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Symptoms of a disorder may arise during childhood or early adulthood, but you may not learn about them unless your symptoms have begun significantly impacting your daily life. Recognizing early signs can be beneficial because the earlier you seek help, the earlier you can develop skills to better manage your symptoms and can better understand yourself and how you view the world. The American Psychiatric Association has identified several key signs that you may have a disorder:

Many of us who experience anxiety and depression have trouble with daily tasks such as completing deadlines or attending meetings; pangs of fear regarding social environments or deep feelings of hopelessness can leave us isolated and unmotivated. While there are many effective treatment methods to help rid some of the unwanted symptoms of anxiety and depression, a new trend is taking place that involves illegal drugs. Known as “micro-dosing”, this technique involves taking minute quantities of drugs such as LSD or psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or mescaline (found in the Peyote cactus) every few days to enhance creativity, productivity, heighten alertness, and boost energy. The Huffington Post notes that most people dose once every three days in the morning, and the doses are so small that they provide just enough for benefit but not enough for a heightened “trip”. How did this technique come about? Dr. Albert Hoffman, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD, engaged in micro-dosing for a few decades of his life, and lived to be age 102. At age 100 he was giving lectures at the University still, and he stated that it helped him clarify his thinking. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies covered an interview that was done with Dr. Hoffman in 1996, where he discussed his perspective of the power of psychedelics to allow further entrance into a “spiritual world” with deeper understanding of life and its meaning. He discussed how psychedelic drugs became illegal, and how perhaps further medical research could provide an opening for these drugs to re-enter psychological treatment in the future. He described the psychedelic situation in the past as this, “And back at that time, there were unfortunately many occasions where psychedelics were not treated with proper respect… the psychedelics came to be feared, and were taken out of the hands of responsible investigators and psychiatrists. It was a great loss for medicine and psychiatry, and for mankind.” While many people report benefits of micro-dosing, there has not yet been enough research to conclude that it is a safe and effective mode of treatment. Always consult a physician before taking any kind of drug and seek medical help if you experience any dangerous side effects.

Many people with mental illness experience stigma and discrimination because they are misunderstood. Improper representations in the media can perpetuate stigmas, and those who don’t know someone personally with a mental illness may have difficulty empathizing with those who work daily to manage their symptoms. Bipolar disorder is one mental illness that is often misunderstood. By learning about what many people with bipolar disorder experience, we can educate others to end stigma and provide more support to our loved ones who have the disorder. Healthline, a website aimed at providing medical and mental health information, shared one person’s story of having bipolar disorder. He described the two aspects of the disorder: mania and depression. Mania involves the person feeling very positive, energetic, and talkative. The individual in the story described his mania experience as this: “The mania part is awesome. I have tons of energy and don’t want to stop. The best part about mania is that I’m so optimistic about everything.” Mania isn’t always positive, however. Some people view mania as very frightening and out of control, and some may experience psychosis and hallucinations. Mania may also cause a person to experience racing thoughts, and that may keep them up at night. It may also lead to someone spending all their money or drinking too much – making risky decisions and compromising one’s safety. Another person who described her experience for Medical Daily explained mania as, “….as terrifying as it gets… so it’s frightening when it gets out of control.” The depressive side of bipolar disorder can cause a person to feel the completely opposite – feelings of sadness, extreme fatigue, inability to decide, lack of interest in activities, and sleeping problems may occur. As one person explained their experience with depression, “It’s a deadening lethargy coupled with an agitation and restlessness at times, but it’s the sense of having no energy, no interest, no passion, no life…and the pain is agony, it just is unrelenting…” Depression can cause a person with bipolar disorder to feel completely isolated and may cause them to have suicidal thoughts. Some people with bipolar disorder self-harm due to the severity of their depression. Many people with bipolar disorder are easily able to manage their symptoms through therapy and medication. They should not be treated any differently, and should be given love and support. As one person explained, “I managed to get through my art degree. I have to remind myself that I’m more than my diagnosis, but with the right help and support it does become a lot easier.”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration notes that approximately 1,084,000 people in the United States have used anabolic steroids. These steroids are primarily used by bodybuilders and athletes, and are used to increase lean body mass, strength, and aggressiveness towards lifting. Another form of steroids has reached the market and are selling as “legal steroids” – but these steroids may be very dangerous and should be approached with caution. “Selective androgen receptor modulators, also known as SARMs, are pharmaceutical drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone”, according to CNN. They are not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but they are sold to bodybuilders online and are marketed to help them look more lean and muscular. Many of these products contain substances that aren’t approved or are in doses higher than stated on the labels. A study conducted in November 2017 examined 44 products sold online as selective androgen receptor modulators and found that only 52% contained that exact product while 39% of them contained another unapproved drug. This breeds caution to any who are contemplating buying these products online, as many unwanted and dangerous side effects could occur. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautions that steroids or steroid-like substances have been linked to serious health risks including liver injury, kidney damage, heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs), deep vein thrombosis (blood clots that occur deep within the veins), severe acne, hair loss, altered mood, irritability, increased aggression, and depression. Other bodybuilding products are labeled as “dietary” supplements but are not truly dietary. Many supplement manufacturers can sell their products without first having to ensure their safety and effectiveness; without approval from the FDA, these supplements are likely to cause harm. There are several steps that you can take to ensure your safety in taking bodybuilding supplements; 1) Consult your doctor or physician regarding products and/or side effects; 2) Be aware of problematic categories such as weight loss, bodybuilding and sexual enhancement, because these often contain steroids and other prescription drugs that could harm your health; 3) Look for the USP (U.S. Pharmacopeia) Verified mark – this indicates that the manufacturer has voluntarily asked this trusted non-profit to verify the quality, purity and potency of the ingredients; 4) Report problems to the FDA or ask your doctor to report them.

One of the most challenging aspects of recovery involves learning to forgive and love ourselves unconditionally. Perhaps you grew up with family that didn’t make you feel loved unconditionally, or maybe you’ve made some choices that makes you feel like you don’t deserve love, not even from yourself. Recovery is a wonderful time to work on this, because it’s a time for you to solely work on getting better and making healthier choices that reflect a loving, balanced, happy inner soul. Deepak Chopra, author of more than 75 books, including 22 New York Times best-sellers, has provided the Huffington Post with some wonderful steps towards unconditional love towards the self:

The International OCD Foundation defines obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as “a mental health disorder that affects people of all ages and all walks of life, and occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions or compulsions”. Obsessions, which often take the form of intrusive thoughts, can cause extreme distress in individuals. The symptoms of OCD can cause much anxiety and panic over real or imagined events, but thankfully there are forms of treatment that have proved to help many people with this disorder. There are several evidence-based treatments for those with OCD:

Jacob Levy Moreno is the founder of psychodrama, a type of therapy that can be used both in groups or in individual psychotherapy. Psychodrama utilizes deep action and movement to work through pressing issues and to develop our understanding of ourselves and others. The Birmingham Institute for Psychodrama states that psychodrama is practiced in more than 100 countries, and was developed alongside Dr. Moreno’s wife, Zerka Moreno. Psychodrama was first recognized as a form of group therapy and then later extended itself into other forms of psychotherapy. In Moreno and Moreno’s book titled, “Psychodrama: Vol 3: Action therapy and principles of practice”, they stated, “Psychodrama enables the protagonist to build a bridge beyond the roles he plays in his daily existence, to surpass and transcend the reality of life as he lives it, to get into a deeper relationship with his existence, to come as close as possible to the highest form of encounter of which he is capable”. Psychodrama therapy allows the person to reenact the past to improve the future. When roles are assigned, the person is encouraged to announce the truth out in the open. This transforms the actor into a truth-speaker who can confront issues with confidence rather than someone who may have viewed themselves as voiceless and unheard before. The feelings that one experiences during role play allows them to transform and gain a unique perspective, whether it be on their own actions and thoughts or the potential actions and thoughts of others that were involved in the situation. Some group therapists may also incorporate group phrases, such as everyone inviting one person back into the circle or the group explaining to a person why they should be a part of the group rather than sit in the corner. Additionally, the therapist may ask the individual to finish sentences related to why they may be sitting in a corner and/or why they should leave the corner and join the group. This allows for the individual to make new connections and to break old patterns of behavior and thought.

Throughout the day, we may experience many phone calls, emails to check, errands to run, deadlines to meet, and more. The day is filled with so many activities, and in between each one we are driving from one place to another, attempting to get it all done. Most of us tend to get into “automatic” or “zombie” mode – simply rushing through the motions without putting much thought into each movement we make. Is this hurting our mental health? What else are we doing throughout the day that’s discreetly damaging our mental health?

Therapy provides a great mechanism for individuals to work through their problems, learn more about themselves and others, gain perspective, develop tools to cope, and more. For people who suffer from borderline personality disorder BPD), several techniques may be used. There are a variety of holistic approaches that help people to work through a variety of symptoms that may be present in borderline personality disorder – mentalization-based therapy is one of them. Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) is a psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy designed specifically to help individuals specifically with borderline personality disorder. Researchers Bateman and Fonagy, in their 2010 study titled “Mentalization based treatment for Borderline personality disorder,” found that mentalization-based therapy has been an effective treatment tool for BPD. Mentalizing is a process by which individuals make sense of each other and themselves, both implicitly and explicitly, and in terms of subjective and mental processes. Founder and CEO of Psych Central, Dr. John Grohol stated in 2016 that mentalization is a learned skill and that, by working with a therapist, people with BPD can learn to better understand behavior and feelings and how they are associated with different mental states. In 2011, MD Louis Choi-Kain from Harvard Medical School described mentalization as being comprised of two parties: the self, and other. Both parties have their own thoughts, feelings, motives, intentions, beliefs, desires, and needs. A person who suffers from BPD often has difficulty between imagined and real interaction with their own thoughts beliefs, etc. and understanding other’s thoughts, beliefs, etc. By partaking in MBT, a patient can work with a therapist to discover their own thoughts and reasons behind those thoughts and their behaviors. People with BPD often have difficulty empathizing with others, have a history of unstable relationships, have strong feelings of anxiety and depression, have a dysfunctional self-image, and more. MBT can help people explore their symptoms further so that they can recover from negative self-talk and mental scripts. This approach to therapy is slightly different from therapeutic approaches such as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) because it is psychodynamic – the patient and therapist interact more often with each other and work together more to help the person learn more about themselves and others. If you suffer from borderline personality disorder, engaging in mentalization-based therapy could be very beneficial to you. The best way to know is to speak with your therapist about this approach. Seeking a therapist’s help is a great first step to your recovery, and could lead you to a happier, more productive life. Take action towards your overall health and well-being today by calling a therapist.

You may have done it at least once in your life. You went out, had a bit too much to drink, and you ended up contacting someone with slurred speech and an unsound mind. For some who party hard, this behavior becomes a repeated ritual. Although it sounds like a common mistake to commit while intoxicated, people need to realize what drunk dialing or texting really represents: a lapse in control.

Many people who suffer from anxiety and depression may benefit from writing. In a way, writing can serve as a tool that provides insight into thought patterns, and may help us explore why we are feeling a certain way. Writer Christopher Bergland from Psychology Today explained expressive writing as, “writing freely about your deepest thoughts and innermost feelings with the understanding that it will never be read by anyone else”. In doing this, we can learn more about ourselves and relinquish some of those most worrisome thoughts. A study conducted earlier this year by Schroder, Moran and Moser explored the therapeutic benefits of expressive writing in individuals who suffered from severe anxiety. The researchers held two groups, one which was asked to practice expressive writing and the other group which did not. They explained that error-related negativity (ERN) often occurs most in people with anxiety. The group that completed expressive writing found a reduction in ERN, meaning that expressive writing may serve to offset worries from active memory, helping those who suffer from anxiety. Harvard Health expressed in 2011 the benefits of expressive writing as a flexible approach that may help people organize thoughts, express and regulate their emotions, relax, and more. Expressive writing is very popular because of its low cost – all you need is a pencil and paper. Engaging in this exercise means that it can be done practically at anytime, anywhere – and individuals can partake in it whenever they feel it will be helpful to them. Researchers Baikie and Wilhelm from The Royal College of Psychiatrists identified in 2015 several long-term benefits of expressive writing: fewer stress-related visits to the hospital, improved immune-system functioning, improved lung functioning, fewer days in the hospital, improved mood, feeling of greater psychological well-being, reduced depressive symptoms, and more. Other long-term impacts could be fewer absenteeism from work, improved working memory, improve sport and grade performance, and more. Expressive writing can transform our patterns of thought and help us to learn more about ourselves. Whether you suffer from anxiety or not, expressive writing could be very beneficial to you. The best way to know is to try it for several months. Get a piece of paper and a pen, and begin writing. Write about whatever you want – whatever is on your mind, and know that you are the only one reading this. Who knows – you may be able to work through some issues that you didn’t even realize were affecting you.

All forms of substance abuse and addiction are clouded with stigma. For alcohol specifically, many people assume that compulsive drinking is a lesser condition. It is important not to lose focus from the true issue of the behavior. It does not matter what the psychoactive agent is, the craving, withdrawal, and tolerance is what deteriorates health, relationships, and entire lives.