At one point or another, we all have felt lonely. That transient state can make us feel distressed or discontent with our current situation. It often happens when we’re craving human connections or social interactions. Many experienced it during lockdowns in the...
Mental Health
Is Addiction Considered a Mental Illness?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, a substance use disorder is a mental disorder that affects a person’s brain and behavior. These changes in the brain’s structure and chemical composition lead to a person’s inability to control their use of...
Can Drug Abuse Cause Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder is a common mental health disorder affecting approximately 5.7 million adults in the United States. Numerous studies have reported a connection between alcohol and drug abuse and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood and...
Types of Meditation
Having excellent control of your mind and body can help you overcome any craving that can lead to long-lasting addictions. Many therapists also recommend taking meditation as a way of dealing with addictions. But, most people don’t realize there are different types of...
Why Doctors Don’t Use Barbiturates for Anxiety Anymore
What caused the barbiturates to go from the sedative of choice from the 1920s to the 1950s to a now mostly abandoned medicine? Despite what you might think, it wasn’t a lack of efficacy. Barbiturates are potent and effective. However, this hasn’t been enough to...
Should You Baker Act a Drug Addict?
If you know someone addicted to drugs, you know first-hand just how frustrating and frightening it can be when it’s clear that their life is in jeopardy but feel like there’s nothing you can do about it. You’ve likely tried talking to them, giving them ultimatums,...
Alcohol-Induced Psychosis & Other Drinking-Related Mental Illnesses
Mental illness is a very real consequence of excessive alcohol consumption that can put individuals on an already very slippery slope. Any kind of psychiatric disturbance has the potential to be debilitating but some are much more serious than others. One of the most...
Addiction vs Compulsive Behavior: What’s The Difference?
Drug addiction is a chronic disease and mental illness一and scarily powerful ones at that. Addiction can cause us to continuously make choices that go against all instincts for self-preservation such as forgoing our need for shelter (and have us abandon the necessary...
Alcohol, PTSD Triggers & The Body’s Stress Response
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a severe mental illness when the brain relives traumatic experiences resulting in intense bouts of fear, anger, or other negative emotions (which can also cause immense physical distress). These instances are called flashbacks. Though...
The Stigma of Addiction
Substance use disorder is an illness that has no shortage of difficulties. Admitting that someone needs treatment is hard enough without having to deal with worrying about people judging you for it. The last thing that anyone struggling with addiction wants...