{"id":92,"date":"2014-09-08T16:42:09","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=92"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:54:20","slug":"substance-abuse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=92","title":{"rendered":"Alcohol and Substance Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drug and alcohol abuse &#8211; often concurrent with anxiety, depression and family disruption &#8211; commonly bring adults and adolescents to treatment. All pose significant risks to health, lifestyle, family well-being, emotional fulfillment &#8211; and even freedom. In many cases, problems derive from sincere efforts to self-medicate and compensate for anxiety, stress, grief, depression or trauma. Sometimes, abuse reflects cultural expectations from friends and social media. Whatever the route, it is essential that problems are addressed effectively and comprehensively.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I offer treatment in two time windows:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>In the early stages \u2013 usually self-reported, or discovered at home or work.<\/li>\n<li>After inpatient treatment and return home to family and community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Treatment Approaches<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My Approach combines refusal skills; relapse prevention skills; facilitation of peer support &#8211; including \u2018Step\u2019 Programs; strength-based techniques; family involvement; and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=589\">Accountability<\/a><\/strong> strategies. Importantly, I also focus on addressing the emotional components of addiction and underlying emotional drives to use. Put another way, the success of traditional substance abuse treatment is undermined if primary, long-standing emotional or experiential drives to use are not addressed. My treatment approach focuses on acquiring the emotion regulation, distress tolerance and mindfulness skills needed to resist and reinterpret the real and powerful desires to use. Resolution of underlying issues is a critical component to developing long-term sobriety.Substance abuse problems often have several underlying causes, commonalities and confounds:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Emotional drives to use: Uncontrolled compulsion and habit:\n<ul>\n<li>Re-experience of past emotional pain, trauma, abuse and distress<\/li>\n<li>To avoid the experience of current, intolerable problems and failures<\/li>\n<li>To feel good<\/li>\n<li>To forget undesirable experiences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Triggers: people, places, sensations, memories, anniversaries<\/li>\n<li>Negative marital relationship dynamics<\/li>\n<li>Recurrent medical and emotional symptoms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=32\"><strong><em>Adults:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/a>I take a compassionate, non-judgmental and motivational approach to therapy. We will develop a collaborative relationship to understand your history and current situation. I will help you build a strong support and refusal skill set and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=589\">Accountability<\/a><\/strong> strategies in parallel with adult therapy approaches to resolve underlying emotional conflicts.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=79\"><strong><em>Adolescents:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/a>Substance and alcohol abuse and dependency use are not normal or acceptable phases of adolescent experience or experimentation. Both are dangerous, can lead to death or arrest, and must be dealt with effectively. Treatment modalities are derived from evidence-based Dialectial Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and the\u00a0<em>Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach<\/em> and involves psychoeducation, reinforcement refusal skills, addressing underlying drives to use (peer pressure, mood disorder, stress), and developing a lifestyle away from substance use in cooperation with parents and family.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=589\">Accountability<\/a><\/strong> strategies are particularly useful with adolescents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Call 410-970-4917 or email edgewaterpsychotherapy@gmail.com to schedule a consultation. Let\u2019s explore your options together.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drug and alcohol abuse &#8211; often concurrent with anxiety, depression and family disruption &#8211; commonly bring adults and adolescents to treatment. All pose significant risks to health, lifestyle, family well-being, emotional fulfillment &#8211; and even freedom. In many cases, problems derive from sincere efforts to self-medicate and compensate for anxiety, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/?page_id=92\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-92","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1155,"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92\/revisions\/1155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/edgewaterpsychotherapy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}