Recovery

Finding the right treatment program for you can be a daunting experience. With so many options and so much to consider, it may feel easy to simply select a program that’s the most convenient, affordable, or straight-forward. While all of these options provide some benefit, a key component of your decision-making should be focused on whether or not the treatment center works with you to develop a customized treatment program that will best suit your needs. As a 2015 study published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine emphasizes, personalized programs are an emerging paradigm since many people have experienced misdiagnoses, late and inadequate treatment that has required them to re-enter programs, and unsuccessful attempts to recover due to a lack of support in other areas of life such as employment and finance management. Perhaps you have been on the receiving end of one of those unfortunate cases. If you have, you’ve likely found that there was a component of your initial program that was missing – something that didn’t quite speak to what you needed. For a customized treatment program, the following must be taken into account:

Author Cathy Malchiodi, experienced professional of art therapy, expressive therapy, and counseling, stated in her book titled, “Expressive Therapies”, “Expressive therapies offer unique ways to enhance communication as well as fresh directions for therapeutic work for both the client and therapist…they have several specific characteristics not always found in strictly verbal therapies, including, but not limited to: 1) self-expression, 2) active participation, 3) imagination, and 4) mind-body connections.” If you’ve ever created something by painting, drawing, playing an instrument or something similar, you’ve taken part in a component of expressive therapy. However, expressive therapy is not simply doing one of these activities – it involves engaging in a creative activity to express oneself and learn more about oneself and others, typically through the direction of a therapist. Expressive therapies didn’t become popular until the 1930s and 1940s, when psychotherapists and artists learned that these modalities could help those with mental illness. According to the California Institute of Integral Studies, psychologists utilize expressive therapy to help promote clients with their self-awareness, emotional well-being, healing, and self-esteem. In therapy, you need not worry about the end result of your creative project. In fact, you most often will be asked to draw or create something that represents what you are going through. Your therapist will not be judging your artwork, and you will be able to engage in conversation about what your project means to you and how you view the situations that are occurring in your life. Consider expressive therapy as an extension of your feelings and thoughts. You may not know what you will create until you are the process of creating; expressive therapy has been shown to help people who have difficulty talking about the way they feel. A 2010 review published in Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association identified numerous studies that assessed expressive therapy and their correlated benefits for participants in each study. The results of these studies further confirmed that expressive therapy has been reported to help reduce stress, reduce cognitive distortions, enhance coping mechanisms, provide a safe place to explore feelings and grief, show positive change and growth, improve behavioral functioning and mood, and more. Speak with a representative at a reputable treatment center today to learn more about how expressive therapy could be of benefit to your recovery.

In any treatment center or organization for social welfare and advocacy, optimal treatment for all people should be the focus. Although the Sanctuary Model could benefit many other types of organizations, these organizations in particular utilize this model because their core focus is to help people better themselves through use of medication, therapy, activities, case management and more. Developed by Dr. Sandra L. Bloom, a board-certified psychiatrist and graduate of Temple University’s School of Medicine, the Sanctuary Model is an evidence-based, trauma-informed, complete system of organizational change process. There are four main pillars that the model is based on: 1) shared knowledge, 2) shared values, 3) shared language, and 4) shared practice. Through the use of shared meaning, organizational members can work towards building a future that supports everyone involved, in every way possible. By establishing a shared system, team members and clients can be prepared for future events and can easily navigate daily challenges by referring to the system’s core values and commitments. The Sanctuary Model implements commitments to nonviolence, emotional intelligence, social learning, open communication, democracy, social responsibility, growth, and change. In organizations that deal with mental illness and/or addiction, unforeseen circumstances may arise and, if not prepared for, could be detrimental to the people involved. All organizational members must feel confident in their capabilities to handle emergency situations just as they should feel confident handling daily interactions with clients. This knowledge base and confidence builds trust between employees and clients alike –  ultimately strengthening a lending-learning environment. There are a variety of ways in which the Sanctuary Model focuses on the future:

Narcissism lies on a spectrum, with increased severity taking on the role of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). A person diagnosed with this disorder will often exhibit a grandiose image of self-importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power and more, a belief that he or she is uniquely “gifted” and can only be understood by high-status people, a sense of entitlement, a need for excessive admiration, and much more. An individual with NPD will often regard others as either high status (perfect, entitled) or low status (unworthy, defective). This can make friendships and romantic relationships difficult to maintain, because they often lack empathy and are very self-centered. If you have NPD, you may recognize some of the traits that you exhibit, but you fear discussing them with others because you do not want it to tarnish your image or status. Elinor Greenberg, PhD and internationally renowned Gestalt therapy trainer, has noted 5 things many of her clients with NPD have admitted to themselves, but not others:

Personality disorders are defined as a deeply ingrained and maladaptive pattern of behavior that is typically manifested by the time one reaches adolescence; they often cause long-term difficulties in relationships and other aspects of daily life. An estimated 9% of adults in the United States have a personality disorder. There are 10 specific types of personality disorders, and are identified based on the following:

Anxiety and panic attacks can affect anyone, including famous sports players. NBA star Kevin Love has recently opened about his own experiences with anxiety and panic attacks; on November 5th right after halftime, Love had his first panic attack. On The Player’s Tribune he stated that he physically couldn’t bring himself to finish the game because his heart was racing, his mouth felt “chalky”, and everything was spinning. It wasn’t until this incident that Love decided he needed to share his experience with others, because he realized just how important mental health discussions truly are. There’s no doubt that American society makes it more difficult for males to open about their mental health. Just last year, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced that men take up 76.92% of all deaths by suicide – this is the equivalent to almost four out of every five suicides. Many males are taught at an early age that they shouldn’t talk about their problems – that they should keep it in and get over their issues in silence. Kevin Love certainly lived his life by this mentality, and he believes it is what led him to the panic attack he experienced in that game against the Hawks. Previous research has shown that rather than men expressing their concerns through talking, signs of increased fatigue, irritability, anger, loss of interest in work or hobbies, and sleep disturbances may occur. Love expressed that after speaking with a therapist, he was able to dig deeper into the concerns that really bothered him – such as the fact that when his grandmother passed away, he couldn’t properly say goodbye and that sincerely bothered him. He went on to explain that he’s trying to better cope with life by addressing everything that comes with it to himself – sometimes our anxieties and fear creep in when we are no longer aware of how we feel. He stated, “I’m just starting to do the hard work of knowing myself. For 29 years, I avoided that…I’m trying to face the uncomfortable stuff in life while also enjoying, and being grateful for, the good stuff. I’m trying to embrace it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly.” We can’t escape pain in life. It will always occur in one way or another. What we can do is take control over how we manage that pain through seeking help, talking about it, and relying on people who love and support us. Don’t wait any longer to seek the help you need today.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 15.1 million adults aged 18 or older had alcohol use disorder (AUD) in 2015. About 6.7% of these individuals sought treatment, leaving an extremely wide gap.  Alcoholism is known as a disease that causes cravings to drink, loss of control over drinking, physical dependence, and tolerance by needing to drink more to achieve the initial effect. People with alcoholism or alcohol use disorder experience significant distress in their daily lives, as their drinking has affected their work, home, and/or social life as well as potential health and finances. Many people who drink heavily believe they can “cut down” or “lessen” their drinking whenever they want – is this true? Essentially, it all leads down to dependence. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most Americans who drink more than one or two drinks a day do not have alcoholism because their bodies would show signs of dependence. Physical dependence occurs when the body experiences withdrawal symptoms – such as anxiety, shaky hands, headaches, nausea, vomiting, sweating, and insomnia – that are very unpleasant. Other signs of dependence include worrying about when the next drink will be, planning events around alcohol, finding it difficult to stop drinking once you start, and feeling the need to drink in the morning. In other words, if a person does not have alcoholism, they may be able to have enough control to slow down. However, many people with alcoholism will say they can “quit anytime” as an excuse to continue drinking – this is due to changes in the brain that the addiction has caused. If you have not yet developed alcoholism but have been abusing alcohol, consider keeping a journal and tracker of your drinking habits, setting a goal of when, where, and how much you will allow yourself to drink without going overboard, getting rid of any alcohol in the house, drinking very slowly when you do drink, being mindful of peer pressure, guarding yourself against temptations to drink, and more. If you or a loved one has alcoholism, treatment is the only option to ensure the right measures are being taken to move towards sobriety.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 948,000 reported heroin use in 2016, and this number continues to rise. Heroin is a popular drug of choice – and an addictive one at that – giving people feelings of euphoria. There are many side effects of heroin, however, and those include: dry mouth, warm flushing of the skin, overall heavy feeling, nausea and vomiting, extreme itchiness, clouded mental functioning, and going “back and forth” between consciousness and subconsciousness. While there is a common stereotype that a person with a drug addiction is homeless, jobless, and more, there are many people that defy that image. It is possible for someone to have an addiction and still function in their daily life, masking their secret habit. For example, CNN recently covered the lives of several people who have heroin addiction but have been able to hide their addiction while continuing with their success. One young man, age 26, explained that with his higher position in the corporate world, he was able to afford nearly $350-600 a week on drugs. This man further explained that he would lie to many people to continue with his drug use, telling a pharmacist that he needed syringes because he was a school science teacher or explaining to his coworkers that he had bruises on his arms because he was diabetic. Maintaining heroin addiction alongside career and social success also means having support if the person is in a relationship. One woman explained that as a store manager, she began using heroin when it became more difficult to obtain prescription opioids for the chronic pain she was encountering. She stated that her husband is supportive and even keeps Narcan, an overdose antidote drug, but he would prefer that she quit use altogether. She stated on CNN, “He loves me enough that he’s willing to stay with me. That’s a key component to keeping me from going off the deep end.” Each person’s story is different, but there is one ending that should be the same – recovery. If you are struggling with heroin addiction, make the decision to seek help today.

If you’ve been struggling with addiction, you may be feeling guilt, shame, anger, hurt, sadness, and more. These feelings take place especially as we learn more about how we’ve hurt others, including ourselves. A reputable treatment center should be able to able to properly address these feelings of hurt and understand them, as well as what you need to do to move forward in your recovery. We all have a narrative for ourselves, and that narrative may change over time as we change and grow. You can still change your narrative from one of pain and addiction to one of growth and transformation. At an early age, we form both positive and negative ideas about ourselves, influenced by genetics, environment, past experiences, and society. These opinions form into a pattern of thoughts over time, creating our self-perception. Perhaps your stream of thoughts was filled with more love and positivity at first, but later filled with more hatred and negativity as you experienced painful events in life. This contributes to mental illness and addiction, and many people self-medicate with substances to cope with this stream of thoughts. The best part about rehabilitation is that you can work towards changing these thoughts. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of therapy designed to help clients change older, negative thought patterns into newer, more positive and productive ones. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is another form of therapy that works to help clients change their narrative through accepting thoughts for what they are – thoughts. Mindfulness is yet another tool that you can use to build acceptance, forgiveness, and awareness in the present moment. To redefine your narrative, you must work on it every single day. You must practice the tools you learn in your treatment program and develop a support system that you can rely on. You must work hard, even if you don’t feel like it. Let your life be your narrative. Change your story by doing things differently. Take the steps you need to take to become a better version of yourself, leading you towards a happier, healthier life.

Residential treatment programs can provide intensive help to those with a serious addiction or mental illness. While receiving residential treatment, clients temporarily live outside of their homes while being monitored and supervised by a supportive healthcare team. If you’re wondering if residential treatment may be a good fit for you, here are some ways to decide:

Self-management and Recovery Training (SMART) is a non-profit organization that holds meetings in the United States and several other countries, including Denmark, Ireland, Australia, and the UK. It is a 4-point system that has helped people all the world recover from all types of addictions. If your treatment program provides you the option to utilize SMART Recovery, you will gain access to many benefits:

An estimated 2.4 million Americans experience symptoms of panic disorder each year, with women twice as likely to experience them. If you’ve never had a panic attack, your first one may seem very frightening. You may feel as though you are going to die – thankfully, panic attacks are not deadly, but their symptoms can make you feel like something is very wrong. If you’ve had a panic attack before, you may be fearing another one. Recognizing the signs of a panic attack can be very helpful and may allow you to take preventative measures before you reach a full-blown panic attack; the following are some symptoms to look out for: