Depression is real and debilitating. It is far more than simple sadness. It changes how we live, how we think and how we view the world. Many people describe it as an echoing emptiness or a spinning ache that never goes away completely. Recognizing depression is often hard. People living with it might seem completely…
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Dealing with people living in active addiction requires a lot of skill, some of which are contradictory. You have to be compassionate but firm. You have to be clear, assertive and calm when it is so easy to get emotional. You have to be gentle and strong. It is easy to want to “fix” the…
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Overdose is a reality of addiction. Any drug can kill. In 2017, 70,237 died from drug overdoses. Not everyone who overdoses dies though. Survivors are lucky. Even so, there are consequences. The human body can only take so much damage before giving out. The harm, emotional and physical, can be permanent. Emotional Aftermath Overdoses are…
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Stigma comes in many forms. Sometimes, it’s clear. A co-worker or family member might tell us to “just get over it.” Or a supervisor might question a sick day taken for mental health or recovery purposes. These actions judge our motives and abilities, defining us as weaker or less worthy. What’s harder is the smaller…
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Life can be overwhelming and confusing. The range of human emotion is vast and uncontrollable. We feel what we feel. We can experience joy and fear and rage and love in the spread of a moment. Our state of mind depends on our feelings and the stress they create, either good or bad. While we…
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Anxiety is a common emotion. It is what you feel when you have a job interview when you are faced with a problem or have to make a big decision. It manifests in various ways. Most people have had that butterfly in the stomach feeling or noticed that their hands are shaking or found themselves…
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Have you ever noticed that when you are wrapped in doing something you love that time passes in a blink? Isn’t it amazing that when you are watching your favorite show the end comes before you are ready for it? Or when you are with friends at dinner and suddenly the sun’s down and you’ve…
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In the United States, self-sufficiency and individualism are the pinnacles of achievement. They are the cornerstones of our society. Often, we hear people described as “self-made” with a certain amount of awe. We are taught, in school and in society, that people who “pull themselves up by the boot-straps” are to be lionized. This can…
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Have you experienced something that left you wondering about your place in the world? Do you have memories of something that makes you ask how you survived? Did you live through something you just can’t cope with? This is trauma and it can take over your life, resulting in addiction and mental illness, complicating an…
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