Tag Archives: mental disorder

Addiction and Mental health

May 2, 2014

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment

Addiction

Your mental health can be affected by addiction and substance abuse, but wait a minute, did you know that event like team building could help you overcome some of these problems?

For people with dual disorders also known as “dual diagnosis”, the attempt to obtain professional help can be frustrating and confusing. They may have problems arising within themselves as a result of their psychiatric and alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders as well as problems of external origin that derive from the conflicts, limitations, and clashing philosophies of the mental health and addiction treatment systems. For example, internal problems such as frustration, denial, or depression may hinder their ability to recognize the need for help and diminish their ability to ask for help. A typical external problem might be the confusion experienced when individuals need services but lack knowledge about the different goals and processes of various types of available services. Other problems of external origin may be very fundamental, such as the inability to pay for child care services or the lack of transportation to the only available outpatient program.

Historically, when patients in alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment exhibited vivid and acute psychiatric symptoms, the symptoms were either unrecognized or observed but miss-described as toxicity or acting-out behavior or accurately identified, prompting the patients to be discharged or referred to a mental health program. Virtually the same process occurred for patients in mental health treatment who exhibited vivid and acute symptoms of AOD use disorders.

Mislabeling, rejecting, failing to recognize, or automatically transferring patients with dual disorders can result in inadequate treatment, with patients falling between the cracks of treatment systems. The symptoms of psychiatric and AOD use disorders often fluctuate in intensity and frequency. Current symptom presentation may reflect a short-term change in the course of long-term dual disorders. Thus, even when patients receive traditional professional help, treatment may address only selected aspects of their overall problem unless treatment is coordinated among services including AOD, mental health, social, and medical programs.

As a result, the treatment system itself may be a stumbling block for some people attempting to receive ongoing, appropriate, and comprehensive treatment for combined psychiatric and AOD use disorders. Thus, treatment services for patients with dual disorders must be sensitive to both the individual’s and the treatment system’s impediments to the initiation and continuation of treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment Systems

People with dual disorders who want to engage in the treatment process (or who need to do so) frequently encounter several treatment systems, each having its own strengths and weaknesses. These treatment systems have different clinical approaches.

Addiction and Mental health-The Mental Health System

Actually, there is no single mental health system, although most States have a set of public mental health centers. Rather, mental health services are provided by a variety of mental health professionals including psychiatrists; psychologists; clinical social workers; clinical nurse specialists; other therapists and counselors including marriage, family, and child counselors (MFCCs); and paraprofessionals.

These mental health personnel work in a variety of settings, using a variety of theories about the treatment of specific psychiatric disorders. Different types of mental health professionals for example, social workers and MFCCs have differing perspectives; moreover, practitioners within a given group often use different approaches.

A major strength of the mental health system is the comprehensive array of services offered, including counseling, case management, partial hospitalization, inpatient treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and a variety of residential programs. The mental health system has a relatively large variety of treatment settings. These settings are designed to provide treatment services for patients with acute, sub-acute, and long-term symptoms.

  • Acute services are provided by personnel in emergency rooms and hospital units of several types and by crisis-line personnel, outreach teams, and mental health law commitment specialists.
  • Sub-acute services are provided by hospitals, day treatment programs, mental health center programs, and several types of individual practitioners.
  • Long-term settings include mental health centers, residential units, and practitioners’ offices.
  • Clinicians vary with regard to academic degrees, styles, expertise, and training.
  • Strength of the mental health system is the growing recognition at all system levels of the role of case management as a means to individualize and coordinate services and secures entitlements.

Medication is more often used in psychiatric treatment than in addiction treatment, especially for severe disorders. Medications used to treat psychiatric symptoms include psychoactive and non-psychoactive medications. Psychoactive medications cause an acute change in mood, thinking, or behavior, such as sedation, stimulation, or euphoria.

Psychoactive medications (such as benzodiazepines) prescribed to the average patient with psychiatric problems are generally taken in an appropriate fashion and pose little or no risk of abuse or addiction. In contrast, the use of psychoactive medications by patients with a personal or family history of an AOD use disorder is associated with a high risk of abuse or addiction.

Some medications used in psychiatry that have mild psychoactive effects (such as some tricyclic antidepressants with mild sedative effects) appear to be misused more by patients with an AOD disorder than by others. Thus, a potential pitfall is prescribing psychoactive medications to a patient with psychiatric problems without first determining whether the individual also has an AOD use disorder.

While most clinicians in the mental health system generally have expertise in a bio-psychosocial approach to the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders, some lack similar skills and knowledge about the specific drugs of abuse, the bio-psychosocial processes of abuse and addiction, and AOD treatment, recovery, and relapse. Similarly, AOD treatment professionals may have a thorough understanding of AOD abuse treatment but not psychiatric treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-The Addiction Treatment System

As with mental health treatment, no single addiction treatment system exists. Rather, there is a collection of different types of services such as social and medical model detoxification programs, short- and long-term treatment programs, methadone detoxification and maintenance programs, long-term therapeutic communities, and self-help adjuncts such as the 12-step programs. These programs can vary greatly with respect to treatment goals and philosophies. For example, abstinence is a prerequisite for entry into some programs, while it is a long-term goal in other programs. Some AOD treatment programs are not abstinence oriented. For example, some methadone maintenance programs have the overt goal of eventual abstinence for all patients, while others promote continued methadone use to encourage psychosocial stabilization.

As with mental health treatment, addiction treatment is provided by a diverse group of practitioners, including physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, certified addiction counselors, MFCCs, and other therapists, counselors, and recovering paraprofessionals. There can be a wide difference in experience, expertise, and knowledge among these diverse providers. As with mental health treatment, most States have public and private AOD treatment systems.

The strengths of addiction treatment services include the multidisciplinary team approach with a bio-psychosocial emphasis, and an understanding of the addictive process combined with knowledge of the drugs of abuse and the 12-step programs. In typical addiction treatment, medications are used to treat the complications of addiction, such as overdose and withdrawal. However, few medications that directly treat or interrupt the addictive process, such as disulfiram and naltrexone, have been identified or regularly used. Maintenance medications such as methadone are crucial for certain patients. However, most addiction treatment professionals attempt to eliminate patients’ use of all drugs.

Addiction and Mental health-Similarities Treatment Systems
  • Variety of treatment settings and program types
  • Public and private settings
  • Multiple levels of care
  • Bio-psychosocial models
  • Increasing use of case and care management
  • Value of self-help adjuncts.

Many who work in the addiction treatment field have only a limited understanding of medications used for psychiatric disorders. Historically, some people have mistakenly assumed that all or most psychiatric medications are psychoactive or potentially addictive. Many addiction treatment staff tends to avoid the use of any medication with their patients, probably in reaction to those whose addiction included prescription medications such as diazepam. Many staff lack proper training and experience in the use of such medications. In the treatment of dual disorders, a balance must be made between behavioral interventions and the appropriate use of non-addicting psychiatric medications for those who need them to participate in the recovery process. Withholding medications from such individuals increases their chances of AOD relapse.

Because of these variances in administering addiction medication you need to specifically take the lead role in offering addiction treatment. Dr. Dalal Akoury Founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is the expert you need. She is offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. Contacting her would be the beginning of your journey to truly successful and fast addiction recovery treatment.

Addiction and Mental health-Treatment

 

 

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Addiction an Energy disease

April 24, 2014

Addiction an Energy disease-Bipolar disorder

Energy

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental disorder that affects everyone. It’s characterized by sudden and intense shifts in mood, behavior and energy levels.

Bipolar disorder, once commonly known as manic depression, is a serious mental disorder that is characterized by sudden and intense shifts in mood, behavior and energy levels. Like substance abuse, bipolar disorder poses a risk to the individual’s physical and emotional well-being. Those afflicted with bipolar disorder have a higher rate of relationship problems, economic instability, accidental injuries and suicide than the general population. They are also significantly more likely to develop an addiction to drugs or alcohol. In a study conducted recently:

  • About 56 percent of individuals with bipolar who participated in a national study had experienced drug or alcohol addiction during their lifetime.
  • Approximately 46 percent of that group had abused alcohol or were addicted to alcohol.
  • About 41 percent had abused drugs or were addicted to drugs.
  • Alcohol is the most commonly abused substance among bipolar individuals.

If you are struggling with bipolar disorder and with a drug or alcohol problem, you may have a Dual Diagnosis of bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Having a Dual Diagnosis, or a co-occurring disorder, can make recovery more challenging. Bipolar individuals may experience periods of intense depression alternating with episodes of heightened activity and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. This emotional instability can interfere with your recovery program, making it difficult to comply with the guidelines of your treatment plan.

Addiction an Energy disease-Relationship between Addiction and Bipolar

There is no easy explanation for the high rate of substance abuse and chemical dependence among bipolar individuals. One reason for this phenomenon is that a large percentage of individuals attempt to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol in an effort to numb the painful symptoms of their bipolar disorder. Symptoms of bipolar disorder such as anxiety, pain, depression and sleeplessness are so alarming, that many individuals will turn to drugs and alcohol as a means for offsetting the discomfort, if only for a little while.

Age and gender may play a part in the relationship between addictions and bipolar. According to the journal Bipolar Disorder, substance abuse is more common in young males than in other population groups.

Clinical researchers believe that brain chemistry may influence both bipolar disorder and substance abuse. People with bipolar disorder often have abnormal levels of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. These chemicals affect vital functions like appetite, metabolism, sleep and your body’s response to stress. They also affect mood and emotions. Heavy use of drugs or alcohol can interfere with the way your brain processes these chemicals, causing emotional instability, erratic energy levels and depression. People with bipolar disorder may turn to drugs or alcohol out of an unconscious need to stabilize their moods. Unfortunately, substance abuse has the opposite effect, making the symptoms of bipolar disorder worse.

Addiction an Energy disease-Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

We all go through intense episodes of sadness, elation, anger or despair. But for someone who meets the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder, these episodes are all-consuming and uncontrollable. There are four major types of mood episodes that characterize bipolar disorder: mania, hypomania, depression and mixed episodes — each of which has a set of unique symptoms:

Depression

At the “low” end of the bipolar spectrum is depression, an emotional state that is often characterized by sadness, tearfulness and despair. Depression in bipolar disorder may last for days or weeks, depending on your mood cycle. These periods are dangerous for Dual Diagnosis individuals, who have a higher risk of self-injury and suicide when they’re using drugs and alcohol during a low period. When you’re depressed, you may experience:

  • Hopeless feelings
  • Loss of interest in things that used to make you happy
  • Fatigue
  • Changes in appetite
  • Self-loathing
  • Suicidal thoughts

Episodes

The symptoms of bipolar disorder aren’t always clearly defined. In a mixed episode, behaviors reflect a combination of mania and depression. For example, you may have suicidal feelings and loss of interest in your daily activities, combined with racing thoughts, pressured speech and loss of sleep.

You may feel the urge to drink or take drugs in an attempt to balance out these unpredictable mood swings, but intoxication is only a temporary fix that won’t provide permanent relief. To achieve a full recovery, you need professional treatment that helps you stabilize your moods as you deal with the cravings and destructive impulses that characterize addiction. Doctor Dalal Akoury is a professional in this line and she will instantly help you fix this problem.

Addiction an Energy disease-Treatment for Bipolar and Addiction

In the past, bipolar disorder and chemical dependence were addressed as separate conditions and treated at separate facilities. People who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder were referred to mental health treatment centers or psychiatric hospitals, while those who were actively abusing drugs and alcohol were sent to rehab. Today, addiction professionals recognize the importance of treating bipolar disorder and substance abuse at the same time through a process called “integrated treatment.”

Integrated treatment encompasses a number of different treatment strategies. Your treatment plan might include one-on-one psychotherapy with a mental health professional, counseling sessions with addiction specialists, Dual Diagnosis support groups, family counseling and holistic therapy. Features of an integrated program for bipolar disorder and addiction include:

It’s not enough to treat bipolar disorder without addressing the problem of substance abuse, and vice versa. Unless you receive comprehensive care for both conditions, your chances of relapse are high. Relapse prevention strategies for an individual with bipolar disorder must include coping skills for managing the psychological and emotional triggers for substance abuse. Therapeutic approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) have proven useful in teaching Dual Diagnosis patients how to regulate their emotions and avoid being overwhelmed by dramatic mood changes. 

Group support is crucial to recovery when you have a Dual Diagnosis of bipolar disorder and a substance use disorder. In peer group support meetings and counseling sessions, you’ll learn about the common triggers and risk factors that people with bipolar disorder face in recovery. You’ll have the opportunity to share your experiences with others and to acquire new coping strategies from your peers.

In dual diagnosis treatment centers, the importance of psychotherapeutic medication in treating bipolar disorder is widely acknowledged. Mood-stabilizing medications may be used in combination with antipsychotic drugs or antidepressants to provide complete support for your recovery goals.

Addiction an Energy disease-Challenges to Recovery

Addiction professionals face a number of challenges when it comes to treating bipolar patients with addiction issues. For one thing, many of the symptoms of bipolar disorder are similar to those of drug and alcohol abuse. Therefore, if a person does seek out professional help, it is difficult to see where the mental disorder stops and the addiction begins.

AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury is a resource everyone suffering from elements of this article need to embrace. Doctor Akoury is an expert who has been and still is caring for patients globally with all forms of addictions while focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. My dear friend no matter the magnitude of your situation the doors of AWAREmed are open for you 24/7. Take that bold step of recovery by calling and begin your journey to comfortable, healthy and desirable life.

Addiction an Energy disease-Bipolar disorder

 

 

 

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Prefrontal cortex in addiction: The Executive Brain

April 5, 2014

Prefrontal cortex in addiction-Effect of Right and Left PFC

The Prefrontal cortex in addiction

Studies around problems in the brains prefrontal cortex have been associated with Impulsive action; a trait of addictive behavior.

The prefrontal cortex in addiction (PFC) is that portion of the brain located in the very front of the brain, just behind the forehead. It’s in charge of abstract thinking and thought analysis it is also responsible for regulating behavior. This includes mediating conflicting thoughts, making choices between right and wrong, and predicting the possible outcomes of actions or events. This brain area also governs social control, such as suppressing emotional or sexual urges. Since the prefrontal cortex is the brain center responsible for taking in data through the body’s senses and deciding on actions, it is most strongly implicated in human qualities like consciousness, general intelligence, and personality

Prefrontal cortex in addiction-Function

This vital region of the brain regulates thought in terms of both short-term and long-term decision making. It allows humans to plan ahead and create strategies, and also to adjust actions or reactions in changing situations. Additionally, the PFC helps to focus thoughts, which enables people to pay attention, learn, and concentrate on goals. This area is also the part of the brain that allows humans to consider several different yet related lines of thinking when learning or evaluating complex concepts or tasks. The prefrontal cortex in addiction also houses active, working memory.

The Prefrontal Cortex in Addiction

Chemical addiction is classified as a mental illness, such that addiction changes the brain in fundamental ways. An addiction disturbs a person’s normal hierarchy of needs and desires and substitutes new priorities connected with using drugs or alcohol. The resulting compulsive behaviors that override the ability to control impulses despite the consequences are similar to hallmarks of other mental illnesses.

Prefrontal cortex in addiction-Signs of Prefrontal Cortex Damage

  • Studies around problems in the brains prefrontal cortex have been associated with Impulsive action; a trait of addictive behavior.
  • Lack of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex is also associated with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
  • Lack of serotonin is a common problem with juveniles who lash out.

Some believe that impulsive behavior says more about an addicts approach to their addiction rather than the addiction itself. If one asked, “Why would anyone use drugs knowing that they lead to suffering?”  The impulsiveness argument is a good answer, because it suggests that the thinking person is not in control, which reinforces the argument that the addict is powerless.

Prefrontal cortex in addiction-Signs of Addictive Behavior
  • Addicts differ in their capacity to exercise judgment and inhibit impulses.
  • The brain’s prefrontal cortex helps to determine the adaptive value of pleasure recorded by the nucleus accumbens and checks the urge to take the drug when it would be unwise.
  • If the prefrontal cortex is not functioning properly, an addictive drug has more power to monopolize the reward circuit.
Prefrontal cortex in addiction-Depression

Though depression involves an overall reduction in brain activity, some parts of the brain are more affected than others. In brain-imaging studies using PET scans, depressed people display abnormally low activity in the prefrontal cortex in addiction, and more specifically in its lateral, orbitofrontal, and ventromedial regions. And the severity of the depression often correlates with the extent of the decline in activity in the prefrontal cortex.

  1. Orbitofrontal cortex
  2. Lateral prefrontal cortex
  3. Ventromedial cortex
  4. Limbic system

The prefrontal cortex in addiction is known not only to be involved in emotional responses, but also to have numerous connections with other parts of the brain that are responsible for controlling dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, three neurotransmitters that are important in mood regulation. More specifically, the lateral prefrontal cortex seems to help us choose a course of behavior by letting us assess the various alternatives mentally. The orbitofrontal cortex seems to let us defer certain immediate gratifications and suppress certain emotions in order to obtain greater long-term benefits. And the ventromedial cortex is thought to be one of the sites in the brain where we experience emotions and the meanings of things.

The two halves of the prefrontal cortex in addiction also seem to have specialized functions, with the left half being involved in establishing positive feelings and the right half in establishing negative ones. And indeed, in depressed people, it is the left prefrontal cortex that shows the greatest signs of weakness. In other words, when people are depressed, they find it very hard not only to set goals in order to obtain rewards, but also to believe that such goals can be achieved.

In healthy people, the left prefrontal cortex might also help to inhibit the negative emotions generated by limbic structures such as the amygdalae, which show abnormally high activity in depressed patients. In patients who respond positively to antidepressants, this over activity is reduced. And when the amygdalae remain highly hyperactive despite antidepressant treatment, the likelihood of a patient’s relapsing into depression is high.

It is also interesting to note that when someone’s left prefrontal cortex is operating at full capacity, the levels of glucocorticoids in their blood are generally very low. This follows logically, considering the harmful effects that high levels of glucocorticoids have on mood.

Brain-imaging studies have also shown that in patients with severe depression, the volume of the two hippocampi is reduced. This atrophy may be due to a loss of neurons that is also induced by the toxic effects of the high levels of glucocorticoids associated with recurrent episodes of depression. The extent of atrophy in the hippocampus even seems to be proportional to the sum of the durations of the episodes of depression, and depressions that are treated rapidly do not seem to lead to this reduction in hippocampal volume

Prefrontal cortex in addiction-Effect of Right and Left PFC

 

 

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