It’s no secret that exercise benefits the body and the mind. Vigorous exercise improves circulation, strengthens the heart, helps maintain weight, relieves stress, sharpens the mind, and aids in sweating toxins out of the body. Researchers are now exploring how exercise can specifically help those individuals who are enrolled in substance abuse rehabilitation programs. Here…
People with depression, addictions, and eating disorders may not believe that they have much in common. But at the root of many mental health problems are distorted thoughts and beliefs that chip away at the individual’s self-image. An inner dialogue that includes messages such as “I’m not good enough” or “Nothing ever goes my way”…
Many people mistakenly associate the word routine with an activity that is boring and repetitive. When you’re in recovery, however, the word takes on entirely different connotations. The truth is that establishing and adhering to a routine can help someone in recovery in many different ways. What are those ways? How does routine help in…
When an individual is struggling with substance use disorder or drug abuse, getting professional help is key. Often, individuals abusing drugs also suffer from an underlying mental health issue. This, combined with their addiction, creates what medical professionals call a co-occurring disorder. It is addressed through dual diagnosis treatment. Dual diagnosis is a term that…
When dealing with a codependent relationship, it’s crucial to look at how it began and what factors created it. Trauma and co-dependency frequently go hand-in-hand with childhood trauma causing codependent symptoms in later life. But what can you do about it? To understand the causes of trauma and co-dependency, discuss your concerns with a compassionate…
Why would Christians need help for porn addiction? On the surface, it would seem this issue, affecting untold numbers of men and women, wouldn’t even be a concern for those who are biblically called to live a life of sexual purity. Yet the statistics paint a very different picture. Unfortunately, when it comes to porn…
Post-traumatic stress disorder is sadly common among veterans, and the problem is especially acute in the African American veteran population. Studies breaking down the incidence of PTSD by race and ethnicity are still rare among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the Vietnam-era generation has been studied extensively, and this work has confirmed…
Understanding love addiction is tricky. It isn’t easy to recognize in yourself because it seems like you are in love with love or deeply in love with your partner, and what’s wrong with that? Love addiction is an unhealthy obsession with love that can cause negative consequences in various aspects of your life. One way…
Do you ever feel like you’re not making progress in therapy? Maybe you return with the same concerns every few weeks and can’t seem to move past them. Perhaps you feel uninspired by your therapist or are tired of talking things over all the time. This “therapy rut” is a frustrating place to be. You…
Love addiction is a tricky thing. You can convince yourself that you just love love. But if your love of love, romance, dating and a bad partner start to interfere with your life, you have to admit that you have a problem. Perhaps the saddest thing about having a love addiction is that it…