Category: Uncategorized

Mental health is an individual’s state of well-being where they can acknowledge and live up to their full potential. Someone with good mental health can affect positive change in their community and they can cope with the demands of life.  

For us to achieve our set goals, we need a healthy state of mind. Our bodies and minds need to align properly. It would be herculean for an unhealthy mind to achieve effective results.

The reason why mental health treatment exists is that there are people with mental health problems. And with counselors, mental health problems can become a thing of the past.

Here are some benefits of counseling in mental health treatment

Understanding your mental health condition

A counselor helps you to have a good idea of your mental health condition. This would help you open up to the fact that you need help.

The counselor conducts an in-depth evaluation by asking you various important questions that help you understand how your mental health problem developed.

To face your problems

Counseling allows you to stand up to the obstacles you are facing in your life. Since you understand your mental health issues, you can develop a more resolute mind to help you combat those problems more effectively.

To pick up healthy behaviors

Mental health problems are usually associated with unhealthy behaviors that you need to drop off. With a counselor, you can unlearn, relearn and learn behaviors.

Your present habits could be unhealthy and they can intensify your mental health problems. But the counselor helps you develop healthy habits that would replace the unhealthy ones.

Ease your stress

The counselor understands that you must have encountered a great deal of stress while combatting mental health problems. Hence, they help you develop coping strategies to keep stress at bay.

This would help you communicate your feelings without bottling them. You would also feel less pressured to speak out without the fear of being judged.

Mental health problems are disorders that affect an individual’s mental health. They affect the thinking, mood, and behavior of an individual.

It is expedient to note that mental health problems can affect the entire aspect of someone’s life.

The surprising fact is, many people have mental health problems but they are unaware. One of the ways to detect if you have mental health problems is to look at the common signs that would help you self-diagnose.

• Social Withdrawal

Someone who is suffering from mental health problems will experience social withdrawal. This means that they would not like to stay around other people for long.

Within them, they begin to nurse the fear that other people would not understand what they are going through. Therefore, to avoid having to explain what the problem is, they prefer to keep to themselves.

• Loss of Interest

One of the common signs of mental health problems is losing interest in many things. People with mental health problems will discover that they no longer have the vibe to do things they find interesting.

They will struggle for a while to do these things but it would not happen as smoothly as expected.

• Poor sleeping habits

Another sign of a mental health problem is the inability to maintain a healthy sleep routine. The sleeping patterns can be on the extreme. The individual could either be sleeping excessively or too little. This would affect their overall productivity.

• Weight changes

The evidence of mental health problems can be in weight changes. In this case, the individual might gain so much weight or experience a drastic reduction. Usually, weight changes can be a sign of depression and anxiety.

• Appetite change

Someone facing mental health issues will most likely not be able to eat as usual. They will spend their time thinking excessively without remembering to eat.

Anyone struggling with mental health problems needs to seek help from a mental health professional.

Mental health problems are common, and we are used to some of them like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and the likes. When mental health problems are in motion, they adversely affect your behaviors, feelings and thoughts.  

It could be painful knowing you have a mental health condition, but there is hope for you. There are some mental health treatments that are targeted at restoring your health back on track.

Types of mental health treatments available:

• Counseling or Psychotherapy: This is referred to as talk therapy and it is one of the most common mental health treatments. This treatment involves talking about all your problems with a counselor who doubles as a mental health professional.

There are several types of psychotherapy, one of the common ones are cognitive behavioral therapy. Usually, talk therapy is done one-on-one. Also, it can be done in a group setting.

For people who are going through difficult life situations like grief and the likes, psychotherapy is quintessential.

• Medications: Another popular method for the treatment of mental health problems is medications. There are some medicines that modify the chemicals in the brain particularly those that are involved in thoughts and emotions patterns.

Medicines cannot cure mental health problems but they improve symptoms by treating them. And they make other treatment methods effective.

• Support group: Hanging out with a support group can provide you with insight on how to handle your condition. With a support group, you have sober friends, resources, support and tips on how to take care of your condition.

• Residential treatment program: At times, when your mental health problem becomes so bad, you would need to remain within the confines of the hospital. During this period, you will receive adequate care for your health because there are experts on ground to facilitate that.  

There is a stigma associated with people who have mental health problems, and this is why some of them shy away from seeking help. It is important to help those around you find help so that they can get their lives back on track.

The idea behind maintaining a good health is an integration of several factors. The fact is, your input determines your output, health-wise. If you do not pay attention to some of these important factors, you might have health problems.

Below are some important health tips you need to note:

• Remain hydrated: It is essential for you to drink lots of water every time to remain hydrated. We lose water in our body in the form of sweat and urine, so it is vital to replace them. Water performs lots of functions in our body like digestion, prevention of constipation and a host of others.

If you want to increase your activity pattern, you need to take much water each day.

• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables: Not everyone imbibes the idea of taking fruits and vegetables and this is because they do not understand their importance. When you eat a diet that is rich in vegetables and fruits, you will be reaping all the vital nutrients.

Fruits and vegetables contain various minerals and vitamins that are needed to keep you healthy. And your body needs a constant supply of vitamins to keep a good health.

• Eat nutritious meals: Eating balanced and nutritious diet has a pivotal role to play in maintaining a good health. Your body and brain needs fuel to function well, and nutritious meals help to achieve this purpose.

If you do not eat good meals, you could have metabolism problems which is not great for your body. If you do not know how to go about eating healthy meals, you can contact a dietician for help.

• Have enough night rest: Our bodies need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep every day. No matter how strenuous your day could be, it is important to have enough rest. If your daily routine is flexible, it is a great idea to take a short nap in the afternoon.

There are other health measures like avoid too much fat and processed foods; avoid the sun rays when it is intense; drink moderately if you have to and a host of others.

Lysergic acid diethylamide, colloquially known as LSD or “acid”, is a popular hallucinogenic drug, but just what is it?

This drug was originally discovered in 1938, synthesized from ergot. The effects of LSD will vary depending on a number of factors that include the user’s settings, mood and expectation.

LSD as sold on the street takes the form of small tablets called “microdots”, but it can also be found in the form of a capsule as well. LSD is commonly sold in the form of small, absorbent papers with cartoon character designs on them. The LSD experience itself is a rather prolonged one at up to 12 hours in duration. The onset of the experience occurs after 20 to 30 minutes of having ingested the illicit substance.

LSD can induce feelings of greater self-awareness and inter-connectedness in the user and minor visual alterations. At times the user can experience quasi-spiritual feelings and even experience contact with what they experience to be entities.

Physical manifestations of this drug can include pupil dilation, increased wakefulness, and a reduction in the appetite of the user. A significant risk of ingesting LSD that cannot be discounted is the tendency of this drug to induce panic attacks in users of this drug. More disturbingly, LSD has been shown to possibly precipitate the advent of schizophrenia in otherwise healthy patients when they have a family history of schizophrenia.

There are a number of signs and cues that one can look to in order to positively identify the presence of addiction or substance abuse problems in a loved one or friend. It is important to stress that these symptoms are simply correlated with substance abuse or drug addiction, and they do not necessarily indicate the presence of a substance abuse problem in the subject. For each symptom there could be a wide range of possible explanations which do not involve the existence of a persistent pattern of drug abuse, so it is important to keep an open mind when evaluating the behavior of a loved one or friend.

In a broad sense what is being done is noticing sudden any unexplained changes in the subject that is being evaluated. If an addiction is sufficiently all-consuming then there will inevitably clues that point to the addiction as a problem of that magnitude cannot be concealed for very long. These changes will potentially touch all aspects of the individual’s life and their relationships in ways that outwardly seem to have little to nothing to do with drug abuse or substance abuse to a layman.

When an individual is overcome with addiction one of the first changes that will become readily apparent in the beginning stages is their eating habits, and consequently, their weight. Commonly abused recreational drugs will tend to have some kind of impact on the appetite of the user and so sudden fluctuations in weight have been observed in those with concealed substance abuse addiction problems. Typically a person will cease to eat as much, although they may be induced to have much more voracious appetites, and so they will lose weight – sometimes to the point of taking on a sickly appearance.

When a person becomes addicted to a drug their life, by degrees, come to revolve around obtaining that drug and administering it. This will necessitate forming a contact network of fellow users and drug dealers who are involved in that illicit behavior, and besides, they will be unable to share that increasingly important aspect of their lives with those from their “previous life” pushing them further into those circles. Thus it may be observed in those experiencing addiction that they suddenly acquire a circle of new associates. This is one of the primary signs to look for when dealing with the prospect of a loved one concealing an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

OxyContin is a prescription painkiller that is often abused by those seeking to get high. The main drug within this pain medication is oxycodone, an opioid drug similar to morphine and even heroin in effects. There are pain medications that also carry this opioid drug, and they are Percocet, Oxycocet and Endocet.

The precise mechanism by which OxyContin works is to perform what is known as a time-release function. That is to say that rather than the body immediately absorbing the entirety of the drug at one time, it instead is slowly released into the body over a duration of time – usually 12 to 24 hours. This provides around the clock pain relief so redosing is not necessary. What addicts will often do is they will crush or chew the tablets so as to bypass the time release function built into them. This will provide them with a shorter high, but a much greater rush than they would otherwise have experienced had they administered the drug in the way in which it was intended to be applied. These medications are carefully given out as prescriptions because they have one of the highest abuse potentials of any other class of prescription drugs available. It is always important to follow doctor guidelines, and to not deviate from those guidelines without first consulting with and obtaining approval from your doctor.

Improper use of OxyContin can lead to physical dependency, overdose and, unfortunately, death in some cases. Because OxyContin is a Central Nervous System Depressant, it is unwise to combine it with other Central Nervous System Depressants as the risk of respiratory depression leading to death is much greater. This is one of the guidelines that doctors stress the most, but it is also one that many who are seeking to abuse this substance overlook. Besides death, a user may sustain brain damage following overdose. The symptoms of overdose include nausea, shallow breathing, vomiting, and loss of consciousness.

​

Methadone, like Heroine and Morphine, is an opioid  substance that was synthesized during the second world war. Morphine, originally, was used for the treatment of severe pain and pain relief, but is now best known for its use in the treatment of those recovering from opioid addiction  One of the factors that makes Methadone so enticing for those undergoing a detoxification process is that a single Methadone treatment can last for many hours, up to 24 hours, which allows a single treatment per day for recovering addicts.  This is in contrast to Heroin which has a half-life of 30 minutes which can result in rapid cycling as the user seeks intense highs and refuge from steep comedowns. When Methadone is administered, it is typically in the form of a liquid , although tablets are less commonly prescribed.

Methadone is used in the Heroin detoxification process by virtue of the fact that opiate substances are so dependency building that to quit cold turkey could cause almost life threatening withdrawal. Thus, it was reasoned, a substance like methadone can bridge the gap between addiction and sobriety for recovering opiate users as they are weaned off methadone. That is not to say that Methadone is not without risk itself.

The drug is an opiate like heroin and carries much of the same potential for addiction all the same. It is therefore important that Methadone clinics effectively screen patients so that only those with genuine needs and a genuine desire to recover enter the programs. Like any other opioid substance, Methadone results in respiratory depression, and this stresses the importance that medical professionals calibrate the patient’s tolerance very carefully lest they take a dosage that is too high.

Known by various names, some of which are MDMA , “XTC”, “ecstasy“, this mind altering substance combines stimulant and hallucinogenic properties . In term of its chemical make up, MDMA is closely related to methamphetamine and MDA, both illicit substances. Research has linked MDMA to long term brain damage in regions of the brain that control memory and thought. Like its cousin methamphetamine, MDMA, by degrees, will damage those parts of the brain that are tasked with the creation of dopamine. This, in turn, can mean it is harder for users to maintain focus, enthusiasm and even feel positive emotion in what is known as anhedonia. Damage to Dopamine neurons has also been associated with Parkison’s disease, so that is a very real and possible consequence of the abuse of this drug.

The setting in which MMA is most often used is at clubs, raves, concerts and other raucous settings. The typical profile of the MDMA user is a young adult in their teens and twenties.  The fact that it is so prevalent among young people is particularly disturbing given what we know about the sensitivity of the developing brain, and the damage this drug has been known to cause the brain.

Like with MDMA’s sister class of drugs, amphetamines, this substance can result in increased heart rate and blood pressure, and this is particularly concerning for those with circulatory issues and heart disease, or who are at a risk for it. Another system commonly found in stimulant abuse is teeth clenching , muscle tension, and sleep problems. Other physical symptoms include nausea, blurred vision, faintness, chills and sweating, and faintness.

Psychological difficulties originating from the use of MDMA include epression, anxiety, paranoia, and in extreme cases, psychotic episodes.

The DEA or Drug Enforcement Administration rates this substance as a Schedule I drug meaning that it is illegal to consume or possess.

Alcohol, formally called “ethanol”, is an intoxicating beverage substance that is as much a drug as any other.  Alcohol is a depressant that in varying doses can act as a social lubricant in lower doses,  and put  the user in a dangerous stupor in higher doses; rendering them a danger to themselves and others around them.

The main areas of the brain that alcohol impacts upon consumption are the cerebellum, a region of the brain that principally is tasked with coordinating the body’s gross motor function. The other main region of the brain that alcohol is known for impacting is the hippocamus region of the brain. The hippocampus  mainly handles memory retention and retrieval (among other things) and alcohol consumption in large quantities impedes its ability to function. This can result in memory issues and the loss of the ability to judge one’s place in relation to objects and people in one’s immediate environment.  This, naturally, results in spatial impairment. Alcohol can also significantly impair the frontal lobe and thereby impair the executive functioning of the user. This region of the brain can impact one’s ability to plan ahead and to use sound judgement.

There are a number of variables that will determine one’s susceptibility to alcohol addiction, and just how this substance will impact the user upon ingestion and the resultant absorption of the alcohol into the bloodstream via the small intestine.

Some of the contributing factors to how alcohol will affect a given individual:

• Weight of the individual
• Metabolism of the individual
• Content of the stomach (empty / full)
• The individual’s sex
• The individual’s previous pattern of alcohol consumption

When a user drinks frequently and in a large enough quantity, they will begin to develop alcohol tolerance in response. Simply put, alcohol tolerance denotes the phenomenon by which an individual requires greater and greater amounts of alcohol to realize the same level of inebriation the more they consume.