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When it comes to stories about mental health and treatment, it is the tendency of the media to take a small part of the truth and stretch it as far as it can go. Yoga has been a popular topic in research, debate, and conversation for quite a few years. Within the last year, yoga has been in conversation with the topic of depression. Is yoga a cure for depression? Does yoga do anything for depression? Should we even be doing yoga at all? The benefits of yoga are undeniable because of the copious amount of research that has been done. Yoga is scientifically proven to reduce depression symptoms by reducing symptoms of ruminating thoughts, physical distress, internal inflammation, and more. A great stress reducer, yoga helps alleviate many of the triggers which causes the symptoms of stress to worsen. Many tests have been done to measure different components of the effect of yoga, some of which has included brain imaging studies. Most recently, studies on yoga and the effect it has on depression tested the actual scales of depression before and after many weeks of yoga. Hatha and Bikram yoga are the two main forms of yoga studied. Groups of participants in multiple studies did yoga classes for about eight weeks. Researchers evaluated the intensity of depression symptoms in participants before and after their approximately eight weeks of yoga. After yoga, the depression symptoms were reduced. Some studies which included mindfulness courses found that depression scales dropped so low that the depression was clinically in remission. These studies enforce the belief that yoga is helpful for treating depression. Yoga is not, however, a cure for depression. While there are many evidence based practices, like yoga, there is not a cure for depression. There are no cures for mental illnesses. Each person experiences their mental illness in a different way which means they experience their recovery in a different way. Each of the proven methods for treating depression that reduce the symptoms of depression either reduce it into remission or into a manageable state. Yoga helps make depression livable.

For millions of people, sex is love. This description resonates with people who identify themselves as codependent, love addicts, sex addicts, relationship addicts. Sex is love. In order to feel love, feel something that feels like love, or pretend that there is love, people use sex. Unfortunately, it never sticks. Love can be expressed through sex just as a sex can be an expression as love. Sex and love can also be completely separate from one another. Sex doesn’t mean love and love doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes, however, the confusion can be detrimental and cause an addictive process that ends up painful for everyone involved. Sex addiction and love addiction are described as process addictions. Sex and love are not chemical substances, but they do cause chemical reactions in the brain. Both sex and love create a production of dopamine, the neurochemical for pleasure. They also produce oxytocin, often called the love hormone. Sex feels good and love feels good as well. People who develop a sex and love addiction, or a sex addiction through a love addiction, get addicted to the good feelings created by sexual activity and feelings of love real or perceived. Most often, they have experienced a deep pain in their life, which might be attributed to sex, but most likely attributed to love. They were abandoned, rejected, neglected, or abused. The trauma they have experienced in their life has brought them to a place where they feel they need the sexual interactions and the feeling of love in order to survive. Without the constant engagement of love and sex, they feel lost and empty. Process addictions form by inspiring an addiction to the process of finding, participating in and sustaining a process as long as possible. Without that process in their lives, like sex and love, they are forced to confront their feelings of pain, discomfort, and trauma. Sex and love feel better than their reality. The lack of love is made better by sex. The lack of sex is made better by love. The cycle is relentless.

Psychopath raises a very particular kind of image in the mind. Thanks to the perpetuation of some very vivid, grotesque, and cruel stereotypes, we tend to think of psychopaths as clinically insane- there is a difference. We see them as murderers, thieves, and comic book story villains. There is a difference between the clinically insane- those who are completely and dangerously detached from the roots of humanity in reality, and those are living with a form of psychopathy, which is different.

Narcissists are self-involved and thrive on bringing everyone around them down in order to build themselves up. Despite any other indication, their effort to do so is not actually vindictive, though many of their behaviors will be. Adults who are narcissists typically grew up in a household where adults where narcissists and the pattern can be traced back. Crippling low self-esteem drive the narcissist to exact their own childhood revenge on their children, tying the way they love and validate their children into an extension of themselves. Rather than love and appreciate children for the unique individuals that they are, a narcissistic parent uses shame, guilt, anger, humiliation, and manipulation to try and turn children into who the narcissistic parent wants them to be. As a result, children who are raised in a narcissistic home grow up understanding that love is conditional. If you satisfy the narcissistic parent, you might earn their love and adoration. If you don’t, you won't’.

It is a remarkable and wonderful feat of technology to be developing the field of telehealth or e-therapy. Everything from chat rooms, smart phone apps, and artificial intelligence “bots” on social media messaging platforms are providing proven therapeutic techniques to those in need. Therapy is not accessible by everyone and can still be effective when it is not done in person- depending on the diagnosis. New research suggests that for binge eating disorder, in person therapy is the most effective in promoting remission. Published in JAMA Psychiatry, the University of Leipzig Medical Center found that “...while an internet-based self-help program did help people binge eat less often, face-to-face therapy led to a larger and faster reduction in binge eating episodes,” reports Reuters. In person therapy proven to be the most effective of binge eating disorder includes cognitive behavioral therapy and traditional psychotherapy. Though the online therapies being offered are based on cognitive behavioral therapy, they are not the same as cognitive behavioral therapy which can be conducted in person by a professional therapist. Binge eating disorder is the most common of eating disorders and one of the only eating disorders more heavily populated by men. Though the diagnosis is new to eating disorders, the experience of uncontrollable eating is not new to those who have been struggling with it. This study proves that spending time in a treatment program where you can work with a therapist, multiple therapists, in person every day is a better chance at full recovery. In addition, there is another face to face component of treatment that is helpful for recovery: supporting peers.

Many of the world’s most famous creatives struggled with mental health issues. Often the existence of their mental health as a contributor to their creativity is overlooked because their struggles become just another part of the glamorized story of their lives. When they pass because of alcoholism, drug addiction, or suicide, they are immortalized through their memory as an artist. What people are quick to forget is the fact that behind the creativity and perhaps the fame was an individual, a human being like anyone else, who was struggling with mental illness. The Big Think examines the relationship between creativity and mental illness. A 1931 study, the article cites, interviewed over 800 well known creative “geniuses” at the time and found that a small percentage, the minority, of participants had no struggles with mental health. Recent research supports the finding. Bipolar disorder, for example, is highly correlated with high intelligence and creativity. A screening of over 700,000 teens in Sweden, the article explains, found that “exceptionally creative” teens were four times more likely to have bipolar. Other studies have found that people who are highly creative are highly likely to have bipolar disorder or another personality or mood disorder. Writers are the most likely to struggle with a severe mental illness like anxiety, depression, or schizophrenia. Additional research has found a scientific link through neuroscience. Though many of these studies point to a correlation, the article points out, none draw a definitive line of causation. Creativity and mental illness may be linked, which is why creative and expressive art therapies are helpful in mental health treatment. The mind is full of genius, finding ways to express itself other than words. Music therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, dance therapy, and other creative forms of therapy help clients express what they might not otherwise be able to express. Creatives in the spotlight who struggle with mental illness use their gift of creative talent to communicate a human experience that cannot be understand by anyone else other than those who also struggle. Yet, with their music, their art, their creativity, they are able to spread awareness, touch lives, and make an impact. Still beneath the surface they are people struggling with challenging symptoms in need of understanding, love, and care.

When you are given a mental health diagnosis you gain a new part of your identity. There is specific parts of that language to pay attention to. You gain a new part of your identity. When you are given a mental health diagnosis you do not gain a new identity. Often in mental health treatment and recovery we encourage people to work against the shame and stigma that comes from mental illness by telling them, “You are not your diagnosis”. Some people, however, embrace that identity. After struggling for years of their lives to understand what is going on with the state of their mental health, they are relieved to have a title. These individuals beat themselves up, shame themselves, and live by the stigma they have been given just for being different. Whatever shame and stigma comes with their specific mental health diagnosis, it doesn’t matter to them. Within the community of having a mental illness, being mentally ill, and meeting people with their specific diagnosis, they find belonging. The identity doesn’t wear them down, it helps build them back up. It’s a matter of person-first or identity-first language. Person-first language is saying “I have mental illness”. Identity-first language is saying “I am mental illness.” However, the language and name of mental health disorders complicates this. For example, you might say “I have narcissistic personality disorder” or “I am narcissistic”. Most often, however, the title appropriated is “They are a narcissist.” Yet, in comparison, someone with an anxiety disorder it wouldn’t make sense to say “I am anxious” because anyone can be anxious. They can say “I have anxiety disorder”. In further comparison- “I am bipolar” versus “I have bipolar”, “I am depressed” versus “I have depression”. Part of the reason this language dichotomy falls short, like in the case of depression, is that mental illness can be remitting. People can and with treatment often do fall into remission from depression.

Scientific Reports recently reported on the effect that sugar has on depression. 8,000 adults were followed for two decades plus, 22 years total, following men specifically. Researchers found that high quantities of sugar in the diet, a whopping 67 grams of sugar a day, created a 23% higher likelihood for being depressed with clinical depression after the onset of the study. Participants would fill out a survey every few years about the state of their diets, dietary choices and their health. Additionally, the men in the study answered questions about their mental health, like the development of any depression or anxiety. Interestingly, despite the increase of mental health diagnoses, there were no clinical diagnoses pre existing at the time the study began. It took five years for researchers to see a change in trend. Men who ate the high quantities of sugar, like 67 grams of sugar per day, were more often diagnosed with mental health disorders. Interestingly, when there were dietary changes, there was still a high prevalence of mental health disorder. This study might have answered an old ‘chicken or the egg’ inquiry in regard to sugar and mental health. Depression or anxiety does not cause a greater likelihood to consume sugar, but a high sugar diet might be creating depression and anxiety, which is then unchanged. Sugar is a stimulant substance which spikes the brain’s production of dopamine, much like drugs and alcohol does. Hyper and euphoric, the experience of consuming high amounts of sugar is a pleasurable one, until the sugar wears off. Sugar does create a spike in the experience of pleasure, but it creates a crash which takes all of the pleasure away. After producing such a strong amount of dopamine, the brain starts craving sugar immediately, to recreate that highly stimulated and euphoric experience. Spike and crash cycles eventually exhaust the brain, making it difficult to produce dopamine without sugar. This is how the cycle of substance use disorders start as well. The brain becomes dependent on a substance and cannot tolerate the crashes. It is possible that the constant presence of sugar creates an imbalance in the brain which contributes to the development of depression.

There’s no shortage of body shaming media available to consume and make yourself feel badly with. However, the world of the internet and the brave vulnerability of men and women have created a new movement in media that is “body positive” instead of body shaming. If the media you are looking at makes you feel like you are not enough, like you are meant to look like someone else, like the way you look is wrong in anyway, you are consuming the wrong kind of media. Images of bodies and the words used to describe those bodies should be empowering. Media about the human body should be all inclusive, positive, encouraging, and self-esteem boosting.

Post traumatic stress disorder and symptoms of trauma aren’t always obvious. If you’re misinformed about PTSD, you could be saying harmful things to someone who is struggling and needs your support.

What causes an addict or alcoholic in recovery to pause at the sight of temptation? It is something that people who have never lived with drug and alcohol addiction on a chemically dependent level can't understand. Addicts and alcoholics go through a lot of trauma in their addictions, due the addiction itself and trauma they face before. Addiction itself is a traumatic experience. Often, addiction is a manifestation of trauma- a self-inflicted, repetitive pain coupled with intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. Coping with trauma often leads to substance abuse to numb the pain, quiet the thoughts, and bring some relief. After everything that addicts and alcoholics go through, it is baffling to others that they would consider picking up a drink or drug again The way addiction rewires the brain creates a lack of regard for consequence. Yet, in the face of consequence like trauma and temptation, the brain enters a paralysis. In the face of a threat- like encountering a traumatic situation such as sexual assault, or temptation like encountering an opportunity to use drugs and alcohol, there is a freeze. Despite months of treatment and therapy, building confidence and self-esteem, learning tools and techniques, there is a freeze. Some professionals refer to it as “victim paralysis”. During physical trauma, there is an inability to fight back. During temptation of substances, there is an inability to leave or say no. Acta Obstetricia Gynecologica Scandinavica published a study on a phenomenon they call “tonic immobility” which is the temporary paralysis experienced. Interestingly, the study found that the individuals most likely to experience the tonic immobility were also more likely to have experiences of mental illness symptoms afterward. PTSD and depression were likely to happen. Shame, guilt, and a toxic pressure to have acted differently, contributes to the development of symptoms of PTSD and depression which can, in turn, inspire more substance abuse, and further tonic immobility. Coping with the experience of not being able to make a rational decision, fight back, stand up to what isn’t right, or act on better knowledge is devastating. After recovery, especially, it can feel like all of the effort and work was worth nothing. That isn’t true. The research proves that tonic immobility is a real life psychological phenomena that is normal.

How many times do we tell ourselves we can’t do something, then prove ourselves right? We set up defeatist limits for ourselves all of the time. In a moment of clarity, perhaps what some might call hope, faith, or courage, we tell ourselves we can do something and- we do it. What changed? Our mental state did. There is no greater example of this than with people who come to recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. The prospect of having to go through withdrawals, detox from drugs and alcohol, then learn to live without them is dim when we are addicted. We tell ourselves a number of lies in order to avoid it. We couldn’t possibly survive. We can’t stay sober. We won’t be able to finish our treatment programs. We’ll just relapse and fail, disappointing ourselves and others. Then, in a moment of bravery and what many people call divine intervention, we tell ourselves we have to try, that we might be able to make it, and then we do. In one moment, we quit drugs and alcohol. Every moment from there on out, we keep changing our mindset to tell ourselves that we can do it, we can stay sober, and we can change our lives. Once we are in recovery, we learn how to keep an attitude of gratitude, maintain positivity, and use a number of little sayings to keep our outlook toward the future healthy. One day at a time, keep it simple, this too shall pass, don’t take yourself too seriously. All of these are reminders to keep our chins up and take life as it comes, recognizing that with each passing moment it is getting easier and easier to stay sober. Outlook is everything when we are in recovery. As soon as we slip into that familiar desperation, we are risking our sobriety.  The Sydney Morning Herald reported on a recent research experiment in which researchers found that optimism had an effect on physical strength. Six separate experiments examined more than 1300 people and how their outlook on the future affected them. Researchers compared the participants outlook on their future to their physical capabilities. Optimism, the researchers found, “was a ‘cornerstone’ of recovery”. Additionally, there is no one way to approach optimism. Across all the experiments conducted, researchers found that more clearly and concretely participants envisioned their future, the more successful their physical health. “...Our recommendation is that you do need to think about and plan for your future and the way you think about and imagine that future is important in terms of generating the optimism that is going to be successful in terms of pushing you through to a successful recovery,” the researchers explained.