Archive for September, 2011

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Common Mental Health Problems

September 30th, 2011

Mental health illnesses affect 1 in 5 Americans. The most likely groups to be effected with mental health disorders are women, the unemployed and young adults. This one in 5 that suffer represents nearly 45 million Americans.

The most common types of mental health problems are anxiety, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders and eating disorders. The good new is that most mental health issues are treatable. If symptoms are caught early enough and medical intervention is received there is a good chance of being cured.

Another way to prevent mental health issues in the first place is healthy living. Many disorders such as anxiety, addiction and mood are effected by the life you live and how health or unhealthy the choices are. Thing that can affect this include the relationships you choose, staying free of drugs and alcohol and keep your brain active and engaged.

Many children and adults also suffer from attention disorders (such as ADHD).

These types of disorders can make it very hard to focus which can lead to a failure in certain areas of your life. When you are not able to concentrate it can make it hard to get through your day which could possibly lead to depression.

Eating right, exercising and being mentally active can all improve your mental health or help prevent you from dealing with negative mental health issues in the future. Mental health is just as important as physical health and you should spend time making sure your mind and psyche are in order as well as your body.

Brain training can help you train your mind.

Making sure your mind is healthy can make it so you can better manage stress. When you can better manage stress you are less likely to become depressed or suffer from other mental heath issues.

You need to learn to identify your moods and how to cope with them to have a less stressful life. You need to keep your financial house in order which not easy in current economic situation. Financial problems can cause serious stress that wreaks havoc on you overall mental health.

The most important thing to remember though is that if you do find yourself slipping into some kind of mental health problem to seek help. Almost all mental health problems can be treated and you can feel better about yourself but the first step is seeking the help you need. Untreated mental health problems can lead to feelings of emptiness and it becomes a situation that spirals out of control if left untreated.

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Child Sexual Abuse – Is Recovery Possible?

September 29th, 2011

Some victim advocates, therapists and researchers claim that victims of sexual trauma can never get over it… that they are forever destined to daily relive the horrors in flashbacks and nightmares and will never be able to live a normal life. I do not agree. For over 25 years, I have worked almost exclusively with sex trauma victims and their families. While sexual abuse is traumatic and shakes the very foundations of individuals, families and society, it is not a life sentence where the victim is caught in its web forever and ever. There is a good, healthy, happy, satisfying life waiting to be lived even after horrendous victimization.

Some call it soul murder. They say that children who were abused never return to normal. Supportive of this view are the several documentary films produced in Israel (and perhaps other countries as well) about the long-lasting effects of childhood sexual abuse. Shown on television, these films were instrumental in raising awareness of the problem and inspiring social intervention and the investment of funds for the identification and treatment of children who were abused.

However, the general impression given in these films is that victims (or survivors as some prefer to call them) never get over it. Intelligent, strong women tell their stories in these documentaries and leave one with the overall impression that they have no chance of truly getting over the trauma and that even if they are not actively suicidal, they are certainly depressed, living empty lives.

It is true that sexual assault is a form of ‘murder’. Children do not go back to being who they were before the abuse events. But that does not necessarily imply a tragic end to the story, rather a different trajectory than without the abuse. Given the right conditions, the victim can come out of the nightmare stronger and more able to handle life’s difficulties than before. There is a saying in Hebrew that goes, “What does not kill us empowers us”. And a colleague wrote a book entitled “Strong at the Broken Places” (Linda Sanford).

While sexual abuse is traumatic and we want to protect our children from trauma, if it did happen, there can be a positive outcome. An important motto is: It is not what happens to us that determines our fate, but what we do with what happens to us.

In part, the ability to heal and to grow from the sexual trauma depends upon the responses of others in the victim’s/survivor’s environment. It is important for family and friends to understand that in spite of the abuse or sexual assault, people can be helped to overcome what was done to them and build healthy and satisfying lives. It is impossible to overemphasize the important of ‘attitude’: Attitude of supportive others affects the attitude of the survivor.

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Types of Substance Abuse Treatment Programs

September 27th, 2011

When dealing with substance abuse, whether it is alcohol, prescription drugs or illegal drugs, there are a variety of treatment programs available. The challenge is to find the type of program that best matches with the person and the substance. Not every treatment program will work for every person, or for every substance. That is why it is important to understand the various types of programs that exist so that you can match the needs of the person with the right program.

One decision point when searching for treatment programs is whether or not they will be residential programs, often known as “in-patient,” or whether they will be out-patient programs. The major difference is where the patient resides during the course of treatment.

There are many treatment specialists who believe that residential treatment is generally the most effective across all circumstances. The primary reason for this is the fact that the patients become a captive audience with no distractions. This means that they will be solely focused on their treatment programs.

However, some people do not have the option to leave their home and family to live at a treatment facility for several weeks or months. Besides their obligations to their families, there are people who have jobs that they can’t leave for an extended period of time while receiving treatment.

With residential treatment the daily regimen can include one on one counseling, cognitive behavior therapy, group support sessions, and education. There might even be nutrition counseling and a physical fitness program. The objective is to get the person healthy, both in body and mind, while arming them with the tools to avoid drugs once they leave the program.

For those people who do not have the ability to move into a residential treatment facility, there are lots of options for out-patient treatment programs. While many of the program offerings during the course of treatment are the same as at a residential facility, they take place during a prescribed time of day and then the patient returns home each night.

Some of these out-patient treatment programs last all day and the patient only goes home to sleep. In the situation where the substance abuser must work during the day to support his family, he might attend his therapy sessions in the evening after work hours. The primary difference is that the substance abuser is not confined and is somewhat at risk for relapse or return to old behaviors.

Whichever program type a patient uses, the ongoing care after primary treatment is often times the same. It usually includes regular counseling sessions, a support group, and sometimes participation in a 12-step program. The key is sticking with a treatment program until you feel confident that you are not at risk for further substance abuse.

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Substance Abuse And Addiction To Continue To Grow

September 26th, 2011

A large loan from the United States Department of Agriculture will allow the fight against substance abuse and addiction to grow in California. A .3 million dollar loan will pay for four new buildings, totaling 33,000 square feet, dedicated to drug treatment, care and prevention.

The new facility will be called the Center of Hope. It will be the first comprehensive residential drug treatment center in western Nevada County. Construction of the new drug treatment center is slated to begin in the spring of next year and hopes to open in the spring of 2012.

The four buildings will provide continuity of care including intensive detoxification, residential treatment and after-care, said Community Recovery Resources Development Director Ariel King Lovett. Its an embodiment of CoRRs holistic philosophy of care with the family at the center.

According to King Lovett, one of the buildings at the Center of Hope will have the capacity to house up to 25 men, 15 women and ten of the children during rehabilitation. Another building at the drug treatment center will have the capacity for up to five of those peoples family members to come and stay with their loved ones for short breaks during rehabilitation.

The campus will have areas focused on transitioning residents to a life of self-sufficiency. The facility will also focus on prevention through education. The new buildings will mark a 250 percent increase in capacity for the group, which now can only accommodate eight women in treatment.

Our region demonstrates the highest need for treatment, King Lovett said.

A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services study issued in 2009 indicated that Nevada County and its surrounding areas had the highest rate in the state of California for people needing but not receiving treatment for their drug and alcohol addiction. According to King Lovett, CoRR has been in the Nevada County area since 1974 and has grown to respond to the increased need for substance abuse treatment. There has been a measured increase of methamphetamine abuse in the region as well.

King Lovett said that the drug treatment centers revenue will be funneled to pay back the federal loan.

This is the first [loan] of its type theyve done. Theyre taking an unprecedented step in funding this kind of center.

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Remote Mental Health Billers

September 23rd, 2011

Mental health services are very hard to access in rural areas and those suffering from mental illnesses have to encounter unavailability and isolation from mental health services. This is due to the fact that almost 75% of the total population in rural counties lacks a psychiatry specialist and almost 95% do not have access to child psychiatry specialists. A crucial shortage of medical staff is being seen as a prime concern here. Due to its sparse population and low quality of care compared to those in the urban areas, it is difficult to attract mental health workers to these areas.

If the rural is hit with such a shortage of healthcare professionals then the availability of medical billers catering to mental health can be even tougher. Billers generally like to be available to doctors in their vicinity but to combat this shortage, nowadays mental health billers communicate with rural practices either by the usage of software provided by these physician offices or Medical Billing software of their own choice.

It turns out to be more efficient since it enables the provider to manage their practice which otherwise would not have been possible with their overworked staff. Smaller practices such as those in the rural areas are much benefited by these mental health billers since they offer a host of other services such as answering patient and carrier queries and insurance verification that makes your practice flow better.

These billers can help you not only with their software support but also help you improve your denial as well as your rejection ratios. Thus, you will be receiving reports on your clinical and billing information the way you want them to be provided to you and help you take better and informed decisions about the financial strength of your practice.

Browse All: Cardiology Medical Billing

Remote mental health billers are able to file their claims electronically; the EOBs reaching the practitioners in the rural areas are also transferred to billers electronically. These medical billing specialists manage multiple mental health practices as the number of claims is less but the expertise required to bill these procedures are high. Their efficiency is quite high and they take well informed decisions about maximizing your revenue.

A remote mental health biller can still communicate with physician office and accomplish the billing tasks. This single remote biller can manage the most crucial part of your practice without multitasking with other administrative jobs. The focus on other administrative jobs helps your current staff to improve the clinic’s efficiency and helps you cater to more patients qualitatively. Moreover the full time salary can be avoided and a performance based deal may be devised with Remote billers, as they are already used to this model. Browse all Texas Medical Billing.

All in all, many of the practices in rural areas are adopting remote mental health billing since this is a significant step in terms of solutions for their rural based mental health practice and they are equipped to handle multiple locations and deal with your revenue cycle management issues with specialization in rural mental health.

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Alcohol Awareness Classes, An Alternative for Celebrities

September 22nd, 2011

Celebrities are constantly being observed and scrutinized by others, and as a result, they become the object of their own attention. This special status can often induce a tremendous amount of anxiety. A high level of self focus becomes really harmful and painful because the extreme self awareness draws a comparison between the real self and the ideal self. It becomes a pursuit to identify the short comings and transforms into discomfort. The mind will act to eliminate the negative feelings which appear to be in the form of short comings. The entire process is a positive one as long as that particular person can manage it in a realistic manner. When it goes out of proportion the person might seek solace form using alcohol and/or drugs. In such a context alcohol awareness for Celebrities assumes an important role.

Prevention is better than cure. There are a number of alcoholic rehabilitation centers all around the world to help the celebrities to get out of this self destructive habit. Alcohol awareness for celebrities can be done at an early stage to prevent this calamity to occur. The misconception about the alcohol should be removed.The family background of the celebrities may differ and a psychological oriented approach will be much more effective than a superficial awareness program. The sense of insecurity prevalent in the celebrities should be plucked away by making them aware of the mental state in which they are in.

Quality programs for alcohol awareness for celebrities teach all the important aspects about the consumption of alcohol. These classes will include the effects of alcohol in the human body. Alcohol is a mood depressant that can reach every cell of the body of a person. At the time of consuming it, a small amount of alcohol is immediately absorbed directly into the blood stream by the lining of your mouth and stomach, and the rest is rapidly absorbed in the small intestine. The body tries immediately to metabolize the alcohol into non-harmful substances (water, carbon dioxide and energy). Only 10% of the alcohol is eliminated through sweat, breath and urine. Enzymes in your stomach and liver must detoxify the rest. When the rate of alcohol consumption exceeds the rate of detoxification the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream continues to build, with increasingly detrimental effects. The prolonged use of alcohol will affect the body and the in the internal organs in a much more serious manner. This kind of awareness will make some kind of an aversion towards alcohol in the minds of the celebrities. Interestingly, San Jose and San Diego, CA come in as the cities with the most DUI’s in the county.

The mental state of the person plays a big part in making these sorts of programs a success. Over reliance to alcohol due to the psychological aspect, is more prone to celebrities than an average person. The most important step is to avoid the extreme desire for self indulgence. A celebrity has to put his/her feet down on the earth and he has to bear in mind that the fame doesn’t elevate one above addiction. The alcohol awareness class will come from gaining skills in a quality program.

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Keep Your Mental Health Healthy

September 18th, 2011

We seem unconsciously get on trouble and problems now.

It we aren’t awake to everything occur to us, we will be easy get full of negative information. We automatically hold our mind thoughts of what we don’t want rather than thoughts we want. The following is some tips to alert you about what is in your mind. “Keep your mind what you want and that’s what you’ll be getting all the time”.

 

 

Those are the words of Lester Levenson.

 

Hold in mind what you want means, keep in mind what you want, what you would like to have.

 

Keeping in mind what you want, gives you the consciousness of what you want. We know our mind is creative. You create what you hold in mind. Holding in mind, keeping in mind thoughts of what you want creates what you want.

 

Do you have what you want in your life?

 

If you do, it’s because your mind is full of thoughts of what you want.

 

The news headlines today are about calamity, fear, loss and lack. A lot of people think they have to believe what the news is telling them. A lot of people are drawn to the magnet of cable television news programs running 24 hours a day.

 

Whether we are know it or not, allowing into our consciousness, our mind, negative thoughts, impressions, and pictures broadcast on the news, is holding all of that negativity in mind. It is imprinting on our mind.

 

Our mind works like a computer. When you put programs into your mental computer, those programs run 24/7. And you are looking out at the world through the filter of all those computer programs you have running.

 

Unless you are conscious and releasing the subtle feelings stirred up by the news, your view is blurred by all that negativity.

 

Negative news is all over the place. We become immune to it. We don’t even notice we are seeing it even though the images are imprinting on our subconscious mind. We’re allowing all of this negative news programming into our mental computer. We are getting subtly more and more negative without noticing it.

 

How can our mind create good in our life when it is being fed a constant, steady diet of gloom and doom. A constant diet of what is wrong.

 

Like a computer, our mind is playing negative programs that are clogging it up just like our computer gets clogged up if we jam a bunch of virus laden programs into it.

 

We can look at our life and see what we are creating with the mental programs.

 

If our life is full of what we want, it’s because we have programmed our mind with thoughts that match what we want. If our life is not full of what we want, it is easy to see why. We have unconsciously allowed in and kept in our mind thoughts of what we don’t want. We have allowed into our mental computer thoughts of troubles, problems and catastrophes.

 

We can look at our life and see the mental programs we are running just as we look at our computer monitor and see the programs our computer is running.

 

So what? someone may ask.

 

It’s a decision. Hold in mind what you want. It begins by letting go of holding in mind what you don’t want.

 

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Substance Abuse Treatment Centers- Programs Offered at Rehab Center

September 14th, 2011

Drug or substance abuse is a heinous disease which needs to be overcome and attended to as soon as it is detected. And the best way to the treatment is to join one substance abuse treatment centers established almost everywhere. . Negligence and delay in rehabilitation can pose to be detrimental for the health, both physical and mental of the victim. However, many are still in the dark about the programs offered and the addition treatment procedures that different rehabs specialize in. Detoxification This forms the first major step in all types of substance abuse treatment centers. Detoxification consists in eradicating the harmful toxins out of the body that accumulates as a consequence of large doses of drugs or substances. The procedure involves medication as well as treatment for withdrawal symptoms which are common phenomena and should be attended to with great caution.

Counseling Counseling forms a significant part of the addiction treatment program offered by the substance abuse treatment centers. While detoxification caters to the physical aspect of the victim, counseling looks into the psychological well-being of the individual. Counseling sessions can be in the form of individual or group counseling and aims at bringing about changes in the cognitive behaviors of the victim. Such sessions address the underlying trauma or causes that gave rise to the addiction problem in the first place. Parents of the victims too are encouraged to take part in the group therapies, whereby the bond between the victims and the parents are strengthened. Coming across similar others through group counseling sessions encourages the victims to fight the battle together. Others Some substance abuse treatment centers also offer relapse programs, while some others believe in spiritual counseling to uplift the mind and soul.

whereby the bond between the victims and the parents are strengthened. Coming across similar others through group counseling sessions encourages the victims to fight the battle together. Others Some substance abuse treatment centers also offer relapse programs, while some others believe in spiritual counseling to uplift the mind and soul.

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Marijuana Use in the United States

September 14th, 2011

Marijuana abuse has reached epidemic levels in the United States, and the problem is only getting worse. In fact, discussion and controversy regarding marijuana use have become pervasive throughout American society. Congressmen and women continuously legislate on medical marijuana issues, activists fight for and against its legalization by petitioning their various governments, and social sites such as Facebook and Twitter are rife with users’ opinions on the matter. In addition, government efforts to stop the trafficking and possession of marijuana and other drugs leads to frequent arrests of people from every walk of life. Hundreds of thousands of non-violent drug offenders fill jails across the country, most of them serving time for marijuana-related charges. A complete understanding of this problem is crucial for creating marijuana legislation which truly serves the needs of United States citizens.

Despite significant law enforcement efforts in the United States and abroad, marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the world. Its use also carries a much higher level of societal acceptance than cocaine, heroin, and other narcotics. In the United States, large-scale efforts at legalization over the past decade are a testament to this acceptance. Popular media also reflect this tolerant attitude, as marijuana use is often taken lightly and joked about in movies, music, and stand-up comedy in a way that narcotics use is not.

A 2010 survey reported that United States teens now use cannabis even more than they use tobacco. Most researchers cite the now-widespread availability of the drug, as well as changing attitudes surrounding its use, as reason for this phenomenon. Additionally, many adolescents believe marijuana to be far less harmful to their health than cigarettes or chewing tobacco, especially concerning issues of habit forming and physical dependency. Overall, this study brings new and interesting concerns to light. Since today’s teens will be the leaders of government and industry within a few decades, common attitudes and public policy regarding marijuana use may drastically change.

Aside from its prevalence amongst teenagers, marijuana use is gaining popularity with senior citizens. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that cannabis use tripled among people aged fifty-five through fifty-nine from 2002 to 2008. Many speculate that this trend is a result of these seniors’ upbringings in the 1960s, an era during which drug use was rampant and widely accepted among young people. In addition, some seniors use marijuana to treat glaucoma, joint pain, and other ailments which commonly afflict the elderly.

It can be difficult to assess the risks of marijuana use among United States citizens because research on the topic is so scarce. Even the few studies that have been done are too controversial to use because of their various funding parties’ alleged biases. Despite these difficulties in research, recent studies suggest that consistent, heavy use of cannabis can make existing mental and emotional disorders even worse. In fact, people with these types of conditions may even develop a physical dependency on the drug, although most proponents of its legalization assert that it is non-habit-forming. Whether or not marijuana is harmful, the criminal consequences for its possession can be life-changing, often devastating a convict’s job options, social connections, and education. If you are concerned about the consequences of using marijuana, for your own sake or for a loved one, click the links below for a free, no-obligation consultation.

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Human Physiology and Addiction: Why Anyone Can Become a Substance Abuser

September 11th, 2011

Many people live under the assumption that they are not susceptible to addiction, and that substance abuse only afflicts the weak-willed and morally degenerate. Negative stereotypes of alcoholics and drug addicts may contribute to these assumptions. Even many of those who do suffer from addiction deny their problems and continue to view drug dependency as something that only affects “other” people. Addiction is a physiological condition, however, and because humans all share the same basic brain chemistry, anyone can become an addict.

While mental or emotional conditions may lead to an addict’s first use of a substance, a full-blown addiction is a clinical, neurological disease. Just like other clinical diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, addiction can afflict anybody. The physiological processes that take a person from casual use to tolerance, to dependence are the same for everyone. Here are the steps a person’s brain takes in developing an addiction:

Dopamine Release

Most drugs cause the human brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter which creates a euphoric sensation, relieves pain, and provides a sense of well-being. Dopamine is part of the same feedback mechanism which compels humans to seek food, sex, and most other pleasurable things. When a person has an experience that leads to a dopamine release, the brain creates physical, neurological pathways which compel similar behavior in the future. Unfortunately, this happens even when that experience is as harmful as drug use.

Tolerance

Users may be compelled by their neurological pathways to continue taking a drug, but they will eventually develop a tolerance to it. In its attempts to mitigate the effects of a foreign substance, a frequent user’s body will down-regulate its dopamine production in response to a given drug. Therefore, that user must take higher and higher amounts to feel the same euphoric effect. A chemically altered brain still seeks that powerful euphoria, however, so a cycle of ever-higher dosage sets in.

Dependence

Though the human body at first “fights” a drug by developing a tolerance, brain chemistry will eventually change. If the use of a drug is repeated frequently enough, the central nervous system begins to accept it. Dopamine production is again down-regulated, and the brain now relies on the drug to stimulate certain receptors necessary for normal bodily functioning. In fact, the brain of a drug user at this stage actually starts to perform “normally” while under the influence of the foreign substance. Removing the drug from the body shocks the brain and leads to strong compulsions for the drug.

Addiction

What many people call a full-blow addiction is simply a severe case of dependence, characterized by certain behaviors. Addicts constantly crave drugs to the point that they lose control of when and where they get high, and they will ignore the physical, social, and emotional consequences of their abuse.

Relapse

Since addiction is a permanent neurological condition, relapse is common and even expected among recovering drug abusers. Many addicts struggle through seemingly endless cycles of drug use, intensive treatments, and relapse. People who have never experienced an addiction may view relapse as a sign of weak will, but it far more akin to the often unpreventable relapses experienced by cancer patients.

Everyone from every walk of life is susceptible to drug and alcohol addiction. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse, make the decision to confront the problem and seek help. Click the links below for a toll-free, confidential consultation with one of our trained specialists. We are standing by around the clock to help you.

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