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    • San Diego Executive Addiction Treatment
    • AToN Center’s San Diego Detox
    • Trauma Treatment
    • Dual Diagnosis Treatment
    • Incidental Medical Services (IMS)
    • Non-12 Step Drug and Alcohol Rehab
    • What is SMART Recovery?
    • 12 Step Rehab Program at AToN Center
    • Family Therapy at AToN Center
  • Staff
    • Staff Videos
  • Tour AToN
  • About Us
    • AToN Center Philosophy
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    • What Makes us Different
    • Research Outcomes
  • Reviews
  • Admissions
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awareness

Balance Your Life, AToN’s 5th Foundation

May 15, 2018 //  by Aton Center

Balance in Life and RecoveryWe can strive for balance, looking for middle ground.

We need balance between work and play, between thinking and feeling, between giving and receiving. Caring for our physical health and our spiritual health.

A balanced life looks like paying attention to both professional life and personal life. There are times when we may have to put more effort in at work when the load tends to grow. And when our relationships need more nurturing we may need to place more energy in the direction of our friends and families, as to not lose sight of what is important at home as well.

When we rediscover our values in recovery it is important to make time to create balance.

Whether it’s recovery time, friends, work, love, fitness, playtime, family, education, spiritual time or alone time. Making time to give attention to our needs is important to have balance.

If we get out of balance we will know, we will usually feel it, and can seek within to have guidance to get back to center.

Kristin Colton CADC II, CATC II
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: Addiction Rehab, awareness, balance, balanced livingTag: balance in recovery, balance life

Breathwork is an Active Breathing Practice

December 12, 2017 //  by Aton Center

Breathwork is an Active Breathing Practice

Breathwork is an Active Breathing Practice used for healing stuck energy by moving the breath through physical, emotional or spiritual challenges. It is an ancient eastern breathing meditation that is absolutely mind blowing. The breath bypasses the intellect and takes you on a journey where you are able to experience deep profound transformations. 

Addiction, anxiety, depression, grief, shame, and lack of self-love are some of the many challenges that can be shifted and healed with Breathwork.

We are offering group and individual Breathwork sessions at AToN Center and seeing our residents emerging into their true authentic selves.

Kristin Colton, CATC II
Chemical Dependency Counselor
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: awareness, balanced living, benefits of meditation

Why is Breath so Important?

September 5, 2017 //  by Aton Center

Almost everyone has had a well-meaning friend encourage them to “take a breath” at some point.  Practitioners of yoga, massage and other forms of therapies often focus on their client’s breath.  So, what’s the big deal about breath?  A lot – actually! 

Why is Breath so Important?

We all know that when we breathe, we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.  However many of us don’t realize that the rate of our breathing patterns can dramatically affect our bodies!  Here are some common symptoms of overbreathing (i.e. “breathing too fast.”):

  • Asthma symptoms (bronchial constriction, airway resistance)
  • Chest tightness, pressure and pain, blurred vision
  • Muscle Tension
  • Stomach concerns (pain, constipation, diarrhea)
  • Dizziness

These are only a handful of symptoms that can be caused by overbreathing!  In a gross oversimplification of respiration (forgive me physiologists!), when we breath too quickly, we exhale too much carbon dioxide.  This changes the pH level in our blood – causing oxygen to be overbound to hemoglobin.  This means that while blood is pumping to our organs and tissues, the oxygen is not being released! 

Our body becomes oxygen starved!  This is why “mindful breathing” is important.  At least once a day, just notice your breath and allow it to slow to a comfortable rhythm.  Avoid very deep breaths (this causes another form of physiological distress), but allow full and comfortable breaths.  Many individuals find they only have the patience for this exercise for several minutes at a time.  That is ok – we all have to start somewhere!  In general, it is recommended to practice mindful breathwork for at least twenty minutes a day.  Again- something is better than nothing, so don’t let that discourage you! 

Many indivduals work up to a time period that works for them – and you can determine this for yourself.   If this is an area that is intriguing to you, I encourage you to find a biofeedback practitioner, who is appropriately trained in breathing retraining, to assist you.  It may be surprising to you which of your symptoms may be improved by this simple shift! 

Cassandra Cannon, Ph.D.
Clinical Director
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: awareness, benefits of meditation, recovery, recovery activitiesTag: addiction recovery, breathing training, holistic healing

Stages of Recovery

July 30, 2017 //  by Aton Center

white-dove-AtoNThe progression of alcoholism and addiction usually passes through several declining stages before an individual makes the decision to enter treatment. What might have started as a path to increase socialization and well-being often can lead to a solitary and lonely existence.

This isolation can even become normalized as a function of the disease. While engaging with others in recovery can be a new and sometimes frightening experience, it is the beginning of the journey into wholeness.

By sharing our stories and empathizing with the experience of others, we gradually begin to see the benefit of becoming a part of the larger whole, of being connected. Our decision to move forward in a program of recovery will “mark the end of isolation.”

AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: addiction, alcohol, alcohol treatment, awareness, community, coping strategies, drug treatment, fear, recovery, sobriety, substance abuse, support

Understanding the Opioid Addiction Epidemic

May 6, 2017 //  by Aton Center

Understanding the Opioid Addiction EpidemicEveryone knows there is an Opioid Epidemic, but what continues to surprise me is the abundance of legally prescribed opioid use. From my own experience and from the voices of clients, it happens frequently that people are offered and even encouraged to use opioids for problems small and large.

Of course, there are situations that may call for the appropriate use of opiates, but it seems to me that general practitioners often overprescribe this class of medications even when patients don’t ask for them.

The linked npr article shows that 57% of people polled had used opioids, up 7% from the same poll in 2011. With the public awareness increasing around the opioid epidemic it is baffling that this number is increasing, rather than decreasing. As cited there are guidelines for primary care physicians that should be followed for general use. But unfortunately for those in recovery the responsibility is still on the patient to disclose their recovery status and be assertive in requesting alternatives, not a simple feat especially when sick and/or in pain.

Our recommendations- make sure you are prepared for these conversations and circumvent these conversations by telling your providers that you are in recovery. Additionally, working with a Primary Care Physician who has an understanding of addiction and a willingness to support you in recovery is crucial.

Leslie Sanders Psy.D. PSY25665
Program Director
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: awareness, opiates, Opioids, prescription drugsTag: opioid addiction, opioid problem, recovery from opioid addiction

Harmony and Recovery

April 16, 2017 //  by Aton Center

Funky Backgrounds

To be happy and successful today I have to be aware of the ebb and flow of nature within my own life.  Say the following statements to yourself:

  • When I am in harmony with the natural progression of my life, there is less conflict and less strife.
  • I can enjoy and celebrate life’s opportunities and also accept life’s disappointments.
  • Keeping an awareness of this fortifies my recovery and reminds me of the beauty which is life.

AToN Center  888-535-1516

Category: awareness, Harmony, recovery, recovery processTag: balance and recovery

Celebrities & Drug & Alcohol Addiction Recovery

March 9, 2017 //  by Aton Center

Celebrities & Drug & Alcohol Addiction Recovery

Although it’s never a good idea to exalt anyone’s recovery (because we are all fallible humans), it’s interesting to hear about famous people in recovery. The contrast between Hollywood, with its glamour and seemingly non-stop partying, and real life, can be striking. The truth is, there are many public figures who identify as being in some form of recovery from substance use. It reminds us that the images in magazines and films of glorified drug and alcohol use are not typically a reflection of reality. There are some well-known people who have struggled that you likely already know about, as their journeys have been excruciatingly public, but there are many who may surprise you. Below is what some public figures have said about their journeys. 

Kristen Johnston of 3rd Rock From the Sun is perhaps one of the most outspoken celebrities in recovery. She appeared in The Anonymous People and wrote a candid memoir on how alcohol and opioid dependence turned her life upside down and almost killed her. She has become a champion for de-stigmatizing recovery and building recovery high schools. In an essay in the New York Times, she said: “Every time someone is ostracized for being an addict… and anytime addiction is televised as salacious entertainment, yet another addict is shamed into silence.”

Matthew Perry’s addiction struggles were unfortunately public as people witnessed him wasting away in the later seasons of Friends. Today, he dedicates much of his time to advocating for treatment rather than incarceration. He discussed the benefits of getting “…out of your own head” and said being of service to the cause of recovery is the “thing I like most about me.” (Hollywood Reporter 2015, People 2013, respectively) 

Jada Pinkett Smith recounted drinking two bottles of wine on her couch and saying to herself, “Jada, I think we’ve got a problem here.” She discussed needing to get tools other than alcohol to deal with her pain. She said due to her upbringing in a “drug-infested war zone,” she did not think she would live to see 21. Jada’s mother was addicted to drugs until Jada was in her late teens. (Huffington Post, 2013) 

Bradley Cooper, who has become a face for advocating for mental health awareness, has been sober from alcohol and pain killers for about 12 years. He came out publicly about his sobriety in 2012 and got sober at 29-years-old. He told Barbara Walters that sobriety saved his career and changed his life. He credits being able to care for his sick father, amongst many other things, to his recovery. (Detoxtorehab.com, 2016)

In case you were still worried that being sober wasn’t cool, Samuel L. Jackson has been sober for over 20 years. He acted and performed on stage through his addiction, but recounted forgetting lines and partying harder than anyone realized. He said things crumbled when his wife and daughter came home and found him with crack cocaine cooking on the stove while Jackson was “passed out on the kitchen floor. I guess I wanted to get caught.” He checked into rehab after that saying, “I didn’t resist because I was ready.” He notes there is plenty of temptation in his line of work, but he has not relapsed. He said sobriety has allowed him to really “get inside a character.” (Telegraph, 2012)

Former Minnesota Congressman Jim Ramstad, who is in recovery, said, “If we could turn congress into one big AA meeting, where people would be required to say what they mean and mean what they say, it would be a lot better congress.” He and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy both served in government as openly recovering alcoholics and addicts. (We happen to agree – government could use more public servants who are out and proud about their recovery.)(Huffington Post, 2014) 

There are many more celebrities who are sober. Here are just a few:

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry!)
Stephen King (I mean, “The Shining” kind of says it all…)
Anthony Hopkins
Mary J. Blige
Alec Baldwin
Russell Brand
Rob Lowe
Demi Lovato
Robert Downey Jr.
Sir Elton John
Jamie Lee Curtis
Russel Brand
Eric Clapton
Carrie Fisher (AKA Coolest Lady Ever, RIP)
Robin Williams (RIP)
Jane Lynch (another hilarious lady)
Steven Tyler
Whoopi Goldberg
Mickey Mantle
Edie Falco
Eminem
Macklemore
Colin Farrel
Tobey Maguire
Drew Barrymore
Diana Ross

Famous people being sober obviously does not need to make or break our own sobriety. Any of these people could struggle again at anytime. But as a snapshot, it’s nice to know we aren’t alone and sometimes it’s fun to see that celebrities… they’re just like us! 

Note: All of these people are publicly open about their addiction and recovery. We would never out anyone’s addiction or recovery before they willingly acknowledged it themselves first.

Sarah Zucker, Psy.D. PSY 
AToN Center  888-535-1516

Category: awareness, Celebrity AddictionTag: alcohol addiction recovery, Bradley Cooper, celebrities in recovery, drug addiction recovery, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kristen Johnson, Mathew Perry

Anti-depressant Medications in Residential Centers

October 15, 2016 //  by Aton Center

The Use of Anti-depressant Medications in Residential Centers

Psychiatrists and internists who serve in residential centers routinely recommend the use of anti-depressant medications. And, not uncommonly, residents will buck at the idea of using an anti-depressant, like Prozac, Wellbutrin, Lexapro and others. It’s understandable that many hesitate to agree with the doctor’s recommendation. Some will complain that, while on such medications in the past, they experienced a general flatness, or a loss of libido, maybe headaches. Physicians widely report that the more mainstream anti-depressants used in the US are linked to minimal side effects. Yes, those side effects can endure over time, but, for most, the physical effects are tolerable.



Others ultimately admit that shame precludes their use of anti-depressant meds. While far less burdensome than a decade ago, the stigma attached to depressive and anxiety disorders still lingers. Consequently, people minimize or deny their need of treatment, be it talk therapy or Paxil, to avoid the perceived shame they associate with their grief, sadness, loneliness, panic, or other symptoms of mental illness.



Consider this, though, that research has demonstrated that anti-depressant medications stimulate the brain’s plasticity, and can activate neuronal growth in an area of the brain known as the hippocampus.* To borrow a computer analogy, the hippocampus functions as a central processing chip, as it helps direct new information and demands to the appropriate areas of the brain, while it also helps to coordinate the recall of stored bits of information, memories, etc. The hippocampus is a vitally important area of the brain that, if damaged, can result in a global slow down in brain functioning. Damaged to the entrohinal cortex – as the conduit to the hippocampus – represents the epicenter of Alzheimer’s Disease, which, as many of us know, precipitates a pervasive loss of mental functioning. Alzheimer’s cruel effect highlights the fundamental role of the hippocampus in our neurocognitive experience.



The majority of the residents that check into the AToN Center will endorse co-occurring mood and/or anxiety disorders. Since research has also demonstrated that many people with moderate to severe forms of depression and anxiety, along with addictions, will evidence diminished volume in the hippocampal area, anti-depressants can speed up the neurocognitive recovery that typically demands months to years after someone finally sobers up. That is, anti-depressant medications can stimulate growth in the hippocampus. In turn, a more robust hippocampus will enhance processing speed, improve memory skills, and generally aid in integrating the program that someone develops in the early stages of recovery.



More so, most people who check into residential treatment will generally be depleted of the neurotransmitters responsible for elevating mood, sparking motivation, and priming the experience of pleasure. Anti-depressants, then, can potentially augment the availability of those neurotransmitters, and minimize the type of dysphoria commonly complained of in the earliest stages of recovery. It’s dysphoria that is often identified as the trigger to relapse, so, anti-depressants potentially can help to prevent slips in the first few months after rehab.



If you check into AToN Center or another residential center, be open regarding your concerns or hesitations in taking an anti-depressant. More times than not, a physician only expects to prescribe medications like Prozac in the short-term, over the course of months, to help stabilize someone so he or she can more actively engage in recovery. Admissions into facilities like AToN Center are always voluntary. So, you always possess the right to discontinue a medication if it simply does not agree with you.



*Miller, BR & Hen, R. (2015). Neurobiology, 30:51–58

Dr. Kevin Murphy

AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: Addiction Treatment, awareness, depressionTag: addiction care centers, anti-depressant medications

Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week

September 22, 2016 //  by Aton Center

Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week

Last week President Obama named this week, September 18 through September 24, 2016, as Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week.  His intention being to raise awareness to the now well-documented opioid problem continuing to claim lives from our rural towns to our major cities.



The amazing thing it that people are still in denial about this epidemic. Much of the general public still chose to think of this ‘heroin epidemic’ as something that young kids are doing. Many people are still in denial that the high functioning adults who are using heroin and/or dependent on opiates are among us. They are working at the restaurant where you picked up dinner, your Uber driver, your co-worker and even someone in your own family.



Our president calls attention to the epidemic and people die daily, yet there is still this level of total denial. How can we change this? What are the first steps? Will dedicating a week be of use and how can each of us continue to decrease the stigma and increase the awareness?



Dr. Sanders

AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: Addiction Treatment, AToN Center, awareness, heroin, living soberTag: heroin wareness, opioid awareness

The Brain Afflicted with Autism Shares Some Similarity with the Addicted Brain

September 7, 2016 //  by Aton Center

The Brain Afflicted with Autism Shares Some Similarity with the Addicted Brain

Autism represents one of the more devastating neuropsychiatric disorders. The disease cripples the brain early in its development, profoundly limiting a child’s ability to engage in relationships and to learn. Children with autism struggle mightily to adapt to even the subtlest of changes, as those with the disease tend to cling to a narrow set of behaviors. Repetition and ritual, exercises of sameness, fill the day-to-day life of those with autism. The disease robs families of celebrated milestones – the day a son or daughter comes home with a driver’s license; graduations from high school or college; wedding days, and so forth. Often, a person with autism will change little in personality from 5 to 50 years old. Understandably, the disease, like others that so harshly injure children, evokes tremendous compassion, as highlighted by the surge in research and funding into autism over the last 15 years.



The brain afflicted with autism shares some similarity with the addicted brain. One area of interest in the expanding research into the roots of autism focuses on the striatum, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in particular. It’s the area of the brain implicated in reward learning and social behaviors. More plainly, it’s the part of the brain that propels us to relate to others, to seek out relationships, and to satisfy basic needs like the experiences of joy and bonding. Humans are, after all, one of the most social of species on the planet.



As highlighted in a previous AToN post, the addictive use of explicit substances hyper-conditions the NAc, with research in recent years demonstrating that the area literally grows in size over the course of an addiction. The effects of substances of abuse is so tremendous, on a neurobiological level, that they trigger surges in the biochemical experience of happiness and reward that far exceed those normally released through our relationships. Over time, then, someone with an addiction will experience less and less joy through relationships, will lose the drive to be in relationships, and invariably start to neglect loved ones. A dependence on drugs or alcohol will replace an innate dependence on relationships, as someone with an addiction can become oblivious to those he or she shares a life with.



In addictions, the NAc becomes something of a roadblock between the executive areas of the brain and its primitive remnants. An overactive, hyper-conditioned NAc derails the key circuits in the brain that coordinate advanced behaviors (goal-oriented behaviors, empathy, bonding, impulse control, humor, and others). It’s the same dysfunction that some researcher’s associate with autism. The brain of those with autism, like those with an addiction, becomes fragmented, with key areas of the brain unable to communicate with one another. Essentially, both disorders inhibit the ability of the brain to coordinate neuro-impulses into purposeful or adaptive behaviors.



The speculation that autism, like addiction, reflects gross dysfunction in the NAc is consistent with the shared behaviors that mark both disorders. Those with addictions are rather notoriously labeled as selfish, childish, callous, immature, or arrested in their development.  As someone’s addiction progresses, typically he or she will exhibit the type of social deficits as characterized in autism – a lack of empathy, isolation, and/or apparent obliviousness to the environment. And, of course, a hallmark symptom of any addiction is repetitive behavior, usually ritualized into daily life. Much like someone with autism, those with substance use disorders evidence a restricted range of interests, with drug use becoming an obsession.



Obtaining drugs, using drugs, recovering from drug use, and then obtaining more drugs becomes the day-to-day routine in cases of severe addiction, with no time devoted to relationships, a career, to one’s health, etc.



If you consider addiction as a disease of the brain, why then do people – clinicians included – reflexively attack the character of those mired in the illness. Would anyone ever refer to an autistic adult as “lazy” or “entitled”, “selfish” or “stupid”? No, of course not. Why, then, do legislators and even providers refuse to extend the same degree of compassion and patience to those with addiction, as it is to those straddled with autism? The neurobiological changes triggered by addictive behaviors signals a type of handicap. The more severe the addiction, the more profound that handicap. Think of addiction as a learning disorder. The physiologic and even anatomical changes that result from additive behaviors simply impair the brain’s functionality.



Fortunately, the cellular changes associated with addictive behaviors can, in most cases, be mitigated to varying degrees, with the brain of those mired in addiction still possessing plasticity – unlike those with autism. It’s that plastic potential that enables the brain to reset and unlearn an addiction. Still, neurobiological recovery from addiction takes time. A long time. And, until someone achieves a period of abstinence, the handicap described here will continue to influence behavior and thinking – even in the absence of using.



Any behavior once rewarded will always resist change. The greater and more extensive the history of reward, the more intense the resistance. We are hardwired, as it is, to seek out what is pleasurable and rewarding. That drive is basic to our DNA. To echo what was highlighted earlier, substances of abuse tend to fire off mammoth expressions of reward. Addictive behaviors – from cravings to fantasy to rationalizations – will fiercely resist any change. If your loved one refuses to listen, refuses to care, and continues to relapse, please remember that the handicap of addiction is only slowly, if ever fully, cured.



Kevin Murphy, Psy.D.

Psychologist

AToN Center 888-535-1516

Category: addictive behavior, Autism, awareness, balanceTag: addicted brain, addiction recovery, autism

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