Vero Beach Recovery Center

 Because Alcohol is a drug that is socially acceptable in American culture, it lessens the negative impacts that it has in relation to other illicit substances like heroin or crack cocaine. In reality, Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) can have a far more detrimental impact on your body and mind than many illicit drugs. Because of this, we must recognize the signs of “at-risk “alcohol consumption and when it is time to ask for help.

  We know through experience that recovery from any Chronic Illness isn’t easy.  Alcohol Use Disorder can be treated through a combination of different techniques and treatments that are individualized around the patient.  We will match a program to your specific needs to give you a solid foundation for getting and staying sober.

What are some signs I am “at-risk” or  addicted to alcohol?

Several signs indicate whether you are in charge or alcohol is in charge. How much is your drinking affecting your personal and professional life? Are you not functioning like you once did or is alcohol not working for you anymore? Did it go from being fun to causing problems? If you answer yes to any of these, alcohol may be in charge. When alcohol becomes your solution and your top priority, regardless of the negative consequences, you may be addicted to alcohol. 

There are many physiological reasons why recovering from alcohol addiction is necessary.  Extended Alcohol Use Disorder can lead to liver damage, bone loss, weakened immune system, and several neurocognitive disorders. There are also a variety of personal and professional consequences to extended “at-risk” or AUD.  Sobriety and maintain sobriety may be difficult, especially if your drinking has elevated to physical dependence. Treatment exists for both the medically supervised withdrawal as well as the treatment once you have stabilized.

An integrative addiction treatment program can help you discover what led to your addiction in the first place. During individual, group, couples, and family therapy and activities, you’ll learn coping skills and lifestyle choices that will help you maintain sobriety.

There are multiple levels of care for alcohol abuse corresponding with the level of severity of your alcohol addiction. In general, the more severe the addiction, the higher level of care you will need which is, typically, residential treatment. The lowest levels are outpatient where you live at home and can go about your daily life while coming for individual and/or group therapy sessions at a treatment facility several hours a week. Everyone’s recovery journey is different, but it is common for people to step down from one level of care to the next as they become more comfortable and confident in sobriety.

Quitting alcohol abruptly or “cold turkey” not only can be dangerous but also extremely difficult. If you develop withdrawal symptoms such as sweating, shaking, and nausea —after abstinence from alcohol, it is a sign you may need a medically supervised detox program or “detox”.  In this case, we can refer you to several local organizations that can best fit your needs while staying intimately part of the process throughout.

Substance Abuse and Drug Addiction is a chronic disease affecting a person’s brain and behavior that can lead to an inability to control the use of legal or illicit drugs or medication. When you’re addicted, you may continue using the drug despite the negative consequences or harm it causes. Drug addiction sometimes starts with the experimental use of a recreational drug in a social situation. However, for some people, drug use becomes more regular and frequent. For others, particularly with opioids, drug addiction begins innocently through prescribed medications.

Because everyone is different, the risk of addiction and how fast you become addicted varies by person and by drug of choice. Opioid painkillers (“Opiates”) tend to have a higher risk of addiction and dependency can surface more quickly than others.

Over time, you may require larger doses of the drug to feel high or just to feel normal. As your drug use intensifies, you may find that it's increasingly difficult to go without the drug. Attempts to stop using the drug may result in withdrawal symptoms that include intense cravings and physical illness (dope sickness).

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a life-threatening and chronic illness affecting millions of Americans. In 2018, SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that about 20.3 million people aged 12 or older had experienced a substance use disorder in the past year. In addition, the opioid epidemic continues in communities across the country. In 2018, more than 130 people lost their lives each day due to opioid-related drug overdoses, and 2 million people had opioid use disorder. These numbers have increased dramatically as a result of the isolation, fear, and inability or failure to seek treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The CDC estimates that SUD deaths will have record increases in America.

Our clinical experts are dedicated to providing clinical care and education for addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery to ensure you are receiving an individualized, effective drug and alcohol rehab program. Care is personalized to meet the needs of each patient, integrated to address co-occurring mental health concerns, and aimed at achieving freedom from addiction and long-term sobriety.

Eating Disorders remains one of the most dangerous and prevalent addictive behaviors.  These are also some of the most difficult to treat because of the simple fact that we must eat. As a result, an abstinence-based treatment program will not work with Eating Disorders. The underlying problem in most eating disorders is an intense and amplified concern with weight and shape. 

Specific ways that an eating disorder manifests itself vary from patient to patient. Many patients choose to limit their daily calorie intake to become extremely thin; others are constantly dieting but remain normal weight or overweight. Another group of patients binge on food and then purge several times a day while others binge but do not purge. Depending on the specific type of Easting disorder, food may be avoided altogether leading to malnutrition, poor health, and even death.  With other disorders where food is used as a drug, the patient may gain dangerous amounts of weight.  Research has shown that obesity has been linked to many different chronic diseases including diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.  Therefore, overeating can be similarly dangerous.

Therapy consists of addressing this heightened anxiety and often distorted concept of how they look compared to how they think they look or should look.  More importantly, treatment would encompass determining the root cause through a cognitively-based therapy program which will generally include individual and group therapy.  Addressing these significant concerns allows us to begin healing their eating disorder. Based upon the type and severity of the ED, Meal Supervision may also be required to help the patient normalize and regulate their meals.  What we take for granted in sitting down to a meal can be a terrifying ordeal for someone with an Eating Disorder.

Regardless of whether a patient’s diagnosis is anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or another eating disorder, their core problem typically remains an overconcern about their weight, often distorted perception of their shape, or a reaction to external influences. Through intense cognitively-based therapy, we treat these symptoms but also attempt to learn the origin of the underlying cause.