Addiction

Social media gets a lot of attention because our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined in it. You can sign up for just about anything with a Facebook account login. All channels of social media somehow connect to one another so you can post across multiple platforms. Your phone can ring all day with notifications and alerts regarding activity within your social media world. Soon, Facebook has leaked, there will even be virtual reality hangout rooms where you can interact with your friends in a virtual space, interacting with mixed media and more. What about real space, where real people live? Reports of the way social media affects the human brain are varied. Some reports reveal that social media engagement, from receiving a “like” on a photo to scrolling through a news feed can activate our brains the same way drugs like cocaine do. Other reports have found that social media can boost our self-esteem. Contrastly, reports have found that social media is devastating for body image and confidence. Every list of sleep recommendations includes staying away from social media before bedtime. Productivity suggestions emphasize not getting on social media first thing in the morning. It seems there’s no right way to balance social media use and continue to maintain mental health. According to On The Mind, these are some of the key ways we are affected by social media use: “Likes” Various research has found that the power of the “like” function, or any other function on social media which indicates a positive reaction to something we posted, stimulates the brain. It creates a reward circuit pattern, not unlike drugs and alcohol. Essentially, the article explains, we’ve trained ourselves to react to those positive reactions. When we don’t receive the response we think we do, we feel insecure and lose that quick boost of self-esteem we had just achieved. Social Media For Good Social media has produced a lot of positive movements which have helped to shift paradigms and unravel decades old way of thinking. From body positivity to wider acceptance of mental health, trending hashtags and challenges online have helped create conversation that might have taken decades more to have. Social Media For Bad On a similar coin to how social media has promoted unity and acceptance it has also created divides. Hidden behind the strength and security of social media platforms and screens, people can act in ways they might not normally act. Primarily, that means they can become online bullies. Online bullying, broadcasting live videos of violent acts, and other troubling uses of social media have come about, harming people’s lives, costing people’s lives, and more. Avalon Malibu is a residential treatment center for primary mental health diagnosis as well as dual diagnosis substance use disorders. If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, or bullying due to your social media use, help is available. Call us for a confidential assessment at 1 888-958-7511.

It’s true. Recovery is a lifestyle change. Changing your life for the better might seem like a difficult choice to make. Here are some of the best reasons why you should choose recovery. Your Story Will Help Others You may not think you have much of anything to offer anyone right now. That’s understandable. You’re at the beginning stage of something you can’t even understand yourself: recovery. Here’s a crazy thing about it: the fact that you are even thinking about getting yourself some help is already a story enough. Should you choose to seek treatment and build a lifestyle of recovery, you are making a decision that millions of people shy away from every single day. Your ability to choose to help yourself and stop the struggling is monumental. Your story starts right here, right now. It is almost guaranteed that there is at least one person out there who can identify with just one part of your story. You’re Going To Keep Getting Better The coolest thing about recovery is that you don’t have to just stop recovering once treatment is over. Recovery isn’t just something you learn how to do, it becomes part of who you are. Recovery is ongoing. You will always be learning, growing, improving, healing, and changing. Who you are today will be unrecognizable in who you will be thirty days, 90 days, six months, or even a few years from now. Great changes come when we are willing to let them happen. You Aren’t Losing Money (Or Respect) Living with untreated mental health disorders can be a lot more costly than going to treatment. Drug and alcohol addiction, for example, can rack up quite the bill. Depression can cause you to lose a job, bipolar can cause overspending, and more. Most importantly, you are losing out on time, memories, and major parts of your life. You’ll Have Better Control Of Your Emotions Recovery is about gaining back parts of who you are. You will be able to feel like yourself again with better tools for managing, regulating, and understanding your emotions. Through therapy and treatment you’re going to learn how to be at peace with yourself, mind, body, and spirit. Recovery is always going to be better than suffering. If you or a loved one are suffering from addiction, alcoholism, and a dual diagnosis mental health disorder, call Avalon By The Sea today. Our residential treatment programs are available for dual diagnosis care. Healing is what we do. Call 1 (888) 958-7511 for a confidential assessment today.

30 million Americans use sleep medication. That’s a lot of people who have a hard time falling asleep. During treatment for recovery from a mental health or substance use disorder, sleep can be challenging. Living with new thoughts and feelings, dealing with physical symptoms of withdrawal, and general restlessness can all cause a difficulty falling asleep. Maladaptive behaviors before bedtime and throughout the day can make sleeping more difficult as well- like that 5 pm coffee. Here are some best tips for getting to sleep without the use of a heavy sleeping medication. It’s important to note that using sleep medication during treatment is common and often encouraged. For many people, the medication quickly becomes unnecessary and causes more drowsiness the next day than it does quality sleep.

Winter is finally ending meaning springtime is right around the corner. With water starting to warm up and the ice melting away you have access to all new water activities that you didn’t before. What does water have to do with mental health recovery? Everything! For starters, the brain sits in a puddle of a water lie substance and is mostly made up of water itself. Our bodies are mostly water as well and so is the planet. Water connects us to everything that is life. Without water, we cannot survive and neither would most of the planet. Being connected to water is deeply healing. For example, the pH levels in the ocean match your internal pH levels, which can make similar feelings of being in the womb, causing you to feel calm and relaxed. Water helps us feel buoyant, relieving a lot of aches and pains. Water also makes us feel happier. Neuroscience research is diving deeper into water- literally- to get a better understanding of just how healing water is. Everyone likes to be near water, whether they know it or not. Even people with extreme phobias of water can overcome them because water is a wondrous thing. Go Kayaking Ocean kayaking can be extreme in the wrong conditions. On a flat day or in an ocean bay, it can be enjoyable. Find a nearby lagoon, lake, or channel where you can kayak. You’ll propel yourself along and focus on your breath while paying attention to the beauty all around you. Learn How To Surf There’s a reason people get “surf stoke”- surfing is fun! Springtime is a good time to start learning how to surf. Rent a wetsuit a board before heading out to the white water. Practice popping up and learning how to time the waves. Many lifetime surfers find the practice to be very zen and spiritual. Pick Up A Boogey Board If paddling out to the lineup and catching monster wages isn’t your thing, stick to the white water with a boogie board. Body surfing is always fun and is a great way to feel the rush of the power of the ocean without risking yourself getting too hurt. Take A Fishing Trip Going out on a boat across miles of open sea can be a transformational experience. Try taking an offshore fishing trip where you might see dolphins and whales along the way. Try Paddle Boarding Stand Up Paddle boarding is like a hybrid of surfing and kayaking. You can even do yoga on a stand up paddle board. Enjoy the power of the board with the power of your paddling as you cruise along, taking in the beautiful ocean around you. Create A Beach Collage If getting into the water doesn’t sound like your thing, you can still enjoy the bounties the water has to offer. Taking therapeutic walks on the beach can help your back, help your mindfulness practices, and keep you right next to the ocean. Along the way, you can find sticks, beach glass, and shells to collect. Make a beach collage with some sand so you can have a piece of the shore with you at home. Avalon By The Sea boasts its location in its name. Our stunning estate sits atop the iconic cliffside coast of southern california’s famous beach town of Malibu. During the warmer season we engage our clients in therapeutic water activities and beach activities making the most of our beautiful environment. For a confidential assessment and more information on our residential treatment programs for mental health and addiction, call 888-958-7511.

Most people who have walked into a treatment center for either a primary mental health disorder or substance use disorder have experienced some kind of trauma in their lives. A majority of people will experience trauma within their lifetimes, either directly or vicariously, like watching a terrorist attack (or even news coverage of a terrorist attack) on television. Only a small portion of people who experience some form of trauma will experience fully diagnosable PTSD or any symptoms of PTSD. Coping with PTSD can usually lead to the development of other disorders including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders. Trying to treat any kind of mental health disorder, including substance use disorders, without fully assessing trauma could be like putting a Band-Aid over a gunshot wound. You might be able to stop the bleeding, but you won’t have retrieved the bullet.

After you transition through the various stages of treatment are complete, you’re ready to make your final transition into independent living. You’ll need to create a safe system of trusted mental health professionals to keep you working on your program of recovery. Here are the different kinds of doctors you might need to work with.

Bipolar disorder can be a bewildering mental health disorder to understand, approach, and manage. If you or a loved one might be living with bipolar disorder, here are some often confused facts.

Nutritional psychiatry is the term used to describe a new movement being taken on by mental health practitioners prescribing diet changes to their patients. Antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and other prescription medications, in addition to therapy and self-care have been a common prescription for many years. Doctors are always recommending a good balance of diet and exercise, as exercise has been relentlessly proven to decrease symptoms of mental health disorders like depression. With nutritional psychiatry, doctors are emphasizing the diet part of the program. Increasing research has found that there is an important connection between the stomach and the brain. For those in recovery, this is no more obvious than the experience of HALT- the way one’s mood can take a quick, steep turn south when someone gets too hungry. The science behind the connection goes deeper than being hungry or not. Gut bacteria is being proven to have an influence on mood, inflammation, and more. Different foods create different gut bacteria. Holding true to the theory, different foods can create different moods. Nutritional psychiatry argues that following a gut-bacteria and mood-specific diet could be helpful in treating depression. Creating a mood-enhancing specific diet could radically alter the holistic approach of mind, body, and spirit, when it comes to treating depression. According to The Big Think, “95% of your body’s serotonin is made in your gastrointestinal tract.” Serotonin is a critical neurotransmitter helpful in regulating and stabilizing mood. Often, depression is described as a chemical imbalance of serotonin and dopamine.

Obsession and compulsion- that is the core of obsessive compulsive disorder. What drives the obsessions in OCD is not usually pleasant. The compulsions are usually small behaviors to try and cope with those unpleasant thoughts. Since the thoughts are categorized as obsessions, that means they aren’t fleeting. The uncomfortable thoughts are persistent, recurring, and ruminating. Meaning, that they don’t stop until they are satisfied in some way. Compulsive behaviors are that way. Compulsions are more than urges, they are obsessive urges, because they are connected to the obsession. Typically, the relationship between the two is irrational. For example, the commonly portrayed version of OCD including a hyperfocus on germs or cleanliness. It’s likely the event causing the obsessive thoughts was relatively “dirty” or made the person feel unclean. Thus, the compulsive behaviors include a focus on sanitation behaviors. Though it makes sense, it's irrational that compulsive, repetitive behaviors will “clean” up the past.

Post traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder which impacts all areas of someone’s life after witnessing a traumatic event. Symptoms include:

Sex is a physical act as much as it is an act of emotion, psyche, and spiritual connection. Engaging in physical, sexual intimacy is a physical closeness that makes many people uncomfortable. Low self-esteem, insecurity, vulnerability, and even trauma regarding sexual intimacy is not reserved for those who might struggle with a mental illness. However, it can be a particularly complicated area for those living with and recovering from eating disorders. Eating disorders are usually talked about with a focus on food, control, perfectionism, weight, and body image. These factors can contribute to difficulty in sexual intimacy. Because sex is so physically close, if someone is at odds with their physical appearance, sex can be triggering. Furthermore, if that physical appearance is still toxically connected to how one perceives themselves (i.e. “today I feel fat, so today I have low self-esteem”), it can cause a deep level of discomfort. The effects of eating disorder on one’s sex life can range from preventing intimacy due to insecurity. Eating disorder behaviors like restriction, starvation, and purging, can deplete the body’s natural energy as well as throw off normal hormonal balance. Finding a desire for sexual interaction can be challenging when there is hardly a desire to eat. The Double Edge Sword Of Eating Disorder Recovery And Sex Recovery from eating disorders is usually successful as a patient starts to normalize their weight, working through underlying issues contributing to the eating disorder, and learn to be more body positive. Working on raising levels of confidence and body acceptance leads to tremendous shifts in perception and sexual desire. Unfortunately, there is still the old programming regarding weight, body image, and being wanted. As sexual desire increases with weight gain, there could be a newfound insecurity in the body. Though the individual has learned to accept and embrace themselves, they are still aware of the shame, stigma, and stereotype which gets applied to the physical form and what is defined as sexually desirable. True Self-Intimacy Before getting intimate with others, recovery demands that we become most intimate with ourselves, in mind, body, and spirit. Eating disorders separate us from ourselves. Through recovery, we learn how to be close with ourselves, our bodies, and our minds, creating a holistic whole self once more. Avalon By The Sea provides primary mental health care for men and women needing to recover from eating disorders. Call us today for a confidential assessment and more information on our residential treatment programs at 1 888-958-7511.

ADHD is commonly mistaken for depression and vice versa. One of the unknown sides of depression is the ability to create cognitive difficulties. Popularly known symptoms of depression include symptoms of being sad, tired, lazy, and without hope.However, all that emotional strain and imbalance in the brain can cause a difficulty in concentrating, focus, making decisions, and just thinking clearly. According to Science Daily, the American Chemical Society is studying rats to find out just how intensely the brain is cognitively affected by depression. Even with treatment for depression, as common symptoms pass and become more manageable, the cognitive symptoms can remain for quite sometime. Having to deal with lack of focus, forgetfulness, and an inability to make decisions is challenging. The pressing extreme emotions of depression can be challenging enough to live with and manage as feelings of sadness can take over. However, not being able to think clearly, remember, or make decisions is even more impairing. Relationships, jobs, schooling, and care taking can be compromised by this. The research suggests that certain proteins are more available in rats without depression than those who do have depression. In simple cognitive tests, rats without depression performed better than the rats who had the depression. Implications from this study could contribute toward advancing treatments for depression to include targeted treatments for cognitive functioning. Supporting Your Mental Health While Living With A Mental Health Disorder There are some practices which can be helpful in sharpening your focus, clearing your mind, and giving your brain more power when you're living with depression. Mindfulness meditation is scientifically proven to change the brain in positive ways and enlarge the prefrontal cortex which is where cognitive functions live. Exercise produces endorphins and is helpful to gaining mental clarity and energy. Depression is also helped by a healthy balanced diet which includes amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids from foods like eggs and avocado. Some studies suggest that the right diet could eliminate negative symptoms of depression entirely. Avalon By The Sea is one of California’s only mental health facilities providing primary care for depression. Our program is centered on mind, body, and spirit, to help facilitate healing holistically and clinically. For a confidential assessment, call 1 888-958-7511.