Am I enabling or helping and what is the difference? This is a question I have been asked by clients many times. It is also a question I have asked myself. We can all think of fact patterns that we would consider enabling. However, sometimes the answer is not so clear. Sometimes the answer is,
The impact of addiction on a spouse or long-term committed partner is not the same for all addictions. For survivors of chronic infidelity or sex addiction, there are five major ways that sex addiction is different than other addictions, creating unique challenges to the betrayed partner and the repair of the couple’s relationship. 1. Sexual
Is four pm a kind of witching hour? Is there some sort of Ayurvedic twist of the clock, a Basal Metabolic shift, a change in the internal tides at that time? It seems my daily resolutions fall apart about then. I set intentions each day. Some are affirmations of long-term Sankalpa, others are directions I
This is a song I wrote on ukulele. Sofa Safari is a deceptively sweet song I wrote to an ex-boyfriend. The mood acts as a counterweight to a much earlier (and rawer) beat poem entitled “You, selfish You”, which was (you might guess) rich in resentment. This only goes to show what a great healer
Dr. Barbour was 40 years old with a high school education when she got sober. Without a plan in mind, she began taking classes part-time at a community college while holding various jobs. After earning a We’re going to be breaking new ground on this week’s SEX TALK. For the first time, the focus will
One byproduct of entering recovery is the multitude of gifts that sobriety can offer us. Some of the perks are more obvious than others, such as improved health, relationships, overall satisfaction and contentment. Although life steadily improves after active addiction, there is the stark reality of the state of the life you have just awoken
In my previous post, Partner of an Addict? Getting Your Unmet Needs Met, I discussed the fact that partners of addicts are often unhappy not only because of the addictive behavior itself, but because they are not getting their needs met. In Part I, I outlined the two steps needed to remedy this shortcoming: identifying
“Unhurt, unstruck, or unbeaten” – these are translations of the sanskrit word for the heart chakra. If only our hearts were so pure, so unscathed by life and time as to be called “anahata”. Unfortunately, at least for me, that has not been the case. All types of love: brotherly love, love of
Two crumpled receipts: 1 from Costco,1 from Ralph’s, 1 double-sided shopping list, 1 yellow post it note scribbled in blue ink: “Thanks for the loan PT,” 3 pellets of hard dog food & a tablespoonful of sand. This is what I found at the bottom my laundry basket, after I hoisted a heaping double
Twice in this past week, I have seen two social media giants; Apple and Facebook publicly admit with data, showing the severity of their concerns, as to how clearly your smartphone is making you antisocial, unhealthy and that their technology is designed to hook people using the same neural pathways as gambling and drugs.
