Sex Addiction Treatment Facilities – How Do They Provide Care?

Intimacy disorders or compulsive sexual behavior can bring damage to your life as it can wreak havoc on your relationships, career, health and finances. Sexual addiction usually goes hand in hand with other addictions or disorders as well such as substance abuse, PTSD/trauma, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder etc. the sex addiction treatment facilities provide care through a multiple ways such as they create an accepting environment for the patient, provide them comfortable houses, and give complete attention to their trauma and shame they are going through. The treatment for various underlying issues is also given and the couples and family therapy is recommended for one and all so that the patients can also get the help from their family which is the biggest support system for any human.

Understanding Emotional Trauma Symptoms for Proper Treatment

Psychological trauma is nothing short of an injury to the spirit which usually happens after going through something distressing or disturbing. Sometimes, people have been through frightening events which may lead to challenges in coping with the issues. You must look for signs and symptoms of emotional and psychological trauma such as emotional symptoms, behavioral symptoms, cognitive symptoms, psychological symptoms, and physical symptoms. As a fact, there are a number of people who go through with these traumas all through their life without getting any kind of treatment done. Eventually this leads to shrinking of their friend circle and they become more and more weak. Rather than feeling traumatized and helpless, a person must work towards getting to a better place. It is suggested that professional help must be taken in order to get rid of trauma.

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What I Wish I’d Known as a Teenager

It is of extreme importance that teenagers are educated in terms of mental and physical health. Many cases of sexual violence against teenagers can leave them to be suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance use disorder, and other trauma-related issues. They also need to be taught that it is good to be anxious but getting on the level of isolation due to this anxiety is not a healthy sign. Besides, your body has a relationship with the food you consume. Sometimes, out of stress teenagers end up binge-eating fast food which leads to a plethora of health problems. Also, not taking enough sleep is one cause behind depression and anxiety. As a parent, you must educate your children about sexual violence if ever taken place with them. There are many issues related to such sexual activities where the consent is missing.

Healing the Shame of Sexual Addiction

Sex is a natural and an innate need that humans are born with. But then it can also lead to some of the shameful experiences. The blog shows how one single sexual incident of embarrassment makes a person captive for a long time. It can also wreak havoc to the personality of the person. It can further lead to isolation from other people. Sexual addiction leaves scars which people take a lot of time to recover from. These people will display all the shame while talking and their body posture and body language can show the pain he is going through. Though a person ends up getting emotionally isolated from others, it is also a fact that to recover he needs to mingle and connect with others. They need to push their past away and get rid of fear and shame so that they can experience freedom and healing.

3 Myths about Sex Addiction Treatment

Alexandra Katehakis, Senior Fellow at The Meadows, is one of the lead authors of an article titled, “Sex Addiction is NOT a ‘MYTH’ when Neuroscience Keeps the Score” featured in the January/February 2017 issue of The Therapist. The article is endorsed by several experts in the fields of trauma, addiction, and mental health including Dr. Claudia Black and Dr. Stefanie Carnes, both Senior Fellows at The Meadows; Dr. Jon Caldwell, Medical Director at The Meadows; and Dr. Monica Meyer, Clinical Director at Gentle Path at The Meadows.

In the article, Katehakis and her co-authors set out a convincing case for treating sex addiction as a chronic brain disease, much like other dependencies and process addictions. They also lay to rest many of the prevailing myths about the sex addiction model for treating compulsive sexual behaviors, pointing to evidence that the sex addiction theory offers neurologically-informed, sex-positive, and relationally-based therapeutic protocols.

Myth #1: Sex addiction treatment is a really just “reparative therapy.”

Reparative therapy (also known as conversion therapy) is a type of counseling that claims to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual. It has been widely discredited by mental health professionals and is illegal in several states.

Unfortunately, some therapists and counselors have misleadingly used the term “sex addiction” to lure clients into reparative therapy. Some also shame people who engage in what they see as non-conforming sexual behaviors. These practices are not considered ethical or appropriate within the sex addiction model of treatment.

Expert, credentialed, Certified Sex Addiction Therapists (CSATs) do not use, support, condone, or respect the destructive practice of reparative therapy; and, their aim is to help clients move beyond shame, not to intensify the shame they are often already feeling.

Individuals should not be classified as sex addicts based on their sexual orientation. Individuals of any sexual orientation may display symptoms of sexual addiction and be diagnosed based on self-reporting and a comprehensive assessment process conducted by a trained and knowledgeable sex addiction professional.

Myth #2: Sex addiction treatment shames people for enjoying nonconforming sexual behaviors.

Certified sex addiction professionals do not shame or scold individuals who struggle with sexual preoccupation and/or compulsivity or on the basis of their sexual preferences. The goal of sex addiction treatment is to guide clients toward a sexuality that feels right for them—a sexuality that is pleasurable, creative, and relational. Sexual compulsivity and/or preoccupation is marked by moderate to severe dissociation that is often accompanied by impulses that are destructive to the client’s sense of self and lead to feelings of dysphoria and isolation. According to the authors:

“CSATs are educated about alternative sexual lifestyles which include ‘nonconforming’ behaviors such as kink/fetishes, BDSM, or other practices. Only if a client presents with sexual behavior—alternative or ordinary—that troubles him or her are practices explored and assessed. More importantly, this investigation aims to measure the problematic nature, not of the sexual acts themselves, but of their compulsive use. Recovery from sex addiction never means ‘repairing’ erotic minorities from their sexual preferences.”

Sex addicts expend most of their energy replaying past traumatic sexual experiences and/or repetitively fantasizing about future ones. These preoccupations and impulses are often overwhelming and severely disrupt their professional and personal lives. The disorder has no resemblance to even the most robust, healthy sexual interest and behavior.

Myth #3: Sex addiction treatment is just another 12-step program.

Sex addiction therapists do not see the 12-step program as the be-all and end-all of treatment. 12-step programs are valuable in that they can help participants increase their relational skills and ability to connect with others through regular interaction with a caring group. But sex addiction therapy does not end with 12-step work.

The most effective treatment for sex addiction is based on a well-designed, multi-faceted, comprehensive plan that is tailored to the client’s goals. The treatment provider also must help the client to develop support structures—like a 12-step program—that facilitate long-term and meaningful recovery.

For example, at Gentle Path at The Meadows and Willow House at The Meadows, treatment plans focus on trauma resolution and include neurofeedback and neuriobiofeedback techniques, EMDR, experiential therapies, individual counseling, mindfulness practices, yoga, acupuncture and more, in addition to 12-step work.

It’s a holistic approach that treats the whole person, focusing on the mind, body, and emotions of the client. Its goal is to help clients resolve past trauma and discover—sometimes for the first time—pleasurable, self-nurturing, and relational sexuality.

What is Sex Addiction Treatment Really About?

The sex addiction model of treatment is not sex-negative, puritanical, or anti-pleasure. It also does not disapprove of or try to discourage sexual expression outside of narrowly-defined, normative, heterosexual sex. Sex addiction treatment, when conducted by well-trained, caring professionals, is sex-positive. Its goal is to help each person discover, delight in, and fully express his or her preferred sex life.

For more information on sex addiction treatment for yourself or your partner or spouse, please give us all call at 866-613-1826. Our Intake Specialists are happy to talk to you about whether one of our 5-day workshops, inpatient sex addiction treatment, or outpatient sex addiction treatment may be right for you.

Content Source 3 Myths about Sex Addiction Treatment

Why The Meadows Outpatient Center is the Best Place for Addiction Treatment

No one plans to become addicted, but after that initial interaction with alcohol, drugs or dysfunctional behavior, they may like how it makes them feel and soon find themselves spiraling out of control. Individuals who engage in these types of escapism may have initially acted on it to feel good, but then find themselves having to seek it out just to feel normal.

And that is what confuses many people who do not suffer from addiction.

Why do people become addicted?

It can often seem mystifying as to why or how other people can become addicted to substances such as alcohol or drugs; or how a person can find themselves engaging in addictive behaviors like sex or gambling. They may mistakenly believe that individuals suffering from addiction lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their harmful behaviors simply by choosing to. In reality, addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Addiction changes the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to.

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, approximately 40 million Americans ages 12 and older—or more than 1 in 7 people—abuse or are addicted to nicotine, alcohol or other drugs. This is more than the number of Americans with heart conditions (27 million), diabetes (26 million) or cancer (19 million).

Addiction is more common than most people realize. Unfortunately, many people do not seek the treatment they need.

What happens to the brain of an addict?

Addictive behaviors (gambling, sex, etc.) and substances (ex. alcohol, drugs) affect the brain's "reward circuit" by flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. This reward system controls the body's ability to feel pleasure and motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones. This overstimulation of the reward circuit causes the intensely pleasurable "high" that can lead people to engage in their addiction again and again.

As a person continues to remain involved with their addiction, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine by making less of it and/or reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they first felt before their addiction worsened —an effect known as tolerance. They begin utilizing their addiction of choice more and more, trying to achieve the same dopamine high. It can also cause them to get less pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food or social activities.

Long-term use also causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well, affecting functions that include:

• Learning
• Judgment
• Decision-making
• Stress
• Memory
• Behavior

Despite being aware of harmful outcomes, many people suffering from addiction continue to participate in these dangerous behaviors, which is the nature of addiction.

Addiction Treatment that Works

At The Meadows, we believe trauma underlies nearly all conditions. Trauma, whether related to addiction, family-of-origin issues or abuse, can reverberate through the many facets of our lives, follow us into adulthood and inhibit us from living in the present.

We believe that successful treatment combines different powerful and unique methodologies that enable support, discovery, and healing.

The Meadows’ highly trained staff and innovative therapeutic techniques have made it America’s leading treatment center for addiction and developmental trauma. For more than 40 years, The Meadows has helped over 45,000 people find healing and recovery from a range of addictions and co-occurring disorders. Our therapists, psychiatrists, and counselors look to the underlying issues to treat the cause of the problem, bringing lifelong learning and healing to each and every patient.

At The Meadows, our highly individualized treatment encompasses The Meadows Model to address emotional trauma and addiction with a multi-disciplinary emphasis. In addition to a medical integration model, our staff includes 24-hour nursing, on-site physicians, and a full-time Chief of Psychiatry. This talented team of professionals specializes in trauma resolution using a variety of cutting-edge therapeutic modalities.

The Meadows’ innovative Brain Center offers patients neurofeedback and other integrative equipment to aid in grounding and brain regulation. Patients have access to the latest and most efficient technology promoting “self-regulation” skills that can enhance and expedite the recovery process.

Recover from Your Addiction

We know that even though some people may suffer from the same mental health concerns, they each will have their own unique story and past history. This means that a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment will not work. At The Meadows, we create an individualized treatment plan for you based on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs to help you achieve long-lasting recovery.

To learn how The Meadows can help you or a loved one, please call 866-613-1826 or visit our website. All calls and communications are kept strictly confidential.

Content Source Why The Meadows Outpatient Center is the Best Place for Addiction Treatment

Gambling Addiction Treatment in Arizona

What many people may not realize is that gambling addiction is classified as an impulse control disorder.

Individuals with impulse control disorders feel increasing stimulation before participating in the act of gambling. While gambling they probably will feel a sense of satisfaction; however, they may feel remorse or shame afterward.

Compulsive gamblers can’t control the urge to gamble, even when they know it has negative consequences that will hurt themselves and their families through strained relationships and financial problems. Unpleasant feelings can worsen the disorder, such as:

• Stress
• Depression
• Loneliness
• Fear
• Anxiety

Compulsive gamblers continue to gamble though they know the odds are against them, and they can’t afford to lose. These individuals may or may not plan to gamble, but it generally fulfills an immediate, conscious need; however, they often feel anguished and a loss of control over their lives from their actions.

Problematic Gambling

According to an article published in the Scientific American, four in five Americans say they have gambled at least once in their lives. With the exception of Hawaii and Utah, every state in the country offers some form of legalized gambling. And today you do not even need to leave your house to gamble—all you need is an Internet connection or a phone. Various surveys have determined that around two million people in the U.S. are addicted to gambling, and for as many as 20 million citizens the habit seriously interferes with work and social life.

Studies have shown that individuals who anticipate winning while gambling appear to react much like a person reacting to euphoria-inducing drugs. During one study subjects who were gambling had blood flow to the brain change in ways similar to that seen in other experiments during an infusion of cocaine in subjects addicted to that drug and to low doses of morphine in drug-free individuals.

The changes varied in accordance with the amount of money involved and a broadly distributed set of brain regions were involved in anticipating a win. The more money involved, the more excited the person became.

Signs of a Gambling Addiction

With gambling, the odds are never in your favor whether it is poker, blackjack, lottery tickets or entering a raffle; gambling is a successful industry because the house always wins.

Common signs of gambling addiction include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Feeling the need to be secretive about gambling
• Having trouble controlling gambling habits
• Gambling when you cannot afford to
• Your friends and family express concern about your gambling
• Anxiety about quitting or stopping
• Strong emotional reaction to gambling or about stopping such as:
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Self-harm
• Suicidal thoughts

Other addictions frequently co-occur with gambling addiction as they serve as coping mechanisms for individuals stressed out by their activity. Many gamblers turn to drugs, alcohol, sexual addiction, and other behaviors to alleviate the anxiety brought on by the gambling lifestyle.

Even if a person never experiences a financial loss because of gambling, they may struggle with a substance addiction for the rest of life due to self-medicating to deal with the stress brought on by the lifestyle. Also, relationships are often permanently damaged as a result of gambling.

How To Get Help For Gambling Addiction

Just as alcoholics and drug addicts develop a tolerance to alcohol and drugs, the gambler will need to gamble more and more to achieve the same effect. The continuous search for that “high” ultimately develops into an addiction.

At The Meadows, we utilize cutting-edge therapies and other techniques to help clients change unhealthy gambling behaviors. Problem gamblers learn how to control their urges, deal with uncomfortable emotions and resolve underlying issues that brought about the addiction through individualized gambling addiction treatment.

To learn more about our program or to seek help for yourself or a loved one, please call 866-331-3102 or visit our website today. All communication is kept strictly confidential.

Content Source Gambling Addiction Treatment In Arizona

Welcome Home: Preventing Relapse after Inpatient Treatment

I once heard a client’s family member refer to their loved one’s inpatient addiction treatment as a sort of summer camp.

The family member made this pronouncement with what sounded like envy; they wished they too could have some “time away.”

The thought intrigued me as a therapist. Soon after that session, I presented the idea of inpatient mental health treatment as “summer camp” to the group I was leading, and within moments I was dodging hypothetical tomatoes being thrown my direction.

Over the years, having spent more time in inpatient treatment as a therapist, I can tell you that there are many reasons why the notion that inpatient treatment is like summer camp doesn’t fly with those in recovery. One of the biggest distinctions, however, is in the returning home. Returning home from summer camp, and returning home from treatment are two entirely different things.

As a kid, you go to summer camp to experience new things and meet new friends with the knowledge that you will return home to your parents and your usual mundane surroundings within a few weeks. Nothing at home is likely to change. That is what often makes the idea of being away so appealing.

Your new friend’s primary interest is in coaxing you into the lake after lunch so that they have a swim partner. In fact, at summer camp you may not even think of home very often. Your mind typically stays on the burnt marshmallows, and the weird lanyard thing you work on at night before bed that you plan to present your parents as a token of your love and gratitude.

None of this sounds like inpatient drug and alcohol addiction treatment.

What Going Home Means After Inpatient Treatment

You probably will make friends during your inpatient addiction treatment. However, unlike summer camp, the friends you do make will be made by sharing your innermost, and most painful personal failures and struggles—struggles that you thought could be kept secret forever.

When you do think of home, you may feel a sense of loss or confusion. Your thoughts might range from “Where is home?” to “Will I ever really be home again?”

After inpatient addiction treatment, home is a place where you carefully put on your life vest of newly acquired coping skills to keep from drowning in the old habits and patterns of behavior that your brain so strongly associates with drinking or using.

Building a New and Better ‘Home’

The home you return to after inpatient or residential addiction treatment must be built on the foundation of a solid relapse prevention plan. Before you leave treatment, you should have a plan in place for…

• Managing cravings and triggers.
• Preventing a momentary slip from turning into a full-fledged return to substance abuse.
• Relying on a strong diversified support system that can include family, friends, and mental health professionals.

“Relapse prevention” is a term that frequently gets thrown around during an inpatient treatment stay. While in treatment, each patient begins to identify what their own relapse prevention plan will be. However, no one can possibly identify every potential trigger beforehand. It is critical that patients talk about and even practice their plans before leaving treatment. But, practice is never exactly the same as real-life experience.

That’s why, in addition to having a relapse prevention plan, you should also get familiar with the stages of relapse, so that you can identify who the best people to reach out to would be if you, unfortunately, found yourself in one of these stages. If you are prepared, you will find that slipping into one of these stages doesn’t mean the end of your recovery. Rather, an expected slip can be an opportunity to apply one of your newly-acquired coping skills and pull yourself back into a manageable place.

The three, progressive stages of relapse are:

1. Emotional

During this stage, you may start reacting to the same triggers that lead to your drug or alcohol misuse with feelings of anxiety, anger, isolation, mood swings, and changes in eating or sleeping habits. The most important thing you can do at this stage is to reach out to your support system. Contact your sponsor, therapist, or visit your support group, or attend your 12-step meetings.

2. Mental

In this stage, you start to fantasize and rationalize. You might start to dream about using again. Then, you will start to come up with reasons why using again would be “no big deal.” Once you’ve reached this stage, it’s absolutely critical that you talk to your sponsor or addiction counselor.

3. Physical

This is the stage where you give in and reach for the substance or process that you have worked so hard to quit using. This is why it’s so critical to recognize when you’re in stage one or two of a relapse and get help before you go down this dangerous path.

Knowing—but not anticipating—that relapse is often part of a successful recovery will help you to maintain and restore hope if you find yourself struggling through any these stages.

Maintaining your primary focus on the better life that lies ahead through recovery keeps us taking that “next best step,” “one day at a time.” As you continue on your journey “home” remember that awareness plus action is change. This change can be applied no matter where you are on your journey. If you find yourself slipping, take action, reach out, and push forward towards your new home sweet home in recovery.

Ease the Transition Home in an Outpatient Program

An intensive outpatient program (IOP) is often recommended when an individual requires a “step down” from one level of treatment to the next before they are ready to return home and apply their recovery skills to everyday life.

At The Meadows Outpatient Center, we teach time-tested recovery skills and help remove the blocks that produce a life full of joy, gratitude, and acceptance. These skills promote loving, healthy relationships free from active addiction in an ongoing, permanent and successful recovery.

We are a comprehensive outpatient program that offers 18-20 hours of services and treatment per week—more than twice the amount of services provided in a typical IOP. We are also in-network with both Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about our program and help you determine if The Meadows Outpatient Treatment Center is the right place for you. Give us a call at 866-562-9559.

Content Source Welcome Home: Preventing Relapse after Inpatient Treatment

Couples Begin the Journey to Emotional Reconnection after Sexual Addiction Recovery

Discovery to Recovery Part 2: Emotional Impact and Emotional Restitution

Couples who have struggled with the enormity of damage caused by sexual addiction often feel hopeless and helpless. When they think of the long road from discovery of the problem to recovery and reconnection, it can seem daunting and endless. However, many couples do find help and they find recovery and they reconnect in ways that are beyond what they ever allowed themselves to believe possible.

Disclosure is the first step to relationship repair, however, it often feels more damaging than reparative. The honesty involved in disclosure and the willingness to hear what will undoubtedly be hurtful information about betrayal are important parts of healing for most couples. What happens after disclosure is just as important, if not more so. Emotional impact and emotional restitution work are the next steps supported by experts in the sex addiction field.

Emotional impact provides a chance for the partner to express the impact that the addict’s behaviors have had on them. Partners often do not feel truly heard and do not feel as though their emotions have been a priority in the addict’s recovery. Emotional impact work is the chance for the partner to really be empowered in having time that is solely dedicated to their emotions being genuinely heard.

Emotional restitution work provides a chance for the addict to demonstrate that they have heard and fully understand the emotional wreckage their behaviors have caused. Addicts have a chance to show that they are able to respond to the emotional needs of their partner. This goes beyond the making of amends, to a deeper emotional comprehension and an honoring of the betrayed partner.

These important recovery tasks need to happen in an environment that is safe, and in a way where both parties feel supported. Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows, in collaboration with Dr. Ken Adams, has designed a workshop that accomplishes these tasks and more. The Discovery to Recovery Intensive Series for Couples Healing, Part 2 focuses on the necessary work of emotional impact and emotional restitution. Here are excerpts of feedback provided about the workshop from two recent partner participants:

“We were supported with the entire process of identifying how we felt, really felt, as a result of our experiences. We were helped in finding our words to express what we hold inside and made to feel safe in sharing. Our hurt, our pain, our betrayal, our vulnerability was all validated; we were allowed and encouraged to feel. We were guided in the process through dialogue, ‘lectures,’ tools, and strategies on how to construct our impact letters to convey and prepare to share the message we needed our partner to hear, to feel, and to process. We were supported and prepared in being able to receive the response and emotional restitution letters of our partners. Most importantly, we were able to see each other as people, and as the partners we once fell in love with and shared so much with, while still being allowed to hang on to and own our pain.”

“I want to express my gratitude for the Discovery to Healing workshop you created at The Meadows. I struggled with whether or not I should attend - concerned that I was either going to be met with more roadblocks to healing or, worse, be further traumatized. But, instead what I found was a sacred space, one in which I could feel protected and safe enough to show up, be seen and get beyond my “go to” responses/feelings of anger, betrayal, and grief. And what I also found that was completely unexpected was the path back to me - the person that I had lost somewhere between the confusion and pain of sex addiction.”

“The care, wisdom and enormous commitment that went into creating this experience is obvious. I will forever be grateful.”

“I would very highly recommend this program to any and every couple going through the traumas of sexual addiction. The experience is equally valuable and necessary for both the addict and for the partner. The experience of a week-long intensive workshop is probably equivalent to a year’s worth of one hour 1-1 therapy visits in that you discover, understand, and work on so much in a short, intensive period of time”

This work requires embarking on a journey that makes no promises and has no guaranteed outcome. It requires courage, willingness, trust in the process, and faith in yourself. If this sounds like the next step for you and your relationship, contact our intake department at 1-866-453-7374 or you can find more information about the Discovery to Recovery workshops here.

Content Source Couples Begin the Journey to Emotional Reconnection after Sexual Addiction Recovery

The Meadows Outpatient Program Is More Than An IOP

 

By David Anderson, The Meadows Executive Director

We often refer to The Meadows Outpatient Center as an “Intensive Outpatient Center,” or IOP...

….which it is.

However, in reality, the Meadows Outpatient Center is much more than what most people think of when they refer to an IOP. We like to think of our program as a COMPREHENSIVE outpatient program.

Let me explain…

What is an IOP?

There are many programs all around the country that call themselves IOP programs. These programs vary greatly in how they are set up; but, typically they only offer three, one-hour group therapy sessions per day, three days per week (i.e., nine hours total per week). And often group therapy is all that they offer— no individual therapy, no neurofeedback, no psychiatry, no trauma-sensitive yoga, no art therapy, no Somatic Experiencing, no EMDR, no acupuncture, etc.— Just nine hours per week of group therapy.

Now, compare that to The Meadows Outpatient Program which provides 18-20 hours of services and treatment per week. That is more than twice the amount of services provided in a typical IOP.

Each week, our patients may take advantage of:

• Four 3-hour groups. That’s 12 hours of group therapy each week.
• One hour of art therapy with a trauma/art therapist,
• One hour of trauma-sensitive yoga
• One to two hours of individual therapy per week (including somatic experiencing, EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy, and expressive arts)
• A separate Family Recovery Group each Monday (just for family members),
• A weekly multi-family group,
• Private family therapy (as needed for couples or family),
• Two separate 1-hour appointments for Brainpaint Neurofeedback each week (typically with three different protocols during each hour),
• One hour of acupuncture each Friday,
• A one-hour Meadows-produced educational DVD (usually a Pia Mellody talk) in our state-of-the-art conference room on a high-definition big screen (with pizza!) on Fridays,
• Psychiatrist appointments (Typically one hour in the beginning of the program; then one to three follow-up appointments during the course of treatment), and
• Recently added: a once-per-month therapeutic drum circle.

Additionally, the Brain Spa is open at all times for patients to use Cranial Electro Stimulation (CES) machines. The Brain Spa has three relaxing chairs and one massage chair set up with studio quality headphones and iPod Nanos programmed with brain regulation programs (e.g., Hemi-sync binaural beats, Mozart Effect, Guided Imagery, meditation music, etc.)

Nationwide, the hours required for each level of care in behavioral health are…

• Residential/inpatient programs - 24/7 care
• Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHPs): Typically 30 hours per week of care,
• Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOPs): Typically plus/minus 9 hours per week of care.

So, with our 18 to 20 hours of care per week, The Meadows Outpatient program is actually something in-between a PHP and an IOP.

Additional Benefits of The Meadows Outpatient Center

It’s also important to note that The Meadows Comprehensive Outpatient program is now “in network” with both Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Humana. And, our wonderful Finance Team works hard to every to make the step-down to outpatient care affordable, regardless of the patient’s insurance provider.

Plus, the weather is beautiful all year in Scottsdale, Arizona making The Meadows Outpatient Center the ideal place to begin or continue your journey of recovery. Our safe and nurturing community and our expert staff help patients gain the courage they need to face difficult personal issues including grief and loss, heal from emotional trauma, and become accountable for their own feelings, behaviors, and recovery. Send us an email or call us at 866-913-5010 for more information.

Dr. Shelley Uram Featured on The Dr. Drew Podcast

Dr. Shelley Uram, a triple board-certified psychiatrist and Senior Fellow at The Meadows, was recently a guest on The Dr. Drew podcast.

The podcast is hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky, a board-certified internist and addiction medicine specialist who is well known for his work both as a physician and as a TV and radio personality. On The Dr. Drew podcast, he takes listener calls and talks to experts on a variety of topics relating to health, relationships, sex, and addiction.

He and Dr. Uram had a fascinating and in-depth conversation about the ubiquity of relational trauma in today’s society, how trauma impacts the brain and body, and treatment modalities like mindfulness, yoga, EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing, and 12-step frameworks.
Here are a few highlights from the show:

On The Prevalence of Trauma in Our Culture

Dr. Drew: What are you seeing with trauma these days?

Dr. Uram: There’s a lot of stress and strain and what I call relational trauma that’s inherent to modern American culture... It often leads to addiction, trauma, and depression.

The ACEs study showed us that when we’re children and we’re exposed to the stresses and strains of family and psychological traumas— “soft” traumas that are really not soft—they go on to create all kinds of psychological problems, medical problems, heart problems, lower socioeconomic levels, and more. So, those traumas we are exposed to as children and may not even recognize as traumas can go on to wreak havoc in the body, the brain, and the mind… I see that a lot.

On Unhealthy Relationship Patterns

Dr. Drew: People with traumas often seem to be magically attracted to the kinds of people who have features or qualities similar to the perpetrators of those traumas. And, of course, if you are drawn to a perpetrator they will oblige you and re-perpetrate. Where is your sense of where that’s coming from?

Dr. Uram: There’s a part of the brain called the brain stem, which is located physically at the lowest level of the brain and is evolutionally hundreds of millions of years of years old. Since it’s so ancient it doesn’t have sophisticated wiring. In addition to homeostasis, procedural memory is one of its functions. Procedural memories are habits or patterns that get locked into our brains. Every single function of the brain stem, including procedural memories, is unconscious. So, when patterns get locked in there, we are no longer aware of them. It’s like learning to tie your shoes. At first, it took a lot of effort, but once you got it, you could do it without thinking. So, how to tie your shoes is a procedural memory.

Procedural memories are also made up of any types of patterns that we picked up from our formative years, mainly birth to age five. They can be simple motor activities, like tying your shoes, or they can be tied in with strong emotions, fears, and expectations. Once something gets registered as a procedural memory, we’re off to the races. We’re going to keep repeating procedures related to those early emotions and all we can do is notice it. We have little to no control.

Another rule of thumb with the ancient brain areas like the brain stem is that they like for us to stay in the zone of comfort. Even if we consciously hate the zone of comfort we end up staying with it. So, for a woman who has been abused as a child and ends up in abusive relationships as an adult over and over and over—She may hate that she does that, but to her ancient survival brain areas, that’s the zone of comfort. That’s what it knows. It knows abuse. It knows neglect. It knows perpetrators…

Dr. Drew: Some people can trust their so-called instincts, but if you’ve had trauma… No. Or if you find that you repeat behavior you don’t like, or repeating circumstances you don’t like or relationships you don’t like—that’s when you can’t trust your instincts.

Dr. Uram: The real wisdom that we all have deep inside of us tends to be a very quiet voice—most of us don’t hear it all. But the voice of addiction, the voice of trauma, and the Fight, Flight, Freeze voice screams at us… By the time most of are three months old, our thinking brain has started to come online and we have our first dawning sense of “Oh, there’s a me.” That triggers our flight, fight, freeze survival responses like crazy. Especially if we are exposed to trauma, the survival voices are screaming loud voices inside our heads. They make us forget entirely how to listen to the quiet voice inside of us that contains our sixth sense and our wisdom.

On The Essential Self

Dr. Uram: We all have a soul—an essential self that we are born with and die with. It gives us our inherent sense of worth, and our wisdom, and our sense of peace and happiness—real, deep happiness… By the time we are young adults, most of us have long forgotten who we really are, because layer upon layer of false beliefs, expectations, symptoms, and negative feelings have built around our essence. We have to learn how to reclaim the essential self—How to get back down to that essential self and connect with it.

Learn more about The Essential Self and Trauma

Listen to the entire, hour-long podcast for more of Dr. Uram’s conversation with Dr. Drew. They go into more depth about the essential self, building interpersonal relationships, and the implications of trauma and the ACEs study.
Dr. Uram’s book, Essential Living: A Guide to Having Happiness and Peace by Reclaiming Your Essential Self is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It will be available April 4 wherever books are sold.

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Practicing the Pause

 

 

By Aleah Johnson, The Meadows Alumni Coordinator Have you ever jumped to conclusions, made brash decisions, dove into problem-mode solving mode instead of actively listening, or spoken too soon? I am guilty of all!

The holidays can be a time of cheer, celebration, and love, but they can also bring difficult family dynamics front and center in some households. Through family of origin work, The Meadows helps us understand the different roles family members play, which allows us to learn the skills we need to be successful in our relationships—and in everyday life. Strong relationships are one of the keys to tackling recovery.

More often than not, no matter what our addiction of choice was, you probably had a tendency to use words and actions as weapons, when you should have been using to them to heal and connect. Taking the time to “practice the pause” between your emotional reactions and your actions, helps you to make better choices. Instead of saying something which you will later need to make amends for, you get a chance to reconnect with the present moment, and choose a response that will strengthen your relationships, instead of weaken them.

Relationships aren’t the only place to practice the pause. Life, in general, is in session! We oftentimes forget to intentionally rest, be still, and pause. We take advantage of our go-go momentum and get lost in our own chaos of busyness.
Thoughts, fears, and worries are in full force, which cause us to be on high alert and neglect self-care. Even though it sounds simple, injecting the pause can make a huge difference in your quality of life. After all, isn’t it the little things that make the biggest difference?

How will you practice the pause?

Join Us for the 2017 Meadows Alumni Retreat

The Meadows Alumni Retreat is your opportunity to reconnect, reunite, recharge, and reignite. This retreat is only for those who have participated in one of our 5-day intensive workshops, an intensive outpatient program at The Meadows Outpatient Center, or family week or inpatient treatment at The Meadows, Claudia Black Young Adult Center, Gentle Path at The Meadows, Dawn at The Meadows, Dakota House, or Mellody House. We look forward to creating an unforgettable weekend and reuniting you with your peers!

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Couples Recovering from Sex Addiction Can Reconnect

Relationship

By Dr. Georgia Fourlas, LCSW, LISAC, CSAT, Rio Retreat Center Lead Therapist
There is an indescribable beauty in watching participants move into a deeper level of intimacy after struggling through the destruction of sexual addiction.

How Change Happens

First order change happens when something, usually a behavior, changes to restore balance. Most recovery work begins this way.

The final phase of the Discover to Recovery workshop focuses on making second order change, which happens when a completely new way of seeing things is created, or when a major paradigm shift is internalized. Some people see it as a shift in how we view and maintain first order change. In that way, second order change in couples supports first order change, while allowing a complete transformation in the system of the coupleship.

Second order change for couples involves rewriting a new narrative for the relationship that includes a deeper level of connection and shifts the focus from the issues in the relationship to the process by which couples can deal with those issues. Learning how to interact in more tender, loving, responsive, and emotionally connected ways can promote second order change through the development of a more secure attachment.

An eclectic blend of therapeutic approaches makes this amazing workshop unique. It provides what many experts feel is the missing piece in sexual addiction recovery. Experiential work helps couples achieve deeper connection and move toward second order change. After the pain of disclosure and the vulnerability of emotional impact and emotional restitution, this workshop offers couples the opportunity to truly heal with one another and to achieve a level of attachment and intimacy that they never thought possible—intimacy beyond their wildest dreams.

“This workshop was amazing!” said one of our recent participants. “The structure of the week and the support and guidance of the facilitators provided an atmosphere that allowed my wife and me to change the trajectory of our marriage. It is not often that I am surprised by anything, but this week blew past my expectations. I am more hopeful for my marriage now than I have ever been.”

For more information on the Discovery to Recovery workshop series call 866-977-8770 or visit www.rioretreatcenter.com.

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U.S. Surgeon General Issues a Call to Action on Addiction

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s release of Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health at yesterday’s Facing Addiction Summit was an unprecedented moment in our country’s fight against addiction and substance misuse. It is the first time in history that a U.S. surgeon general has issued a report focused on drug and alcohol addiction. The report comes at a time when more and more Americans are struggling with the effects of addiction to opioids and heroin.
One person dies every 19 minutes from an opioid or heroin overdose. And, the statistics related to other addictions are no less grim. One in seven people in the United States will face a substance misuse disorder, and only 10 percent will get the treatment they need to overcome it.

Shame and stigma are typically major factors in preventing people from reaching out for help and finding treatment. That’s why it was especially encouraging to see Surgeon General Murthy make it clear that addiction is a brain disease and not a sign of depravity:

“We have to recognize (addiction) isn't evidence of a character flaw or a moral failing,” Murthy told USA Today. “It’s a chronic disease of the brain that deserves the same compassion that any other chronic illness does, like diabetes or heart disease.”

Treating Addiction as a Brain Disease

At The Meadows, addressing the neurological aspects of addiction alongside the social and spiritual aspects has always been a top priority. The Meadows Senior Fellow Dr. Shelley Uram often says that our approach includes both “Bottom Up” and “Top Down” therapies. To put it in the simplest of terms, the way your brain has been primed to respond to emotional triggers through your childhood experiences has an impact on the development of addictions and other behavioral health disorders.

Automatic emotional responses (fear, anger, disgust, etc.,) are deeply embedded in your limbic brain—the “bottom” part of your brain—which operates subconsciously.

Your choices and your rationalizations for those choices are a function of the “top” part of your brain, the pre-frontal cortex, which is the conscious, “thinking” part of your brain.

The Meadows programs include therapies that are designed to help our clients improve their overall brain functioning at both the conscious and subconscious levels.

Talk therapies, or “top down” therapies, engage the conscious, prefrontal cortex. They help you to gain a greater understanding of why you respond to triggers in the way that you do, how you can make different choices, and allow you to learn more about who you really are. Examples of these types of therapies include individual counseling, group sessions, and 12-step work.

Even as you gain a greater understanding of yourself and your disorder through top down therapies, automatic emotional responses to triggers remain lodged in your subconscious mind. “Bottom-up” therapies like Yoga, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and Heart Rate Variability training help to dislodge the automatic responses from your limbic system, so that your responses to triggers are less intense. These types of therapies are crucial to helping clients prevent relapse. The therapeutic devices and techniques available in our Brain Center are designed to help our patients work at this deeper level.

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