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“Avoidants themselves, unaware that they have a problem, continue to annoy, frustrate, and hurt themselves and the others in their lives. Some avoidants are isolated individuals who, unmindful of the pathological nature of their avoidance, cite, and live by, its presumed advantages, and eventually even come to believe that their isolation from family, friends, and potential intimates is a good thing.” This is a direct quote from author Martin Kantor’s book titled Distancing: Avoidant Personality Disorder (revised and expanded). This quote provides a compelling glance into the common misconceptions that many people have about avoidant personality disorder. For people who are undiagnosed, their isolation and shyness may be “normal” to them, causing them to feel as though their symptoms do not require any treatment or help. While many people may feel shy, those who suffer from avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) feel shyness at more extreme levels. Psychology Today estimates that 2% of the population suffers from this disorder – making it difficult for them to interact socially and professionally. Avoidant personality disorder involves feelings of extreme inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and sensitivity to rejection. Those who have AVPD may only form relationships with people who they are certain will not reject them – they will often choose loneliness over risking connection with someone whom they are not certain will like them. WebMD explains that a person with AVPD may fear speaking up in fear of criticism and may anxiously study those around them for signs of approval or rejection. Furthermore, writer and editor Caitlyn Flynn from Bustle has listed self-loathing as a common theme in people in AVPD. If a person is spending a lot of time believing they are inferior to others, afraid of being embarrassed, and isolating oneself due to fear of being around others, they likely suffer from AVPD. If untreated, AVPD can limit someone’s potential for happiness and success. Treatment for AVPD typically involves cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a therapeutic approach that helps people restructure their thoughts to more positive, productive thoughts. If you suffer from avoidant personality disorder, you should speak with a doctor and/or therapist to receive help. Speaking with someone about your problems may help you to learn more about yourself and your disorder – you will also be able to develop tools to help you in everyday life. There are many people out there who want to help you and see you succeed. Take the first step and call a healthcare professional today.

Unfortunately, relapse is common in recovery. The latest statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) show that rate of remission when dealing with drug addiction ranges between 40 and 60 percent. Due to this extensive problem, an ideology still featured in various substance treatment programs is that relapse is a natural part of the recovery process. Despite NIDA’s data, the underlying cause of relapse is actually preventable.

Shrooms are a type of fungus also known more formally as psilocybe cubensis. Shrooms have been used for over 9 thousand years, but are used more recreationally today. They are known to produce “magical” effects on one’s brain. When taken, the hallucinogenic and euphoric effects start taking place within approximately 30 minutes, and the effects last for about 4-6 hours. For some people, the effects can last up to a few days after consuming them. Shrooms that produce these effects are small brown and tan mushrooms, but could easily be mistaken for other poisonous mushrooms. Typically consumed as a brewed tea or prepared with food, however dried mushrooms can be grinded into a powder and put in capsule form. Dried shrooms contain 10 times higher of active ingredients than fresh shrooms. Psilocybin is the main psychoactive ingredient in shrooms and once consumed, the body breaks this down into a mind-altering substance called psilocin. From there, the chemicals interact with the brain’s neurotransmitters, increasing the amount of serotonin produced. This stimulation causes a variety of psychedelic effects, such as hallucinations, euphoria, altered thinking, synesthesia (when one sense is simultaneously perceived as being one more other senses), and spiritual awakening. Physical effects may include numbness and an increased heart rate. Shrooms have been prescribed to treat anxiety, depression, and addiction. This is because they cause a person to feel happy and laugh more, feel an intense flow of creativity, enhanced insightfulness, uplifting sensations and more. Awareness, memory retrieval, energy, and dilation of pupils are among the more neutral side effects of shrooms. Some negative side effects that one may experience are headaches, intense fear or phobia, nausea, anxiety, dizziness, disrupt attention, blood pressure problems and more. The Guardian noted last year that shrooms are one of the “safest” drugs that people can take recreationally. This was concluded from the 2017 Global Drug Survey that compared magic mushrooms to methamphetamine, synthetic cannabis, alcohol, MDMA/ecstasy, amphetamine, cocaine, LSD, and cannabis in regard to emergency medical treatment and found that shrooms caused less than 10,000 emergency visits among the 119,846 people surveyed. However, some people have experienced “bad trips” with shrooms, causing them to recall traumatic events in their lives or feel extreme fear or panic.

The realms of addiction and mental health treatment, collectively referred to as behavioral health care, are often viewed as distinct, yet related issues. Many modern treatment centers care for both types of disorder, but creating a unified level of recovery is a challenge. However, according to a number of sources, addictive and mental disorders are more than just similar. Addiction is a psychological disorder.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, inhalants are volatile substances that produce chemical vapors that can be inhaled to induce a psychoactive, or mind-altering, effect. Inhalants are difficult to categorize because they could be a variety of things. However, inhalants are typically described in terms of four categories: Volatile solvents: These are liquids that vaporize at room temperature. These may include paint thinners or removers, dry-cleaning fluids, degreasers, gasoline, glues, correction fluids and felt-tip markers. Aerosols: These are sprays that contain propellants and solvents. Examples of this would be spray paints, deodorant and hair spray, vegetable sprays generally used for cooking, and fabric protector sprays. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) notes that prolonged sniffing of aerosols could lead to damage such as heart failure and even death within minutes. Gases: This could include medical gases or other medical anesthetics such as chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas”. Whipped cream dispensers often contain nitrous oxide, and other objects such as butane lighters, propane tanks and refrigerants contain gases that are inhaled. Nitrites: Nitrites do not act directly on the central nervous system like the other categories do. They primarily act to dilate blood vessels and relax the muscles. Many people use this form of inhalant to enhance sexual encounters. Cyclohexyl nitrite, isoamyl nitrite, and isobutyl nitrite are common inhalants also known as “poppers” or “snappers”. Users may inhale vapors directly from open containers, or may breathe in fumes from rags soaked in chemicals. Some people may spray the chemicals directly into their nose or mouth, or may inhale the fumes from a paper bag. Teenagers are especially at risk for this, as PAMF notes that inhalants are most common/popular between 7-9th grade students. Common signs of inhalant abuse are: chemicals odors on clothing or in breaths, paint or stains on the face or clothing, hidden empty spray or solvent containers, drunk or disoriented appearance, slurred speech, nausea, lack of coordination and more. If you suspect that your teen is abusing inhalants, speak with them about seeking medical help. If you catch your child inhaling, take them to a clear, well ventilated area until the episode wears off and see a doctor. If your child is unconscious or not breathing, dial 911 immediately. By being aware of inhalants, we can better protect our children from severe bodily damage. Speak with your children about the dangerous impacts of this today. You may just save your child’s life.

Addiction is not an isolated incident. It is a chronic condition that requires continuing care. Likewise, excessive substance abuse can contribute to a number of problems besides one’s own health. Addictive behavior can lead to other illegal activity, unlawful acts can lead to being arrested, and incarceration can even force individuals back into addiction.

Sex addiction only seems to come up in the public dialogue when sexual scandals involving celebrities and other high profile people erupt in the news. The person involved has not only hurt those in their circle, but has violated public trust. Reporting runs from informing the public of wrongdoing to feeding the gossip machine. Often several waves of this lead to the person implicated acknowledging they have a problem with sex addiction and are seeking treatment. Some hearing this news will be very angry and say that the person is claiming sex addiction to justify their appetites and excesses, evading harm done. Others will say the guy ‘was just being a guy’ or the person was ‘just being human,’ and got caught doing things many people do. Some will doubt the sincerity of the person under scrutiny, believing he or she has simply found a way to steer the conversation away from outrage toward compassion. Those who understand addiction will have noted the signs of sex addiction long before the celebrity held up that flag. Whether a PR statement is sincere or insincere, sex addiction is real and the addict is suffering. There is understanding about how mood altering substances can pull someone into an addictive cycle. Processes that blunt reality have just as much potential to be addictive. While the addict may want to believe theirs is a heightened reality, those closest to them will often have noticed the sex addict’s absence in meaningful life. In moments of clarity the addict feels this emptiness too. The intense pleasure of the sex act, a perpetual hunt for partners, fantasies playing out in their minds when their attention is needed elsewhere can all remove reality in sex addiction. Tasks of life are neglected. A nurturing sexual bond with an appropriate partner is missed. What likely began as an escape from pain or trauma has become compulsion. The addiction is in control. Those who gain recovery from sex addiction look back and see how many truly satisfying life experiences were missed and left by the wayside as the addiction seized more and more of their time and resources. It can be an invitation to healing when the addiction becomes bigger than the person’s capacity to manage, whether a public scandal or a private breakdown. There is a way to a life of hope and presence for those recovering from sex addiction.

The year of 2016 marks a significant shift in regards to how addiction and substance-based treatment are viewed. With the recent passing of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) through the Senate, the conversation on addressing addictive disorders has taken a distinct turn towards action and compromise. However, multiple government officials declare the new act lacks financial support and the use of specific treatments in the field remains contested.

The Gottman Method, developed by Dr. John Gottman and his wife, Julie Gottman, is a form of couple’s therapy that draws on building the elements that make a relationship last. The Gottman’s spent 40 years exploring these elements, regarding all types of couples, no matter which phase of life they are in. One major insight to this method is that negative emotions like defensiveness and contempt have more power to hurt a relationship than positive emotions can help a relationship. In a 2016 Business Insider article written by associate editor Rachel Gillett, it seems the most successful couples take elements from the Gottman Method. Psychology Today notes that the method focuses on helping couples develop understanding and other skills so that each partner can maintain fondness and admiration of the other. The Gottman Method teaches people to lean on each other to get their needs met – especially in times of need, to manage conflict together, help each other when they make mistakes, and to follow their dreams. The Gottman Institute notes seven crucial principles that are typically shaped and customized to fit each couple’s patterns and challenges:

The World Wide Web is an irreplaceable resource in the modern age, but it can also be an added source of unrest. This dichotomy especially applies to individuals undergoing recovery. Although online forums and psychoeducational texts can be accessed instantly through computers and cellphones, the Internet itself can easily become an additional, addictive element in people’s lives.

When the US Drug Enforcement Administration released a public safety report related to numerous opioid-related deaths in Sacramento California in April of 2016 they linked the “powerful synthetic opioid” Fentanyl to many of the overdoses. DEA described Fentanyl as “an odorless substance considered to be 25 to 50 times more potent than heroin, and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine,” adding that “Fentanyl is potentially lethal, even at very low levels.” Forbes contributor on health, medicine, psychology and neuroscience, Alice G. Watson, fleshed out why Fentanyl has become an unfortunate opioid addiction game changer in her article “Why Fentanyl is So Much More Deadly Than Heroin.” Watson’s article first sets forth the fact that Fentanyl functions exactly like other opioids in that it crosses the blood-brain barrier to bind with specific receptors, called µ opioid receptors, in the brain. But she lays out three reasons Fentanyl use is increasing the dangers in an already challenging field of addiction: 1) Fentanyl reaches µ opioid receptors more rapidly than other opiates. 2) A much smaller dosage—micrograms as opposed to milligrams—of the drug is needed to produce the same effect as other opiates. 3) The illegal drug trade, with the chaotic mixing and misrepresentation of what goes into street drugs, does not take these first two points into account. More addicts are being rapidly created, and grave harm is accumulating to them quickly. The effects of Fentanyl that accompany the intense euphoric high are sedation, vomiting, analgesia, and respiratory depression. Since opiate deaths are caused by respiratory arrest, a street trade incorporating Fentanyl in unregulated doses is very precarious. Media images of parents unresponsive in their car while children in the back seat try to wake them are harrowing testimonies to this. Dealers can buy Fentanyl from China through Mexico, and while some mix it with heroin and sell it to unsuspecting heroin users, some are pressing it into pill form and selling it as if it were something else entirely, such as the hydrocodone and acetaminophen mix called Norco. One target to combat our nation’s opioid epidemic is to look at prescribing practices of physicians. But another area to explore is the field of addiction treatment and recovery. As we gain understanding of opioid addiction causes, and the facets of healing needed to bring people back to functional living, the message of hope can become louder than the voice of the street dealer whose pills promise relief but may bring death.

An intimate relationship is a constant interplay of fulfillment and responsibility. Both members of a romantic bond must be able to contribute to the relationship and each other. When substance use is added into the equation, this exchange can quickly become unbalanced. As a relationship with drugs or alcohol begins to invade a person’s priorities, interpersonal relations are undoubtedly strained. What experts say In her 2004 essay, “Disorders of desire: addiction and problems of intimacy,” Helen Keane, Ph.D., proposed that to better understand how addictive disorders relate to interpersonal instability, people need to view problematic substance use in different light. Keane explained, “It is not the objects of addiction that determine the condition, but a particularly intense and rigid relationship between the addict and her substance or activity of choice.” In his 2013 article entitled, “When Substance Abuse and Intimacy Issues Are Linked,” Robert Weiss, LCSW, recounted relying on his experience in the field due a lack of research on addiction and intimacy. From his years of seeing patients, Weiss has noticed the undeniable prevalence of co-occurrence between substance and relationship-based problems. In further, he recommended that treatment providers address these comorbid conditions simultaneously to ensure the best recovery outcomes. According to Psychiatrist David Sack, M.D., an addict’s significant other cannot magically solve dependency issues, but he or she can ignite the desire to change. Sack stated, “You don’t have control over the addict, but you do have influence. It is often an intervention, an ultimatum or a refusal to enable that leads addicts to take the first step into recovery.” Warning signs of a loved one dealing with addiction William Fals-Stewart, Ph.D., of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) outlined the warning signs of addiction within a relationship: