It’s not a result of peer pressure. It’s not a result of experimenting for the first time. It’s not even just an excuse to get high. It’s the issues that are affecting those Americans age 50 and older. The faces of those greatly at risk of drug addiction have a few more wrinkles and gray…
Bipolar disorder is often misunderstood, leaving family members torn apart, discouraged, and confused. Multiple myths cloud the truth of how bipolar affects the human body and how people can successfully manage this difficult disease. The following are some of the myths that need to be dispelled in order for families and those with bipolar to…
Unfortunately, there is not yet a formalized process for identifying, diagnosing, and treating women who struggle with sexual addiction. Furthermore, there is precious little research on women who sexually act out. This deficiency is in part related to many addiction and mental health professionals failing to recognize the subtleties of addictive and impulsive behavior patterns…
The idea that some eating is emotionally driven is not new, but experts suggest that when the emotional component leads to unhealthy over-eating, it could be a sign of mental or emotional dysfunction. Some experts have gone as far as creating an emotional eating spectrum for gauging how strongly feelings influence food choices. Most professionals…
Depression is a mental health condition which affects millions of people around the world. Depression can be mild or major but typically affects a person’s mood, energy and even self-perception. For many years mental health professionals have sought to remove the stigma attached to mental illness, attempting to present it as a part of overall…
Often those in recovery, from addicts to those with behavioral disorders, wonder if relocation is the answer to help their recovery success. For some, it may seem like a daunting to task; others may feel as if it is the be-all, end-all answer to every recovery hurdle. Is there ever a time when it is…
When most people hear the word addiction they probably think of drug or alcohol use. In fact, many types of addiction are behaviorally driven. Behavioral addictions form in the same ways as do substance addictions and they carry with them many of the same dangers. Behavioral addicts engage in an activity until and beyond the…
When the brain tells us that what we are putting into our mouth is a poor, maybe even an unhealthy choice, why do we go ahead and bite? Some suggest that eating is not as much about what we know as it is about how we feel. The brain is sending one message and the…
At this time, “sex addiction” is among the more hotly debated topics in the mental health community. This controversy is not without merit – there should always be a significant debate before any form of inherently healthy human behavior (such as sex) is clinically designated as pathological (unhealthy). The power to label must always be…
So many disorders hinge upon a person’s maladaptive strategies for handling unpleasant emotions. Now a recent college undergraduate experiment points to emotional stress as a driver behind the development of eating disorders. A significant body of research currently exists to show how eating disorders are linked to perfectionistic attitudes toward weight and body size. But…