We develop certain thought patterns that not only contribute to our mental health issues but that can also worsen our addictions because we’re robbing ourselves of our mental and emotional clarity, peace and well-being. One of these thought patterns is that of obsessing, over-worrying, over-thinking, and dwelling, particularly on difficult and negative things that causeRead More
Many of us who suffer from addiction and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety also struggle with a different illness known as social anxiety. We might not have identified our experiences as being symptoms of social anxiety. We might not have associated our difficulty with social interaction with being a form of mentalRead More
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). For many of us, the story of our life experience entails feeling as though we’ve lost ourselves, at one point or another along our journey. We’ve lost ourselves to our addictions and mental illnesses. We’ve lost ourselves to ourRead More
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Each of us living with anxiety and other mental health issues experience our illnesses differently, and we often find that they can manifest differently for each of us. Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses that soRead More
Sometimes self-care is something we struggle to prioritize in our daily lives because we assume everything else is more important – our obligations and responsibilities, our families and loved ones, our jobs and finances, our recovery program. What we often don’t realize is that without self-care, the health and efficiency of everything else, especially ourRead More
Many of us struggling with addiction find ourselves addicted to more than one substance or behavior over the course of our experience with addiction, and over time our drug of choice can sometimes transition from one thing to another, even in recovery. The underlying cause behind this change can be different for each of us,Read More
As we come to learn through our own struggles with addiction, sometimes people grappling with addiction just aren’t ready to do the work needed to recover. We might find that we need to separate ourselves from loved ones in order to protect ourselves, both energetically and emotionally, and from danger and harm. Our loved onesRead More
Many of us have been conditioned to suppress, hide and avoid the emotions we find challenging. We might have been taught to talk only about positive things, or to wear a smile even when we’re hurting inside. Over the years, our emotional coping mechanisms take a huge toll on us. We turn to drugs andRead More
Our addictions and mental health issues cause us to become self-hating, insecure and self-doubting, particularly if we’ve been dealing with them for many years. We lose our sense of self to the overwhelming, debilitating, paralyzing nature of our illnesses. We feel consumed by fear, sadness and shame that totally deplete our confidence and self-esteem. WeRead More
Addiction is a form of self-destruction that, just like self-harm, feeds off of our mental and emotional health issues, our unresolved pain, and our self-hate and insecurity. Many of us who identify as addicts also self-harm in one way or another, by cutting or hitting ourselves, risking our safety by engaging in dangerous behaviors, orRead More