Dr. Goschi's Blog

Stress, Pot and Addiction

Stress, Pot and Addiction

New research in the journal of Abnormal Psychology (May, 2018) highlights how heavy marijuana users deal with stress. Chronic pot smoking leads to an overreaction to stressful situations. Research found that these individuals easily became stressed and unable to problem solve versus moderate consumers. Most pot smokers say they smoke pot to “relax” or escape a stressful job. Perhaps recreational marijuana consumption leads to relaxation but not habitual heavy use.

Researchers Hefner et al from University of Wisconsin in Madison found heightened startle responses to even the anticipation of stress among heavy marijuana users. Heavy pot usage involved daily use sometimes as much as twice a day. This finding contradicts self-reports from fifty percent of pot users that claim marijuana reduces their stress. Why is this important? Because, addiction relapse for many addicts can be traced to the person’s inability to manage stress.

Hefner et al reported physiological responses in abusers. They claim “heavy and chronic (marijuana) use contributes to heightened behavioral and affective response(s) to stressors via central nervous system…” Indeed, these “stress neuroadaptations” result in poor emotional reactions to stress. Maladaptive responses escalate even more when the individual stops using the drug. Heavy marijuana abuse leads to long term changes in the users central nervous system. This implies that the addict won’t cope well with stress going forward until they make some serious and lasting changes to their lives.

The research supports using the word addict to describe the heavy marijuana abuser as they show signs of addiction. Many debates insist that marijuana does not possess addictive properties. Yet, withdrawal from pot shares many similarities to other addictions, “marijuana withdrawal syndrome … involves increased affective symptoms (irritability, anger or aggression, nervousness or anxiety)…” It becomes a viscous cycle for the abuser, one of an inability to cope with stress leading to mounting stress resulting in increased drug usage. Minimal indulgence in marijuana (only occasional use), did not show greater reactivity to stress.

How can individual therapy help the marijuana abuser/addict? Therapists should help the individual identify personal stressors. These events may involve finances, housing and/or relationships. Therapy should target these stressors by teaching better coping skills to minimize the impact of the stressor. Individual addiction therapy helps individuals “reshape” their environment while maximizing lifes predictability. Attending NA meetings and working the 12 steps is enormously beneficial in maintaining sobriety. Individual therapy assists the individual work through fears and anxiety which trigger the addictive response.

If you are struggling with addiction Dr. Goschi can help. Call today to set up your individual appointment at (312)595-1787 or email at barbara@drgoschi.com.

Keeping Our 2018 Resolutions

Keeping Our 2018 Resolutions

Every year many of us set resolutions on New Year’s Eve only to be broken within the first three weeks. What’s happening? Can it be that so many of us have absolutely no resolve to meet the goals that we set for ourselves? Are we just all quitters?

Hardly! Many of us set unrealistic goals that are impossible to meet. Rather we should look at setting more attainable objectives for ourselves. Also, celebrating small achievements that lead to ultimately getting us closer to our targets becomes ever more significant.

So, what to do? Look at the goals that we set. Make sure they aren’t “pie in the sky” ideas. Our desired destination should be attainable. For example, when it comes to weight loss look at what is realistic for you. Not so glamorous but far more reasonable. Let’s say that losing a pound a week can be a highly attainable goal. This would include making some healthy changes to your diet without the severe deprivation that some diets require.

Individual therapy can help you identify what changes need to be made in your life in order to realize your dreams. Whether it’s finding a new job, more balance in your life, to increasing your social contacts. Individual counseling can help you attain these goals by looking at the desired result and work backwards from there (Covey, 1990). Divide the process in to smaller attainable objectives which ideally get you closer to your bigger objective.

Celebrate each achievement you complete along the way. One mistake we often make is when we beat ourselves up for imperfect execution. Maybe we’ve not met one of the benchmarks that we’ve set up for ourselves. Thus, we end up devaluing ourselves as incapable of staying focused on the prize. Individual therapy teaches you to forgive yourself. Counseling helps you look at what interferes with your goal attainment and controls for that going forward. We sometimes learn the most about ourselves through examining our failures. Use your failures as moments for growth.

Good luck in the New Year and may you reach all of your goals. If you need help getting there or have discovered something about yourself that you would like to change don’t hesitate to call Dr. Goschi (312)595-1787 to schedule your individual counseling. I’m here to help!

Dealing with loss in the New Year

Dealing with loss in the New Year

Having lost someone in 2017 shapes the way we view the New Year.  We view everything through the lense of loss.  Rather than looking forward to upcoming events we see these functions as sorrowful, even meaningless.  “It’s the first celebration without them.”  Which, of course, diminishes the occasion. 

Feelings of sadness, anger, denial, isolation and sometimes guilt rule our days.  While experiencing these painful emotions can help us move through the grief process we need appropriate outlets so we don’t get stuck in any one of these stages (Kubler-Ross, 1969).  We want to eventually get to a place of acceptance so we can heal and once again tolerate positive emotions.  Guilt over feeling happy can interfere with our receptivity to love and support from others.  Try to open yourself to others kind works and gestures of love.

Normalizing your life helps you get beyond the grief.  Fill your life with plenty of positive activities.  Partaking in exercise, work, dinners with family move us forward.  Look for those situations that allow you to find balance between felling, self-expression and acceptance.  If we dwell only on the loss this keeps us stuck in the process of grieving.

Allow yourself to feel.  We move through various emotions while grieving.  Not surprisingly we feel sad one day and perhaps angry the next.  Embrace the fact that while grieving we feel many complex emotions which constantly fluctuate.

Don’t hesitate to call friends who can offer an empathic ear.  People worry that reaching out too often will burden their relationships.  True intimate relationships have a large capacity for love and empathy.  If you experience rejection when attempting to reach out then you probably need to assess the health of your friendships.

Lastly, be kind to yourself in 2018.   You will find your way out of the emotional fog.  Be patient it takes time to heal.  If you need more help don’t hesitate to call!  Dr. Goschi is here to help (312)595-1787.