Perhaps one of the most relevant national conversations to tap into these days is the one centered on discovering the effects, positive and negative, of allowing technology to assume such a vital place in our homes and lives. The advances of technology are vast and undeniable in their ability to allow us to stay in constant contact, and participate in day to day life with others that we’ve never met, or even with those who live across the globe. Information is readily available in the palm of our hands, as are the tools we’ve come to rely on to complete our day to day tasks.

In today’s society that is often driven by avoidance and shame, it is easy to fall into the trap of passing judgment on one’s self and others as a replacement for true connection and honest evaluation. Just as much as judgment is a way to put walls up to avoid the necessity of understanding others, to regard them as irreconcilably different, and incapable of similarity, when directed at the self, it is a way to disengage from our growth potential, and convince ourselves that we offer nothing of value.

Seeking treatment in the case of addiction can be intimidating. There is much conflicting information regarding treatment outcomes, and often disparity exists between what insurance companies believe is effective treatment for problems as serious as opioid use disorders, and what these individuals may actually need.

When addiction grips one member of the family, no one is left unaffected. Whether it is patterns of codependency observed in a spouse, predictable roles assumed by children, or the burden of child-rearing placed on grandparents, patterns of addictive behavior are insidious, and often leave only chaos in their wake.

Addiction treatment over the past 100 years has come a long way. Especially when considering people who struggled with alcohol and drugs were reduced to terms like, “sinners”, “junkies”, and “drunks,” and at best found help in the form of spiritual direction. Not that people didn’t experience change, some did. But culturally, addiction was crammed into the dark spaces of stigma and misunderstanding, leaving those who struggled with very limited options for help.