About how addiction affect relationships
Selma Blair has built a successful acting career while privately carrying struggles that began long before Hollywood. In her memoir Mean Baby and subsequent interviews, Blair opened up about alcoholism, childhood trauma, anxiety, physical pain, motherhood, and her eventual decision to live without alcohol. She has said she became sober in 2016. Her story demonstrates … Read more
Jamie Foxx’s life has included extraordinary success, family challenges, loss, fatherhood, and a frightening medical crisis. Throughout those experiences, several women have played important roles in providing guidance, love, protection, and motivation. Four women stand out in his publicly documented story: his grandmother, Estelle Marie Talley; his sister, Deidra Dixon; and his daughters, Corinne Foxx … Read more
Halle Berry’s story highlights an often-overlooked impact of addiction: a person does not have to struggle with substance use themselves to be deeply affected by it. Berry has spoken openly about growing up with an alcoholic father and witnessing domestic violence within her family. These painful childhood experiences left emotional wounds that influenced how she … Read more
Addiction rarely develops because of one emotion or one difficult relationship. Substance use disorders are influenced by a combination of biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. However, powerful emotions such as envy, jealousy, resentment, rejection, and anger can become triggers for substance use—especially when a person has learned to use alcohol or drugs to escape … Read more
Artificial intelligence chatbots have quickly become part of everyday life. People use them to answer questions, study, brainstorm ideas, solve problems, practice conversations, and find emotional support. For many people, these tools are useful and easy to control. However, some individuals may begin spending so much time interacting with chatbots that the behavior interferes with … Read more
People living with addiction are often told to “just quit,” “try harder,” or “have more willpower.” Although motivation and determination are valuable parts of recovery, overcoming addiction involves much more than simply choosing to stop drinking or using drugs. Substance use disorders can affect brain systems responsible for reward, motivation, learning, stress, and self-control. Over … Read more
Larry Hagman became a television icon as J.R. Ewing on Dallas and Major Tony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie. Behind his successful career, however, Hagman experienced years of heavy alcohol use that eventually contributed to serious liver disease. He was diagnosed with cirrhosis in 1992 and later developed a malignant liver tumor. In August … Read more
Patrick Swayze was known around the world for movies such as Dirty Dancing and Ghost, but behind his successful career were personal struggles that included problematic alcohol use and, later, a devastating diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. His experience provides an opportunity to discuss addiction, cancer risk, coping with serious illness, and the importance of family … Read more
“Why can’t you just stop?” is a question many people struggling with addiction hear, yet it overlooks the challenges involved in changing compulsive behaviors. To someone on the outside, quitting alcohol, drugs, nicotine, gambling, or another addictive behavior may seem like a matter of making a firm decision and sticking to it. When negative consequences … Read more
Infidelity can cause profound emotional pain, leaving individuals questioning the trust, intimacy, and security they once felt in their relationship. Physical infidelity involves sexual or intimate contact with someone outside the agreed-upon boundaries of a committed partnership, while emotional infidelity occurs when a person develops a secretive or deeply intimate emotional connection with someone else. … Read more