Mental Illness | Co-Occurring Disorders
Dual Diagnosis | Co-Occuring Disorders | Comorbidity – What is It?
Dual Diagnosis | Co-Occuring Disorders | Comorbidity – confusing terms to be sure but so important to understand in order to effectively treat and recover when one has an addiction and mental illness. Comorbidity (aka dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorders) is an often misunderstood diagnosis. Basically, it is having two brain diseases at the same…
Read MoreEating Disorders — Bulimia and Anorexia
Bulimia and anorexia – two eating disorders that can destroy a person’s quality of life in ways similar to the destruction caused by misunderstood, untreated alcoholism or drug addiction. Thanksgiving is my bulimia-free birthday, if you will – it was 30 years ago that I made it through my first T’day feast without binging and…
Read MoreSecondhand Drinking | Drugging (SHD): Understand | Treat | Prevent – Break the Cycles
Secondhand Drinking | Drugging (SHD) – how does understanding it lead to prevention and treatment of substance abuse, addiction, alcoholism, underage drinking and | and/or underage drug abuse? In other words, how does it help break the cycle? Secondhand Drinking | Drugging (SHD) Explained There are several entry points to the disease of addiction (whether…
Read MorePsychopharmacology Explained
Psychopharmacology is a term that appears in discussions with family members who have a loved one with a dual diagnosis. To answer the question, “What is it,” here is the definition from American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology: Psychopharmacology is the study of the use of medications in treating mental disorders. The complexity of this field…
Read MoreBreakingTheCycles.com Celebrates 3 Years!
by Lisa Frederiksen I wrote my first blog post for BreakingTheCycles.com three years ago, today! Since then, I have expanded my work to include workshops and presentations, consulting services, books, and collaborative efforts focused on 21st century brain and addiction-related research in an attempt to help all concerned better understand that addiction, its causes (aka…
Read MoreSteve Hauptman Writes About Depression and Control
Depression and control is the topic of the following guest post by Steve Hauptman. Steve is the founder of Monkeytraps: A blog about control, which has two authors: Steve Hauptman, LCSW, and Bert. That’s Bert in the photo to the right, looking depressed. Bert speaking:) Steve says depression is called the “common cold” of mental illness. Interesting way to view…
Read MoreAdolescent Major Depression – Some 2 Million Experienced It in 2011
Adolescent major depression is often masked or minimized, yet the consequences of it going untreated can be devastating. The opening sentence from Melissa Healy’s April 29, 2011 Los Angeles Times article, “Depressed Teens Mostly Struggle Alone,” reads: Some 2 million Americans adolescents experienced a bout of major depression last year, but only about a third…
Read More“Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?” A Story of Bipolar Disorder
As you know, I often write about dual diagnosis (co-occurring disorders — having both a mental health illness and an addiction), as well as the fact that mental illness is one of the five key risk factors for developing an addiction (whether it’s to drugs or alcohol). [The other four are childhood trauma, social environment,…
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