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Watching a loved one take paths that damage their overall health and well-being is tricky – we love them and want them to be safe and happy, yet we do not want to overstep our boundaries. Sometimes our loved ones cross the line and we feel compelled to do something about it – to let them know that we care about them and to explain to them they need help. When this time comes, planning an intervention can seem daunting, but a direct, focused approach may just save their life. Mayo Clinic defines an intervention as a carefully planned process that may be done by family and friends, in consultation with a doctor of licensed health care professional or directed by an interventionist. During an intervention, family and friends confront the loved one about their addiction and ask them to accept treatment. They may provide specific destructive examples and its impact, offer a prearranged treatment plan with goals and guidelines, and clearly explain what each family member or friend will do if the loved one refuses to seek treatment. Addiction Center identifies the following steps that need to take place for a successful intervention to occur:

– Pablo Picasso

Most likely, we all know someone who suffers from addiction or a mental illness. It can be challenging to see our loved ones go through this – we want to see them happy, healthy, and on their way to success. Some of us have known that our loved ones have suffered from a malady for quite some time now, and we may have even helped them during rough times by being there for them, giving them a little bit of money, or even letting them stay with us for a while. Others may just now be finding out that their loved one is suffering – and this can sometimes be surprising, upsetting news. Either way, mental illness and addiction are tough topics to support if we do not know much about them. Here are some of the best tips to ensure that we are providing the most love and support to those we care about:

Nobody likes experiencing a bad mood – that sunken feeling of despair, hopelessness, negativity, and so forth can make it appears nothing will get better. Bad moods may last just a few short minutes or could impact our entire day – no matter the length, a bad mood effects not only the person who has it, but those around them as well. When we’re feeling grouchy, we may not even think about what led us to this feeling. Amanda Chan, Managing Editor of Healthy Living, provides in a 2014 Huffington Post article several factors that may be contributing towards a bad mood:

Many people confused spirituality with religion, but there is a major difference. Religion is defined by the dictionary as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. Spirituality, on the other hand, is defined as being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. The New Hope Recovery Center provides a compelling look at the difference between the two. Some people find religion through their recovery, such as the 12 steps, to be beneficial in connecting them with a higher power to help them find more meaning for their lives. Spirituality, no matter if there is a religion involved or not, helps people discover themselves and their impact on the world. Lance Dodes, M.D., the Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus for the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and a retired assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School noted in a 2015 article for Psychology Today that spirituality focuses on oneness and being in touch with one’s inner self, and has a focus on well-being, to be put simply. Spirituality can have a positive impact on a person’s life and recovery. Dr. Greg Jantz in 2014 for The Center, a place in Washington aimed at helping those with addictions or mental illness, listed several benefits of incorporating spirituality into recovery:

Dependent personality disorder is one of the most common types of personality disorders, and typically consists of feelings of helplessness, loneliness, and abandonment. Anxiety seems to be a major contributing factor to this, as all those feelings lead back to anxiety. A person who suffers from dependent personality disorder depends too much on others to meet their physical and emotional needs. They may feel very afraid of losing important people in their lives, and may appear to be “clingy”. They may also belittle themselves often, be pessimistic and filled with self-doubt, accept criticism and disapproval as proof of their worthlessness, and not have much faith in themselves. If you or a loved one suffer from dependent personality disorder, there are ways to better manage this. MD Robert London from Psychology Today has described a very workable plan to help people begin their road to recovery. The first step is to make a commitment to learn more about your disorder. Seek out a doctor and psychologist to help you learn more about the symptoms that you experience and what you are feeling. Psychotherapy is a terrific way to learn more about yourself and to even develop more tools to help you overcome your symptoms. Secondly, create a goal-oriented action plan. Write down some things that are really overwhelming to you. Write down activities that fill you with anxiety, dread, or helplessness, and focus on one item at a time. Next, remember that it will take time to improve your symptoms. Every worthwhile process takes time, and it will take you much challenging work and dedication to overcome your problems. That’s okay. Keep going! Once you have established your list and reminded yourself to be patient, establish a concrete goal for how you can solve one specific problem on your list. For example, if a manager at work has assigned you a big project, practice breaking that project down into manageable steps. Focus on the first step that you need to complete to move on. In doing this, you are lessening the chances that you will feel overwhelmed because you have a small, concrete step that you only need to focus on for now. Continue this process each day until you have all the steps that you need complete. The symptoms of dependent personality disorder can feel overwhelming, and you may feel as though you will never get better. Do not believe this – it is simply your anxiety causing you to feel this way. Utilize this plan of action and contact a doctor and therapist to begin working through your problems. There is an entire team of support ready to help you get through this.

We’ve all experienced the moment where we forgot our keys, missed a deadline at school or work, and argued with a family member.  These moments can be challenging, especially when we have a lot of other responsibilities on our plate. We may feel our heart racing fast, sweaty palms, back and neck aching, racing thoughts, and more. While many of these symptoms are shared by both stress and anxiety, it is important to understand the difference between the two because they each have distinct causes, which will make it easier to identify what is happening. If we can easily tell what we are suffering from now, we will be able to take preventative measures to ensure that we do not develop worse symptoms or an anxiety disorder.

Benzodiazepines are a category of drugs including diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax), both of which are very well-known. Benzodiazepines have been prescribed to treat anxiety, alcohol withdrawal, panic attacks, insomnia, and other conditions. While helpful, these drugs can be incredibly addictive. Benzodiazepines are not typically prescribed for long-term use because of this reason, but many people have used these drugs for longer than intended to continue feeling less harsh effects of their condition. As an individual begins taking what are otherwise known as tranquilizers, their muscles tend to relax and their anxiety levels tend to lower. The person taking these drugs may feel as though the drugs greatly reduce their pain or anxiety, and may begin to abuse them over time, thus leading them to physical and psychological dependency. There are certain forms of benzodiazepines that are intended to last either a short or longer dosage period. Ensure that the person taking them knows the prescribed time length and amount to be taken to avoid overdose or abuse of the drug. There have been over 2,000 version of benzodiazepines created, but only 15 of those are FDA-approved. Individuals who pair this drug with alcohol or other medications are at serious risk – the effects can be extremely damaging, even lethal. When paired with alcohol, the person may risk shutting down their nervous system, as both alcohol and benzodiazepines are depressants. Signs that an individual is abusing benzodiazepines:

Anxiety can be debilitating, and can make a person question everything, from relationships to future events. When someone suffers from anxiety, they often feel unsure of the cause for it. This can cause the person to build on another layer of anxiety just because they do not know why they are feeling that way! There are several powerful ways for a person to manage their anxiety without the use of drugs. These may include therapy, support groups, meditation, yoga, and self-care activities, just to name a few. Therapy can be very beneficial because it allows the person to work through any deep-rooted fears with their therapist. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a common technique the therapists will use to assist the individual with finding healthy ways to manage their anxiety and relax more, as well as to help the person change their thought patterns. One example of a CBT exercise would be for the person to rewrite their fear in a more rational way when they are feeling anxious. This helps the person break down their worry into a more realistic point of view. Support groups can help an individual relax if they have anxiety, primarily because they can share their worries and concerns with others who understand what they are going through. By voicing one’s fear out loud, oftentimes individuals recognize that their worries are not as “big” as their anxiety makes them seem. Meditation provides yet another way for an individual to relax. Meditation can be practiced formally or informally, and allows the person to ground themselves. By staying grounded, the person can more clearly see what is happening and can watch the anxious thoughts come and go, without giving special attention to any one thought. Yoga strengthens and relaxes the body, and its primary use it to harmonize the body with the mind and breath through breathing exercises, yoga poses, and meditation.

“Your baby seems so happy one minute and is crying the next…are they bipolar?” Most people have heard something to the extent of this phrase before. Whether the term was used to describe another person or the weather, our culture tends to use these words casually, as if they are simply an adjective to describe how something or someone is. Those words may seem harmless in the moment, but the way those words are used truly shape the way individuals perceive one another and mental illnesses. When someone uses “bipolar” to describe something other than a serious health concern, they are lessening the effect of the seriousness and giving it meaning elsewhere. Such as in the phrase first listed, using “bipolar” in that context does three things: 1) gives the impression that it is not typical for a baby to be happy one minute and crying the next, and 2) places a serious stigma around “bipolar” and what it really means to have bipolar disorder, and 3) labels the person instead of viewing them as someone who suffers from an illness. Bipolar disorder is much more than crying one minute and smiling the next – it disrupts sleep patterns, relationships, and causes mood swings, but to a much higher extent. According to Dr. Matt Goldenberg, these mood swings typically involve the person experiencing extreme highs and lows over the course of a few days or weeks – not typically over the course of a single day. Misconceptions of what bipolar disorder involves provides a tendency for people to misdiagnose themselves. In addition to the stigma of bipolar disorder, calling someone “bipolar” doesn’t give that person room to be themselves. Just as someone may not like to be labelled as “mean” or “annoying”, no one enjoys being placed in a category, because each person has so many things to offer and is more than their illness. By understanding the meaning behind the language that is used, one can develop a sense of unity and can help uplift others by portraying mental illness for what it is – an illness that deeply affects the individual. Remembering the appropriate usage of these words and gently correcting our loved ones is a great start to changing the way our culture perceives mental illnesses. Here are some tips on combating incorrect use of mental illness terms:

Yoga essentially means, “that which brings you to reality”. According to a study conducted in 2016, approximately 37 million Americans practice yoga. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice that promotes health and relaxation through controlled breathing, meditation, and the implementation of certain postures. Thus, yoga can benefit mental health in several wonderful ways:

According to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a condition characterized by difficulties in regulating emotion. This leads to severe and unstable mood swings, impulsivity and instability, poor self-image and rocky personal relationships. With borderline personality disorder, people make several attempts to avoid real or imagined events of abandonment. Self-harm and suicide are two destructive behaviors that could result from someone having BPD. People who have BPD typically experience periods of depressed mood, anxiety, or irritability that can last for days, disassociation, chronic boredom or emptiness, and more. These individuals may seem as manipulative or over-dramatic, but researchers have found that they behave this way to cope with the overwhelming fear and emotional pain. For people who suffer from BPD, they are even higher at risk for adding addiction/alcoholism to the mix. Almost 9 million people who have an addiction also suffer from a mental illness. There are several symptoms of BPD that overlap with addiction/alcoholism, making it hard to diagnose at times: