Posts Tagged ‘mental illness’
Co-occurring Disorders Require Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment
Co-occurring disorders require co-occurring disorders treatment. So what are they? Co-occurring disorders means having a substance use and two or more other mental health disorders (aka mental illnesses) at the same time. (Substance Use Disorders are commonly referred to as alcoholism, addiction or drug or alcohol abuse.) A person with anxiety, depression and alcoholism (aka…
Read MoreHow to Find a Therapist – National Mental Health Awareness Month
How to find a therapist is a frequent question readers ask when they call. They know they or a loved one needs help with something “bad” that happened to them in childhood, a mental illness, or a substance use disorder — sometimes all three. But they are at a loss for how to find someone…
Read MoreThe Words We Use Matter – Substance Use Disorder | Mental Health Disorder | Recovery
We all can agree that the words we use matter – regardless the subject – they matter. But as a person who has been working for over 15 years to use current scientific research to shatter the stigma, misinformation and shame that surrounds substance use disorders and mental health disorders (until recently, more commonly known…
Read MoreChristmas Blues? 9 Tips to Cope with Holiday Depression
Depression, sadness, holiday blues? Sometimes these feelings creep up around this time of year. Darlene Lancer shares some of the common causes along with tips for coping, but first, a bit about Darlene. Darlene Lancer is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and author of How To Speak Your Mind – Become Assertive and Set…
Read MoreMental Illness – What You Need to Know
Mental Illness Awareness Week 2012 is October 7 – 13. Why should each of us individually care? What can we do as individuals? The Significant Statistics Related to Mental Illness An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a…
Read MoreHit Bottom. Is it necessary for the addict to want to get help?
They have to hit bottom, or at least that’s the common belief when it comes to a drug addict or alcoholic seeking / getting help. Is this true? Short answer, “No” — they don’t. Now this may surprise you. It certainly surprised me as I’d always heard they (the person with the drug or alcohol addiction) needed…
Read MoreAddiction Treatment – What to Look For
Making sense of addiction treatment (whether its for drugs or alcohol or both or for a co-occurring disorder), which is having both an addiction and a mental illness, is daunting to say the least. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has created a terrific resource to help people determine what they should look for…
Read MoreThe Importance of Treating Mental Illness
The importance of treating mental illness cannot be understated – not only to relieve the symptoms of the mental illness, itself, but to thwart its role as one of the five key risk factors for abusing substances and/or developing an addiction. This program, “Los Angeles Patches Together Mental Health Care for Juvenile Offenders,“ on KQED’s…
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