To Mothers Struggling with Addiction: You Are Not Alone
I had an idyllic childhood. I was a cheery kid with great parents, raised in a wonderful neighborhood, always cared for and never wanted for anything. When people hear this background from someone whose addiction was so strong that they planned their methamphetamine use around their pregnancy, it can be hard to reconcile. There is no blueprint for addiction; this disease has no face. Not one person in my life would have guessed I’d be homeless with multiple DUIs, totaled a number of vehicles, and would have my son taken away by authorities twice before his second birthday, but it happened. And despite how absurd it may s...
Source: Psych Central - May 28, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Karen McGinnis Tags: Addictions Parenting Substance Abuse Addiction Recovery custody Methamphetamines Motherhood Source Type: news
10 Novel Steps You Can Take Right Now to Reduce Anxiety and Panic Attacks in the Age of the Coronavirus
Recently, anxiety overtook depression, ADHD, and all other conditions to be the Number One mental health challenge.
We’re currently under siege by an invisible enemy, and most of our anxiety levels are higher than before. For some time, however, anxiety has been on the rise as we face all the everyday choices we have to make, both small and potentially life changing. We live in a highly complex world that complicates our existence and creates newer tensions.
The Process of Anxiety
Most people think of anxiety as an emotional state, and it is. But anxiety is also a process that starts with several uncomfortable emotio...
Source: Psych Central - May 12, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jeffrey Chernin, Ph.D., MFT Tags: Anxiety Coronavirus COVID-19 Source Type: news
Are You Dating a Narcissist?
You won’t realize you’re dating a narcissist. Narcissists are skilled at making people like them. They can be very alluring and charming and exciting to date. In fact, in one study, it took seven meetings for people to see through their likable veneer. In a dating situation, a narcissist has greater incentive to win you over — sadly, sometimes all the way to the altar.
Narcissists are often physically attractive, charismatic, and sexually appealing. We’re drawn to their intelligence, entertaining personality, special talents, or professional success. Their company can be pleasurable and never boring.
Dating...
Source: Psych Central - May 10, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Codependence Narcissism Relationships & Love Codependency Dating Manipulation Manipulative Behavior Narcissistic Abuse Narcissistic Personality Disorder Perfectionism Source Type: news
Getting Off the Roller Coaster of Emotional Eating
With spending so many hours inside, it can be so easy to seek comfort in food. Especially when some of us have enormous stock piles of tasty snacks and quick shelf stable carbohydrates like cereal, pasta and rice. Perhaps emotional eating is a new phenomena or we’ve struggled over the years with binge eating. Binge-eating is defined as consuming unusually large amounts of food typically in a short period of time and feeling unable to stop eating. During these stressful times we want to maintain emotional, mental and physical balance. Ensuring that we are getting the right nutrients without the self harm of overeating is ...
Source: Psych Central - May 3, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Ivy Branin, ND Tags: Binge Eating Coronavirus Eating Disorders COVID-19 Cravings Emotional Eating emotional overeating Source Type: news
How Intergenerational Trauma Impacts Families
Intergenerational transmission of trauma may be understood as the ongoing impact of traumatic events and situations that happened in prior generations and continues to impact the current generation. Trauma can be passed down through a multitude of factors, including epigenetic processes that increase vulnerability to various mental disorders 1, repeated patterns of abusive or neglectful behavior, poor parent-child relationships, negative beliefs about parenting, personality disorders, substance abuse, family violence, sexual abuse, and unhealthy behavior patterns and attitudes 2.
In some families, poor parenting and unsupp...
Source: Psych Central - April 21, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fabiana Franco, Ph.D. Tags: Abuse PTSD Trauma Violence & Aggression Anxiety Child Abuse intergenerational transmission Intergenerational Trauma Parenting posttraumatic stress trauma bonding Source Type: news
When It Comes to Addiction, Abstinence Is Key — Or Is It?
“Hi, my name is ____, and I’m an alcoholic.”
When conjuring up images of those suffering from substance abuse disorders, the phrase above is one most people first think of. This greeting of sorts is deeply entwined with the alcohol recovery group, Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization that in the majority of cases promotes abstinence, or in other words a complete removal of alcohol from one’s life.
This approach of complete and permanent rejection of alcohol has garnered much attention and success, and has become over the years the forefront of substance abuse treatment, leaving many unaware of other approaches...
Source: Psych Central - April 18, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Carly Heyn Tags: Addictions Substance Abuse Treatment 12 Step Program Abstinence Alcohol Dependence Harm Reduction Holistic Approach Moderation Source Type: news
The Power of Delusion
Back in the Army when I was in the depths of undiagnosed schizophrenia, I wrote long letters asking my friends and family if they could see and feel what I was experiencing while stationed in the Mojave desert. I thought if I could persuade them to stare at a TV or computer screen and fixate on it, then they would be able to hear my voice, and I could hear theirs.
I tried to write everything that went through my mixed up mind into the letters I sent to my friends and family. For example, my brother was a cook at this restaurant at the time. In my mind, I thought I could see him driving and showing up to work. In the lett...
Source: Psych Central - April 16, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jason Jepson Tags: Personal Stories Schizoaffective Disorder Schizophrenia Delusions positive symptoms Psychosis Source Type: news
Worried About Something? Here ’ s Why You Should Stop Talking About It
If you have a big worry on your mind, you probably feel compelled to do something to try to resolve it as soon as possible. In my experience specializing in treating anxiety disorders, there are three main things people tend to gravitate towards when they are worried about something: analyzing it in their own head, talking to someone else to get their opinion/reassurance, and researching it online. All of these things can sometimes make us feel better in the short-term but really perpetuate the anxiety and cause more suffering in the long term. In this article, I’m going to focus on one of these behaviors: seeking op...
Source: Psych Central - April 11, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Michael Stein, Psy.D. Tags: Anxiety Communication Avoidance Catastrophizing Living With Uncertainty Reassurance Rumination worry Source Type: news
5 Ways to Give Your Brain a Break from All This Stress
Right now we’re in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Just that sentence is stress-inducing! But even when the world isn’t experiencing a health crisis, we’re still bombarded with media, to-do lists, family, work, and all sorts of expectations.
I found myself this past week not making any time to take a mental break. I’m up at 5am with the baby to feed him, pump, check the news, talk to my husband, get some work done, feed the baby, check Facebook, pump while watching TV, reply to a text, send some emails, stress about daycare and the Coronavirus, feed the baby, start dinner, brainstorm ideas while I shower...
Source: Psych Central - April 4, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sandy Woznicki Tags: Anxiety Coronavirus Personal Stories Relaxation and Meditation COVID-19 Stress Reduction Source Type: news
Self-Isolation, Meditation & Mental Health in Times of COVID-19
Most of us have never before experienced enforced self-isolation and lockdown. What can we learn from people who have voluntarily gone into isolation for prolonged periods of time?
A group of people who self-isolate regularly are meditators, be it monks spending years in caves or laypersons going to silent retreats. Although there are big differences between meditation retreats and lockdowns, we can learn much from linking the two.
When people begin and end meditation retreats, they often have trouble adjusting. Many experience alienation from everyday life, and some struggle with their changed role or idea of self.1 Going...
Source: Psych Central - March 31, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Christine Kupfer, PhD Tags: Anxiety Coronavirus General Loneliness Relaxation and Meditation COVID-19 Mindfulness pandemic Source Type: news
When Will You Know You Are Ready for Treatment?
While some people who’ve become addicted to alcohol and drugs have to hit rock bottom before they’re ready to accept treatment, most realize or can be convinced of the need to get professional help long before such a calamitous event. As for the timing, knowing when you are ready for treatment, it’s different for everyone. It may help to know some of the common signs you’re ready to take the crucial next step.
You’ve Had Enough — And So Has Everyone Else
The list of addictive behaviors is long and varied, including problem drinking and alcohol abuse that descends into alcohol use disorder, substance use d...
Source: Psych Central - March 27, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Suzanne Kane Tags: Addictions Alcoholism Habits Substance Abuse Source Type: news
Fritz Perls, the World Needs You More Than Ever
On March 14th, 1970 — fifty years ago — Fritz Perls, the man behind Gestalt Therapy, died. Few people reading this will know who he was, let alone the significant influence he had on the world of psychology. He was a complex and interesting man. He could be manipulative, grumpy, dismissive and harsh but also funny, insightful, sentimental and warm. His parting words to this world were: “Don’t tell me what to do!” He barked that to a nurse who demanded he get back into bed after surgery. He dangled his feet over the side of the bed in defiance and promptly died. That is classic Perls. Nobody told him what ...
Source: Psych Central - March 24, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Drew Coster Tags: Anxiety Parenting Psychology authoritarianism Blame bullying Comfort Zone Communication Control Facebook Fritz Perls Gestalt Therapy Mindfulness Present Moment social media Source Type: news
Using DBT Skills in the Time of the Coronavirus
Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) provides us with many excellent concepts and skills to practice and incorporate with various areas of distress and dysregulation, including the current uncertain times of living with COVID-19. The way in which this pandemic illness is spreading all over the world and is the focus of most any current conversation requires that we find a way to cope effectively. Marsha Linehan, the founder and developer of DBT, provides us with several excellent ideas about how best to manage stressful times.
Many of us Americans struggled to radically accept that this virus was in our midst and needed prom...
Source: Psych Central - March 19, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sandra Wartski, Psy.D Tags: Anxiety Communication General Healthy Living Self-Help Coping Skills coronavirus COVID-19 Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Emotional Dysregulation Interpersonal Effectiveness Interpersonal Skills Marsha Linehan social distancing Source Type: news
Easy and Effective Tips to Get Rid of Morning Anxiety
Apart from the Sunday Scaries, weekday morning anxiety is more commonplace than you think. Despite this notion, there are simple, natural, and drug-free ways to combat your AM anxiety in about five minutes. It might just be a small amount of time, but this payoff could make your morning — and potentially your whole day — a lot better and less stressful. That’s a great return on your time investment!
Below is a list of things to do as soon as you wake up and feel panicky. As said above, these only take about five minutes of your time with a big boost in a sense of calm and wellbeing. Try one of these 10 ...
Source: Psych Central - March 16, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Emily Waters Tags: Anxiety Habits Self-Help Sleep Habit Change morning anxity sleep hygiene Source Type: news
The What, Why, When and How of Detaching from Loved Ones
Codependents become overly attached — not because they love so much but because they need so much. Attachment is based upon need — need for someone to be a certain way so that you can feel okay. Although it’s painful to see a loved one being self-destructive, detachment allows us to enjoy our life despite another person’s problems and behavior. What gets in the way are codependent patterns of managing and controlling, reacting and worrying, and obsessing.
Attachment and caring are normal. It’s healthy to get attached to someone in our family or with whom we’re intimate, but codependent attachment caus...
Source: Psych Central - February 28, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Addictions Codependence Relationships & Love Substance Abuse Codependency Codependent Enabling no contact reciprocity Source Type: news
