Once considered an individual moral failing, addiction, and substance use disorders are now recognized as medical conditions. Like with any other disorder type, treatment options have evolved to include pharmaceuticals alongside psychotherapy and support group attendance. Medication-assisted treatment can effectively ... Read More
Kristina Robb-Dover
Kristina Robb-Dover
Kristina Robb-Dover is an Atlanta-based writer, editor, and author of two books with publishing houses. She has degrees from Yale College and Princeton Theological Seminary.
What It’s Like to Respond to an Overdose Emergency
Trigger Warning: This article contains language about overdose that could be triggering for some people. The overdose epidemic in this country has continued to outpace itself. Drug overdose deaths, most of which were opioid-related, hit a new high in 2022. For every one of these 109,000 deaths, there were many ... Read More
What Does It Mean to Be “Mentally Unstable”?
Updated on 5/5/2025 "Mental instability" is a broad phrase people use to refer to a wide range of mental health conditions, from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. When someone uses this phrase, they generally mean that someone is showing signs of ... Read More
What Factors Influence Your Risk of Relapse
Achieving sobriety after years of battling drug and alcohol addiction is far from easy. There's more to recovery than getting past withdrawal. It also involves learning new coping mechanisms, making significant lifestyle changes, and having a comprehensive relapse prevention plan. Substance use disorder is ... Read More
No More Shame: Jeff M.
What possesses a 16-year-old kid to join the fire service in Orangeburg, South Carolina? “I wanted to help people and was drawn to the lights, sirens, and equipment,” Jeff M. said, in an interview for our No More Shame series. He also wanted to know “what people were running away from—to go into the burning building ... Read More
How to Be an Overdose Awareness Advocate
Drug-related deaths are on the rise in the United States and have become a significant threat to public health in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 107,000 people died from overdose in 2021. This number includes accidental deaths as well as suicidal overdose deaths, and ... Read More
The Science Behind the Overdose Dangers of Relapse, From an Expert
Drug overdose is now a leading cause of death in this country, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It is also a public health crisis that has left families in grief, decimated whole communities, and prompted an urgent nationwide search for solutions. Dr. Albert Castellon, M.D., has devoted much of his ... Read More
Meet Winner of 2024 Community Impact Award!
It’s Thursday morning, and Roz Pichardo has been managing lines of people who are either queuing up for clothes or distributing them. “I had a huge donation of clothes—so many—and because we have a very small space, I had to do a last-minute clothing drive,” Pichardo said, in a phone interview with FHE ... Read More
