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mental health

What Is Bipolar Disorder?

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Carrie Fisher, and Demi Lovato are among the celebrities to recently share their struggles with bipolar disorder but what is it exactly? First, we should take a look at the big picture. Psychiatric diagnoses fall into several categories: mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, substance-related… Read More

April Is Stress Awareness Month

Chances are if you’re under any stress you don’t want someone to make you even more aware. Most people are already experiencing stress but may not know how to keep it under control. Research from The American Institute of Stress indicates that 90% of visits to primary care physicians are stress-related, from stomach… Read More

Healing the Shame of Sexual Addiction

As humans, some of the most shameful experiences we have are those that involve our sexual selves. A single sexual event can bring such shame that it holds a person captive for a lifetime. It can deliver a devastating blow to a person’s sense of value and evoke tremendous pain… Read More

Balancing Work, Money and Relationships

Everyone feels stressed about money and work from time to time, and for a good reason. Careers and finances can profoundly impact our families, our relationships, and our own personal health and well-being. Money and work can play the role that other addictions often play in people’s lives—that of a… Read More

Codependency: What’s It All About?

By Tian Dayton, Ph.D. The word codependency touched a nerve when it first plowed its way into our everyday vernacular. Initially, it grew out of the twelve-step term co-addict, which was a way of describing the spouse of the addict; however, as it didn’t tell the right story, it… Read More

The Link Between Empathy and Addiction

By Kevin McCauley, MD, Senior Fellow at The Meadows I make this shocking statement in my lectures sometimes: “Heroin addicts are sweet people.” I partly say this because I’m an addict and tend to make hyperbolic statements for their emotional impact—which isn’t my best quality. I also do it to… Read More

Reality: Who Needs It?

Individuals in recovery generally spend a lot of time avoiding their painful, shameful, or fearful reality. Using chemicals, relationships, busyness, spending, eating, not eating, fantasy, gambling, sex, etc., to escape reality. What Is Your Reality? As a baby, your brain was receptive, and you downloaded and duplicated everything around you. Read More

Why is January the Peak Month for Depression?

The third Monday of every January has been declared “the most depressing day of the year.” Even though there’s little scientific evidence that depressed moods peak at this time, many people do start to feel blue this time of year for one reason or another. In many parts of the… Read More