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In short, they certainly can be. There are 2 ways in which addiction and mental illness coincide. In one way, addiction can perpetuate symptoms related to a mental illness, which can further develop as time continues. In another way, people who already have a mental illness may lean towards substance abuse in order to help them cope with distressing symptoms. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) defines either of these scenarios as cases of comorbidity, or “two or more disorders or illnesses occurring in the same person”. The NIDA notes that both the addiction and mental illnesses can worsen the course of each, causing a person a lot of distress. For example, a person with anxiety and depression may choose to drink alcohol often as a way to relax and interact more in social settings. This could eventually lead the person to develop alcoholism, in which case the person would have both an addiction and a mental disorder. On the other hand, a person who is addicted to antidepressants may develop more severe symptoms of paranoia, leading them to develop paranoid personality disorder, for example. There are a variety of causes for both addiction and mental disorders:

One person explained their success story with barbiturate addiction on the Massachusetts Medical Society’s official website. Here is an excerpt from their story: “I abused narcotics and barbiturates for the better part of 15 years. I initially like the way the drugs made me feel. Toward the end of my use, however, everything had changed…I lived in terror of being caught, thinking that I was maybe one of two or three doctors in the country with such a shameful problem…I have several years of recovery at this time…I feel that I am a far better physician, father, and member of society today than I ever was before.” First developed in the 19th century, barbiturates are both psychologically and physically addictive. Individuals are at high risk for overdose with barbiturates, as the dose that could lead to this is very small. Barbiturates are in the same classification as benzodiazepines, which include Valium, Klonopin, and more. These drugs act as depressants on the central nervous system, and often are used in medical practices for anesthesia. The “high” effects of barbiturates reach a plateau after a few hours, leading a person to have to consume more of the drug – which can easily lead to addiction. According to the Global Information Network about Drugs, barbiturates increase the activity of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), placing a sedative effect on the individual which can even lead to unconsciousness if taken in strong doses. Once taken, effects of the drug can kick in within 15 minutes and can last for up to 6 hours, depending on the drug taken. Typical symptoms associated with barbiturate use are: slurred speech, lack of coordination, reduced inhibition, impaired judgment, and confusion. If overdose occurs, respiratory arrest and death are possible. Barbiturate addiction is noticeable when a person seems to be tired all of the time, falls over often, and seems paranoid when awake. Insomnia is also a cause for concern if addiction is present. If you are struggling with barbiturate addiction, make the decision to seek help today. It’s never too late, and there are many people out here who want to see you overcome this.

Neurofeedback is a biofeedback technique that focuses on helping a person train to directly affect brain function. In a sense, neurofeedback helps the brain to heal itself and is used to treat a variety of conditions such as eating disorders, mood disorders, addictions, anxiety, depression, and attention deficit disorder (ADD). With neurofeedback, a person learns to “self-regulate” by learning how to regulate their brainwave patterns on their own without medications or other forms of therapy. A typical session for neurofeedback is held at least once a week. Electrodes are applied to a participant’s head and connected to a computer. The patient and the therapist then have the ability to essentially listen to what the brain is doing. While this is happening, the electrodes are sent to a computer and the patient can see and hear images and sounds that correlate. With this, a person can easily understand how their brain works when they are thinking, feeling stressed, feeling relaxed, etc. Essentially, it is like a person playing a video game with their brain! Each session takes approximately 15-35 sessions, and has been shown to have no side effects. Many people work to retrain their brain patterns in order to relax themselves and control their stress levels. A few individuals shared their success with neurofeedback on The Brain Lady, a website of best-selling author, speaker, and trainer Debra Burdick. Here are some words of success from individuals who follow her: “Before I started neurofeedback, I had anxiety so bad I couldn’t go to school or see friends. After a few months of neurofeedback, I was back in school, on the honor roll and had a new job. Neurofeedback has been like a miracle in my life.” Another person stated: “I have tried a variety of treatment…and neurofeedback is the only thing that has really helped me feel good. I no longer crave alcohol, very rarely get depressed or feel bad about myself – even at a challenging time in my life.” Many have reported success with neurofeedback. If this is something you are considering, speak with your doctor today to see if this is a technique that you may benefit from. If you’re researching treatment centers, aim to find a reputable center that offers this as a method of treatment. Recovery is possible, and there are many tools you can use.

Mental health hasn’t always been the most popular topic to discuss, despite its incredible role in our overall happiness and well-being. As Mental Health America (MHA) states, many people don’t talk about mental health because they believe issues surrounding this topic only happen to “someone else”; 54 million Americans experience mental illness each year, and you cannot leave yourself out of the picture. This month, make it a priority to place your mental health at the top of the list – doing so could prevent you from developing a mental disorder, could improve and strengthen your relationships, and could enable you to maximize your capabilities of living a balanced, meaningful life. First, check in with yourself throughout the day. What does this mean? Take inventory of your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and more to get an overall “snapshot” of your mental health. This check in will serve as a basis for you to determine if you need to eat a snack to feel a little better, if you need to exercise to relieve some stress, if you need a hug from a loved one to improve your mental state, if you need a nap to replenish yourself, and more. Much of the problems that we face throughout the day are due to a lack of care when it comes to our mental health – our mind and body do a lot of talking, but when we fail to listen closely, we miss those cues and that causes us to fall behind. Next, take note of what works and what doesn’t. Are there certain people, places, or things that suddenly cause you to feel mentally drained? This type of event doesn’t just occur spontaneously – again, it’s your mind and body telling you that you can only handle so much. In addition to taking note of who/what you should reduce your time with or avoid altogether, it’s important to reflect on what seems to work for you. In the late afternoon, does a snack seem to help you feel mentally energized again? If so, you now know to make sure you have a small snack each afternoon to help you push forward with the day. Lastly, seek help if your mental health is significantly and negatively affecting your daily life. The sooner you speak with someone from a reputable treatment program, the sooner you can be on your way towards recovery. Not seeking help could place you at risk for worsening of symptoms or developing another mental illness or addiction – often called a dual diagnosis. Start taking steps towards bettering your mental health today.

Acupuncture can be formally defined as “a complementary medical practice that involves stimulating certain points on the body, most often with a needle penetrating the skin, to alleviate pain or to help treat various health conditions,” according to LiveScience. Acupuncture is becoming more and more popular in America; a 2012 study found that 14.01 million people were using acupuncture in 2007, and the numbers have certainly increased from there. With the opioid crisis affecting millions around the United States, acupuncture is becoming more widespread. Acupuncture has been shown to provide many benefits, including stress reduction and pain relief, but also to increase levels of chemicals in the brain such as serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and more. According to Forbes magazine, acupuncture was recognized as a therapy for drug treatment by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1996. Many have been utilizing acupuncture as a way to manage their pain, which is reducing the number of opioid prescriptions needed, thus helping to reduce the number of opioid addictions. A 2015 study conducted by Harvard researchers, as explained on the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine’s official website, found that repeated acupuncture treatment was found to “reduce or eliminate the need for opioids by restoring the balance in key brain regions, altering pain-related attention and memory.” As more people are using this method to reduce their pain, opioids are becoming less critical. How does acupuncture relieve pain? Harvard Health notes that acupuncture releases endorphins – the body’s natural pain-killing chemicals – and by affecting the region of the brain that manages serotonin, the chemical responsible over our mood. Several treatment sessions may help a person feel more relaxed and experience less pain overall. While more research is being conducted, it’s clear that acupuncture is showing some signs of effective strategies. Perhaps people are finding more holistic, natural ways to help ease their pain without using prescriptions. If you are considering acupuncture, it is advised that you speak with your doctor first to ensure this would be a good fit for you.

Before you embark on a specific treatment program, it’s important to make sure that the one you’ve selected fits your needs best. Intensive outpatient treatment programs are best for those who:

According to a 2014 study titled “Acupuncture: Past, Present, and Future”, acupuncture has been around for more than 40 years and has taken upon more than 10 million treatments each year in the United States alone. Medical News Today states that with acupuncture, an acupuncturist will place small needles among meridians - or energy highways - to help open up energy flow and balance a person. Holistic practices such as acupuncture, also known as alternative therapeutic methods, have become increasingly popular as Americans attempt to find non-invasive remedies to everyday issues they’re experiencing. The following are some amazing benefits that acupuncture has been said to provide:

When it comes to recovery and mental health, goal-setting is incredibly important. The right treatment center will have you work with a therapist and/or coach to help you establish goals for yourself in recovery, as well as ways to reach those goals. Forbes Magazine states that the key to reaching your goals are to have a vision, identify measurable goals (goals that you can clearly tell when they have been reached), set benchmarks by making smaller steps towards reaching those goals, and to celebrate when you have reached them. Okay - so you have a clear idea on how goal setting works, but how do lists fit in to this success? Bustle Magazine states several benefits to list-making:

A new study published in the Yoga Journal found that nearly 20.4 million people practice yoga in the United States; yoga has become an increasingly popular tool to help people find balance amidst the chaos of life. Aside from the more traditional styles of yoga, such as hatha or iyengar, people from around the country have begun to create their own forms of yoga, including the unexpected: goats, dogs, horses and other animals, marijuana, nudity, “rave” scenes, aerial fitness, and more. While many may find these types of yoga to be beneficial, there are some key issues here. According to CBS News, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a mission to revitalize yoga through a campaign that will bring yoga back to its roots - India. During the clip, it showed how yoga is practiced in India - a much different way of life than how it is practiced in America. For example, yoga in India consists of cleansing the nostrils and snorting, meditation, and very strict, precise movements. The Prime Minister stated that yoga is not meant to be seen as a form of exercise, but rather a tool to become more connected with oneself and the world. Does this mean that Western civilization’s form of yoga constitutes as cultural appropriation? Yes, it does - but this can be mitigated by incorporating more of the nature that yoga was meant for - not just the physical component. Julia Gibran, a Toronto yoga teacher, stated for Vice Magazine, “In the West in general, we focus on one limb of yoga, and that is asana. It’s become a very physical practice. But there are ways to acknowledge the roots [of the practice]. People can put a little focus on meditation, or bring in breath work.” Gibran also noted that when she first practiced yoga it was taught by her grandfather, and she read a book called Bhagavad Gita with him - then moving on to learn more about Hindu tradition, cultural history, deities and symbolism, and more. She went on to explain, “....the study of asana does help the Western population in terms of anxiety and stress, so it’s been such a gift. But something I struggle with is I feel very lucky to be of West Indian descent teaching yoga...I do consider myself, oddly enough, to be a minority.” Does this mean that Americans should stop practicing yoga? Absolutely not - it just means that we need to work on incorporating more than just the physical component of yoga. We need to practice meditation and breathing, because these are key grounding tools that were developed to help us garner more love and peace for ourselves and the world.

Neurofeedback therapy has been shown to be very beneficial for treating things like anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, concussions, sleep problems, strokes, brain surgery, movement disorders, and more. Katherine Ellison, a journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, tried neurofeedback therapy and explained that she was able to learn more about how ADHD affected her brain and how she could better control it. She stated that her session involved looking at a screen with a beautiful field of flowers. Her explanation to the National Public Radio (NPR) was this: “When my brain responded the way it was supposed to, the field would burst into color. I’d hear bird song and beautiful flowers would bloom, but when I got distracted or when I got a little bit more sped up, the flowers would wilt. It would turn gray, and I’d know that I needed to work a little harder.” According to Psychology Today, neurofeedback therapy involves watching some sort of computer or monitoring device while having electric sensors to give information as to what is going on in the brain and body. Through this, neurofeedback therapy will provide you information about your brain and how it works. As you continue with the sessions, you will better be able to connect some of the pathways in the brain that were dysregulated. Neurofeedback therapy is a completely non-invasive treatment that reads, not inputs, neural activity in the brain. Research is still being conducted to prove the effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy, but many people attest to its benefits. For example, one person stated, “I have tried a variety of treatments...neurofeedback is the only thing that has really helped me feel good. I no longer crave alcohol, very rarely get depressed or feel bad about myself - even at a challenging time in my life. I have learned to take small steps, enjoy life, be happy, and be me, something I had trouble with.” Neurofeedback therapy is said to be conducted over a series of weeks, with many people ranging from 20-40 sessions. However, results vary by person, and you’ll never know if it could provide some benefit to you unless you try it. Speak with someone today to learn even more about this form of treatment and to see if it would be a good fit for you.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) describes bipolar disorder (BPD) as a mental illness that involves manic and depressive episodes. BPD affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life if untreated; thankfully there are medications and treatment options to help people better manage their symptoms. There are several celebrities who experience BPD and now that mental health is becoming a more appropriate topic of discussion, many are speaking out about their experiences and giving advice to others who are experiencing it, too. For example, Demi Lovato told WomensHealthMag.com, “...it’s possible to live well, feel well, and also find happiness with bipolar disorder or any other mental illness they’re struggling with.” These words hold a lot of weight for fans of Lovato’s - people who are inspired by her music and look up to her. Buzzfeed states that after the tragic death of Robin Williams, Wayne Brady opened up about his mental health. He stated, “It took me awhile to get my stuff together, to go, ‘You know what? If you’re not happy, you have to do something about it.’ Just to admit that you are feeling this way is a huge step. To claim that, to say, ‘Why do I feel dark? Why do I feel unhappy? Let me do something about this.’ It’s clear that for many people, admitting the need for help is difficult. Most of the time, we place our mental health on the backburner because we choose to focus on what seems to be more pressing needs at the time - maintaining family responsibilities, keeping up with work-related tasks, doing everything we can to keep up with the demanding requests of an addiction, and more. Although this happens, it’s important for us to stay on top of making sure that our mental health is taken care of. After all, it’s most dangerous when mental illnesses arise because of our inaction. Catherine Zeta Jones has spoken about her bipolar disorder to help reduce stigma. She stated, “...I hope fellow sufferers know that [bipolar disorder] is completely controllable. I hope I can help remove any stigma attached to it, and that those who don’t have it under control will seek help with all that is available to treat it.” Celebrities are people who have experienced tragedy, mental illness, and more. Thankfully with more help from celebrities, we can make mental illness an even more common discussion, one that is centered around love and support.

Schizophrenia is a spectrum mental disorder involving a disconnection between thought, emotion, and behavior. A person with schizophrenia may exhibit faulty perception, inappropriate actions or feelings, disconnection from reality and personal relationships to fantasies and delusions, and a series of other mental fragmentations. Researchers have attempted to find ways to help those with schizophrenia better manage their symptoms, with the latest technique involving technology. According to BBC News, a pilot study conducted by researchers from King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the University of Roehampton found that video games could help people with schizophrenia control their symptoms. Participants were asked to play a video game while connected to an MRI scanner. With the video game, participants were to move a computerized rocket through various mental strategies - the pilot test showed that individuals were better able to identify what originally seemed as external voices to internal voices. In a sense, this form of treatment is similar to neurofeedback therapy - a tool used to help people control what is normally involuntary bodily process such as skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and brain waves. Since those with schizophrenia are more visually and audibly sensitive, delusions and hallucinations can be particularly frightening for them. Thus, video games provide a way for people to alter their perceptions of the voices they hear through the brain’s movement of a particular object - in the pilot study’s case - a rocket. Although the study provides preliminary data, the results seem promising, and researchers are believing in its abilities. As we look toward the future, hopefully even more treatment options will become available to those with schizophrenia so that they can have various methods to work with, to whatever suits their learning style and needs best. If you have schizophrenia, make the decision to seek treatment today. With different resources available, you can learn to better manage your symptoms. Treatment may involve therapy, activities, as well as medication. Don’t wait any longer, and seek the help you need today.