Adventure – Is Within You
“Adventure is not outside man, it is within.” – George Eliot, the pseudonym of novelist, translator and religious writer Mary Ann Evans, one of the leading writers of the Victorian era (1819-1880)
The Powerful Role of Cognitive Thinking Errors in Addiction
How we look at events or situations plays a significant role in how we feel and behave. This is particularly true when it comes to alcohol and drug addiction. Consider the last time you got angry: Your negative feelings were likely triggered by a thought – e.g. “That driver shouldn’t have cut me off!” This…
Perceived Threat May Lead to PTSD
Soldiers returning from deployment to a combat zone often experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD can occur any time an individual is involved in or a witness to a disaster or tragedy. The experience can be anything from witnessing an assault to involvement in a car accident.
Mental Illness Across America
Last year 45.6 million Americans were diagnosed as having a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. One in five adults suffers from mental illness. The 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health recently revealed statistics on the mental health of the nation’s citizens.
What You Think Matters: How It Benefits Recovery
You might think that recovery is all about going to meetings and staying out of trouble. It is that, but it is also a lot more. The truth is that being in recovery is hard work, probably a lot more work than we ever imagined it would be. It’s so easy to get caught up…
Discerning the Difference Between Binge Eating Disorder and Overeating
Obesity is a national concern. Far too many Americans are struggling with being overweight today. For some, the problem may be a serious one and yet fall short of the definition of a mental health disorder. Binge eating is not currently a formal disorder, but it is expected that it will be listed as a…
Addicted to Food
In the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), binge eating will, for the first time ever, be listed as a disorder. This designation shows improvement in how eating disorders are being taken more seriously than in the past. Research shows that the brain acts similarly in all addictions, whether…
History of ECT
Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, is a behavioral health treatment that has a somewhat negative connotation in popular culture. Thanks in no small part to books and movies, such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, many people came to believe that ECT side effects were overwhelmingly harmful and that the therapy itself was prone to…
Lost Your Enthusiasm for Recovery? How to Get it Back
If you’re tired of people always asking you how you feel, now that you’re in recovery from substance abuse or addiction, maybe it isn’t so much that they’re asking the question, but that you feel that you don’t have a very good answer.
Understanding the Role of Heredity in Depression
From red-haired curls to big blue eyes, certain characteristics run in families. But not every inherited trait is as harmless as hair color. Some families struggle with a darker legacy: depression. People who live with this disorder aren’t just blue; they often feel hopeless, helpless, and, in the most serious cases, suicidal. The symptoms of…