American Addiction Centers Blog

  If you go to a 12-Step meeting, do you have to talk? The short answer is no. You will never be forced to share. If you are asked, you can decline. Not sharing at your first (or first few) meetings is fine and normal! It gives you time to feel comfortable and get acquainted […]

  “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” –Aristotle Although people have benefited from art therapy for a long time, it’s become a more well-known term in the past few years. Visit any bookstore or arts and crafts store, and you will see a wide […]

  How do you join AA or another 12-Step group? It’s simple. You just show up. Seriously, that’s it. You go to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting. There are no speeches, dues, or paperwork to sign. You don’t have to take a pledge or provide your personal information. You won’t receive a membership card or […]

Alcoholism is a chronic condition. Recovery requires ongoing work. Even after leaving the treatment center, it’s important to have a support system in place to keep you focused on recovery. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which pioneered the 12-Step program model, can provide the support system you need. The meetings provide a safe place to connect with […]

James Krah, the clinical director at American Addiction Centers’ Desert Hope Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), helps people new in recovery engage with the 12-Step program. Solid engagement with the process, Krah believes, will increase the chances for a smooth transition out of treatment. Leading in-house 12-Step groups, Krah fields countless questions. His responses usually show […]

Living with Your Spouse’s Addiction May Be Giving You PTSD When the person you care about and count on seems lost in a burning desire to drink or take other substances, it can wreak destruction on your emotional health. Have no doubt, you are being impacted physically and psychologically, and the effects can be long […]

12-Step programs, which are, after 80 years, still a foundational component of many treatment programs for addiction, have come under fire of late. Over 12 months, we are trying to unpack the discussion in a helpful way with the help of “James.”James Krah is a licensed drug and alcohol counselor at American Addiction Centers where he serves […]

To hear Traci tell her recovery story, check out both Part 1 and Part 2 of her Far From Finished podcast episode. Far From Finished is a podcast series that shares the unfiltered, real-life stories of people in recovery. Please join us every Monday as we introduce a brand new episode of Far From Finished. […]

  Those with eating disorders at risk for substance abuse As a young person, Angela Quadrani struggled with bulimia nervosa – bingeing and purging. “I liked that because I could physically control what was going in and going out,” Quadrani explains. The purging aspect of bulimia means that those afflicted tend to exhibit a “normal” […]

The concept of “Fatherhood” does not mean the same thing for all families. For many adult kids of dads who lived with addiction, fatherhood is a somewhat bitter, if not embarrassing, word that refers to a man who has been more invested in drinking or getting high than in his kids. Too often, a father’s […]

As a top Triple-A baseball team and affiliate of the famed Boston Red Sox, the team affectionately called PawSox (Pawtucket Red Sox) has a history of making careers. From its early beginnings in 1896 as the Toronto Maple Leafs, through its jump to Louisville, KY, and then to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the PawSox team has […]

Researchers now believe that eye color indicates more than a random throw of the genetic dice. A new study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics (Part B) found that European Americans who have blue eyes may be at higher risk of developing a dependence upon alcohol as compared to peers who […]