The topic of learning how to deal with the emotions and feelings runs neck-and-neck with improving and repairing relationships, in terms of being the most requested subject.

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I don’t think this is any surprise, because when we’re active in our addiction I think we generate all kinds of unpleasant emotional turmoil within us and affecting those around us. We have, for the most part learned abstinence.  But how to go about repairing ourselves and our relationships with the world around us is a whole other story. This is not easy work, but it can be done.  In fact, I would say needs to be done.

Let’s look at some tools and methods that can get us pointed in the right direction. Don’t get discouraged remember its “progress not perfection”.

Emotions and Feelings

Two things I’m certain of, and that’s people who are active in their addiction, or in early recovery, really have a difficult time with:

1. Emotions and Feelings

2. Relationships

As we all know, alcohol and other drugs have a biological and psychological effect on the brain, especially on neurotransmitters. These effects can continue on for quite some time for after we have stopped using the alcohol or drugs.

Aside from physical symptoms, there may be emotional and cognitive symptoms that you may experience. Just about everybody entering early recovery has noted extreme mood swings. While not particularly pleasant, they are not abnormal in the least.

Sometimes these mood swings can get so extreme they can actually interfere with how well you can function in day to day living. You may be hyper, or in the best of moods one day, on a pink cloud. And shortly there after, even opening your eyes and getting out of bed can be a challenge.

There are no definitive answers to why these mood swings occur, but the best guess is that it is a combination of physiological and psychological factors. One thing that is fairly certain, is the radical degree of mood swings tends to temper and lessen with time.

The time frame for the moderation of mood swings is usually towards the end of the first year recovery, but that is not written in stone.

There Are Some Things You Should Know About Feelings:

Feelings, come about in response to an action or an event. The more dramatic or radical the event the more dramatic or intense the emotion. Usually emotions tend to follow changes. I can’t think of anything more radical than moving from a life of Addiction into one of recovery. Its it’s actually pretty unrealistic not to expect mood swings with the changes we are undergoing.

If feelings are pushed down, suppressed, or ignored, they don’t just go away or disappear.

I think of an old fashioned pressure cooker, like my grandmother had, with that little nob on top that used to hiss and rock back and forth. Well, if you were to screw that pressure relief valve down tight, turn up the heat something’s going to blow up, and it usually comes out sideways. Feelings are the same way stuff them dpwn, turn up the heat and they will blow up…usually at an innocent person. There is an ever increasing body of research and evidence that says that unresolved feelings can actually affect your physical health.

Often, early in recovery we lack the ability to identify our feelings accurately. It is as if we do not have the vocabulary to identify them, you can mistake anger for fear, laughter covering shame, or use the catchall phrase by stating “I’m fine“.

If you do not learn how to identify, own and process feelings and emotions, you may be tempted to return to drinking and drugging. Unfortunately, drinks and drugs are very effective at nullifying unpleasant feelings and emotions.

You can change your feelings. No matter how suddenly they arise, or how strong they may be, you can certainly control your reaction to them and transform then into less damaging actions.

Our second week was spent examining very closely and rigorously, the concept of honesty. Well, honesty and emotions can be linked together, and there’s a term often use called emotional honesty.

If you can develop the concept of emotional honesty, you develop the ability to care about yourself and love yourself. Issues of low self-esteem will improve. If you care about, and love yourself, that will enable you to have functional and fulfilling relationships with others.

Feelings Are Not Facts

Feelings are not facts… OK I give up, what we talking about.

Well, you may feel a certain feeling, you are certainly entitled to that, it is real to you, but that might not be the fact what is going on in reality. Here’s an example: you walk into a meeting, or a room of people,   and feel that everybody’s staring at you, not only that, but nobody likes you.

The fact of the matter is most assuredly, that you walked into the room, maybe everybody’s even looking at you; but it’s a far stretch of the imagination to believe that everybody dislikes you immediately. In reality, some people may be taking immediate liking to you, some might be neutral, and then again, some may actually dislike your first appearance.

Your perceptions and feelings may be completely different from what is really going on.

One of the perils, of not pushing yourself to work through uncomfortable feelings, is staying stuck in the rut of being comfortable and staying with old familiar things. Stunted growth. If you feel that everybody is always staring at you, and disliking you, isn’t it tempting not to venture out or try to meet new people?

Fear is often at their root of reluctance to work on or challenge our feelings. In fact, in the 12 and 12 book of Alcoholics Anonymous it states “self-centered fear is the activator of our character defects”. We will devote an entire section to handling fear in an upcoming module.

Unless we are growing in recovery and “working on feelings and emotions” very little progress will be made in personal growth, forming, or repairing relationships.

Why is this true you may ask? Because…

”The ability to identify, own, and process our feelings determines the quality of our relationships”

How can we possibly enter into a loving relationship but we do not love ourselves? How can we respect another, when we do not respect ourselves?

A huge problem that we face in recovery is to allow your emotional response to other people dictate your behavior. In other words worrying about what people will think if I do this or I don’t do that. Perhaps that is the fear of rejection speaking, or the fear of acting the fool, but in any event, it is part of working with feelings and emotions to own and accept your feelings.

Feelings aren’t right or wrong they just are.

Let’s use the example to illustrate this point. We are all at 12 Step meeting, and Sally walks in 15 minutes late:

Joe sees this and thinks “Who does she think she is, interrupting everybody, doesn’t she have the common decency and respect to be here on time?” He gets angry.

Alison sees Sally walk in and says “Oh my goodness, I haven’t seen her in a long time, I want to talk to her after the meeting.” She is glad.

Barry sees Sally walk again doesn’t know her, and could care less if she is there or not. He is completely neutral.

Now, who is right and who’s wrong? Isn’t it interesting the same event precipitated 3 different reactions or feelings in different people; happiness, anger, and neutrality?

I thought that was a pretty jazzy example, no? But where did these feelings come from? How can the same event spark happiness, anger, and a lack of feeling?

In part, I believe, the first feeling that comes up for you when an event or an action is witnessed is probably based on your experience, your upbringing, and your mood or receptivity. I think questioning “why” a particular feeling sprang up at a particular time is a dead end path.

It Is much more important that you can identify the feeling, own it, and process it appropriately, rather than determine the cause.

The core of all feelings and emotions work has three parts:

1. Identify the feeling

2. Own the feeling

3. Process the feeling

1. Identifying feelings - for people addicted to drugs and alcohol is very common not to be able to correctly or accurately to identify feelings and emotions. I believe a major part of the problem is that we simply have not developed the vocabulary to express feelings. In many therapy groups in which I participated, there’s an exercise called a ‘go round’. Everyone is asked to go round the room and tell the group how they’re feeling in 1 or 2 words. Common answers are: good, fine, shitty etc. Now I’m not dumb, I kind of know what they’re saying, but what is ‘shitty’ to you might not be ‘shitty’ to me.

Another serious difficulty people have when talking about feelings, is that they are often talking about thoughts, explanations and telling stories not simply stating their feelings.

2. Owning our feelings - This is another concept that is sometimes difficult to grasp, but is very important to understand. To have feelings is OK and normal, but they are yours. You must own them. The important point here is that nobody can “make” you feel a certain way. A statement like “you make me so mad when you come home late”, is not accurate when we are talking about owning feelings. A more accurate way to express that is “when you come home late I become mad.” see the difference?

3. Processing our feelings - there’s a lot of literature devoted to the proper expression of feelings. There many tips on how to properly express anger, concern, etc. I will leave it to you to explore this aspect further. I’m going to go one better. Rather than teach you how to properly express your feelings I’m going to give you ideas on how to change your feelings.

“Men are disturbed if not by you events, but by the views which they take of them.”
Epictetus – A.D 55-135

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy

Don’t be scared by those $5 words, rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) was created by Elbert Ellis around 1955. It is based on the same ideas quoted above by freed Roman slave turned philosopher around 2000 years ago.

Is really as simple as ABC.  A + B = C

A) An action or a event occurs, something happens.

B) You form a belief about that action or event. (A)

C) You form an emotional reaction to that belief (B)

Let’s work through an example:

A) My boyfriend said he would call me tonight and he didn’t.

B) He knew was important, he doesn’t care about me anymore.

C) I get angry because all men are rats.

Now, one of the keys to changing your emotions, is to actually change your beliefs about the about the event or action that started the whole process. If we work through the above example: we cannot change the fact that your boyfriend did not call.

What we can, and must do, is a challenge our beliefs (B) about why he didn’t call. Instead of believing that he does not care about me anymore, I can choose to believe that he simply forgot, and on the whole is a pretty decent guy. I can then even choose to feel good about myself for forgiving him.

Can you see how the key is in challenging your beliefs about an action? You could choose to believe all men rats or you could choose to believe that he was forgetful just this once.

I don’t know about you, but if there are two equally plausible beliefs I can have about the situation…All things being equal, I will try to choose the one that causes me the least amount of pain. I hate to bum you out, but there’s one more addition to the equation of ABC, and that is “D”. the D is for Dispute. A+B+C+D.

The whole point of REBT is to get a person changing their irrational beliefs into rational beliefs, that’s where the ‘R’ in REBT comes from. We do that by disputing our beliefs about the action of the situation.

This is a simplified model of REBT. The basic point of the ABC concept is that A (the event) does not cause C (the emotion). The action or the event does not lead directly to an emotion springing up. A leads to B, which is your interpretation or belief about the action in the event, your belief or interpretation then gives rise to the emotion. If you dispute your interpretation of the event you will change your emotion is the outcome of your interpretation.

That may sound a little complicated, but if you go back and look over the example, the key lies with your belief about the action. Make up a few examples of your own and work through them, it will make more sense.

Here’s how I work it: When I dispute my beliefs about the events or actions I tend to ask myself these 3 questions:

1. What is REALLY going on here? Maybe I’ve got it all wrong.
2. How important is this anyway?
3. Do I need to do something about it right now?

Taking the time to answer those three questions has saved me an incredible amount of embarrassment, and amends being owed.

The Three Basic “Musts”

According to REBT, there are three irrational and illogical beliefs that can cause all sorts of aggravation and trouble. Do any sound familiar to you?

1. I “must” get what I want, when I want it. If I don’t want something I’d better not get. If I can’t get what I want it’s a terrible tragedy. Poor impulse control.

2. I “must” win the approval of others for my actions or I am no good and have little value.

3. Everyone “must” treat me exactly the way I want to be treated in a kind fair and considerate manner, if they don’t, they are rats and should be punished.

Acceptance and Peace

If you remember, in previous discussions about addiction we mentioned the fact that we can be in a great deal of denial. Our perception of reality is altered, and we have created fantasies in order to allow us to continue using.
One of the goals of doing work on emotions and feelings is to arrive at a condition of acceptance, specifically an acceptance of reality. That includes the idea that things don’t go the way we want them to all the time. Others don’t behave the way we want them at our request. We (not them) must make some adjustments. Here are tools to help. Here’s what we’re aiming for:

Accepting Yourself Unconditionally:

1. As part of being a human, I will fail occasionally. I have my strong points and my weak points, my good points and my bad points.

2. In spite of my strengths and weaknesses, I am no better nor worse than any other person.

3. It is OK to have flaws, I don’t have to be perfect all the time.

Unconditionally Accepting The People Around You:

1. No one is perfect, and sometimes I will be treated in an unfair fashion.

2. People don’t “have” to treat me fairly.

3. If someone doesn’t treat me well it does not necessarily mean they are rats, or better than me.

Accepting Life On Life’s Terms:

1. Who said life will always work out the way I wanted to? Sometimes things won’t work out according to my plan.

2. Life is not always happy, the joyous, and free, but then again it is not always completely black or gray and unbearable.

3. Life does not “have” to go the way I want it, sometimes it won’t. Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, all my plans will not come through.

Emotional Honesty

If we combine honesty, together with enhanced ability to handle our emotions, we come up with a very powerful aid to employ toward personal growth and our maturity in recovery, something called the emotional honesty. Emotional honesty means becoming aware of each time our feelings are hurt, and attending to the distress that it causes at the time it occurs. By correctly identifying the feeling, owning it as our own, and changing it into something less harmful, we greatly reduce the chance that an undealt with emotion can turn into a relapse trigger.

Emotional honesty means taking responsibility for what we feel rather than taking seeking a method for escaping it.

We need to:

1. Stay in the present, not the past, or future

2. Do the next right thing, and let go of outcomes.

3. Stay positive

4. Be open to and willing to change, make mistakes, admit when we’re wrong, and grow. This is what is to be human.

In Closing:

I believe one of the most difficult tasks involved in our growth in addiction recovery is to do your emotions and feelings work. The satisfaction and growth in this area it does not come overnight, it can take weeks, months, and years.

A gentle word of caution… is not to superimpose your own time frame over your work on emotions feelings and relationships. In other words, we think things should be happening quickly or right away. We might have unrealistic time frame expectations. Healing and growth in this area can often take much longer than we anticipate.

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
-Jim Valvano-

“Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and deliberately reshape your daily experience of life.”
-Anthony Robbins-

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Carl W. Buechner-

“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”
-Unknown-

Bill Urell

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Comorbidity is a topic that our stakeholders–patients, family members, health care professionals, and others– frequently ask about. It is also a topic about which we have insufficient information, so it remains a research priority for NIDA. This Research Report provides information on the state of the science in this area. Although a variety of diseases commonly co-occur with drug abuse and addiction (e.g., HIV, hepatitis C, cancer, cardiovascular disease), this report focuses only on the comorbidity of drug use disorders and other mental illnesses.

To help explain this comorbidity, we need to first recognize that drug addiction is a mental illness. It is a complex brain disease characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable drug craving, seeking, and use despite devastating consequences–behaviors that stem from drug-induced changes in brain structure and function. These changes occur in some of the same brain areas that are disrupted in other mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia. It is therefore not surprising that population surveys show a high rate of co-occurrence, or comorbidity, between drug addiction and other mental illnesses. While we cannot always prove a connection or causality, we do know that certain mental disorders are established risk factors for subsequent drug abuse– and vice versa.

It is often difficult to disentangle the overlapping symptoms of drug addiction and other mental illnesses, making diagnosis and treatment complex. Correct diagnosis is critical to ensuring appropriate and effective treatment. Ignorance of or failure to treat a comorbid disorder can jeopardize a patient’s chance of recovery. We hope that our enhanced understanding of the common genetic, environmental, and neural bases of these disorders– and the dissemination of this information– will lead to improved treatments for comorbidity and will diminish the social stigma that makes patients reluctant to seek the treatment they need.

Nora D. Volkow, M.D.
Director
National Institute on Drug Abuse

The sedentary lifestyle that most people live with these days is just one of the main factors why we encounter panic attack. Aside from that the lack of nutrients within the food we tend to eat and the not enough quality sleep; are included here. Things even gets most terrible as you have the earlier reasons and these additional negative factors like: overworked body and isolation.

All of those given factors above lead to a life threatened with unpredictable panic attack; which when given lesser consideration and care will end up being miserable. But, if you are determined enough to combat against this condition with the help of panic disorder treatment you are certainly going to overcome it.

They are saying it’s always better to do prevention than cure. I would have to agree with that. Before panic attack may even set in. Don’t you think that it’s better to start out enforcing actions to stop it from coming? How? All you have to do is keep all of those easy natural solutions to your head and start following them on a regular basis.

1. Relieve yourself from Stress

The main objective is to rebuild a relaxed nervous system. That is attainable with the help of progressive relaxation, yoga, tai chi and a lot of relaxing activities. I must say the effect of this step is truly amazingly fast.

2. Follow a healthy Eating regimen

With nourishing food regimen you are leaving long lasting results on the nerves. Keep this in mind, eating sufficient protein for neurotransmitter development and getting enough alkaline minerals for healing.

3. Reduce times of Isolation

Learn to be more social by cheering others in each of their own trials in life. You may even choose to volunteer for a typical cause and from then on stay active. Another thing, impart your ups and downs with a trustworthy peer for emotional reinforcement.

4. Move your Body

As mentioned on earlier articles, exercise is important because it burns out panic attacks from the body. Here are some samples of motion exercise: Walking, jogging, swimming, biking, and even gardening are excellent sources of happiness and at the same a wonderful manner of relaxation.

Visit: Panic Anxiety Attack

We all cope with stress in our lives. There’s simply no getting around it. But some people are more sensitive to stress than others, and both feel it more strongly and react to it with varying levels of anxiety, anger, or panic. Some individual can have no trouble coping with the stress of school while others have a more intense reaction and will have a panic attack.

A panic attack is a scary event, especially since it attacks and isolates a person all at once. The strength of any given attack is not the same from person to person. Often the attack is so intense its mistaken for a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. This can generate even more attack and fear for the person coping with it, which in turn will only add fuel to the panic attack, causing a vicious cycle.

Even worse, though, is the possibility that the strain of a panic attack can cause real problem to the heart. Being frequently afflicted with panic attacks could really cause someone to develop heart disease over time, which is why it’s so essential to find a way to diminish the occurrence of a panic attack.

Some individual might not even be aware that they’re having panic attacks or panic attack related problems. This is because they don’t know what the signs of a panic attack resemble. In order to assist those who want to be able to spot a panic attack, here is an outline of the most frequent signs:

Many of the symptoms are personal, deep in the mind of the person suffering them. Dizziness and hotheadedness are often occurrences, sometimes in a very pronounced fashion.

This may be accompanied with a detached, half-dreaming state that distorts what the person is experiencing, feeling, and even smelling as well as disorients them. The severity of these symptoms can differ in intensity. Some individual, not knowing that they are experiencing a panic attack, will not know what’s happening to them, which will generate yet more attack. This can cause mental distress which, if allowed to continue, can cause real personal injury to the sufferer.

And then there are the physical side effects. Nausea and vomiting are often signs as the body starts to react to the irritation and anxiety of the attack. This can be mild or severe from one individual to another. For many, it might last for hours. This is neither comfortable nor healthy, especially when it causes yet more anxiety and stress.

There are more physical signs of an attack that can be confusing as well as frightening. Many people have called the emergency room in the middle of a panic attack, mistaking it for a heart attack.

Again, these signs are issues that are completely identical to suffering a heart attack. To say such signs can be very frightening would be a significant understatement. And, as previously, mentioned the fear of experiencing a heart attack could even generate to an real future heart attack.

There are even psychological components to a panic attack that can also lead to real physical issues actually manifesting. For example, an intense panic attack can lead to the onset of a sense of terror and helplessness.

This feeling is frequently accompanied by a feeling that the walls are closing in and an intense desire to escape. Unfortunately, since this particular symptom exists as a state of mind, there isn’t any escape to be found. This is especially the case when the person in question isn’t aware that a panic attack is what’s causing the trouble.

You should know the physical symptoms of a panic attack. But it’s also important to get yourself or the person suffering beneath the panic attacks to see help. There lots of books available to day, written by people who have dealt with anxiety, themselves. Reading the right book, you can find it easier to understand and end this uncomfortable disease.

Here a effective blog: anxiety treatment This website has effective treatment for anxiety tips.

Natural remedies for depression have received a recurrent interest as contemporary culture has become more enthused about herbs and therapies used in times past. While serious depressive problems are linked to bi-polar and other organically caused issues, there is a vast array of typical individuals who can benefit from natural treatments to lift general depression. Medical doctors suggest that most people within the course of their lifetime will experience an episode of moodiness or depression that may need some attention in order to resume normal emotional patterns. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee…” (Isaiah 43:2) Most experts agree that depression is a complex presentation of emotional, psychological and physical causalities that can be difficult to isolate. There are also general natural health suggestions that can be followed that will help any individual deal with general depressive symptoms.

There are many effective ways to deal with depression, including exercise, talk therapy, medication, natural supplements, and lifestyle choices. Learning about the treatment options will help you decide what measures are most likely to work best for your particular situation and needs. There are no quick fixes or instant cures, but if you’re willing to work on yourself and stick with treatment, you’ll find yourself out from under depression’s shadow sooner than you think.

Some of the most commonly used herbs that have been used for generations include St. Johns Wart, ginseng, and gingko biloba. St. Johns Wart is one of the natural remedies for depression that has been used widely for years and has seen a heightened use of it as an alternative to anti-depressants. It is one of the leading herbs for depression that has been thoroughly tested as well as rates high among its users. For people who are experiencing moderate to mild symptoms, St. Johns Wart has proven to lessen the symptoms 50% or more with no common side affects. The comparison of St. Johns wart to prozac or other drugs has fared well with users who wish to avert symptoms of these medications which include restlessness, sexual dysfunction and other problems. A recommended dosage is 900 mg. a day of the herb is suggested. Some can drink it in tea form, but it is recommended to be careful with this because of the lack of standardization in dosage.

Benefits include more restful sleep, less anxiety symptoms, better blood circulation throughout the body, and a defence against viruses. Other herbs for depression that have met with great acceptance are ginseng and gingko biloba. Ginseng is widely known for its popularity in China for thousands of years. Used for a variety of ailments, ginseng is now growing very popular in the US for its anti-depressant properties. Ginseng provides a quick remedy for mental alertness, a lift from depression and fatigue. Many elderly patients benefit from this herb as it provides mental acuity, especially for those suffering from Alzheimers or hardening of the arteries. This natural remedy can be taken most easily in tea or capsule form and will provide a general lift to cognitive functioning. Ginseng can be taken in dosages from 800 mg. to 2 grams by an adult. Caution is to be exercised for those who are taking blood thinners or aspirin since this herb affects circulatory functions. Too much ginseng can elevate blood pressure, so wise usage of the herb is recommended.

Gingko biloba is also associated with mental acuity, making it quite popular among the contemporary culture that values natural remedies. Gingko biloba is one of the foremost herbs for depression used by many consumers and is the best selling of all herbal supplements. This herb helps improve circulatory health and has been shown to improve mental alertness, depression and overall physical health. The anti-oxidant properties of the plant provides protection for pulmonary and vision health. Since there is no standardized process that is required by the FDA at this time to insure a quality product, be sure to check for less than 5 ppm of gingkolic acid that appears in any supplement. This is a pharmaceutical standard set for safe consumption of this plant. Ginkgo biloba can be found in many forms throughout local health food stores, drug stores, or online health establishments.

Get social support. The more you cultivate your social connections, the more protected you are from depression. If you are feeling stuck, don’t hesitate to talk to trusted family members or friends. Asking for help is not a weakness but a sign of strength. Treatment takes time and commitment. All of these depression treatments take time, and sometimes it might feel overwhelming or frustratingly slow. That is normal. Recovery has its ups and downs.

Danny smith is a highly experience web author on Depression Remedies and has over 5000 articles under his belt. He also has a series of website that he maintains. The latest one is http://www.treatdepressionathome.com come by and checkout all the information and Depression Treatment review ideal health Trump Network.

The rule of abstinence from all mood altering chemicals is a good one for drug addicts and alcoholics recovery to follow. In fact it is necessary in almost all cases.

This, however, leads to conflicting advice and misconceptions when it comes to doctor prescribed medications for help with anxiety, depression and mental health issues. It is very important to have a frank open and honest discussion with your doctor concerning your addiction. In many cases there are alternative medicines that can be used that may not affect your addiction.

It is usually an error however to stop taking depression or anti-anxiety medications without consulting your doctor. It may be a case of the medicine working; you feel good, therefore believe you don’t need the medicine. Quitting the medication can bring you back to depression or anxiety and that can be a distinct relapse trigger. It is a normal, but counterintuitive idea that if we are feeling better we don’t need the medication.

Any move with medications should be taken only after expert consultation preferably from a doctor who is an addictionologist or is a member of ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine).

Another form of mediation is growing popularity among troubled sleepers nowadays. This is guided imagery mediation. Guided imagery is visual approach to meditation using hypnosis and relaxation. This procedure will require you to follow a step-by-step guided meditation to visualize and achieve a state of relaxation in the mind.

But there are certain requirements you would have to come by first before you can successfully begin the guided imagery treatment. First is to find a room where you are utterly comfortable and convenient at to begin with the process. It should follow that this room should be highly distraction-proof; free from any external or internal noise. Second is to achieve a relax state to serve as a momentum to start off.

1. Find your relaxation point

To successfully start with the process you would have to first find your relaxation point. Your relaxation point is simply a state where you are most comfortable at. You begin to visualize this in your head and set it as a goal or a place to go to. Thinking of a peaceful and harmonious place could help you with this step.

2. Relax

Relaxing your physical self is important to ensure not only the optimum results of the meditation but most crucially to enable through the process in every step of the way. If you can’t find yourself to relax, it would prove to be a difficult predicament for you to overcome in order to proceed to the next steps. Physical relaxation can be achieved by easing the tension of your muscles. This can be done by positioning yourself in a way you are most comfortable at.

3. Peace of Mind

In order to achieve a genuine calmness of the mind, you have to get rid of any random flow of thoughts in your head. These random thoughts often confuse the mind and diverting your attention into something else apart from the procedure. It is imperative to keep the mind focused into one thing and not on the much random stuff. One helpful tip to successfully achieve a calmness of the mind is to constantly retain only a single thought in the head and hold on to it. Keep coming back at that thought every time your thoughts drift.

4. Breath Properly

Breathing is an important key not only to successful mediation but ultimately to achieving relaxation. Proper breathing would entail you to take long and deep breaths for good blood circulation and thus a more relaxed and sound physical wellbeing. This highly contributes in you achieving a relaxed state.

5. Indulge

Along the process you will subtly feel the relaxation seeping and sinking in. Go deeper into that feeling and keep reaching until you reach that point.

6. Create Images

When you have come this far already within the process, it’s about time that we get to the very essence of the guided imagery treatment. This is to create an image that serves as in epitome to all the relaxation and calmness you are feeling right now. This shape can be of any form or shape. This completely depends on how you interpret things to be.

Michelle Anders is a known expert that deals with trouble falling asleep. If you want to become one of his loyal readers and know more about what are the other abnormalities in sleeping, you can read his other write-ups by clicking on the links.

Do you or anyone you know have been dealing with depression? Depression is very common in the difficult seasons. If you or a friend has had feelings of sadness for extended periods at a time, then this could be more than typical sadness, it could be depression.[I:http://addictionrecoverybasics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ChuckSugar2.jpg]

Initially, we must understand what depression feels like. It is hard to say since each person may feel different symptoms. There are some parallels with these symptoms though. And depression can be subtle and overwhelming at the same time.

Since depression can come on slow, it can go by hidden to the one experiencing it. Due to the fact it is a slow evolution, some people may notice even though you may not. It is like a child who appears to be growing rapidly. Relatives who have not seen the child notice the growth immediately while the parents don’t see it as clearly. Because you see your depression everyday, it may be hard to believe you have it.

It can start with some anxiety, fear, hurt, or sadness and then move to seasons of sadness or “blue” feelings. Then it often gradually becomes real depression and can develop into severe major depression. Before you know it you’re not sleeping well, your eating habits are changing, you feel numb, you are gaining or losing weight, you are having trouble concentrating, you are avoiding certain people or events, and beginning to isolate yourself.

Simple tasks become hard to do. Like, opening the mail, bill paying, or answering the phone. Here are some signs of depression that you may recognize.

You may wonder if you are just sad or truly experiencing depression. Depression can be different for everyone but there are some similarities. 1. You are consistently sad, irritable and angry. 2. You can not laugh or have fun. Life seems dull and boring. 3. You feel like you don’t fit in and have nothing to offer. 4. You lose sleep or sleep all day. 5. You hurt and feel achy for no reason. 6. You cry a lot. 7. Your weight fluctuates one way or another. 8. Focusing on tasks is hard if not impossible. 9. You are hopeless and see no way out. 10. You want to escape. If you are thinking of hurting yourself or others or want to escape there are some things you can do to help yourself heal. If the thoughts are constant, you need to get help from someone as soon as possible. It may seem impossible, but fight those feelings of defeat and find a pastor or counselor who help people all the time in this capacity. They are trained to know what to say and will keep your conversations in the strictest confidentiality. Their professional opinion will help tremendously. [I:http://addictionrecoverybasics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ChuckSugar2.jpg]

When you talk to someone that is sworn to silence it can help make you feel better and relieve the tension that comes with the depression. Even though it seems there are no answers, there are.

When you write a diary, or journal or a note to yourself, you can help mend those negative feelings in your head. It is therapeutic to take those thoughts out and have them in front of you on paper to read. If you are concerned someone may read them, throw them away. It is still going to benefit you by allowing you to see more objectively. Soon, by doing this, healing takes place say the one’s who have experienced this first hand. It also helped them love themselves again once they spent some time getting those hurt feelings out in the forefront.

Many will write down one issue that is bothering them and then taking that one issue and breaking it down into four categories.

First, describe the situation. For example, I am angry that my husband is late again for dinner.

Second, what are all your thoughts about what happened. (Be honest and do not edit). For example, “if he loved me, he would have called or would have been on time. Other things mean more to him than I do.”

Third, write down things you are actually feeling. Your emotions of hurt, sadness, fear of abandonment, guilty, etc. Or write a sentence like, “I am angry because he acts like he doesn’t care about me as much as his career.”

Fourth, try to describe what action you are taking given the situation, your thoughts, and your emotions. For example, are you escaping, isolating, raging, throwing things, feeling sorry for yourself, blaming others for your misery, mad at someone or God, running away, avoiding the conflict, etc.? If you will write all this down, you will be amazed with how much insight and honesty you will be aware of.

Some who wanted to end their life became hopeful when they could see their thoughts clearly and understood the depression. They found there was hope and that their feelings were only temporary and could be dealt with.

You have heard that time heals but only if you are healing. Time can make your heart harder and you become more and more withdrawn and indifferent. Take the challenge to help your healing grow stronger.

PS. If your depression has gotten to the point where you are having thoughts of ending your life, please call 911 and get some help immediately. Or call a counselor, who will know how to help.

If you need Counseling on depressionfeel free to go to Chuck Sugar.com If you needfree worksheets that help that can help. Check here for free reprint licence: Do You Know Someone Who Is Depressed?.

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Isn’t it strange that exercise and depression have been so neglected? It is almost like the Cinderella of any depression treatment regime. It is arguably the best natural depression remedy there is. All the research out there shows very clearly that moving and getting the heart beat up, can actually release the feel good endorphins so the effect is immediate. It may not cure us completely of depression but it is going to have so many benefits that we are bound to improve overall.

Experts now say that the feel good factor after a good walk, workout, gardening session or whatever, can last up to twelve hours. And no side effects, apart from a rather pleasant sense of tiredness which improves the quality of our sleep as well. It sounds too good to be true that this could be the best depression remedy there is.

Genetic Inclination Panic disorder is sometimes hereditary. If one of the family members or relatives is experiencing this kind of illness, then you are likely to develop anxiety problem as well. Studies prove that anxiety could begin at how we are raised as a kid by our parents or guardians, if we are exposed to fears and worries as a child that could lead to anxiety disorder when we grow up. Also if a child lives within violent and abusive household, this poor child will entertain apprehension most of the time.

Drugs Selected drugs such as ADHD medications, bronchodilators (the one used for asthma), decongestants, cold remedies, diet pills, anti-depressants, thyroid medications and amphetamines are often caused of anxiety disorder. Food and beverages that contains alcohol, caffeine, cocaine and nicotine are included on the lists as well. Traumatic events

Research – If you do some research on the effects o depression you my get some great insight in how to combat it naturally. You will find many articles and blogs related to this subject all over the internet.

Danny Smith Is Professional Developer of Depression Remedies,And Have years of Experience in this Field. He also been through the depression him self. Click here to find the best depression treatment ,products that can get rid of depression for life recommended by a professional in this field. http://www.treatdepressionathome.com

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“The reason we drink or drug is because we cannot tolerate or process uncomfortable, intense or overwhelming feelings.”

That is a way of thinking about drug and alcohol use that a number of people have put forward. I’m not sure I agree with it entirely. It is really hard to support blanket statements like that, but there are seeds of truth there.

Life should be easy. I should get everything I want, now. I’m right you’re wrong, end of story. Any of that sound familiar? These are common threads of addictive thinking. Addicts usually have very poor impulse control and that can stimulate frustration if solutions cannot be found immediately.
 
Neuroscience has identified the part of the brain that involves impulse control, and guess what? In addicts, this part of the brain is often underdeveloped. Also, drugs and alcohol further degenerate this part of the brain. What is an addicts number one problem solver for frustration or stress? Duhhh….Get high.

Stress is often identified as a commonality among people in active addiction or early recovery. Laboratory studies have shown that stress can cause reinstatement of drug taking in animals, and researchers believe that for some people, stress may play a role in the initiation of drug use or relapse to use after a period of abstinence. One of the most often heard pieces of advice in sobriety is to slow down and simplify, reduce stress.

Without a doubt one of the necessary skills that needs to be developed in addiction recovery is the ability to identify, own and properly process emotions and feelings. People in active drug addiction or alcoholism often have a poor sense of proportion and reaction to emotions. Hot or cold, all or nothing, love or hate. It is almost as if our ‘moderators’ are broken.

In order to achieve emotional regulation or emotional sobriety it is necessary to learn how to accept feelings, even uncomfortable ones as part of life and living. It takes some time, effort  and willingness to learn emotional recovery skills.

One strategy to investigate is RET or Rational Emotive Therapy.

Many common assumptions about narcissists are wrong. For one, they’re not secretly insecure.

There are a number of personality traits that can be a block to addiction recovery, narcissism is one. In the old days in Alcoholics Anonymous they referred to it as grandiosity or ‘bigshotism’. The article that follows provides some really interesting insights into narcissism. I found this article on U.S. News and World Report.

7 Myths About Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder
By Lindsay Lyon

A hallmark of narcissism is overconfidence. But there’s one thing that narcissists can legitimately be confident about: Not all that we assume about narcissism is true. Research psychologist Jean Twenge laid out these seven myths about narcissism, which she and her coauthor identify in their new book, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. Edited excerpts from her conversation with U.S. News:

1. Narcissism is really high self-esteem. No, it’s not. Someone can have really high self-esteem and not be narcissistic. The key difference is that people high in self-esteem focus on relationships and narcissists are missing that piece about caring about relationships. They want to know what other people can do for them, but in terms of having close emotional relationships, they don’t care.

2. Deep down, narcissists are insecure and have low self-esteem. People assume that narcissists must be concealing some deep insecurity or they actually hate themselves. But the data don’t back it up. Even if you measure self-esteem in a subtle, unconscious way, deep down inside, narcissists think they’re awesome. It’s important to understand that this is a myth because when people act like jerks and they behave narcissistically, often others will say that the solution is that they really need to boost their self-esteem. Well, that’s not going to help. That’s exactly their problem.

3. Maybe narcissists have a reason for being narcissistic. This comes up a lot. People think, “Well, maybe narcissists have a reason for being this way.” That’s not true. When you look at objective measures of intelligence and beauty, narcissists are just like everybody else. They just think they’re great. They’re legends in their own minds. There are lots of studies on this. My favorite one came out a couple months ago. It was titled “Narcissistic Men and Women Think They Are So Hot, but They Are Not.” If you ask narcissists how attractive they think they are or how smart they think they are, they rate themselves high. But when you look at an actual IQ test, or someone else rating their photograph, they’re average.

4. A little narcissism is healthy. You have to ask, “Healthy for whom?” Narcissism is basically never healthy for other people. It tends to work out OK for the narcissist in the short term, but in the long term, they end up messing up their relationships at work and at home, and they end up depressed later in life.

5. Narcissism is just physical vanity. Physical vanity is a correlate of narcissism, but there are plenty of other [aspects of narcissism], including materialism, entitlement, antisocial behavior, and problems in relationships.

6. You have to be narcissistic to be successful. Narcissism isn’t linked to success. Self-esteem isn’t even linked to success. So why do people make this association? It’s partly because we think that self-admiration is always good, and it’s partly because highly successful narcissists are highly visible, like Donald Trump and Paris Hilton. But there are plenty of people who are successful in those fields who we haven’t heard of because they don’t have their own TV show with “Money, Money, Money” playing in the theme song. They’re just as successful; they’re just not on TV.

7. You have to love yourself to love someone else. The reality is that if you love yourself too much, you won’t have any left over for anyone else. Again, keep in mind that if you hate yourself and you’re really depressed, you’re probably not going to be a great relationship partner either. But people with low self-esteem are perfectly good relationship partners most of the time. They can be insecure, but they do care about their partners, unlike people who are narcissistic.

Often times when lecturing addicts in recovery, I ask for a show of hands of anyone who suffers from anxiety or depression. Just about all people raise their hands.

Rather than bore you with a written monologue, I scoured the Internet to find a really good anxiety video and depression video. They both provide key facts in an easy to understand fashion. Enjoy. Each video is about about 6 minutes long. Enjoy.

The 5 anxiety disorders and why they develop. Watch this and more health videos at: http://www.answerstv.com/health …

Depression: What is Depression?

Symptoms, causes, and treatment of depression. Watch this and more health videos at: http://www.answerstv.com/health …

Unfortunately, addiction recovery and shame often go together hand-in-hand. But what exactly,  is shame?

Well I guess a good place to start is the fact that in order for shame to occur two parties have to be involved: yourself, and another entity. This “other entity” could be your parents, family, other people, or even society in general. We believe that we must live up to their expectations. Shame is the idea that we’re constantly judged, we are exposed and naked, and in light of this examination, we are found to be ‘less than’ or lacking

One way of looking at shame is simply in not living up to our image of ourselves. But where did this image of ourselves come from? People were brought up in families for addiction or emotional problems existed often do not get their emotional for physical needs met. Shame is often fostered when children and teenagers are abandoned or neglected and cannot develop their own sense of self-worth. Also, that we were not given a clear idea of what ‘normal’ is, by which to measure ourselves.

This leads to a primary mindset of someone who is shame ridden. That is that I’m a failure; not that I made a mistake, but  that I am a mistake. Overwhelming shame can produce a sense of isolation in that we begin to feel unique in the aspect that we alone are unworthy of love. Everyone in the world will find love and happiness except us (maybe we don’t deserve it).It is kind of like life is a movie and your sitting in the audience unable to participate. There’s a sense that life is happening all around us and we are helpless in our inability to participate in it.

Shame generates tremendous emotional pain. The solution that many shame based people attempt is to become more perfect, more attractive, or more lovable. Remember that other entity which spoke about earlier? Well, and shame based person may continually try to live up to those standards of the other entity. But in their view, there will always fall short.

Shame is a natural emotion to have surface in addiction recovery. It may occur to us in recovery, or in reflection on our active using behavior that we fail to live off to who we want to be, the image we would like to portray of ourselves.

The growth in addiction recovery is to recognize shame for what it is, as distinguished from guilt and not leave it unresolved ready to sprout up and grow strong. Is excepting ourselves for who we are, being human, and therefore having the ability to make mistakes. It is also of the human ability to forgive ourselves that can be a powerful tool for ridding ourselves of our shame as we get healthier in addiction recovery.

There are many similarities between drug addiction, alcoholism and a mental health disorder. While the combination of a drug addiction or alcohol addiction and a mental health disorder is called a dual diagnosis, they should all be treated simultaneously in a drug rehab, alcohol rehab or dual diagnosis treatment program.

By Jonathon Huttner

Below are the listed similarities:

1. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders are  physiological diseases with strong genetic and hereditary components.

2. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders are physical/mental/spiritual diseases.

3. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders if left untreated are progressive, chronic, incurable, and potentially fatal.

4. Denial of the disease of drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders  and noncompliance with attempts at addiction treatment, drug rehab or dual diagnosis treatment  are symptoms of the disorder.

5. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders manifest loss of control in behavior, thought, and emotions.

6. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders effect the whole family.

7. Growing powerlessness and unmanageability over drug addiction, alcoholism or mental illness’s lead to feelings of guilt, shame, depression, and despair.

8. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health disorders are diseases of vulnerability and isolation.

9. Both the primary symptoms of each disease AND loss of control in behavior/thought/emotion are reversible with addiction treatment or dual diagnosis treatment.

10. Recovery consists of: Stabilization of the acute disease Rehabilitation of body, mind, and spirit

11. The risk of relapse in either disease is always high, and relapse in drug addiction or alcoholism will inevitably trigger a relapse in the mental health disorder.

12. The only hope for life-long recovery lies in working our Recovery Program(s): ONE DAY AT A TIME

If you are looking for an effective dual diagnosis treatment program, you can call the [http://www.recoveryconnection.org ]dual diagnosis helpline at 1-800-511-9225 or go to [http://www.steppingstonecenter.org/ ]www.steppingstonecenter.org

Jonathan Huttner is a principal in Lakeview Health Systems, a drug rehab program specializing in the treatment of dual diagnosis.  Lakeview is also a gay friendly alcohol rehab and gay friendly addiction treatment program.

It is estimated that over 50% of people with substance use problems have another co-occurring Mental Health problem; PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a common result of trauma.

If any of these four symptoms seem familiar to you, please watch this  Video Webcast on PTSD and Addiction .

1. Re-experiencing the Trauma.

This includes nightmares, having flashbacks an memories intruding into your consciousness. You may have exaggerated emotional and physical reactions to triggers and events that remind the person of the trauma.

2. Hyper Arousal.

This may include hyper-vigilance – always being on guard, sleep and concentration difficulties and an exaggerated startle reflex.

3. Emotional Numbness

A person feels detached having a lack of emotions, especially positive ones and a loss of interest in activities.

4. Detachment

This is the avoidance of people, places or activities that remind the person of the trauma.