Healthy Living

Watching a loved one struggling with the deep pain of depression can be heartbreaking. You cannot fix your loved one’s depression, but you can help ease their symptoms and encourage them to keep moving forward in recovery. Be Extra Loving You aren’t going to love your partner or loved one out of depression. However, some studies have found that extra displays of love can help someone who is depressed feel the love they need to feel from others, helping them to feel it toward themselves. How you react to their episodes of depression in terms of the love you give them directly affects the way they perceive themselves and their ability or worthiness to be loved. By being extra loving, you’re letting them know they are worth not just your love and care, but their own as well. Spend Quality Time With Them Episodes of depression can conjure up a lot of feelings of guilt and shame, resulting in behaviors which try to push people away when they are needed the most. Your loved one will be most benefitted by spending a lot of quality time with you, even if they won’t admit it. You don’t have to plan activities to try to get them out of depression, but you don’t have to enable their depression either. Exercise is a proven method for reducing the symptoms of depression. Find a creative way to get them moving for just a little bit or engaged in an activity which takes their focus off their depression. Support Yourself As Well Being the loved one, partner, or caretaker of someone living with clinical, chronic depression can be exhausting. You are in need of all the same love and support as your loved one. The best way to support someone is to make sure you are supported. Airlines use this example in their safety measures. You are instructed to put on your oxygen mask before placing one on a neighbor. The saying “you can’t transmit what you haven’t got” also applies. Have regular appointments with your own therapist, your own self-care regime, and spending time with friends or family who lift you up. Avalon By The Sea provides primary residential care to men and women needing treatment for depression. Our programs are focused on bringing healing and balance to mind, body, and spirit. For a confidential assessment and more information on our programs, call 1 (888) 958-7511 today.

Mental health care is not something we think of doing for ourselves everyday. However, simple strategies can be used to contribute to good mental health the same way that brushing your teeth every day can contribute to good dental health! Here are a few of our favorites:

Mindfulness and mindfulness based stress reduction are helpful therapy and treatment methods for mental health disorders and substance use disorders. Creating a sense of calm and a tranquil foundation aids in emotional regulating reducing cravings, and managing stress. Benefits Of Mindfulness Through The Brain Reducing symptoms of stress is the primary benefit of mindfulness based practices. Depression, anxiety, cravings for drugs and alcohol- symptoms from all of these mental health issues can be found rooted in stress. According to The Big Thing, in one study conducted on the brains of long time meditators during meditation and when they’re not meditating, there is a key difference in areas of the brain associated with stress. Stress comes from the human “fight or flight” response to threats, which produces the hormones of adrenaline and cortisol. The amygdala is where stress primarily lives in the brain. After an 8 week mindfulness course, the amygdala shrinks, as it is shown through MRI imaging. Another benefit of mindfulness based practices is clarity, the ability to focus, make better decisions, and have more awareness in daily life. The practice of noticing and paying attention are an integral part of mindfulness. The MRI imaging found that the prefrontal cortex region of the brain becomes thicker, compared to the shrinking amygdala, after mindfulness practice. Awareness, such as the awareness built during mindfulness practice, as well as decision making and other “higher” brain functions, live in the prefrontal cortex. Blazing New Neural Trails One of the interesting things found in the study, The Big Think writes, is that there are some developments of dualism which indicate the brain changing its relationships. For example, there was more activity in pain-sensing areas of the brain. However,people who meditate reported feeling less pain. “This demonstrates the capacity of meditation to create new neural connections and change how different regions relate to one another,” the article writes. What’s more fascinating is that over time, the brain stops shifting. The benefits achieved through meditation become the “norm” for the brain. Avalon By The Sea knows that the power of the mind can be harvested and used for good in recovery. Our dual diagnosis treatment program is certified to treat both mental health disorders or substance use disorders as primary conditions. For a confidential assessment, call us today at 1 888-958-7511.

Relationship obsessive compulsive disorder is a small and unknown form of OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder has two main components, as designated by its name: obsession and compulsion. FIrst, the mind finds a fixation and becomes obsessive about it. The fixation can be a trauma from the past, anxieties over the future, or the hyperfocus on the compulsive behavior. When there is no tolerance left for thinking and obsessing, the compulsive behavior is a form of relief and control, bring order to the chaos that is OCD. Applying these characteristics to a relationship causes relationship based obsessive compulsive disorder. According to Health Line, relationship obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD, leaves one partner in an ongoing cycle of obsessive thoughts regarding their partner. Specifically, they are in anxiety over the relentless doubt they feel regarding the authenticity of their relationship. Concerns about the love being real, the attraction being real, and whether or not their happiness within the relationship is real, distract from the ability to be present in the relationship, as well as other areas in life. The confusion which comes from these obsessive thoughts goes through a pattern. First, there is the doubt and insecurity. Next, comes doubt and insecurity about that doubt and insecurity. For example, if someone were truly happy with their partner than they wouldn’t have to constantly be thinking about whether or not they were happy with their partner. Lastly, there are feelings of guilt and shame for thinking these thoughts and having these concerns in the first place. Feeling remorse, out of control, and continually insecure, the process continues. Treating ROCD There is no tangible meter to gauge how authentically in love or not in love one might be with their partner. Therapy is a process of working through the intangible- feelings. Confronting and overcoming fears which encourage the insecurities of OCD can help release some of the tension. Learning new coping mechanisms for dealing with doubts can help maintain long term recovery. Relationships can be triggering, frightening, and challenging when you’re living with a mental illness. In our residential treatment programs for primary mental health care, we provide relationship counseling for all levels of partnership to help each partner grow and heal. For information on our recovery programs for relationships and obsessive compulsive disorder, call Avalon By The Sea today at 1 888-958-7511.

For the StarNews Online, Keith Louthan writes about spirituality and the importance of taking time to engage in contemplation. More than contemplating, he suggests we need to more often take time to consider our actions. If everyone took time to consider everything they were going to do before they were going to do it, the world would move a lot more slowly. For that reason, and likely many more, we are unlikely to even have the awareness we need to take the time to just sit and think about some of our behaviors before we act upon them. Louthan expresses that “We could all stand to consider some things, even deeply, but we will never “find” the time.” Our lives are all given the same amount of time in a day, Louthan explains. Nobody has more than 24 hours in any given day, unless they possess some kind of time travel powers. Time has to be used wisely because it can never be created or discovered like a level up in a video game. Louthan writes that if we don’t take the time “to consider, to contemplate the beautiful,” in the heat of the moment we will find ourselves “driven by surging desire, or anger, or sadness, or bitterness, or pride, or any other momentary pleasure…” After all, the only beautiful part of a heated moment is the instant gratification received from getting what we want, when we want it, the way we want it to be gotten. Those who struggle with compulsive behaviors like addiction, alcoholism, and self-harm understand the heat of the moment, especially the drive to receive that instant gratification. These behaviors become more than compulsory, they become habitual. Changing our habits is one of the most difficult challenges we face in recovery. Taking a spiritual approach by creating time for contemplation helps us eliminate the disruptive guilt and shame which can come from taking an honest look at ourselves. We are all humans making decisions about how to use our time. If you are taking the time in your life to work on yourself through recovery, your time is already well spent. Are you ready for change? Avalon of Malibu is here to answer the call. Proudly, Avalon serves as one of California’s only treatment centers providing primary care for mental health disorders in addition to substance use disorders. For a confidential assessment and more information on our residential treatment programs, call us today at 1 888-958-7511.

Addiction is a disease which affects mind, body, and spirit. As you transition out of the structure of treatment, you will have to put into practice what you learned about taking care of yourself in each of these areas. You can do it! Yoga Treatment can provide a wonderful luxury when you meet with a yoga teacher a couple of times a week. Outside of treatment, all the yoga tools, especially yoga classes, can become expensive. If you are able to afford equipment and a yoga studio membership, you are in good stead! Commit yourself to going a few days a week to try out different style classes. You can find a “class pass” program in your area which allows you to try out different yoga studios for a monthly fee. If you have to make yoga work for you, here are a few simple tips:

Fine seems to be the most universal human emotion or emotional experience. When we are asked how we are doing, we answer with “fine”. What is “fine” really? Most often than not, it is not how you are doing. In fact, it is usually far from it. Fine is not a word complex enough to encompass what is the wealth of human experiences and emotions you are having at any given moment when someone asks, ‘Hey, how are you?’ Yet somehow the spectrum of humanity got stuffed into the tiny trope of a four letter word: fine. By definition, the word fine means “of high quality”, “thin”. As an adverb, fine means “make or become thinner”. It also means “in a satisfactory or pleasing manner.” In these definitions we can see the actual wisdom behind the answer of fine.

Toxic relationships can be as damaging and addictive as drugs and alcohol. Getting out of a toxic relationship isn’t as easy as it might seem. The first step is recognizing that a relationship is toxic. Here are 8 signs to help you determine if you need to evaluate a relationship and take some moves.

One of the major arguments against experimenting with drugs and alcohol at an early age is that it halts the developmental process. Studies have revealed that substances like alcohol and especially marijuana can impair cognitive functioning, thus slowing the development of the cognitive areas of the brain. Many people who enter treatment find that they pick up where they left off emotionally. Meaning, in some way, once they are clean from their substances of choice, they feel as though they are emotionally at the age of when they started using. Growing up is a part of recovery. While the brain doesn’t age anew, it does learn as well as relearn new patterns, habits, and behaviors. Thankfully, the brain is not completely irreconcilable. The brain is one of the few organs in the human body which is capable of regenerating. Regeneration Different activities cause the brain to regenerate. Meditation, for example, has been found to increase grey matter in the brain, which is basically brain tissue which becomes available for new information. Further evidence has been discovered that new nerve cells can grow in the adult mind as well. Changing thinking patterns, patterns of behavior, and habits all contribute to the growth and development of new circuitry, new cells, and fresh grey matter, proving you can literally change your mind. However, the change doesn’t happen overnight. It is essential to maintain change over time. Habits weren’t built in a day and they won’t break in a day. With time, real concrete change will occur. As a result, you will change your mind, your thoughts, and by consequence, your life. Need for Help Such changes begin with a simple thought: i need help. Admittance is a powerful habit breaker in the mind. You destroy the chains of ignorance and denial, setting forth a standard which can never be forgotten. From now on you will either confront your problems head on or choose to ignore them. Unlike before, you won't be able to ignore all the signs of having a problem. Once you built the pathway to awareness, your mind will develop a lower tolerance for being unaware. This will spread to many areas of your life improving your health in mind and body. Avalon By The Sea provides certified primary care for both mental health and substance use disorders. For a confidential assessment and more information on our programs, call 1 (888) 958-7511 today.

Your loved one is happy, chipper, optimistic, and feeling hopeful. Yet, something about their outlook on life worries you. It just doesn’t seem authentic or believable. You’re afraid they might be overcompensating. In private conversation, they express a different tone around you. Watching them carefully, you notice that when they think nobody's looking, they appear much more somber.

Living with anxiety can make you feel like you are all alone in your thoughts. There are some anxieties we all face, every day, that you can rest assured you are not alone in.

Clinical style check-in’s at the beginning and end of a yoga session helps the teacher understand where each client is in their day as well as their recovery. Eating disorders are sensitive, dealing with the tedious challenge of embracing imperfections. Often, normal yoga teachers encourage their students to correct their posture, focus on particular areas of the body, and always remind them to keep their core tight. Such language can seem aggressive and triggering to someone who is recovering from an eating disorder. By checking in, a teacher can understand if a client will be sensitive or not to certain language, modifying the yoga sequence accordingly. The check in following the session always reveals a happier note. Most often, clients are relieved, feel more grounded, have a greater sense of connection to themselves and their bodies.