Leslie Glass's Blog, page 265

7 Reasons Recovery Fails

Recovery fails, but not because of the addicts. After twenty years of seeing millions of families devastated by the ravages of addiction and experiencing real transformation and recovery in my own family, I know what works and what doesn’t. What we’re doing as families, communities and a nation isn’t working. Here’s why.

State and Federal bills to provide public information that aren’t funded. Families don’t receive the information they need to understand the brain disease of addiction and the ways it impacts the whole family.The Parity Act of 2009 requires coverage of treatment for addiction and mental illness but hasn’t been implemented by insurance companies. Families don’t get the coverage they need, which means most people don’t get treated.Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on research to determine evidence-based treatment is useless when there’s no funding to provide treatment or insurance companies to pay for it. Who will benefit by this research and how will it be implemented.Family members who desperately search the internet for treatment in state of crisis with no idea what they are looking at or what kind of treatment they will receive. Family members don’t know all the treatment options available and don’t have reviews to see what kind of care they can expect.Focusing on punishment and fixing persons with substance or alcohol use disorder instead of addressing the environment that caused it. The world doesn’t support and welcome people in recovery who don’t drink the way they support victims of physical diseases.Prevention programs in schools don’t exist. Kids don’t know what drugs do to their brains. They aren’t armed with the facts.



When Recovery Fails Can We Change

Recovery isn’t working because we won’t change. We really won’t change. We won’t fund education. We won’t fund public information. We won’t fund insurance. We won’t fund treatment. We won’t do our homework as parents.

If we truly want to stop the addiction epidemic, we have to
make a few changes, in ourselves.

Change the environment at home among parents so that toddlers, children and teens don’t grow up watching their parents drink and use drugs. Kids copy what they see. Change the environment at home to be truly welcoming of loved ones in recovery who can’t drink, smoke pot, do drugs. Would you stop drinking to save your child? Change the environment at school so that kids want to be healthy instead of cool. Change the environment at college so that drinking and drugging is not tolerated.Accept the fact that substance addiction changes brain function and behavior. The damage is not instantly reversed when using stops.Your loved one may take a decade to transform into the best that he or she can be.

Are we willing to change our habits, beliefs and lifestyle. Can we work together to create a different environment to save our children and teens?

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16 Codependency Relapse Tips

Where there are enmeshed relationships, especially in families experiencing substance or behavior use disorders, there is going to be codependency relapse. Melody Beattie bestselling author of  Beyond Codependency, refers to the phenomenon as “recycling.” which is a way of examining a relapse into codependent behaviors. Carol Anderson explains Melody Beattie’s 16 quotes for preventing relapse.

MB   If it feels crazy, it probably is.

When we are in an unhealthy relationship, the chaos and craziness become normal, so when we begin to get healthy, we wonder if this is the norm. When we don’t doubt our new reality of healthiness, we recognize the craziness may still be stemming from others’ behaviors. We learn to trust our own feelings. When the crazy comes from someone else, we don’t have to play the game.

MB If we’re protecting ourselves, something may be threatening us.

This may be an internal or external threat. An internal threat is a feeling that we are in danger. Red flags in the behavior of others help us determine an internal threat. An external threat is not just a feeling. There’s someone or something that may actually threaten our safety or our recovery. It could be the family system itself.

MB When one method of problem solving fails, try another.

Being able to plan and pivot to new problem solving tactic keeps us from being stuck and helpless. This tip also teaches the necessity of having a variety of coping skills, because a few skills won’t work on every issue. The more tools in our tool boxes, the more likely we’ll respond in a healthy manner.

MB  Self-will doesn’t work any better during recovery than it did before. Surrendering does work.

What is self will? It is believing that we have control over, and can fix, what is wrong with other people and difficult situations. We need to let go of trying to control through self will because it is ineffective. Letting go of the issue and accepting what is and also, working to change dysfunction, works.

MB Feelings of guilt, pity, and obligation are to the codependent as the first drink is to the alcoholic. Watch out for what happens next.

We feel badly about our loved ones whose lives are not going the way we think they should. We worry that setting boundaries and no longer fixing everything will hurt their feelings or make their lives worse. Our concern presents a relapse risk. Recovery is understanding our own triggers in order to keep from relapsing into old behaviors.

MB Feeling sad and frustrated because we can’t control someone or something is not the same as controlling.

Feelings exist and are not good or bad, and feelings of frustration and sadness are normal. However, if we switch the feelings into trying to control someone (behavior), then we are in trouble.

MB Trying to recoup our losses generally doesn’t work.

Losses are merely losses; we can grieve them, and then go on. Focusing on our losses and the losses of our loved ones keeps us trapped in the past.

MB We cannot simultaneously set a boundary and take care of the other person’s feelings.

This is so important because we’re codependent and we want (and sometimes need) to take care of others, even if it’s to our detriment. But we need to allow other’s their own feelings and let them take responsibility for their feelings when we set healthy boundaries – boundaries that often frustrate and anger a loved one caught up in substance use.

 MB Today isn’t yesterday.

We focus on one day at a time – today. We let go of yesterday and stay mindful in today and don’t worry about the future.

MB We don’t have to do more today than we can reasonably do.

We each have the same 24 hours – no more and no less – and we utilize these hours to the best of our abilities.

MB When depressed, look to see if anger, shame, or guilt is present.

While depression is a feeling of its own right, sometimes depression is caused by other feelings that we struggle to express. We’re angry and can’t tell anyone. We’re ashamed or guilty. When we accept and cope with these feelings, depression may lift.

If we’re not certain, we can wait.

Similar to the substance user in our life, we want what we want when we want it and may feel frustrated when things don’t go our way. But taking time to think things through is always better than reacting with a reflex. Waiting gives us the time to think, feel, and behave in healthier ways.

MB It’s hard to feel compassion for someone while that person is using or victimizing us.

This means we need to set healthy boundaries, allow our feelings to exist, and take the stance of behavior and compassion that come from our higher self. In other words, we take the high road.

MB If we listen to ourselves, we’ll probably hear ourselves say what the problem is. The next step is acceptance.

The path to acceptance may be difficult, but if we listen to our inner self, we recognize the struggle. From this struggle, we learn to accept the good and the bad as parts of everyday life.

MB We never outgrow our need for nurturing and self-care.

Recovery is about loving ourselves and taking care of ourselves. If we can’t nurture ourselves, then it will be difficult to nurture others.

MB If everything looks black, we’ve probably got our eyes shut.

This is about our denial and inability to focus on hope, acceptance, and healing. To truly heal, we need to be able to talk, feel, trust, and accept.

Remember that healing is a process – allow it to happen.

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Mindfulness Practice Reduces Relapse Risk

From Psychology Today:

Mindfulness training and meditation reduces alcohol and drug relapse risk

Many studies show that regular mindfulness training can modify these neural mechanisms resulting in decreased substance use and lower risk of relapsing. Research findings suggest that substance abuse is related to abnormal functioning of brain mechanisms underlying reward learning and executive functioning (Priddy 2018).

Individuals who successfully avoid relapse while participating in a 12-step program frequently experience increases in spirituality (Mathew 1996). Mindfulness training and meditation are standard offerings in relapse prevention programs. Transcendental meditation may be especially effective in reducing the risk of relapse in abstinent alcoholics (Alexander 1994). Mindfulness training and spirituality are important parts of 12-step programs for relapse prevention of alcohol, tobacco and narcotic abuse, however evidence does not support any particular spiritual or mindfulness practice over any other. 12-step programs that emphasize a religious or spiritual philosophy may be more effective compared to spiritually neutral programs (Muffler 1995) (Please see full citation information below).

Two recent systematic reviews concluded that mindfulness-based interventions were successful for reducing use of several substances of abuse including alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and opiates while often improving mood (Sancho 2018; Chiesa 2014). The paper by Sancho et al found that individuals who engage in regular mindfulness practice while receiving treatment as usual (i.e., cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication management), report lower relapse rates compared to individuals using mindfulness or conventional approaches alone.

Bottom line

There is considerable evidence that a regular mindfulness practice helps individuals with substance use problems to use less, and reduces the risk of relapse in abstinent individuals. Recovering alcoholics and addicts should be encouraged to pursue a mindfulness practice consistent with their beliefs and to consider attending a spiritually focused support group that combines conventional approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy with mindfulness.

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Veggie Chips Junk Food In Disguise

Chips are everywhere. You can’t escape the plastic bags and people munching all around you. But are vegetable chips and straws any better for you and your children than potato chips? Guess what? They’re not.

From Time

If you’re trying to sneak more vegetables into your—or your kid’s—diet, swapping regular potato chips for veggie chips or sticks may seem like a healthy substitution. But nutrition experts say some of these ostensibly good-for-you snacks are just junk food in disguise.

“Those veggie sticks are super popular at my six-year-old’s kindergarten, but they’re really no better than potato chips,” says Liz Weinandy, a staff dietitian at the Ohio State University Medical Center. “They have very small amounts of spinach or tomato paste, but they’re still a deep-fried food, and they’re not going to contribute to your daily vegetable intake in a way that supports overall health.”

Some brands of veggie snacks are actually made primarily from ground-up potato. “Often veggie chips and straws contain potato starch [or] potato flour as their primary ingredients, and you may see powdered spinach, for example, towards the end of the ingredient list—meaning many of these veggie chips are really quite similar to potato chips,” says Caroline Meehan, a registered dietitian and nutritionist at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Veggie chips benefit from what researchers call the “health halo effect,” because, at a glance, they may seem nutritious because of the way they’re packaged or promoted. But that aura of health is an illusion, Weinandy says.

One example: the packagings of some veggie straw products depict photos of whole vegetables and trumpet the straws’ lack of preservatives and artificial flavors. While cutting these additives is a good thing, many traditional potato chips and other unhealthy snack foods can make similar claims. And all these visual and textual cues, coupled with the word “veggie,” can hoodwink consumers into thinking veggie chips and straws are healthy. But they’re not, Weinandy says.

“We know that deep fat frying can promote low-grade inflammation,” she explains. Research has also linked consuming acrylamide—an organic compound that forms when potatoes and some other starchy foods are fried—to an elevated risk for heart disease and mortality. (Some “baked” veggie snacks may not be fried in oil, but those are uncommon.)

But while veggie chips and straws aren’t healthy, those made with actual vegetables (and not potato starch) may still be an upgrade over old-school chips.

Brands like Terra produce varieties of chip made with parsnips, sweet potatoes, and other non-white-potato vegetables. “I still would not make the argument that this is a healthy food,” says Dana Hunnes, a dietitian and adjunct assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “The real healthfulness would come from eating the actual vegetable or root in a more natural form, such as boiling, sautéing, or baking.”

But for someone who’s going to eat fried chips one way or the other, skipping regular potato chips in favor of products like the Terra chips could provide a bit more fiber and a little less sodium, she says.

“Look for vegetable chips that have the vegetable product as the first or second ingredient on the list,” Meehan advises. She also recommends shopping for a snack that has fewer than 200 mgs of sodium per serving and at least a few grams of fiber.

Weinandy understands that some people don’t like vegetables, or that trying to get kids to eat vegetables can be a chore. For these folks, she recommends blending leafy greens into smoothies or adding chopped vegetables to pancake batter or casseroles. These are creative, tasty ways to inject more of these healthy foods into your diet, she says. Veggie chips are not the answer. “They may have a little more nutrition,” she says, “but the negatives still outweigh the positives.”

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Declutter Your Mind

Want to think better and lose negativity. Declutter your mind.

From Healthy Living You’ve Marie Kondo’d your closet, or at least thought about doing it—and you strive to keep the rest of your home nice and neat. But your mental space? Let’s just say it can get a little cluttered too. Everyday worries (Why hasn’t Alex called me back?) and subconscious preoccupations (I can’t believe I just ate another cookie) occasionally pile up and muddy your mind-set. And more often than not, those chaotic, competing thoughts aren’t the productive kind; they just distract you from what’s going on in the moment and sap precious energy. The bottom line: “All that thinking can be exhausting,” says Sunitha Chandy, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in Chicago. Luckily for the busy-brained, however, we can learn to tidy away mental clutter and make room for more important stuff. Step one, says Chandy, is identifying the thoughts that keep tripping you up.

You’re obsessing over a past slight

Maybe your mother-in-law outdid herself with her latest passive-aggressive display, or your friend said something rather judgy. Whatever it was that stung, it’s still making you wince weeks later. The anger you’re carrying around may feel justified—but it’s dragging you down, says Lisa Marie Bobby, PhD, founder of Growing Self Counseling and Coaching. Every time you replay the offense or rehearse a comeback, you trigger a stress response in your body.

Clear the clutter: Expressing your hurt feelings could help you release a grudge and move on. But you know that. If you’re avoiding a confrontation, it may be because you don’t expect you’ll get the apology you deserve (especially from your MIL). There is another option: Draft a letter, and then throw it away, Bobby suggests. “The emotionally charged part of your brain that needs closure doesn’t actually care whether the other person is listening or not,” she explains. “So even just writing out your feelings can do the trick.”

You always expect the worst-case scenario

Is your personal motto “If something can go wrong, it probably will”? That kind of catastrophic thinking leads you to expend your mental resources anticipating bad turns of events—say, your kid not getting into any decent schools, for example, or downsizing at your company. (See also: your most morbid fears.) Worrying over potential pitfalls can create a spiral of negativity that’s hard to control.

Clear the clutter: You can’t banish intrusive thoughts, unfortunately. Trying to ignore them only makes them stronger. But you can flip your fears so they’re useful, says Chandy. Here’s a trick: Picture a worst case scenario, and make an action plan. Knowing you could actually handle a dreaded outcome may make it less scary. You can also let your what-ifs nudge you in a healthy way. For instance, if you’re worried a funny freckle might be melanoma, go see your derm. If you’re concerned about the safety of a loved one, drop her an out-of-the-blue text, and tell her you love and appreciate her.

Your checklist is endless

To-dos pop into your thoughts like whack-a-moles. Buy milk. Book flights. Email the vet. “Our brains are obsessed with undone stuff,” says time management expert Laura Vanderkam, author of Off the Clock. “Lest you forget about this stuff, your brain keeps reminding you over and over again.” But of course, the string of interruptions keeps you from focusing on the task currently at hand.

Clear the clutter: First, if you haven’t already, jot your list on a piece of paper. When you write down your to-dos, you get them out of your head—thereby relieving your brain of its role as reminder-in-chief. And try limiting the list to your must-dos. “There’s a big difference between what you feel needs to be done and what actually needs to be done,” says Vanderkam. Plus, you may find that when you stop taking responsibility for certain chores, others pick up the slack. “Eventually, someone else in your household may also want milk,” Vanderkam points out. “They may figure out that they can go to a store and, you know, exchange money for goods.”

You’ve got a case of impostor syndrome

Despite all evidence to the contrary, you’re not convinced you deserve your success— and that insecurity fills your mind with doubts. You don’t trust your instincts, and you second-guess your decisions. “The problem is, we know ourselves inside out,” explains Chandy. “So even if you’re great at something, you know about all the times you messed up or failed in the past.” And the little voice inside your head keeps whispering, “You’re a fraud.”

Clear the clutter: Remind yourself you’re human— seriously. That secret trunk of failures you’re hiding? Everyone’s got one. “You can’t be kick ass without making mistakes,” says Chandy. Then reality-check your negative thoughts about your abilities and your accomplishments. Look for facts that prove your worst suspicions. Chances are, they don’t exist.

You’re on a strict diet

Counting calories, carbs, grams of fat—all that tracking may help you slim down. But it also creates an obsession with food, says Talia Wiesel, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Between the constant calculations, guilt over slipups, and the inevitable hanger, a restrictive regimen can eat up a good deal of brain space.

Clear the clutter: Ask yourself why you are on this Earth. OK, that’s dramatic—but the point is, you’re surely not here to wear a size 6 or eliminate the (totally normal) cellulite on your thighs. “Your body doesn’t exist to be a ‘bikini body,’ ” says Wiesel. “It’s a vessel that allows you to do the things that really matter to you.” Consider switching to a more sustainable healthy-eating plan that’s gentler on your psyche. And when you feel self-critical thoughts creep up, use them to cultivate gratitude. For example, you might say, “I don’t love the way my legs look, but I appreciate them because they let me  run with my dog.”

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Anxious Much, Your Brain Is Wired For Escape

From Science Daily Fear and anxiety are both responses to danger but differ in timing. Fear strikes when something is an imminent threat: a tiger jumps over a fence, lunging at you. Anxiety, on the other hand, occurs when you have a moment to consider a threat: you spot a tiger in the distance and have time to think about whether to run or hide.

New research from Caltech assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience Dean Mobbs, appearing online May 20 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, shows for the first time how the brains of anxious individuals react to both fast (fear-based) and slow (anxiety-based) attacking threats. The results indicate that most individuals, whether anxious or not, respond to fast threats in the same way. Basically, they run. But when it comes to slow threats, a person’s level of anxiety makes a difference: the more anxious they are, the sooner they will flee a dangerous situation.

The anxious person’s brain is wired for escape

“If you tell an anxious person that there is a tiger in the building, then they will want to get out fast,” says Dean Mobbs. “We can see this in the brain — anxious individuals show faster and stronger activity in the anxiety circuits of their brains when presented with slow attacking threats.”

The study builds upon previous work by Mobbs and colleagues that teased apart fear and anxiety circuits in the human brain. In the study, participants were asked to play a “virtual predator” video game while inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine that measures brain activity. The participants’ goal was to escape attack from the virtual predator. The longer they waited out an impending attack, the more money they earned; if they waited too long and were caught, they received an electrical shock to the hand.

That research showed that the fast threats led to reactions in the fear circuit, located in the central part of the brain, which consists of connections between two structures known as the periaqueductal gray and the midcingulate cortex. Slow threats, in contrast, led to responses closer to the front of the brain, in the anxiety circuit, which consists of the hippocampus, the posterior cingulate cortex (both involved in memory and thinking about the future) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (an area of the brain responsible for assessing risk and making decisions).

In the new study, these same tests were performed on individuals previously rated with varying levels of anxiety. The results showed that people with higher anxiety traits escaped the virtual attackers sooner than those with lower anxiety, but only in the slow-threat scenarios.

“That anxiety only manifests during relatively prolonged negative situations, the slow threats, seems sensible, but this is the first evidence we have for this in an ecological setting,” says study lead author Bowen Fung, a postdoctoral scholar in computational affective neuroscience at Caltech. “One thing I find particularly interesting is it gives some support to the idea that ‘getting it over with’ is a strategy to avoid feelings of anxiety — whether it’s the physical pain of tearing off Band-Aids, or the emotional burden of admitting guilt.”

“Even though trait-anxious subjects didn’t earn as much money in the task, they escaped more frequently. So evolutionarily, it seems important to strike a balance between rewards earned by boldness and survival because of an anxious appraisal of possible risks,” says Song Qi, a Caltech graduate student and co-author on the paper.

Anxiety results from having a time lag before danger, Mobbs explains, because it gives us time to imagine future scenarios and plan accordingly.

“Anxiety is part of a prediction strategy, which leads to prevention,” he says, “But anxiety is not necessarily built for the modern world. Today, we can imagine dangerous scenarios that may never happen. The more we can learn about how this works in the brain, the more we can figure out how this process breaks down in anxiety disorders.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by California Institute of Technology. Original written by Whitney Clavin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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There’s A Mental Health Crisis Among Florida’s Kids

From Vice:

Anyone in Florida can be “Baker Acted,” but it’s become much more common for kids recently.

The decades-old state law says that someone threatening to harm themselves or others can be involuntarily or voluntarily committed to a mental health facility for 72 hours. Invoking the act has become so common in Florida that people use it as a verb — increasingly for teens: Between 2011 and 2016, the number of Baker Acted kids rose by nearly 50 percent, according to the most recent data available from the University of South Florida’s Baker Act Reporting Center.

Kids like 16-year-old Chris Ammann. He’s been flagged four times, once by a school administrator who identified him as at-risk, and spent a few stints at local children’s crisis facilities, including Gracepoint Wellness in Tampa. Between stays, he’s been back in school.

“I’ll just go to school, put on a mask, pretend like I’m happy and I’m OK so people don’t ask me what’s wrong,” Chris told VICE News. “It’s hard to answer that question when everything is wrong. So I pretend that I’m happy and tell people I’m OK, but inside I’m not.”

The halls of Gracepoint Wellness are full of young people in crisis. At least 10 juveniles a day come through the center’s doors. The majority of children who come to Gracepoint have expressed thoughts of self-harm. Diagnoses range from depression and anxiety to mood and psychotic disorders. During their stay, they are evaluated by a psychiatrist who prescribes medication as well as group therapy and one-on-one counseling.

Trouble is, Chris and others like him feel like they need longer-term help.

While Baker Acting someone can be the quickest and most reliable way to access therapy and a child psychiatrist, the places that take those patients and other short-term crisis facilities in the U.S. represent how unattainableconsistent mental health care is for the average American, because it costs too much or just isn’t readily available. And it’s particularly hard in Florida: According to a 2018 report released by Mental Health America, the state ranks 44th in the country for access to mental health care. Waitlists for child psychiatrists, specifically, are notoriously long.

“There’s a huge shortage of child psychiatrists, there is a huge shortage of therapists, and that’s probably why we have so many Baker Acts,” child psychiatrist Dr. Kristie Jetter of Gracepoint Wellness said.

Baker Acts are more common during the school year, and it’s usually school staff who are the first to flag a troubled student, like in Chris’s case. But most mental health emergencies are ultimately handled by police officers dispatched by 911. Already this year, there have been more than 3,000 mental health calls to sheriff and police in Hillsborough County alone. More than 400 of those calls resulted in a juvenile Baker Acts.

“We should not even be a part of it. We’re not clinical professionals; we’re not doctors we can’t diagnose and fix what’s going on with the kids,” Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputy Stephanie Krager told VICE News.

The most recent data shows that between 2011-2016, 30 percent of kids in Florida who were Baker Acted will be Baker Acted more than once. According to mental health professionals, frequent Baker Acts can actually assist in getting higher-end services approved including a cost-free Community Action Team which provides intensive at-home counseling and mentorship for both families and children.

In a gripping special episode, VICE News Tonight on HBO correspondent Isobel Yeung follows the journey of three families struggling with their children’s mental illness through a 72-hour Baker Act at one of Florida’s largest and oldest adolescent Baker Act facilities. Yeung investigates the complicated reality for counselors, families, law enforcement and school officials as they attempt to make difficult and timely decisions in order to access vital mental health care for children in distress.

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Myth Busting During Mental Health Month

From Tennessean:

It is vital for the one in five Americans who live with mental health conditions that we debunk mental health myths that persist.

May 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of Mental Health Month.

In the decades since the first observance, stigma surrounding mental health issues has greatly reduced. However, misconceptions and misinformation still exist. It is vital for the one in five Americans who live with mental health conditions that we debunk mental health myths that persist.

I asked some of our mental health professionals at Centerstone what myths still need busting regarding mental health care matters. Here are three myths and the truth about each.

Myth: The way to fix a mental health issue is to “snap out of it.”Truth: Telling someone to snap out of a mental health condition is like telling a diabetic to snap out of diabetes. Mental illness may involve genetics, brain chemistry, life experiences such as trauma or abuse as well as other significant social factors. It’s true that people with mental health problems can improve, and some experience full recovery. But it isn’t a snap.

Improvements often require and are achieved through talk therapy, prescribed medicine and other lifestyle changes which take time.

Myth: People with mental health challenges are dangerous and often criminals.Truth: Those with a major mental illness are actually more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators. Because they often also struggle with issues of poverty, transient living conditions and substance use, their vulnerability is increased. While the media may regularly highlight crimes committed by someone with a mental illness, research suggests that is rarely the case with criminal violence.Myth: Suicide is not preventable.Truth: Suicide is preventable. Eight out of 10 people who die of suicide give definite clues to their intentions, although some may be nonverbal or difficult to detect. Warning signs–such as anxiety, agitation or trouble sleeping; withdrawal from friends, family and regular activities; and/or substance use–often indicate someone is experiencing thoughts of suicide.

Mental Health First Aid classes are available to educate the public about how to recognize symptoms in a person and guide them to crisis care.

On the clinical level, many health care providers, including Centerstone, use risk assessment methods at each appointment to determine if an individual needs an active safety plan put in place to avoid self-harm. Resulting data shows that many lives are saved.

No one has to weather a mental health condition alone. There is help, hope and healing for all with mental illness and addiction, which is why it’s important we bust the myths and spread the truth during Mental Health Month and beyond.

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Killswitch Engage Vocalist Jesse Leach On Mental Health

From Loudwire:

In recent years, the subject of mental health has been brought more to the forefront, and one of the more open musicians in speaking about his own issues has been Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach. The vocalist recently taped a video interview for Heart Support, an organization that has provided a community for those dealing with mental health issues, in which he speaks about his battle.

Leach revealed that he has dealt with anxiety and suicidal thoughts in the past, going so far as to reveal that he had gotten “romantically in love with the idea of killing himself” during a particularly down period around 2008-2009. But it wasn’t until he challenged his own preconceived notions of seeking help that things started to turn. “I was kind of raised with the idea that you don’t really talk about that stuff,” states Leach. “Going to see a therapist is not an insane thing. It’s not something that should be abnormal.”

“On paper, if you were to look at my life, you’d say — and I’ve gotten this from people — where, ‘You have such a good life. You’re living your dreams. You’re doing everything you wanna do. Why are you sad? How dare you say that, oh, you’re not feeling well?’ or this and that. And I think for me, as I’ve gotten older, it’s gotten a bit worse, but because I’ve reached out, because I’ve gotten help, because I speak about it, I meet people who are the same as me, or even worse off than me, it’s helped me to develop tools to push through and to not feel alone. And I think that’s huge. If I were to say anything, that’s probably the biggest thing.”

He adds, “It’s just a matter, for me, of keeping the conversation on the table, constantly talking about it, and the more we talk about it, the more it evolves. Honestly, that can save lives, and I think that’s why, for me, it’s so important.”

Leach also revealed one other outlet that has helped him deal with his issues and that’s exercise. During work on a Times of Grace album, the singer recalled spotting a mangled bike outside the studio and taking that bike and fixing it up. Riding the bike reminded him of his youth and better times and started to help with his mindset. In the years since, cycling has become a bigger part of his life and part of his coping in difficult times.

“Because of what I’ve been through and because of the language I’ve developed and what with the people who’ve surrounded me, I see a light where I didn’t see a light before,” says the singer.

Watch the video in full below and for those looking for a place to speak about what they’re going through with mental health issues, Leach suggests the forum at Heart Support that can be found here.

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Dr. Gupta: If You See Someone Struggling With Mental Illness, Don’t Turn Away

From CNN:

On the morning of September 25, 2000, when Kevin Hines looked out from the Golden Gate Bridge, it must have been a magnificent sight. The sun bouncing off the coastline of Marin County to the left and backlighting the coast of San Francisco to the right, with Alcatraz straight ahead. There were probably boats of different types and sizes in the glittering water and an occasional sea lion breaking the surface.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world’s most exquisite, an American landmark. Despite that — or perhaps because of it — it has also been one of the most infamous places in the world for people to die by suicide. It was on this stunning bridge on that perfect day that 19-year-old Kevin decided to jump.

I am told the 220-foot fall takes only a few seconds but probably feels a lot longer. By the time you hit the water, having accelerated to about 80 miles per hour, the surface of the water functions more like concrete, and does similar damage to the body. Spinal vertebrae and the thoracic rib cage snap like twigs and then rip through the organs in the abdomen and chest. Arteries and veins tear open, and every body cavity fills with blood. The pain is searing, and as you plunge into the frigid water, you are likely to drown, if you are even still alive.

As soon as Kevin’s hands left the 4-foot-high railing of the Golden Gate Bridge, he felt “instantaneous regret.” He tried to maneuver his body so that he could land feet-first, knowing that would be his only chance of survival. Somehow, miraculously even, it worked.

When I met Kevin a few years after his jump, I was there to report one of my first stories for CNN. The headline was simple: Man jumps from Golden Gate Bridge and survives. As I soon learned in my career as a journalist, though, the real stories — the ones that leave a mark — are usually more nuanced and take time to draw out. They require lots of patience, little talking, mostly listening.

I could see the jagged edges that still filled Kevin’s mind just like the titanium cages filled his spine. Within minutes, I knew that Kevin’s deeper untold story wasn’t just about survival, it was about empathy, concern and our basic human obligations to one another.

That responsibility is central to Kevin’s decision to take his life that day. He walked from his home to the bus stop, rode to the Golden Gate Bridge and then walked to the middle of it. What no one knew was that he had made a silent pact with himself: If anyone offered him a kind word or “friendly eyes” as he made his way to the bridge, he wouldn’t jump. He just wanted to see one act of compassion in a city full of people to convince this obviously troubled 19-year-old kid that he should live. But on that day, no one rose to the occasion.

That part of the story still tears at him and at times cripples him. When Kevin quietly, nearly whispering, told me these details while we stood on the bridge in 2003, I felt a pit in my stomach and stinging in the back of my eyes. Not one person. I wished I had known Kevin back then.

When Kevin and I again walked onto the Golden Gate Bridge last month, 16 years after we met, I saw a completely different person. When I took him to the place where he jumped and asked him about it, he paused and said, “This is the place where I lived.” I loved that. And over the past 16 years, Kevin has brought that rebirthed life to the very issue that almost stole it. Traveling all over the world, Kevin has been on a mission to eradicate suicide, which has increased 33% in the United States over the past 20 years.

Through his public speaking, storytelling and films, Kevin is now regularly showing the compassion, kind words and “friendly eyes” that no one had given him when he needed it the most. He won’t concede this point, but Kevin has probably saved hundreds of lives along the way. And he changed me as well.

A few years ago, I launched the Just Say Hellocampaign with Oprah Winfrey.

The fact is, if you see someone drop from cardiac arrest, you probably have some idea of what to do: call 911, start chest compressions. If we see someone who is clearly in the throes of a mental health crisis, however, too often our reaction is to do nothing, and maybe even turn away.

Let’s change that. Together. All of us. A kind word, friendly eyes. Just say “hello.” You might even save a life, someone like Kevin Hines.

The post Dr. Gupta: If You See Someone Struggling With Mental Illness, Don’t Turn Away appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.