Dear wild bird Flying in your cage swiftly from side to side. Going about your pleasant routine, whistling as if you weren’t tied. Dear sweet bird You need to see that the life that you live is contained. That there is so much more and you allow yourself to be restrained. Dear loving bird

Over 8.1 million adults in the U.S. are coping with a substance use disorder. Drug addiction is known to change the way our brain functions and significantly impacts how our body perceives daily pleasures. One of the most common effects of excessive use of drugs like alcohol is the increased levels of inflammatory lipids in the

  I was never totally scum. Not before I started drinking and during my pre-recovery years. I was also not struck wonderful when I found recovery. However, when I share my story you might think that I was perfectly bad in my “before days” and steadily better on the road of “progress” with occasional bouts

Wannabe  I always wanted to be somebody else, right out of the chute. The notion sprouted in my head when I was a young boy—I wished I was my cousin. The one who lived on a farm with umpteen brothers and sisters, and tons of farm animals, too. Fun and excitement were routine at his

  This is the story of Ron Tannebaum, Kenny Pomerance, and InTheRooms.com, the largest online recovery community in the world. There’s nothing quite like this website, and if you’re looking for dedication, understanding and knowledge as well as personal experience regarding recovery from addiction, you will not find better than these guys. This documentary is

  It’s hard to believe, but InTheRooms.com is 10 years old this week!  A little over 10 years ago, I had an idea. My kids were very active on MySpace and on Facebook. I remember thinking, “wouldn’t it be great if there was a social network for people in recovery”? My good friend RT and I

 Dr. Robert Weiss is widely known for his therapeutic work and his books about addiction, in particular sex, porn, and love addiction. His latest book, Prodependence: Moving Beyond Codependency, is an extension of these efforts, focusing on the ways in which therapists (and the public) view and treat not just addicts, but spouses and family

It is almost impossible to describe the most incredible transformational and supportive weekend myself and 499 other women collectively experienced as we gathered together at the famous Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angles, for the She Recovers Conference. So, what is She Recovers you might ask? She Recover’s is a women’s movement founded by the

As a person in recovery I have been taught the danger signs of emotional relapse. Everyone I know who has returned after a slip tells a similar story: no meetings, no program and emotional relapse. How this relapse let’s itself be known is individual, but there are certain universal signs and they start in the

Some are sicker than others and Crazy Paul’s first name was a heads-up for the newcomers in the rooms. No other warnings were necessary—as soon as they listened to him babble for a couple of minutes, they knew his tip didn’t go to the top. Crazy attended meetings in our neck of the woods while