QA

The negative symptoms of a mental illness can be overwhelming. Sometimes people are diagnosed at an early age, but oftentimes people discover that they have a mental illness as they get older. As one enters recovery, treatment is individualized and focused on what that person needs to better cope with the symptoms of their mental illness. There are different options for recovery regarding length of treatment, depending on the needs of the individual. Here is a few (but not exhaustive)

Millions of people suffer from both a mental illness and an addiction, and there are so many resources to assist an individual in recovery. From therapists to treatment programs, anyone can get the help that they need. Recovery is a courageous, beneficial step to living a healthy, balanced life and can increase a person’s overall happiness and well-being. Suffering from a mental illness and an addiction is called having a co-occurring or dual disorder. This is best treated through integrated care, such as therapy and medical treatment, and there are many excellent programs that health facilities provide to assist individuals who suffer from this. Having a co-occurring disorder does not mean that the person has “too much wrong with them” or that there are no resources out there. Co-occurring disorders are quite common because many individuals do not realize that they suffer from a mental illness and therefore try to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol to relieve the negative symptoms they are experiencing. Integrated dual disorder treatment (IDDT) is a common evidence-based form of treatment that focuses on both mental health and substance abuse treatment, typically in the same facility and with the same healthcare team. Research has shown that this form of treatment has been effective in working with individuals who suffer from co-occurring disorders. This form of treatment helps reduce relapse, hospitalization, arrest, duplication of services, and more by providing comprehensive care to the individual. By utilizing IDDT, a person will experience increased continuity of care, increased quality of life outcomes, stable housing, and independent living, which will help the person manage their co-occurring disorders while receiving optimal care. There are several core components of IDDT. Here is a small, but not exhaustive, list of some of the amazing components of this form of treatment:

There are several types of treatment and prevention models that are used in healthcare facilities. Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) is a counseling approach designed to assist individuals with their uncertainty around treatment and stopping their use of drugs. In motivational enhancement therapy, the aim is to spark internal motivation for change, rather than having someone walk directly through specific steps to recover. Individuals often understand the negative impact that their addiction has on their health, family life, or social functioning, but does not feel very motivated to change their habits. This type of therapy is person-centered, and allows the individual to work with a caring therapist who will help them see things more objectively. Here are a few components of motivational enhancement therapy:

For anyone who has experienced depression, the symptoms can be debilitating. Having a lack of enjoyment in activities, isolation, and feeling hopeless are just a few characteristics of depression and can make a person feel defeated. Luckily, there are so many successful tools that can be used to assist with the devastating effects of depression, with acupuncture being one of them. Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that involves a doctor placing small needles into the body to alleviate pain. Acupuncture is ideally supposed to help balance the energy pathways throughout the body – a process that has been known to help alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. This technique is said to increase function and evoke the body’s natural healing responses through physiological systems. Acupuncture could be a wonderful way for a person with depression to relieve some of their stress and pain. Here is what one can expect after scheduling an appointment for acupuncture:

Recovery is a remarkable, transformative journey for anyone to embark on. Those who have recently began their journey of recovery or are considering their path towards recovery may wonder if they will ever be fully recovered from their addiction. Addictions can be managed successfully through therapy and rehabilitation. Recovery means something different for everyone, and it is up to the person to discover what recovery means to them. However, there are several resources available to assist individuals in recovering from an addiction. The two main types of recovery programs are:

Borderline personality disorder is a difficult personality disorder to understand. The shifting moods, perspectives, boundaries, behaviors, and often times personalities can be challenging for a loved one to understand. Borderline Personality Disorder Can Start At Any Age Personality disorders like borderline do not have an age limitation because there is simply no way to control that. Thought to have roots in significant events of abandonment, the starting causes for the development of borderline can happen at any age. Early symptoms of borderline personality disorder are encouraged to get diagnosed or assessed as soon as possible. The longer borderline personality disorder goes untreated, the more severe and complicated the symptoms can become. Since borderline personality disorder often comes with self-harming behaviors including suicide attempts, it is critical to intervene as early as possible. Don’t believe that it’s too early for borderline to happen in someone. It’s never too early to seek treatment for a mental illness. Borderline Personality Disorder Can Happen For Many Reasons The cause of borderline personality disorder has remained a mystery to therapists, clinicians, researchers, and loved ones. What causes someone to act so irrationally, live with such a vast emptiness inside them, and never be convinced that they are loved? A traditional point of finger is toward childhood, specifically, the way a child related to their parents. However, the event of abandonment which most professionals believe triggers the deep fear of abandonment and associated behaviors in people with borderline, can happen at the hands of anyone or anything. Abandonment could be real, as in a very real case of being physically or emotionally abandoned. Abandonment could also be perceived, making it real to the person who experiences it. Borderline Personality Disorder Is Dramatic Attention Seeking The borderline personality is full of tricks, manipulations, and schemes to try and get the attention of loved ones. More specifically, someone with borderline personality disorder is trying to get validation to soothe their deeply rooted insecurities and abandonment fears. As a Cluster B personality disorder, borderline is categorized as a dramatic personality disorder. Outlandish behaviors, substance abuse, physical violence, verbal violence, and other seemingly dramatic behaviors are not solely attention-seeking, but a need for attention which is deeply dysfunctional.

Our Facebook pages say a lot about us. That is what they are designed to do. A public profile is like an avatar of ourselves, a virtual representation of what we want people to know. Social media accounts are often criticized for glamorizing the lives of the people behind them. It is a rarity on social media to come across someone who is completely and totally honest with themselves and with others about who they are as well as what really goes on in their lives. One creative artist used an instagram account to post lavish pictures of themselves all over the world. Gaining popularity as an Instagram icon, the user received comments about being lucky to live the life they were living. What few followers were able to recognize was that in every picture, the user had a drink in her hand or there was a bottle of alcohol. Later on after she revealed her motives, the artist explained that the social media frame of her content eliminated the focus on the fact that the girl in the photos had a drinking problem. According to new research conducted on over eleven million Facebook profiles, what we post on social media, in terms of status updates and likes, could indicate if we drink and/or if we do drugs.  UC Berkeley researchers analyzed the Facebook profiles as well as 22 million other status updates from 150,000 people. The software used for the analysis was able to target certain keywords, including expletives, and the kind of things someone “likes” on Facebook. With anywhere between eighty to eighty-six percent accuracy, the study was able to identify risks of substance abuse or those who were already struggling with substance abuse. These findings are significant for a few reasons. First, many addicts and alcoholics believe they are “getting away” with their behavior. When they try to cover up their drinking and using, they truly believe other people don’t notice the changes. While many alcoholics and addicts do successfully cover up their problem, many more fall for the delusion that they are in control of the substances in their lives. Analyzing Facebook profiles could be a tool for early intervention if technologies like the software used can advance more.

Mental health disorders are typically misinformed. People do not fully understand the reality of what mental health disorders are, the effect they have on someone’s life, and the severity in which they can occur. Obsessive compulsive disorder is used in popular culture to reference an “obsession” with being organized, clean and making sure everything is perfect. Perfectionism and obsessive compulsive disorder are two different things. Being obsessed with everything being just so is a focus on the outcome, of things being just so. Sometimes people will obsess about the consequences if they lack perfection. Mostly, it's personal irritation because of a commitment to make things just so. The intrusive thoughts which come with obsessive compulsive disorder are not about perfection. They aren’t about personal interest or a desire to make things perfect. Often, the obsessive thinking of OCD is disruptive and shocking. Building up a pressure, the brain resorts to compulsive thinking. If someone with OCD can act on their compulsive behavior, it will make the obsessive, intrusive thinking go away. This is different from wanting to be a perfectionist about an activity in order to let go of the stress of something not being perfect. The thought processes of obsessive compulsive disorder aren’t rational. The relationship between the obsessive thoughts and the compulsive behaviors often don’t match. For example, a perfectionist might obsess about the ribbon tied on a package being crooked. It will drive them to irritability if they don’t fix that ribbon. Someone with obsessive compulsive disorder might believe that if they don’t untie and retie the ribbon five times, they might be the cause of a train accident four states away. That’s different from perfectionism. People who have perfectionist tendencies seem to revel in labeling themselves obsessive compulsive. People call themselves OCD when they aren’t OCD because, simply stated, they aren’t informed about what OCD really is. Today, the conversation regarding mental health and mental illness is growing. With an opening dialogue, the conversation is shifting from misinformation to information, breaking down the stigmas and stereotypes one at a time. Individuals living with real, diagnosed OCD are speaking up against the tide of stereotype and changing the way people talk about mental health.

Called “legal weed” “synthetic weed” or more technically named “cannabinoid alternative” synthetic marijuana types have gained popularity as well as notoriety in recent years. Clusters of overdoses, isolated overdose events, and chronic addiction has resulted from the widespread availability of synthetic marijuana. Perhaps the most striking difference between synthetic and normal marijuana is the overdose. To date, there are no reported overdoses on marijuana. Marijuana can cause a disruptive impairment of judgment and perception which can lead to accidental deaths. Compared to synthetic marijuana, the effects are minimal. Like other synthetic drugs, the chemical formula of synthetic marijuana is easy to manipulate. As a result, it is challenging for government agencies and law officials to stay ahead of the drug. Regularly adding forms of synthetic marijuana to the list of officially banned substances is helpful, but does not eliminate the problem. Sold as “natural” home products like potpourri and incense, synthetic marijuana is advertised as having natural elements, though it contains few. Instead, the harsh concoctions of chemicals can lead to severe side effects including heart failure, seizure, intense hallucination, and episodes of psychosis. These side effects mirror many other synthetic drugs, yet are more common in synthetic marijuana. According to data released in the Global Drug Survey of last year, 2016, synthetic marijuana will lead to more emergency room medical treatments than any other drug. Considering the recent devastating effects of volatile synthetic drugs like Flakka, Krokodil, and crystal meth, that makes synthetic marijuana a dangerous substance. Why Is Synthetic Marijuana Addicting? Regularly experiencing psychosis, seizure, hospitalization, and other severely adverse effects might not sound like an appealing draw to synthetic marijuana. However, many become extremely addicted to the drug. Any synthetic substance creates a powerful surge of dopamine, the neurotransmitter in the brain which sends signals of pleasure to other areas of the brain. Quickly, the brain develops a tolerance and a dependency on the drug. It does not take many uses of synthetic marijuana for addiction to develop.

Social media has provided a lot of social movement in recent years. Trending hashtags have provided the world insight to real events, real experiences, and real people which might not otherwise have ever been news. Bringing awareness and connecting others was always the main purpose behind social media. However, social media can also bring people together in the worst of ways. For example, links to the dark web for illicit drug sales, pro-eating disorders groups, advocates for self-harm, and more. One of the leading social media platforms, Instagram, has fallen under scrutiny for its inability to regulate trending hashtags and keep track of harmful material. Additionally, much research has been dedicated to investigating the effect of social media use on mental health. Most often, social media use is connected to higher rates of depression and low self-esteem. Problematically, what is depicted on social media might not always be accurate for what is happening in real life. Reversing that issue is what can bring mental health awareness to life on social media in addition to a safe community. Recently, Instagram has taken initiatives to fight for and protect users who might be struggling with mental health issues. When someone creates a post that is particularly ominous, which might specifically indicate a threat of suicide or severe depression, Instagram’s algorithms pick up on it. Immediately sending the user a message, the platform provides a link for help to directly call a helpline and talk to someone. Another initiative allows user to anonymously flag another user’s posts. If a picture, its caption, or included hashtags indicate any mental-health related problem, Instagram is notified. Instagram then sends the original poster a list of organizations they can contact for what could be a serious issue. Now, Fortune reports, Instagram has rolled out a new campaign called “#HereForYou”. “By clicking on selected hashtags (including #HereForYou, along with other more specific hashtags), the goal is to make it easier for users grappling with mental health-related issues to find resources on the platform.”  Bringing together people in awareness and recovery for mental health rather than perpetuating harmful behaviors associated with mental health makes social media a safer space.