Addictions We Treat

Alcohol abuse can ruin a person’s life, and yet many people continue to misuse it in order to avoid detox withdrawal as well as the emotional pain that they have been self-medicating. Depending on the severity of your dependence, if done at home without medical supervision, alcohol withdrawal can actually be deadly and certainly causes dopamine and GABA deficiencies that it may have caused or masked. These are critical neurotransmitters required for pleasure, attention, motor coordination, cognition, and mood. Our carefully managed alcohol addiction treatment program will give you the sober living skills you need for ongoing recovery. Abusing alcohol over and over again can cause dementia or Alzheimer’s to show up early, as well as other serious diseases.

A drug addiction treatment program

Our credentialed specialists offer a personalised drug addiction treatment program, with medical detox and intensive holistic treatment to address addiction to illicit drugs such as methamphetamines, opiates, marijuana, crack cocaine and hallucinogens. Because of their illegal nature, addiction to these substances often coincides with traumatic experiences. We understand this and we are equipped to help.

Opioid addiction is by far the most common among addictions to pharmaceuticals, and opioid overdoses claim the lives of tens of thousands each year. Benzos, sleeping pills, and stimulants are also highly addictive prescription drugs liable to cause abuse. If done without medical supervision, withdrawal from some of these substances can also be deadly. What remains in common with this class of addiction is often its ‘innocent’ beginnings, with a legitimate prescription in a doctor’s office. People with acute or long-term pain, panic, anxiety, or insomnia take these drugs to ease their pain, not knowing that they could become physically and mentally dependent on them.

Increasingly common because of its ubiquitous availability and physiological effect on the brain, porn addiction needs a targeted and holistic response as well as an exploration of its underlying causes. It may or may not fall under sex addiction, which involves the need to perform sexual acts to achieve a “fix,” similar to the fix craved by someone with an alcohol or opiate use disorder. Sex addiction may result in unsafe behaviours, remorse, guilt, or negative personal or professional consequences.

Compulsive gambling, or gambling addiction, is the uncontrollable urge to continue gambling despite its ruinous effects. This is because gambling stimulates the brain’s reward system in much the same way as alcohol or drugs, leading to an addiction. If your family, friends, or coworkers are worried about how much you gamble, or if you’ve used your savings, gone into debt, or even stolen or lied to pay for your gambling, you need to get help right away.

An increasingly prevalent problem among young adults, gaming addiction is a relatively new phenomenon with various diagnostic criteria as outlined by the WHO. It disrupts functioning, sleep, hygiene, appetite, and mood and leads to a loss of interest in anything other than the addiction. Both gaming and social media have a big effect on the dopamine and serotonin receptors in the brain. This can lead to dependence, withdrawal, and addiction in people who are prone to it. We help you find a good balance in how you use games, social media, and other technologies.

Deliberate Self Harm (DSH) or Non-Suicidal Self Injury (NSSI) are behaviours like cutting, poisoning, and others, used as a release or outlet for suffering, not as an attempt to take one’s life, although this may tragically be their unintentional result. DSH behaviours may also include hair pulling, biting, burning, head-butting, hitting, carving, scratching, skin picking, and intentional interference with wound healing. DSH can leave permanent scars and damage to skin and tissue, but for sufferers, the physical pain acts as an outlet for painful emotions and can often have an endorphin-releasing effect. After the release, however, comes the shame, pain, and self-loathing that begin the cycle anew, leading many to diagnose DSH as an addiction. The secrecy involved in DSH can result in it going undetected for years.

Do you hide credit card bills, shopping bags or receipts? Do you shop to assuage your guilt about a previous spree, or to feel better about life? Are you overwhelmed by debt and financial problems but still unable to curb unnecessary spending? Is your shopping habit putting your relationships under strain? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you may be a shopaholic. Our holistic support-intensive rehabilitation will help you reset your brain and regain control.

Pathological love is different from other conditions like dependence disorder or borderline personality disorder because dysfunctional behaviour is limited to romantic love. Love addiction can result from an underlying mood disorder, impulse control disorder, or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Love addiction can be present in various forms, and our skilled counsellors are trained to identify if you or your loved one has a love addiction. However, some of the main diagnostic criteria are a compulsion to replace the lost love relationship immediately with another and feeling alone and desperate when not in a relationship. Interestingly, like other addictions, love addiction is real and can show up in neuro-imaging studies showing a neurochemical component.

“Mental illness” is a general term that covers a wide range of mental health conditions. Mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminishment of an individual’s ability to cope with the demands of life. These disorders can cause stress and/or make it hard to do things at work, with friends, or at home.

Mental illness is not caused by personal weakness, lack of character, or bad influence. Rather, it arises from a complex interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors. People who have mental health problems can get better, and many recover completely.

With appropriate treatment and self-help, most people with mental illness can lead full, productive lives. Unfortunately, stigma, discrimination, and exclusion are still common, making it hard for people with mental illness to get better and stay well.

Eating disorder treatment

Eating disorders are extremely dangerous mental illnesses. Even sufferers that don’t necessarily look ill can be at risk of death or serious health impacts due to the constant abuse or neglect of the body’s physical need for sustenance. People who stay at Freeman House Recovery and have an eating disorder will get a meal plan and treatment that is tailored just for them.

Do you feel emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted? Is this exhaustion affecting your work and relationships? You may be suffering from burnout. Burnout may also involve feelings of cynicism, depression, and lethargy, and these typically happen when you lack support, can’t take breaks from your work, or are in a job that feels at odds with who you are. Burnout has physical consequences such as headaches, fatigue, heartburn, and other gastrointestinal symptoms, and it may increase your risk of alcohol, drug, or food misuse. With our holistic, result-driven treatment program, we can help bring meaning and energy back into your life. Depending on what caused your burnout, Freeman House recovery can help you deal with stress, take care of yourself, and find the balance between work and life that is so important for your long-term health.

Your personality is the particular way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that makes you different from everyone else. It develops as a result of your life experiences and your inherited characteristics. A personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that causes distress or problems in functioning and in relationships and is long-lasting. A diagnosis of one or more of the 10 known personality disorders can only be made at age 18 or older. Psychotherapy and group therapy are the primary ways of treating these disorders, leading to the insights and behavioral changes that change patterns of dysfunction. Medications like antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and mood stabilizers may help with some of the symptoms.