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Author Alexandra Katehakis wrote in her book titled, “Mirror of Intimacy: Daily Reflections on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence” explained dissociation as this: “The problem with checking out so thoroughly is that it can leave us feeling dead inside…the process of repair demands a re-association with the body, a commitment to dive into the body and feel today what we couldn’t feel yesterday because it was too dangerous.” Dissociation, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), is defined as “problems with memory, identity, emotion, perception, behavior, and sense of self.” Often when people experience dissociation, they experience a period of disconnect from themselves and/or the world around them. In a sense, they “check out” – it may seem like they’re daydreaming, lost in a book or movie, and more. Dissociation often kicks in to help a person get through a very traumatic event, such as being the victim of a crime or enduring a natural disaster. A review study conducted by researchers from Germany described the experience of trauma and dissociation as “Freeze-Flight-Fight-Fright-Flag-Faint”, referring to the 6-step process of fragments in which a person responds to an upsetting event until they get to dissociation.

Heroin is considered an illicit drug that falls into the class of opioids along with prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl, and more. In 2015, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), 591,000 people had a substance use disorder involving heroin. In 2016, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that about 948,000 Americans reported using heroin in the past year – as you can see, heroin use is certainly still a major concern within the United States; the Rolling Stone states that drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 55. Heroin comes in three different forms – white powder, brown powder, and off-white powder. Heroin can be snorted, smoked or injected. When taken, users may experience euphoria, drowsiness, itchiness, irrationality, social withdrawal, and more. As heroin is highly addictive, individuals can easily become hooked, leading to dependency and eventually, addiction. Short-term damages of heroin involve insomnia, constipation, lung complications and more, along with mental illnesses such as depression and antisocial personality disorder. Long-term use of heroin may create long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems, which may be difficult to reverse even with treatment. Furthermore, a person’s decision-making abilities, ability to regulate behavior, impaired ability to respond to stressful situations. A 2016 study conducted by researchers from Western Oregon University sought to explore risk factors for heroin addiction by interviewing 5 participants in heroin addiction recovery. Results from the study found that participants’ childhood experiences, particularly with parental abuse and social rejection, combined with substance use as a coping mechanism both contributed heavily to the development of their heroin addiction over time. Social support and self-awareness contributed to these individuals’ recovery, providing evidence that both building a positive support network and having the tools and resources to successfully navigate life’s challenges are crucial to success in addiction recovery. If you haven’t already, speak with a professional from a reputable treatment center today to learn more about treatment programs and what might be the best fit for you. It’s never too late to seek the help you need.

Journalist, playwright, novelist, philosophical essayist and Nobel laureate Albert Camus once said, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.” Whether you’re seeking treatment for addiction or a mental illness, it’s important to get you in a state of calm and clarity to start off your journey to recovery. Stabilization means reaching a point to where you feel secure about what you need to do to move forward with your life. For addiction, that’s likely going to first involve detoxification; for a mental illness, this may entail hospitalization. Once you have reached a place where you can adequately think, your healthcare team will work with you to really solidify that stabilization so that you can move forward in the recovery process. Detoxification occurs either naturally or assisted with medication – your body will dispel of the toxins it acquired through active addiction. You may experience withdrawal symptoms, but your healthcare team will be there to support you and/or provide you with non-addictive medication to help ease any pain or discomfort. If you use hospitalization, you will typically have 3, 5, or 7 days to obtain medication and speak with a healthcare team about what you’re going through – with either scenario, you can then move forward with a treatment program. Treatment programs often provide you with the tools and resources you need to get to where you want – and need – to be in order to live a happier, healthier life. This may be either inpatient or outpatient treatment; inpatient is longer and involves you staying, eating, and receiving treatment at a reputable treatment center, while outpatient is often shorter and involves you going home at the end of each day. No matter which option you choose, you always want to make sure that you’ve selected an accredited, reputable treatment center with a proven track record of excellence. If you haven’t already, speak with a professional from a reputable treatment center today. It’s never too late to seek the help you need.

Whether you’re in recovery for a substance use disorder (SUD) or a mental illness, maintaining an intimate relationship while focusing on yourself can be challenging. Your significant other may be supportive of your recovery or they may not understand it – either of which can have a major impact on your perceptions of recovery and the perceived self-efficacy you have towards achieving your recovery goals. Even in recovery, you can ensure the health of your relationship by engaging in couple’s therapy. In doing this, you and your partner can speak with a therapist about your goals, worries, concerns, barriers, hopes, dreams and more; all these things can impact your recovery (and your family’s stability), and you want to be sure that your family has an action plan for moving forward.

As one of the most popular psychiatric, sedative-hypnotic prescription drugs in the United States, Valium, also generically known as diazepam, has been used for the treatment of anxiety, seizures, muscle spasms, symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, and more. A member of the drug classified benzodiazepine family, Valium works to “numb” the central nervous system. It has become used recreationally to give users a euphoric, calm “high” feeling. However, the drug itself can be very addictive and has been known to produce very painful withdrawal effects. The following are some of the most common side effects associated with this drug for short-term use:

According to USA Today, singer Mariah Carey recently disclosed to the public that she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a disorder which causes shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out daily functions. The disorder typically consists of symptoms stemming from mania or depression; mania is characterized as having feelings of being “on top of the world” and having a lot of energy without the need for much sleep, while depressive episodes involve much fatigue and feelings of hopelessness. While celebrities have become more open about their mental health, Mariah Carey is one that hopes to pave a path for more openness and understanding. In 2001, it was told by People Magazine that Mariah Carey first received her diagnosis in 2001 after being hospitalized for having a physical and mental breakdown. The superstar stated that she didn’t want to believe it at first, and that she had a hard couple of years leading up to the diagnosis. She explained, “Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me. It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore.” Mariah Carey explained that she has been diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, which means that she often experiences depressive phases as well as hypomania, which is less severe than manic episodes but may still involve irritability, restlessness, and hyperactivity. She expressed that her medication is helping her find balance, but that her periods of mania before she was diagnosed were considered by her to be a sleeping disorder. She stated, “…It wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working…Eventually I would just hit a wall.” Carey’s ex-husband, Nick Cannon, has expressed his pride in how far she has come as she continues to find strength despite her struggles. He explained that Mariah has found dignity and grace even amongst paparazzi and being a focal point to the public eye. It’s clear to see that celebrities experience mental illness, too – what other celebrities have been diagnosed with BPD? Demi Lovato, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Carrie Fisher are just a few who have also sought recovery after being diagnosed.

One of the most challenging aspects of mental disorders is the official diagnosis; a healthcare professional can easily mistake one disorder for another and for a variety of reasons. As emphasized by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), bipolar disorder (BPD) is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental health conditions. An estimated 2-6% of the population has BPD, but there are many reasons why it gets misdiagnosed:

Mental illness is a serious topic that, while more open for discussion now, is still negatively perceived by many due to perpetuated stigmas. With stigma comes a sense of distance, a sense of separation – labels of “the other” emerge and it becomes easy to feel hatred, disgust, or hostility towards those with mental illness because terrifyingly, people no longer feel connected as a human race. Storytelling has been shown to be a direct link to connection, as the expression of stories are something that everyone can connect with. The emotions underlying stories – sadness, happiness, sense of loss, hopelessness, joy, and more – serve as a thread that binds through each human being. If you’re considering sharing your own story of mental illness with others, there are many benefits to doing this:

Painting. Singing. Drawing. Writing. Decorating. Composing. Playing. Dancing. Designing. No matter which form of creativity you’re interested in, all of these activities and more can have a profound, positive influence on your mental illness recovery. How so? Being creative means that you get to express yourself in a whole new dimension – there are no right or wrongs, no criticisms, no limits, and no audiences (if you don’t want there to be). Even if you don’t consider yourself a creativity person, engaging in creativity can help you spark more ideas, thus leading you to further insights and solutions to issues you may not even have considered. If creative activities (such as acting) are done in a group setting, this could also be a great way for you to connect with others and build your social support network. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health emphasized a few (but not all) benefits of various creative activities:

Many people who begin their journey to recovery have preconceived ideas of their “identity”. Most often, these identities are centralized around their addiction, as people label may themselves as “an addict” or “an alcoholic”. The truth is that these labels do not adequately capture a person’s essence of who they truly are; addiction is something that a person has but is not destined to have forever, and it does not define them as a human being. The way we perceive ourselves says a lot about our self-esteem and the goal is that through recovery, you’ll change your perception to identify yourself as a whole – a wonderful person with dreams, talents, skills, wishes, hopes, fears, and much more. All in all, you are more than your addiction. A 2015 study published in Clinical and Health Psychology sought to understand social identities and how they take place in addiction recovery. Researchers conducted interviews with 21 participants in a drug and alcohol therapeutic community; 2 themes emerged that described the process of social identity both leading into and out of addiction. The first one was the fact that many participants held positive social identities before their substance use occurred – they described the positive aspects of their identity to become lost after they engaged further in their use, labeled a “spoiled identity”. Secondly, many participants described negative early events that occurred in childhood that led them to social isolation due to a lack of positive social connections and identities. With this, participants found that substance use gave them a positive social identity – one that came with a sense of belonging and acceptance within the substance use social network. Identity plays a significant role in both addiction and recovery, because substance use masks our true self as it alters the chemicals and structures in the brain. When this occurs, our true “self” is actually submerged beneath symptoms perpetuated by a substance; in this instance, it can be difficult to tell if the current social networks we uphold truly love and value us for who we really are. Recovery brings our true self to light and makes us comfortable enough to embrace who we really are and find others who appreciate this as well. You are not your addiction. You are a human being who is working on uncovering your true identity so that you may live happier and healthier.

Recovery is a time to focus on your self-care and well-being, but that doesn’t mean that you must neglect your significant other and/or family. While it’s best for people to take some much-needed time to focus on themselves, the health of your romantic relationship depends on whether your partner is supportive of your recovery, if they are focused on their health and well-being too, if they are a great partner to you, and more. Some people find that their romantic partner isn’t the best fit for them when they’re in recovery, mainly because they aren’t supportive or because they pose a risk to the person’s mental and/or physical health. If you want to maintain a healthy relationship with your significant other while you’re focused on your recovery, there are a several things that will need to take place:

A ropes course is an outdoor activity designed to assist clients in overcoming their fears, learn to develop trust with people in their program, and identify new strategies towards finding success in their recovery. Different ropes courses may involve team effort, while others may require a person to gain personal strength as they embark on an endeavor on their own. Individuals who are scared of heights may find the ropes course particularly challenging but utilizing coping skills in these moments of fear can help a person to become stronger both physically and mentally. A 2015 study titled “Learning Goals and the Challenge Course Experience: An Explanatory Study” involved the participation of 375 individuals who were divided into 16 different groups and led to complete various high and low ropes courses. Several skills, benefits, and outcomes were associated with the varying ropes courses: