Key Takeaways Caring for someone with a substance use disorder can wear you down in ways that differ from other caregiving because the stress is unpredictable and often hidden. Research links a loved one’s drinking or drug use to real health effects for family members, not just stress. Standard caregiver advice like respite breaks doesn’t always fit. Support built for families affected by addiction usually helps more.

People ask whether antidepressants are addictive for two different reasons. Some are deciding whether to start one and don’t want to become dependent on a medication. Others are already taking one, tried to stop, felt awful and are now wondering whether that means they’re addicted. Those are different concerns, and understanding the difference between dependence and addiction can make the answer clearer. If you or someone you

Most people have stretches where everything feels heavier than it should. If you’re wondering whether you’re depressed, it can be hard to tell whether you’re going through a difficult few weeks or noticing signs of depression that may need treatment. That’s part of why depression so often goes unaddressed. This page covers what depression can look like, how it differs from an ordinary low period, what to

Depression and addiction show up together often enough that treatment programs have a name for it: dual diagnosis, or co-occurring disorders. If you’ve been trying to work out whether the drinking caused the low mood or the low mood drove the drinking, the answer is usually less clean than one causing the other. This page covers how often the two overlap, why the order is hard to

As daylight shortens in the fall, many people notice their mood shifts with it. Feeling flatter in November than in June is common, and it usually passes. For some, the change runs deeper and lasts longer — depression that arrives with the season and lifts when the season turns. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression defined

Substance use disorders are common among working adults. The 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found 15.3% of people aged 12 or older — about 44.6 million — had a substance use disorder in the past year. Many held jobs the entire time. This is why the most common practical objection to treatment isn’t cost or doubt about whether it works. It’s the paycheck. People

Thirty days is one of the first recovery milestones, but it doesn’t feel like an achievement from the inside. It usually feels like exhaustion, a short temper and a growing suspicion that everyone else has forgotten what you’re doing while you think about it constantly. That gap between what a milestone represents and what it feels like is worth closing, because the numbers matter more than they

Walking into a meeting is the first step. Finding someone to walk alongside you afterward is the one that tends to make recovery stick. Sponsorship is among the most consistent features of long-term membership in Alcoholics Anonymous — according to the 2022 A.A. Membership Survey of more than 6,000 members across the United States and Canada, 81% have a sponsor and 73% found one within their first

Most people who decide to quit Zyn have already tried once. They threw out the tins on Sunday, made it four days and bought more on Thursday. That’s not a character flaw — it’s what happens when a strong habit meets a plan made entirely of willpower. Nicotine pouches are now the second most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. middle and high school students, at 1.7%

At first glance, alcohol and Adderall might seem like they cancel each other out. One is a stimulant that sharpens focus and energy, while the other is a depressant that slows you down. In reality, combining them is far riskier than it feels, because they pull the body in opposite directions. Adderall is one of the most commonly prescribed stimulant medications, and prescription stimulant misuse is widespread.

Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant in the world, and for most people, morning coffee or afternoon tea is a harmless part of the day. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day — about two to three 12-ounce cups of coffee — isn’t generally associated with negative effects in healthy adults. But caffeine is still a

The opioid epidemic has touched every corner of the country, but it has never hit evenly. Some states have lost residents to overdose at rates many times higher than others. There is, at last, some encouraging news: in 2023, U.S. overdose deaths fell for the first time since 2018, and they dropped far more sharply in 2024. Even so, the toll remains staggering. In this guide, you’ll