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There is no doubt that depression can make us feel hopeless, sad, empty, and isolated – but can depression cause physical health problems? A researcher from Oxford University in the United Kingdom found that depression can lead to physical health problems, such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. Psych Central also notes that depression can lead to coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and maybe even type 2 diabetes. What aspect of depression causes these health issues? Contributor Alice Walton from Forbes Magazine states that when we’re depressed, we’re less likely to take steps towards bettering our physical health; we are more likely to be sedentary and make poorer few choices, which can lead towards physical problems. Stress and inflammation often found in depression - according to doctors - can lead to damaged arteries and plaque buildup, which explains the relationship. Some studies suggest that depression may contribute to low bone mass by reducing the amount of calcium and other minerals that are deposited throughout the body as we age. According to writer Jane Collingwood of Psych Central, depression in addition to another physical conditions can worsen symptoms as well. For example, if a person has depression and heart disease, they are twice as likely to reduce their social interaction. Combinations not only affect a person, but one can exacerbate the other. Professor David Goldberg of the Institute of Psychiatry in London expresses this by stating, “Depression and chronic physical illness are in a reciprocal relationship with one another; not only do many chronic illnesses cause higher rates of depression, but depression has been shown to antedate some chronic physical illnesses.” Not to mention, the symptoms of depression can be damaging in and of themselves. A study conducted by a researcher at the University of Texas Southwest Medical School stated that depression can cause a person to feel chronic joint pain, limb pain, back pain, gastrointestinal problems, tiredness, sleep disturbances, psychomotor activity changes, and appetite changes. With these physical ailments arising due to depression, it makes sense that these can worsen if not treated. The best way to prevent and reduce the symptoms of depression is to seek treatment for it – psychotherapy is a form of “talk therapy” that includes one-on-one interaction with a therapist. Many people find this beneficial to work through their problems and develop tools to counteract their symptoms.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on exploring relationships among a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By addressing these patterns, the client and therapist can develop tools to replace those unhealthy thoughts with more positive, productive ones. Previous research has shown that CBT has been an effective treatment for depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and more. Anyone can use CBT, and there are many techniques that you can easily do at home:

For people who are beginning their journey to recovery, treatment may seem daunting. With several options available, such as in-patient (residential) treatment, outpatient treatment, partial hospitalization, and others, it may be easy to feel overwhelmed. A common concern for those considering residential treatment is what they can expect – the anxiety of a new beginning can create fear and worry. Luckily, residential treatment means that you will be taken care of by a dedicated health care team that will be there for you 24/7. Bradford Health Services, American Residential Treatment Association, and Rehab International have indicated several wonderful components that you can expect while you are in residential treatment:

Tramadol is a pain medication that serves to moderate severe pain intensity, and is part of a class of drugs called opiate narcotic analgesics, which work by changing the way the brain responds to pain. Tramadol used to be considered relatively safe, but it is becoming clearer just how dangerous it is. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the estimated number of tramadol-related emergency visits due to misuse or abuse rose 250%, from 6, 255 visits in 2005 to 21,649 visits in 2011. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated in 2014 that tramadol has the same chemical structure as codeine. This medication has an extended form used for around-the-clock treatment rather than a “take as needed” basis. Also in 2014, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that tramadol has been placed into schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This was due to the concern of abuse, misuse, addiction and overdose of opioid analgesics. While tramadol can be safe if taken as prescribed by the doctor, it is highly addictive and can be very dangerous. Firstly, there are a wide range of side effects with this drug that can be very unpleasant: itching, headaches, nausea, vomiting, constipation, and drowsiness, to name a few. More serious side effects include seizures, serotonin syndrome, depressed breathing, fatal skin reaction, and more. Tramadol is not safe when mixed with alcohol, sedatives, tranquilizers, or other narcotic medications. Due to the similar chemical structure of codeine, tramadol can become habit-forming. The Wall Street Journal claims that tramadol has been known to be as addictive as morphine – when taken, the drug increases the production of neurotransmitters in the brain such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and other hormones, such as endorphins. WHO reports that tramadol enters the bloodstream immediately, with effectiveness peaking in 1-4 hours and extended-release tramadol peaking in 4-6 hours. Withdrawal symptoms begin to appear within about 12 hours of the last dose. The DEA states that 90% of people who withdrawal from tramadol experience traditional opioid symptoms.

According to News Week, about 42.5 million Americans experience mental illness, which ranges from depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and more. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration noted in 2014 that more than half of those people are seeking treatment, but only 2.6 million of the 22.5 million Americans struggling with drug and alcohol abuse and addiction received treatment. Many people who do not seek treatment choose to self-medicate, and here’s why:

According to Douglas Gentile, a psychologist from Iowa State University, approximately 3 million children ages 8 to 18 are addicted to video games. His study involved 3,034 children and revealed that on average, people are spending approximately 20 hours a week playing video games. The number of children playing estimates that approximately 72 percent of American household play video games. Nine percent of the children studied had symptoms that correlated with video game addiction. Video games aren’t just for children, though – many adults play as well. Video games can become addicting for several reasons:

We’ve all heard it – sober living can be great. For those of us who have already been down the path of addiction, most of our friends and family have said it. “You should just stop drinking so much – life is so much better,” they’ve said. Maybe you’ve scowled at these phrases before. While most of our loved ones sound cliché when saying it, there truly are some benefits to sober living. Maybe you’re just beginning your road to recovery, or perhaps you’re contemplating it. We won’t just provide you with simple reasons, though. Here are some real, honest, pure reasons from individuals who have already gone through addiction and have found sobriety through their recovery:

“The reality of true forgiveness lies in setting ourselves free from holding on to the pain. It’s simply an act of releasing ourselves from the negative energy.” There are many crucial components to a successful recovery – detoxing, developing tools for when cravings emerge, understanding triggers, developing a dedicated support system, and understanding the effects of mental illness and addiction are just a few key areas of focus. However, recovery is more than just taking the physical steps that are required to live a healthier life – internal work is needed and forgiving ourselves for our past mistakes is incredibly important to recovery. Promises Treatment Center stated in 2010 that forgiveness is a state of mind – being able to forgive yourself, others, circumstances, and more is a tool that can propel you in your recovery. Much of the mindset that you need to take on revolves around understanding that you suffer from the disease of addiction or a mental illness. In recognizing the truth in this, we can understand that in the past, our words and actions may have aligned more with the addiction or illness rather than our clear selves. Researchers McGaffin, Lyons and Deane from the University of Wollongong examined in 2013 one hundred and thirty-three individuals in residential treatment for addiction and explored the relationships between guilt, shame, and forgiveness. The researchers found that guilt is more positively associated with self-forgiveness than shame because it provides more acceptance of past instances. If we can develop more acceptance of ourselves in light of our addiction or illness, we are more likely to forgive ourselves, thus leading to a more successful recovery. Forgiveness is all-encompassing – it involves ourselves and our past actions, others and their actions, circumstance and everything we couldn’t control before. By choosing to forgive ourselves, we are setting ourselves free and making room for new growth, heightened sense of clarity, and a wider perspective than we had before. Learn to forgive yourself. You deserve it. You need it.

As humans, we create our own perceptual definition of “the wrong path” but philosophically, there are simply choices being made. As a society, we have a clear distinction regarding morals; there is a right and wrong, good and evil. The nature of morality may vary depending on the person and circumstance. For example, a common philosophical question of morality is this: We typically state that stealing is wrong. If stealing is wrong, then a person should suffer the consequences, which often means that the person goes to jail. However, what if a person has no money, no family, is homeless, and is starving? Should someone go to jail for stealing a loaf of bread at the store? This question could be debated and argued from several different viewpoints; we now have food shelters so that people don’t have to make “risky” decisions such as stealing. When it comes to other viewpoints of “right and wrong” and “good and evil” common societal belief is that “right” and “good” means happy, healthy, and making choices that coincide with success, value, and goodwill. Choices that are considered “wrong” and “evil” are often choices that harms oneself and others, declines a person’s happiness and health, and doesn’t assist with the success, value, and goodwill of a person and population. Many times, if someone falls into harmful habits of addiction or is negatively affected by characteristics of mental illness, they may be viewed as “going down the wrong path”. However, as humans, we are bound to come across maladies and issues, and “the wrong path” could easily become “the right path” should a person have proper support and is able to take steps towards overcoming what is troubling them. The issue with stating that someone has “taken the wrong path” is an implied notion that the person is staying on the wrong path, never to return. This can be limiting, as being human is a series of ups, downs, and everything in between. If we can change our perspective to the fact that we are all human with maladies and flaws, we all suffer from pain, we all make choices, and we all learn from those choices, we can better help lift one another up to overcome our struggles. We all have diverse backgrounds and experiences, feelings and thoughts – therefore we all suffer from different things. The best way to “stay on the right path” is to eliminate the pressure behind being right and what that means to be on the “right path”, and just take a path. See what works and what doesn’t, learn and grow from our experiences and strive to lead a life of which we can be proud of.

Mental health is comprised of several components – treatment, exercise, proper support, nutrition, and more. What we place into our body can have a significant impact on the way our body processes information and the energy that we maintain throughout each day. According to the International Mental Health Collaborating Network, approximately two thirds of people who do not report mental illness eat fresh fruit or fruit juice each day, compared to those who report mental illness eating fewer healthy foods such as chips, chocolate, fast food meals and frozen dinners. Harvard Health states that this makes sense, because 95% of our serotonin (the neurotransmitter that regulates sleep, appetite, moods, and pain) is produced in our gastrointestinal tract, which is lined with a million nerve cells. What we eat directly affects these cells, ultimately affecting our mood and well-being. There are several healthy ways that we can ensure a nutritious diet that will serve our mind and body in the most wonderful ways:

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is defined by the National Institute of Health (NIH) as a serious mental disorder marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning. Due to this, unstable relationships and impulsive behavior often occur. A person with BPD may experience stress-related paranoid thoughts, dissociative symptoms, inappropriate and intense anger issues, chronic feelings of emptiness, and more. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) estimates that 1.6% of the U.S. population has BPD, but it may be as high as 5.9%. Nearly 75% of the people diagnosed with BPD are women, but men have been misdiagnosed in the past. According to Dr. Thomas Lynch, assistant professor of psychology at Duke University and the Duke University Medical Center, individuals with BPD “exhibit chronic, pervasive problems getting along with people in all kinds of different contexts…and this includes therapists.” The American Psychological Association (APA) noted that while individuals with BDP may be quick to open to a therapist, they may be even quicker to shut down. APA also claimed that while people with BPD often seek out treatment, many tend to leave therapy. It is suggested that individuals with BPD may be triggered easily in therapy, which can be difficult for them to regulate those emotions and work with their therapist. A call to action is provided to therapists, because understanding the client’s reality and their emotions may help to work with them in a more collaborative way. Dr. Lynch further describes this by stating, “They never gain a sense that their needs, wants and desires are reasonable.” David M. Allen, author of the book, How Dysfunctional Families Spur Mental Disorders: A Balanced Approach to Resolve Problems and Reconcile Relationships, told Psychology Today in 2015 that people with BPD often have families that counteract the work done by a therapist. He noted that while not true for all, many families often only elicit love and concern by misery, sickness, and debilitation. Family chaos for individuals with BPD include them being blamed for problems and treated as the “black sheep” of the family. Amanda Wang, leader and organizer of RethinkBPD, gave a compelling speech for NIH in 2011. She described living with BPD as this: Living did not come naturally to me. I had to learn things, things that seemed foreign to me, emotions that had actual names… It was only then that I was able to open myself up to a love that healed, a faith that restored, and a hope that I could share with others.

People who experience trauma at an early age are often greatly affected, sometimes for the rest of their lives. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common disorder that people suffer from, which can include nightmares, flashbacks, anxious thoughts, trouble with memory, depression, and more. Children can be severely impacted by trauma especially because at young ages, their brains are still developing and they are still learning about themselves and the world. A recent study conducted in 2016 by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that among youth who suffer from PTSD, structural differences were present between the brains of boys and girls. The main difference was within one part of the insula, a brain region that detects cues from the body and processes emotions and empathy. The insula helps us regulate our feelings, emotions, and behaviors. The study’s findings on differences of insula between both sexes could mean greater understanding in how each sex copes and processes when suffering from PTSD. It is known that of people who suffer from a traumatic experience, some individuals suffer from PTSD and others do not. A research team conducted brain scans of 59 participants aged 9-17. Thirty of them, with 14 of them being girls and 16 being boys, experienced trauma symptoms, and the rest did not. Only 5 of the traumatized youth had only experienced one traumatic event – the rest had experienced multiple, or chronic trauma. While the researchers did not find any differences in the youth that did not suffer from PTSD, they did find differences between the boys and girls who did suffer from PTSD, particularly within the insula called the anterior circular sulcus. This brain region was larger in volume in traumatized boys compared to those not traumatized, but was smaller in volume to girls who were traumatized compared to those not traumatized. The study’s findings implicate that a smaller insula volume in young girls may lead to them aging quicker, or becoming more mature at a faster rate. The study’s findings also suggest that PTSD may develop differently in boys and girls, meaning that different treatment methods may be needed to help them cope and recover more efficiently. With this new research, we may be able to better assist our children so that they can recover from their traumatic experiences in a healthy way. If you or someone you know has suffered from a traumatic event and is experiencing PTSD, please reach out to a therapist. There are many therapy methods available – you are not alone and can recover from this. With many tools, resources, and people ready to support you, all you need to do is call someone for help.