area drinking involve people who experience physical hangovers and anxiety connected to heavy alcohol consumption.

In effect, gray area drinking is mindless consumption, not yet a physical dependence but drinking for no real reason, and more often than you would if you had a reason.

What Are the Signs of Gray Area Drinking?

During the pandemic, mindless alcohol consumption took the form of drinking at any hour and calling it “wine o’clock,” starting the day with a cocktail knowing that you didn’t have to go anywhere, or just drinking two or three times what you normally would in an evening knowing that you didn’t have to drive. 

But what are the signs of gray area drinking today?

• For some people, gray area drinking means having one glass to relax or deal with stress but ending up binge drinking.
• It’s common for gray area drinkers to experience physical side effects from their alcohol consumption, including hangovers. These physical effects are usually felt after a night of binge drinking.
• Other signs include building a tolerance such that you have to consume larger amounts of alcohol just to achieve the same relaxing effects.
• Gray area drinking means you feel compelled to consume alcohol in order to relax or enjoy yourself in social situations.
• Gray area drinkers start to have anxiety about their drinking habits, worrying that people might be judging their consumption or worrying that they are drinking too much.
• The gray area of drinking can lead to symptoms of trying to stop drinking for a few weeks or a few months but feeling compelled to return regardless.

How to Know When Alcohol Consumption Becomes a Problem

There are different levels of drinking. Alcohol consumption spans a spectrum between occasional binge drinking and addiction. 

Recognizing the stages in between can help you decide when it’s time to reach out to Casa Serena for detox and residential treatment center for women. 

Problem Drinking

Uncontrollable alcohol abuse on a regular basis can lead to problem drinking. Problem drinking is when you start to notice that drinking makes you sick, impacts your sleep, or leaves you feeling anxious and depressed, but you enjoy the effects of alcohol too much to stop. You might also notice social changes because of alcohol consumption, like sudden changes in your friends, decreased social activity, or relationship issues. You’re more likely to experience legal problems like driving under the influence at this stage.

Dependence

If you don’t get help, you’ll develop an alcohol dependence. Dependence is when you are aware that alcohol is adversely affecting your life, but you can’t control how much you consume. You may have developed a tolerance, so you’ll have to drink more in order to get the same buzz, and you’ll experience severe withdrawal symptoms if you sober up, like nausea, sweating, difficulty sleeping, irritability, or tremors. 

If you reach either of these places and need help, Casa Serena offers alcohol detox, inpatient, outpatient, and transitional living levels of care. Our full continuum of care is designed to meet your needs. Our staff can help you move through the most appropriate level of care while undergoing family therapy, trauma treatment, mental wellness, and career counseling. 

Your treatment takes place at our center, minutes from the beach. We provide gender-specific treatment for women, by women, so you can feel comfortable and safe in your recovery. 

Reach out to Casa Serena today to learn more about our treatment center.

The post What is Gray Area Drinking? appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Casa Serena Treatment is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara. Contact us today to learn about our top-rated alcohol rehab for women.

How Many Women Struggle With Drinking?

How many women struggle with drinking? Are alcoholism rates in women different from men? 

• According to the CDC, 9% of women between eighteen and twenty-five have an alcohol use disorder. 
• Among high school students, females consume alcohol and binge drink more often than their male counterparts.
• 13% of adult women regularly binge drink.

What Are the Signs of Alcohol Abuse in Women?

There are dozens of signs indicative of alcoholism in women, and some women might show different signs than others.

Drinking Too Much 

One of the first signs of alcoholism is an inability to limit how much you drink. If you cannot set limits on how much you consume and can’t stop once you start drinking, it might be time for treatment. 

Inability to Cut Down

Women who are struggling with alcoholism are impulsive and unable to control themselves or how much they drink, even if they try. Once you are addicted to alcohol, you might find it difficult to stop drinking, make good decisions, or do healthier things like exercise.

Too Much Time on Alcohol

Women struggling with alcoholism we’ll spend too much time trying to manage alcohol, like getting more alcohol, drinking alcohol, or recovering from a hangover.

Cravings

Alcoholism can lead to severe cravings. Addiction means you feel empty, depressed, and maybe hollow without alcohol. So you do whatever you can to get more.

Neglecting Personal Responsibilities

Alcoholism impairs judgment, making it easy for women to miss school activities for their kids, work, or household chores. Women who are struggling with an alcohol abuse disorder might start neglecting their responsibilities and find it difficult to manage their lives. It’s common for women struggling with alcoholism to be less affectionate or not be there for their loved ones, which can cause damage and resentment among family members and friends.

Ignoring Consequences

When women drink, regardless of the consequences it has, it’s indicative of a problem. Most people will cut back if drinking starts to interfere with relationships or fun, but alcoholism makes it difficult to abstain in spite of all the problems alcohol might contribute to, like a DUI, ruined relationships, financial problems, and more. 

What Challenges Do Women Face During Alcohol Treatment?

Women face many challenges during alcohol treatment. Some challenges are external; they come from an unsupportive spouse or family obligations that demand attention instead of recovery. Other challenges are internal programs run exclusively by men using harsh treatment methods or gender stereotypes. 

Safe Environment

One of the biggest challenges for many women is finding women’s alcohol treatment that offers a safe environment. High rates of things like domestic abuse, mental health disorders, and discrimination contribute to women’s addiction. So women are much less likely to attend rehab if:

• There is a risk of group therapy with men who might look like their abusers, 
• There are rehab programs run by men who are more likely to use aggressive tactics, 
• There are risks of gender stereotypes or judgment at the facility. 

Social Support

Alcoholism rates in women won’t go down if women are unable to find social support during their recovery. That’s why it’s important to find women’s alcohol treatment that involves your families or partners.

Casa Serena Treatment Offers Comprehensive Women’s-Only Alcohol Rehab Programs in Santa Barbara

Many women struggling with alcoholism benefit from women’s alcohol treatment. Casa Serena offers treatment for women, by women. 

At our women’s alcohol treatment facility, we not only provide women-only care, but our staff is female. We provide a safe, supportive therapeutic environment where you can cultivate a relationship with your therapists based on empathy and mutual respect. We avoid harsh treatments like breaking down your morale so that you can rebuild and instead give you a chance to work with a team of professionals who don’t engage in any type of blame behavior, threatening tactics, or imposing gender stereotypes.

Whether you participate in our residential or outpatient levels of care, you’ll find our treatment center providing individual and family therapy. We go out of our way to incorporate your families, who can be equally effective in helping you complete your program.

Contact Casa Serena today to learn more about our beach-side women’s residential treatment center in Santa Barbara.

The post How Many Women Struggle With Drinking? appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Casa Serena Treatment is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara. Contact us today to learn more about our available treatment programs.

What is Vicodin?

Vicodin is a prescription painkiller, classified as a narcotic. It is often mixed with acetaminophen or hydrocodone. Prescriptions for acute or chronic pain can improve quality of life.

Is Vicodin Addictive?

Vicodin is very addictive. People can become addicted to Vicodin after taking it for just a few weeks or months. Not everyone appreciates the risks associated with Vicodin when it comes to a prescription. Many people, especially women, mistakenly believe prescription medications are safe because they come from a doctor.

As a narcotic, Vicodin is a highly addictive substance. However, genetics and environmental traits can increase the risk of developing a Vicodin addiction.

Long-term Vicodin abuse can lead to:

• Relationship problems
• Marital issues
• Liver damage
• Job loss
• Financial struggles
• Mental health issues
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Suicidal thoughts

What Are the Signs of Vicodin Abuse?

Signs of Vicodin abuse look different in everyone. Some people demonstrate physical signs more than others, while others predominantly show behavioral signs. 

Physical Signs

Vicodin abuse can cause physical symptoms like itchiness, insomnia, slow motor skills, or drowsiness.

Psychological signs

Psychological signs can include intense cravings. It’s common for people struggling with addiction to Vicodin to have memory problems or difficulties concentrating.

Behavioral Signs

Some behavioral signs that one is addicted to Vicodin include severe mood swings. It’s common for someone struggling with Vicodin abuse to do what’s called Doctor Shopping, where they visit multiple doctors in different areas using the same symptoms to procure multiple prescriptions simultaneously. 

People addicted to Vicodin will take more Vicodin than they are prescribed more frequently. This can lead to things like running out of a prescription long before one is supposed to or having subscriptions under multiple people’s names.

Someone struggling with Vicodin addiction might struggle with work, or school performance might drop, and dedication to professional or personal obligations might diminish. Some people struggle with frequent absenteeism or tardiness.

Other signs of Vicodin addiction include unexplained financial problems, like spending money for bills on new drugs. It’s common for people struggling with Vicodin abuse to start demonstrating secretive behavior, lying about where they’re going or how much they’re using, and stealing in order to get more money for drugs. Some people addicted to Vicodin find themselves in legal trouble.

How to Treat Vicodin Addiction

Vicodin addiction requires professional treatment. It’s important that you evaluate different drug addiction treatment centers to find a facility that specializes in the type of Vicodin care you need, like inpatient or outpatient care.

At Casa Serena, we understand that Vicodin addiction is more common in women because prescription medications are perceived as “safe.” Over 3.5 million women struggle with prescription medication abuse, but our facility can provide trauma-informed care to help tackle a history of physical or sexual abuse or to deal with PTSD. 

Our Vicodin addiction treatment programs take away any stigma you might feel as a primary caregiver and help you and your family recognize that seeking treatment is the ultimate sign of strength.

Detox

Getting clean starts with detox. After an evaluation, you’ll get a recommendation for your detox plan. This might include medication-assisted treatment depending on factors like any other drugs you might have abused.

Therapy and Medication

After detox, you’ll start going on therapy and medication. Medication is typically used during your detox to help ease symptoms and keep you as comfortable as possible.

Ongoing therapy can take the form of dual diagnosis treatment that tackles symptoms of your addiction and any co-occurring mental health disorder like PTSD. You can expect a combination of individual and group therapy sessions over the span of several weeks or months to help you identify factors that may have led to your addiction, ways to identify triggers moving forward, and coping strategies for stressful situations. 

Contact Casa Serena today to learn more about Vicodin treatment at our top-rated women’s residential treatment center. 

The post How to Treat Vicodin Addiction appeared first on Casa Serena | Women's Treatment Center.

Casa Serena is a premier women’s drug and alcohol rehab in Santa Barbara. Contact us today to learn how we can help your loved ones during the recovery process.

How Does Addiction Impact Families?

Substance abuse disorders uniquely impact every member of the family. Substance abuse can cause:

• Economic hardships
• Legal problems
• Impaired attachment
• Unmet development needs
• Emotional distress
• An increased risk of developing substance abuse in children 

Children

Over eight million children under eighteen live with one adult family member with a substance abuse disorder. When a child experiences their parent as inconsistently responsive or varying in their attachment as a parent, it can inhibit the child’s ability to thrive and lead to problems like depression and anxiety. 

When parents struggle with addiction, they might be preoccupied with getting high, their mood can be altered while high, and they can spend significant amounts of time recovering. During these phases, changes to things as simple as eye contact, a soothing touch, or a soothing tone can inhibit healthy development and attachment between parents and their children. 

This leaves children, especially young children, more vulnerable to stress and more susceptible to problems with mental illness, cognitive development, social skills, and academic performance.

Teenagers

Within the family, when an adult member struggles with addiction, it can disrupt the:

• Attachment
• Family rituals
• Roles
• Routines in the household
• Communication between family members
• Social life
• Finances

Without proper addiction support for families, teenagers can grow up struggling with role reversal, where they end up being the person taking care of their addicted parent. 

For example:

Teenagers might clean up after a parent has passed out, clean up vomit after drinking too much, put their parents to bed, and try to hide the signs of addiction from another parent or other members of the family.

During this phase, healthy boundaries between parents and children fall apart.

Spouses

Lacking resources for families of addicts can allow problems between spouses to get worse. For example, a wife might recognize that she abuses prescription pain pills because her husband regularly ignores her and she struggles with depression. But then the husband might continue to ignore his wife because she is always abusing pain pills and depressed. Without intervention, the behavior of each spouse reinforces feedback for the other and disrupts proper communication within the family.

Are There Support Groups for Families of Addicts?

Resources for families of addicts come in many forms. 

You can find resources for alcoholics families geared at all members of a family or addiction support for families feared toward spouses. 

Al-Anon Family Groups

Al-Anon resources for families of addicts address problems that family members of addicts face. This is a worldwide program available to friends and families of alcoholics. It doesn’t emphasize trying to stop your loved one from drinking, but it can certainly help you and your family members address the issues you might have.

Nar-Anon Family Groups

This is a similar form of addiction support for families of narcotic addicts. It is a twelve-step program for people who are affected by someone else’s addiction. You have the opportunity to address the issues with which you struggle and get support and encouragement from people around you while moving through a step-by-step process.

Families Anonymous

These, likewise, are twelve-step resources for families of addicts. These are programs for friends and families who have someone struggling with addiction, and they help you address the destructive behavior of that addiction.

Learn to Cope

This is a peer support network for families. They have online forums and support resources with a few face-to-face meetings in locations throughout New Jersey, Massachusetts, Idaho, and Florida.

SMART Recovery Family and Friends

SMART is a secular alternative to things like alcoholics anonymous. It’s a science-based recovery program that provides online support group meetings and face-to-face meetings in select cities across the United States.

GRASP

GRASP stands for Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing. This is a foundation that provides resources, compassion, and support for people who have lost a loved one because of addiction. You can find local charters throughout the United States that have face-to-face support groups.

Recovering Couples Anonymous

These are resources for alcoholics families, specifically for couples. You can be anyone in a committed relationship. They are not part of Alcoholics Anonymous but rely on the same principles. Their services are only available in fifteen states. 

Al-Anon for Spouses and Partners

These resources for alcoholics families are part of the Al-Anon special support programs. They are, similarly, not available everywhere, but you can check the local Al-Anon programs in your area to see if any are currently available. 

How to Find Resources for Families of Addicts

If you are ready to find resources for families of addicts, you can turn to many places. 

You can ask for resources for alcoholics families from your doctor or healthcare provider. 

Secondly, you can get addiction support for families from Casa Serena. Casa Serena helps provide treatment programs for women and their families. We are here to help facilitate recovery for everyone, and that includes families. If you are living with a family member-child, parent, or spouse who is struggling with substance abuse, we can help you find the right resources for your family. 

Let Casa Serena connect you to resources for families of addicts today.

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