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When we feel anxious about something, our body activates its stress response to help deal with the threat. This stress response is a natural reaction that causes the body to secrete stress hormones that travel to targeted areas and bring about physiological, psychological, and emotional changes. It is these changes that ultimately lead us to “fight or flight” mode. Even if there’s nothing immediately happening to us, the mind and body can feel like it is – and that’s when anxiety can worsen.

When someone goes through a traumatic event, no two people will experience it in the same way. Their coping mechanisms will likely vary because they’re trying to do whatever it takes to move forward from being utterly shocked and terrified. Healing from trauma is incredibly challenging because it can affect nearly every aspect of our lives – but if we work hard to recover from it, we may find that we’re stronger and more resilient than we realized. It’s not uncommon for people in addiction recovery to have some sort of childhood trauma in their past. Just because it happened doesn’t mean that healing isn’t possible. By learning more about what trauma is and how it can affect your life, you’ll be empowered to make healthier choices when it comes to treatment.

Do you rest peacefully in “deep sleep” through the night? Or do you find yourself tossing and turning all night long? While it isn’t often as talked about, the quality and length of your sleeping cycles can possibly provide insight into whether or not you’re battling with a mood disorder. For example, those who find themselves barely sleeping may potentially have bipolar disorder or depression. Of course, there are many other factors that could be playing a part, too. Consider your current sleeping habits. If you have difficulty sleeping at night and you’re noticing symptoms of mood issues throughout the day as well, it’s likely time to speak with a licensed healthcare professional.

Can you recall a moment today, yesterday, or a time from the past where you felt pretty satisfied one minute and then suddenly, before you knew it, you started feeling very agitated? Sometimes it happens in the blink of an eye. This change in feelings can happen for many reasons – an adjustment in the chemical balance of your brain, the fact that you were tired or hungry, or maybe even a situation or memory that triggered it. When it happens, these changes are called mood swings – often defined as rapid and extreme fluctuations in mood, alternating between feelings of happiness and feelings of anger, agitation, or depression. Everyone experiences mood swings, but people with bipolar disorder may experience them a bit more frequently and more intensely than others.

Imagine you are at a New Year’s Eve party. Your friend finishes off an entire bottle of champagne, stays up all night dancing, and still feels great the next morning. You have a few glasses of wine and wake up exhausted with a pounding headache. Why does this happen? It’s a well-known fact that different types of alcohol can have a variety of effects on us, based on our age, sex, race, size, the amount consumed and many factors. The body also metabolizes alcohol differently than food and other drinks - and the rate at which your own body metabolizes it can have a major impact on how we feel soon after drinking and the next morning as well.

In some cases, the signs of mental illness appear subtly and over time. We may not even realize we have a mental illness until it’s front and center in our lives. From the day we are born to the present day in our life, there are a number of different factors that can influence the way a mental illness develops, as well as how we manage it over the years. By understanding these factors, you’ll be a step ahead in recovery.

Millions of people across the world are diagnosed with schizophrenia, yet so many people still do not know much about this disorder. Individuals with schizophrenia often experience delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and negative symptoms such as feeling detached from oneself, general discontentment, anger, anxiety, and more. Unfortunately, movies and media often depict this disorder as dangerous – but the more we understand how it really affects those we love, the less fear we may feel about it.

“I’m too old for yoga.”

Have you ever noticed that you’re very particular about certain things, or that you like to be in control? Do things have to be a “certain way” for you to feel at ease? If so, you may have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Millions of Americans struggle with OCD every year – and if it’s not treated early on, other problems could arise. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder that involves an unhealthy cycle of obsessions (unwanted thoughts) and compulsions (repeated actions). For example, a person with OCD could find themselves needing to knock on the door a certain number of times before they wait for a person to answer it. They may also like things organized in a certain way and feel extreme anxiety if they’re not able to organize the way they need to.

Recovery is considered a lifelong process for a reason – because we’re constantly learning new things and discovering how to work through our trials and tribulations. Recovery is about learning what leads us to better living and what puts us back in harm’s way. The beginning of our recovery journey can be especially difficult because of the heightened risk of relapsing. When a person relapses, they revert back to old addictive behavior patterns, even if temporarily. Relapse is one of the most feared aspects of recovery, simply because it’s often viewed as a sign of failure. But relapse is a normal part of the recovery process and should not be considered a failure - it is simply an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and what we need for complete healing.

Most of us strive to be happy throughout our lives – that’s all we want. Of course, there are many things that we might associate with happiness, including success, money, relationships, appearance, and more. You may have even spent lots of time thinking about what you can do to build your happiness in life, only to find that it’s short-lived. It’s not uncommon for people to seek out things that make them happy for a temporary amount of time, only to discover that they didn’t fill in the void that lies within their heart and soul. Although social media will tell us (or show us) that happiness means we need to be smiling all the time, it’s simply not feasible. What we can and should be doing, however, is taking control of what we feed our mind, body, and spirit each day so that we can enter into a beautiful state of flow, which is a form of happiness within itself.

In recent years there has been a severe increase in the selling and use of opioids. So much so, that it has been deemed a crisis or epidemic because of how fast opioid addiction continues to spread and how many lives are lost daily, as a result. Tragically, many opioid addicts are young and they’re dying much quicker and faster than those who chose to dabble in other substances. Much like the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, the opioid epidemic has received significant media coverage and is becoming the poster child for the war on drugs.