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Tag: mental health disorder

Are You Codependent?

Recovering from codependency and codependent tendencies can feel as difficult as recovering from drug addiction and alcoholism. Letting go of lifetime behaviors and survival techniques is hard, but it is not impossible. You can have loving and healthy relationships. Are you codependent? See if you resonate with any of these descriptions:

  • You feel that if you don’t meet the needs of others you will be abandoned, rejected, abused, or neglected
  • As a result, you value the needs and wants of others over your own
  • Sometimes, the way you prioritize other people over yourself can lead to problems in your relationships and responsibilities
  • You feel like you cannot escape the cycle of trying to control, manipulate, care-take, and be overbearing in relationships. Once it starts causing problems, you feel as though it gets worse.
  • You either have poor boundaries or don’t set any boundaries when it comes to other people. You’re willing to let someone completely into your life and insert yourself completely into someone else’s. You’re often tired and feel like you have lost your sense of self.
  • You constantly dismiss your own thoughts, opinions, desires, wants, and needs as though they are unimportant and bothersome to other people. It’s possible you believe they are unimportant because you believe that you are unimportant.
  • Your life is full of obligations and responsibilities which drain you of your time, energy, and spirit. You are constantly in a state of giving, care taking, and managing. Frequently, you find yourself burned out and feeling resentful towards others. Eventually, you take on responsibilities from others just to be mad at them because you don’t feel there is any other way.
  • There is a good chance you’re in a relationship with an addict, an alcoholic, someone with narcissistic personality disorder, another codependent, or in some other kind of dysfunctional relationship.
  • You likely grew up in a home with someone who was abusive, neglectful, or who abandoned you and also suffered with an untreated mental health disorder.
  • You likely have a mental health disorder of your own, outside of your codependency.
  • Deep down, you feel that if you can just do enough, be enough, and please other people they won’t leave or hurt you.

Enlightened Recovery Solutions knows that there is freedom and serenity in recovery. It starts with you. Start your recovery with us. We integrate the best of holistic healing, spiritual wellness, clinically proven therapy, and 12 step philosophy. For more information, call us today at 833-801-5483.

Which Comes First: Alcoholism Or Mental Health Disorders?

Alcoholism is a greater risk for those who are living with a preexisting mental health condition or those who have the genetic predisposition for one. Likewise, for those who are living with alcoholism, there is a greater risk of also developing a mental health disorder. Alcoholism by its technical name is alcohol use disorder, falling under the substance use disorder category. Widely, alcohol use disorder and other substance use disorders, called addictions, are mental health disorders of their own. When alcohol use disorder happens at the same time as another mental health disorder, it is referred to as dual diagnosis, or co-occurring disorders. For treatment and rehabilitation to be as successful and effective as possible it is necessary for treatment centers to make a full diagnosis of any existing mental health conditions in addition to substance use issues. Mistaking one issue for another is common. Discovering the source of each issue and treating it thoroughly is the best way to ensure long term recovery.

Alcoholism As A Result Of Mental Health Disorders

Abuse of alcohol is a common side effect of many mental health disorders, especially when they go untreated. Anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as some of the most common mental health disorders with a high rate of co-occurring alcoholism. Substance abuse spurs from mental health disorders like these for a number of reasons. First, some of these disorders come with a high likelihood of impulsivity. Impulsive decision making can lead to rash decisions and skewed senses of relations among peers. When substance abuse becomes an option, there is little functioning in the brain to prevent someone from making the decision. Consuming alcohol in large quantities will be of little consideration and as a result can lead to chemical dependency. Second, alcoholism can result as a way to cope with the difficult emotions of other mental health disorders. Living with severe emotional pain, unmanageable mood swings, or chronic irrational thoughts can become exhausting and overwhelming. Upon introduction to alcohol, there is a relief and sanctuary discovered in the euphoric effects of intoxication.

Mental Health Disorders As A Result Of Alcoholism

Alcohol abuse chemically alters essential neural networkings of the brain. Consequently, many of the processes used on a daily basis to regulate emotions, cognitive functions, and other important activities become shifted. Mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and paranoia can result from long term substance abuse.

Recovery from co-occurring alcoholism and mental health disorders is possible through integrative and enlightened treatment. Bringing together holistic recovery and proven treatment, the programs at Enlightened Solutions are designed to let recovery start with you. Call 833-801-5483 today for more information.

Staying On Medication and 3 Other Helpful Habits For Bipolar And Addiction

Psychiatrists, physicians, and treatment professionals often quip that bipolar disorder is one of the most curious mental health disorders to treat because of the way that people relate to their medication. Bipolar disorder is well known for creating delusion within its two emotional states: depression and mania. Mania is defined by highs which make depression seem even lower. Part of the depression is caused by the sudden loss of euphoria which can be experienced during mania. Mood stabilizers and other medications which treat bipolar disorder help someone feel more stable and feel better in their lives. Once they feel better and like the way they feel, people with bipolar seem to forget they’re bipolar and in need of medication. They stop taking it, stop attending meetings with their psychiatrists, and slowly spiral back out of control. Problematically, they will repeat this cycle over and over again.

Get Consistent Sleep

Having shifting moods which cannot be controlled can mess with your daily routine. Part of the challenge of living with bipolar disorder is creating consistency from one end of mania to the other end of depression. Mania causes people to lose sleep while depression can cause an excess amount of sleep. Maintaining a regular sleep schedule each night can create stability and not cause other major disruptions which result due to abnormal sleep.

Stay Sober

Bipolar disorder and addiction, as well as alcoholism are frequently co-occurring and present a constant problem. In times of a manic episode, someone is inclined to feel invincible and energetic, inspiring them to party and use substances excessively. During depressive episodes, someone with bipolar will turn to depressant substances to cope with their feelings or stimulant substances to try and make themselves feel like they did during mania.

Ask For Help

Learning to manage bipolar disorder during recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is challenging. Nobody expects you to do it perfectly! If you are struggling with manic-depressive episodes which are causing you to have cravings, it is okay to reach out for help. Don’t feel ashamed that you have bipolar and that you struggle with addiction. Courageously reach out for help and get the assistance you need to feel better.

If you are struggling with bipolar disorder and addiction, help is available. Enlightened Solutions has a variety of programs which can work for you to heal mind, body, and spirit. You will have balance again. For more information, call 833-801-5483

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Social Anxiety Disorders

Medication and therapy are the two most highly prescribed answers for treating mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. Increasingly, evidence is showing that there is more to treating mental illness than talking and taking a pill. For anxiety of all kinds, various treatment methods are being incorporated into treatment regimes to support recovery. Recent research has found that a combination of therapy and medication is no longer the most effective method. According toKnowridge Science Report, cognitive behavioral therapy alone is the most effective treatment for anxiety- specifically, social anxiety disorder.

In a recent study published inPsychotherapy and Psychosomatics, the website reports, an overwhelming 85 percent of participants struggling with social anxiety disorder “significantly improved or became completely healthy using only cognitive therapy.” Though a small group sample at 100 people, the researchers, as cited by the website, claim to have set a world record in effectively treating social anxiety disorder. Metacognitive therapy is the specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy used for the study. Through the process, therapists are able to work with patients in identifying thoughts, ruminations, worries, and reactions to social anxieties. Patients were equipped with coping tools for regulating their attention, their emotions, and training their brains in new ways.

Why Therapy For Social Anxiety Disorder?

Medication cannot yet target the specific memories, situations, or chromosomes that causes someone to worry about what they do. Some anxiety is genetically inherited while other people’s anxiety is formed in reaction to trauma, bullying, humiliation, or other causes. While medication can change brain chemistry and reduce the intensity of symptoms, it cannot stop the reaction entirely, or cure the psychological cause of it. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps patients target and manipulate their very thought processes, rewiring the way the brain responds.

Enlightened Solutions utilizes the multidisciplinary use of cognitive therapies for treating anxiety disorders and an often co-occurring addiction disorder. For information on our partial care programs of treatment certified for treating dual diagnosis, call us today at 833-801-5483.

Asia’s Growing Drug Crisis

Drug addicts face a difficult world. In America, they are shamed, stigmatized, labeled, and judged  for suffering from a chronic mental health disorder. Addiction is treated differently than their mental health counterparts such as depression or physical health counterparts like diabetes. Whereas other disorders which are relapsing and remitting see sympathy and compassion upon a relapse, drug addicts see punishment, judgment and exclusion. Additionally, addicts are assigned the roles of being liars, thieves, criminals, heathens, and generally immoral people. They face jail time, criminal records, difficulty getting health insurance, and more.

One thing addicts living in America do not face is execution. Sadly, many addicts die on the streets each day due to a lack of access to treatment or the desire to get sober. However, in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, addicts are facing execution and lifelong jail sentences. In the Philippines, for example, 2400 people have died in the last two months. Indonesia has begun executing convicted drug felons. Other countries experiencing an epidemic of drugs include Japan, South Korea and Laos.

Asian countries are dealing with a surge in drug addiction similar to what America is experiencing. Whereas America is seeing a rise of epidemic proportion in opioid addiction, Asian countries are seeing a rise in addiction to methamphetamines. Methamphetamines, commonly known as meth or crystal meth, are highly addictive and incredibly destructive. In just three years, the amount of meth being found and seized by government officials has nearly quadrupled. 2009 saw 11 tons of methamphetamines; 2013 saw 42.

Coincidentally, most of North America’s supply of synthetic drugs like crystal meth come from China or neighboring Asian countries. Producing meth is cheap. Meth is also sold for low cost, but the quantity adds up in cost and revenue for manufacturers. As a business, the UNODC predicted Meth was worth $15 billion dollars in Southeast Asia.

The term “everything under the kitchen sink” applies to meth- it can be made from chemicals ranging between drain cleaner to gasoline. Consequently, the high produced by abusing meth is wild, erratic, and volatile, which leads to the rapid development of addiction. Treating meth addiction in Asia is difficult due to a severe lack in affordable treatment centers. Ironically, the area is littered with exclusive luxury rehabs for Westerners.

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