Whitby, 2023. Substance addiction is an illness characterized by a person's continuous or periodic desire to take a substance, either to sustain the pleasurable effect of that substance or to avoid the distressing symptoms caused by its absence, because the substance affects the structure of the brain. Knowing that substance addiction is an illness will help family members of people who use substances manage negative reactions such as blaming the substance user or feeling anger toward them....

Oshawa, 2023 What Is Addiction? Addiction is defined as an irresistible urge toward a particular person, object, or substance, combined with the persistence of that urge despite the social, legal, or relational problems it causes in a person's life. Addiction can involve substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, hallucinogens, heroin, and cocaine. This booklet focuses on tobacco addiction, and specifically on smoking, the most common way tobacco is used. When assessing a person's...

Oshawa, 2023 We recently watched Cem Yilmaz's new film "Do Not Disturb." Those who've seen it will already know, but for those who haven't, the film offers a sharp critique of the new social-media-driven world order and of social media's self-development gurus. At this point, as psychologists who also post on social media ourselves, it's hard not to agree with Cem Yilmaz's criticism. We have to turn the needle on ourselves too and admit that mental health content shared on social media can...

Port Perry, 2023 Unfortunately, we can't choose everything that happens to us in life. Even though it's said that hard work increases luck, sometimes things don't go the way we want. I recently saw just how true this is through a painful experience of my own. Having nearly a year's worth of effort erased in an instant was a hard thing to accept. Why? How did this happen? Why? Why? These are questions caught in a vicious cycle, and unfortunately they lead nowhere. They keep me dwelling on the...

Life lessons learned from a cat → self‑care, movement, adaptability, routine, communication, boundaries, curiosity, love, being yourself.