Lambert’s tragic end is a sad echo of his mother’s. Best known for playing teenager Kimberly Drummond on “Diff’rent Strokes,” Plato struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, lost all her money, starred in semi-pornographic films, and was even arrested for armed robbery. In 1999, one day after being harassed by callers during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Plato overdosed on prescription drugs outside her mother’s house. She was 34 years old.

It’s not uncommon for suicides to occur more than once in the same family. If you know someone who might be at risk, visit the American Association of Suicidology website for help and resources.

Actress’s Son Ends Life After Struggling with Addiction, Depression is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Resolve to Get Unstuck

Without going into too much in-depth analysis at this point, it’s important to recognize that what you’re feeling is a logjam of emotions. Think about it. So much has happened in recent months – including completing treatment for a problem with substance abuse or addictive behavior, getting back on track with your life, attempting to resurrect your relationships with significant others, friends, and co-workers – that you feel overwhelmed. And the truth of the matter is that you have every right to feel this way. In other words, it is perfectly normal to be a bit bewildered and floored over all the intense emotions that are coming to the surface right now.

Okay, so it’s normal to feel overwhelmed by your emotions. Now what should you do? Experts in recovery strategies say that it’s important to recognize this emotional turmoil for what it is, but not to dwell on it. Simply acknowledge that it is there in your thoughts, and then resolve to do whatever you need to in order to get unstuck. You will learn techniques and tips that will help unblock this logjam of negative and conflicting emotions and be able to move on with your life.

Tell yourself: “I know I feel stuck right now emotionally. I am experiencing (anger, fear, depression, hostility, bitterness, sadness, loss, etc.) at the present, but I am going to take steps to get past this. I will not allow negative emotions to block my progress in recovery.”

Master Your Emotions Through Balance

What happens when you feel an intense negative emotion is that the feeling takes over your life. Sometimes this lasts only for a short period of time, but very often, if you don’t deal with it, the emotions ball up into a mental roadblock that prohibits any outward constructive action on your part. Think of the image of a teeter-totter. All the negative emotion concentrates on one end of the teeter-totter, leaving the other end hanging in space, unable to go anywhere. There needs to be a balance between the positive and negative emotions so that, much like the teeter-totter, movement can occur.

Why is balance so important? Why shouldn’t you be positive all the time? Life is a series of challenges. Not everything that happens in life is positive. That doesn’t mean that you give up and say that there’s nothing you can do about a situation, say, your cravings keep recurring and you might as well give into them, since they won’t go away. That’s a cop-out, a weasel’s way of avoiding responsibility. Yes, bad things do happen. Yes, cravings to drink, to use, gamble, or engage in other addictive behavior do occur. But you don’t have to give into them. You don’t have to allow them to take over and control your life. You do need to balance the negative emotions with positive ones. This may take some practice in order for it to come naturally, but it is very doable.

Here’s how. When you have a negative thought – let’s take craving as an example – recognize that it is just that, a craving. Then, instead of wallowing in it and torturing yourself over how you’ll be able to avoid giving into the craving, do this: think of something else. You may have a photo on your wall or desk or wallet of some place or someone special. Concentrate on the positive emotions that looking at this photo brings to your consciousness. Imagine you are there in the photo, at the place, with the special person. What will you do or say? In effect, you’re indulging in a daydream, a bit of a fantasy – with one exception. There is something you can do about it. You can make plans to bring your daydream or fantasy into reality. Even if the photo is of a far-off place on the other side of the world, or of someone you love who is no longer in your life (through divorce, separation, or death), you can make the moment real in your mind now. You can change the negative emotion brought about by the craving to a positive emotion you create through thoughtful intention.

There are other ways to help bring about emotional balance. One of the best ones is laughter. At this point, I’d say don’t laugh, but the idea is to get you to laugh. There is a lot of merit to the benefits of laughter on the emotions. Did you know that you use every muscle when you laugh? Your entire body gets a mini-workout with a good belly laugh. But even smiles work your facial muscles, curving your lips in an upward direction (positive emotion) and changing the dynamic of your emotions. You can’t force laughter, you object? Of course you can’t force it. That isn’t the point. But you can find small things to smile about. Take the photograph just mentioned. That makes you smile. You can also rent a funny DVD or go to see a comedy at the multiplex with a good friend. Go on the Internet to joke sites or buy a joke book and start reading through it. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to start finding the comic side of things once you start seeing the joy in life – and practicing it. And, in this case, practice means you’ll get better at it.

You will be able to balance out the negative emotions with positive ones. And balance in your emotions is crucial to being able to move forward in your recovery. It’s a great way to beat the blues.

Learn How to Achieve Success

Another reason that people in recovery get bogged down in the blues is that they can’t see how they’ll be able to achieve success. Let’s look at this in a little more depth. You may have a roadmap that you created with your counselor or therapist during treatment. Right now, the goals may seem totally unreachable. When you feel that you have no possibility of ever achieving your stated goals, this tends to beat you down, to mire you in the blues. What’s really going on, however, is that you haven’t thoroughly worked through the steps you need to take, in succession, in order to achieve success.

To get from where you are today to the goal you set for yourself five years from now, for example, involves taking certain steps. Sometimes the steps are lateral instead of a vertical progression. You may wish to become a manager in a different department where you work, but you can’t expect to just transfer to the new position without first learning more about the job, obtaining necessary training, perhaps beginning at the same level where you are currently and going through a kind of on-the-job training. It may take some period of time before you are ready to assume the managerial role in the new area. So you’ll need to take a lateral move and then proceed to acquire the necessary knowledge and experience in order to move up.

Another important point to make about learning how to achieve success is that success isn’t always about a straight line. Sometimes you stay at a plateau for a while before you achieve your goal. Take learning a new language. You don’t just start off with a book and know how to speak and write the language fluently by the end of the book. Mastering a new language takes time, sometimes years. Avoid becoming depressed over your lack of fluency by celebrating accomplishments along the way. In the beginning, it’s all new, confusing, and a bit strange. The more you study the language, however, the more the light bulb of understanding begins to shine. You start to recognize phrases, then sentences, then entire paragraphs – or you can understand and reciprocate in entire conversations. In other words, you are slowly gaining mastery over the language. You are achieving your goal.

Take stock of your goals. Maybe you need to insert some intermediate steps that you need to take in your path toward achieving those goals. You are beginning to understand how to achieve your goals. This, in itself, will help you beat the blues in recovery. When you lack sufficient knowledge – it’s a scary prospect. Filling the gap with concrete actions to take means that you are building your knowledge bank.

Know When It’s Time to Move Forward

Everyone has a comfort zone, a place where they feel no need to make any changes. You’ve heard of the person who stays in the same position for years on end. Some might say the person lacks ambition when, in reality, it may be that they are in their own comfort zone and just don’t feel like moving forward. Others look at a person in that position as being stuck in a dead-end job. Such is not the fate for them. They prefer to be constantly moving forward.

When you allow yourself to be immobilized by the blues in recovery, you are like the person who is stuck. You’re in a comfort zone, in a manner of speaking, in that this is something you recognize. It’s at least something you’re familiar with, something that’s happened before. Getting past the negative emotions means you might have to take a risk. But – and this is very important – you need to take the risk in order to be successful in recovery. Sure, moving forward can be a little intimidating. You don’t know if you’ll like the situation once you achieve your goals. But, guess what? You can always change them. In fact, the beauty of making goals is that your list should always be evolving. Once you achieve the more immediate or short-term goals – such as being clean and sober for a week, a month, six months, a year, or getting a job to help pay the bills, or going back to school to resume your quest for a degree – you add more goals. The idea is to build upon those goals that mean something to you, or to make entirely new goals as new opportunities present themselves. And this is bound to happen. Life isn’t static. It’s about choices, always new choices.

Think how you felt when you first decided to enter treatment. You didn’t know what was going to happen. It was very frightening and you may have even been afraid you wouldn’t be able to go through it. But you made the decision to move forward, to do something constructive to overcome your addiction. That was a pivotal moment, the point at which you knew it was time to move forward. Being in recovery and beating the blues involves the same kind of recognition.

Those who are successful in recovery sometime refer to this as the “Aha!” moment. This is when it all starts to make sense. You know you don’t want to go back to wallowing in your sorrows and perhaps falling into relapse. Instead of looking back, you are now looking forward. You know it’s time to move forward.

Tend to Nutrition and Exercise

It is funny how often we all take the human body for granted. We go about our daily lives, worrying about this or that, and fail to take into account the fact that our bodies and our minds require nutrition and exercise in order to function optimally. The recommendations for eating healthy seem to go in one ear and out the other when in reality they are a perfectly sound prescription for healthy living.

Get your recommended daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. Include whole grains in your diet. Drink plenty of water to keep your body hydrated. Avoid saturated fats, too much red meat, excessive salt intake, and empty calories. It doesn’t take an advanced degree to figure out how to eat healthier, but if you have any doubts about how a particular eating regimen can benefit you, ask your doctor, nurse, or nutritionist. Buy a book on healthy eating. Start watching the cooking shows and see how the chefs prepare balanced, healthy and delicious meals. Then, start doing the same thing for you and your family.

Along with nutrition comes the need for adequate exercise. America doesn’t have to be a nation of fatties, or people who sit more than they walk, ride when they should be moving about, or people who consume more than they can reasonably use. Get up off the couch, the chair, and go for a walk. Play ball with the kids. Join a neighborhood or community team to play a sport – basketball, baseball, hockey, for example. Invite your friends or co-workers to go skiing, tubing, whitewater rafting, camping, hiking, fishing or some other recreational activity. Make exercise a vital part of your schedule.

Two things happen when you exercise regularly. One, your body creates natural feel-good chemicals called endorphins. These help lift your mood and make things seem more manageable. Two, your body begins to find homeostasis. Your heart, lungs, and vital organs function better. You build muscle tone, stamina – you may even lose weight or trim unnecessary inches from various parts of your torso. When your body and mind benefit from exercise – regular, vigorous exercise 3 to 5 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour at a time – you won’t be finding yourself stuck in the blues.

Boost Your Mental Clarity

Another way to beat the blues in recovery is to stimulate and challenge your mind. There are any numbers of ways to do this. You can enroll in classes to learn a hobby or subject that always interested you. You could do crossword puzzles, Sudoku, or mind game challenges on a regular basis. Play Scrabble or other word games with your family and friends.

Learn how to play a musical instrument. An intellectually stimulating job can also keep your mind alert and boost mental clarity.
Stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the world by reading the daily newspapers. You can read the stories online if you don’t take the newspapers – and it’s free. Reading different kinds of books – novels, mysteries, adventure, and history – can expose you to new worlds and stimulate your mind.

And exercise, which has already been mentioned as necessary for overall health, can also help boost your mental clarity.
Even a good debate with a friend can jumpstart your mental clarity. Instead of stagnating, your mind is constantly working to form arguments and counterarguments. It is stimulating, and beneficial to mental clarity. It’s also fun.

Join With a Friend

Sometimes the best way to beat the blues in recovery is to do so with the support and encouragement of a trusted friend. This is not to say that you’re indulging in your woes by going over them with your buddy, but that you are sharing time with a friend and getting your mind off your negative and counterproductive thoughts. Your friend may be someone you’ve known and trusted for years, or it could be someone new that you’ve met, perhaps at a 12-step support group. Who your friend is doesn’t matter, as long as you have complete trust and enjoy spending time with him or her. Be sure to give of yourself freely to your friend. That means that you are willing to listen and offer your support and encouragement in return.

Two friends in recovery can help each other immensely – beating the blues, moving forward, becoming successful in reaching goals.

Whatever steps work best for you, employ them. Find what really motivates you and move forward. In the end, beating the blues will no longer be the time-consuming task it may seem like now. In fact, you’ll be such a pro at beating the blues that you won’t give it much thought. It will be second-nature. Life in recovery is all about possibilities. Get out and explore yours now.
 

Beating the Blues in Recovery is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

“Research shows that higher levels of neuroticism can lead to earlier mortality, and we wanted to know why,” said Daniel K. Mroczek, a professor of child development and family studies.

“We found that having worrying tendencies or being the kind of person who stresses easily is likely to lead to bad behaviors like smoking and, therefore, raise the mortality rate. This work is a reminder that high levels of some personality traits can be hazardous to one’s physical health.”

Chronic worrying, anxiety, and being prone to depression are key aspects of the personality trait of neuroticism. In this study, the researchers looked at how smoking and heavy drinking are associated with the trait. A person with high neuroticism is likely to experience anxiety or depression and may self-medicate with tobacco, alcohol, or drugs as a coping mechanism.

The researchers found that smoking accounted for about 25 percent to 40 percent of the association between high neuroticism and mortality. The other 60 percent is unexplained, but possibly attributed to biological factors or other environmental issues that neurotic individuals experience, Mroczek said.

The researchers analyzed data of 1,788 men and their smoking behavior and personality traits over a 30-year period from 1975 to 2005. The data was part of the VA Normative Aging Study, which is a long-term study of aging men based at the Boston VA Outpatient Clinic.

A better understanding of the bridge between personality traits and physical health can perhaps help clinicians improve intervention and prevention programs, Mroczek said.

“For example, programs that target people high in neuroticism may get bigger bang for the buck than more widespread outreach efforts,” he said. “It also may be possible to use personality traits to identify people who, because of their predispositions, are at risk for engaging in poor health behaviors such as smoking or excessive drinking.”

Study Examines Relationship between Chronic Stress and Substance Abuse is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

From an early age, Michael struggled with anxiety and depression. As a child, he always felt awkward in social gatherings, and, as a result, he did his best to avoid social interaction during adolescence and into his early teenage years. Solitude made him feel more comfortable, yet he couldn’t help feeling left out when he heard stories from his classmates about parties or school functions. Over time, he began to resent the social phobia and eventually decided to do something about it.

Michael had seen his dad drink beers after work and his mom share martinis with her friends, and he noticed how relaxed they seemed while drinking. So, during a family barbecue one summer afternoon, when his many relatives were socializing in the backyard, 14 year-old Michael spotted a half-empty beer and sneakily carried it around a corner. After a few cautious sips, he felt a rush of comfort and pleasure that thrilled him in a way nothing else ever had. He was tremendously excited by the foreign sensation of relaxed happiness, and before he knew it, the cup was empty. Instinctively, Michael went in search of another.

A short time later, Michael was considered “that crazy guy” at parties, doing keg stands and drinking vast quantities of whatever type of alcohol he could get his hands on. He liked the feeling of being known for something and the popularity that came with it, and before he knew it, he was secretly drinking before school to loosen up and remain “that crazy guy” at school. As an adult, Michael is now an alcoholic struggling with serious health issues. His marriage ended in divorce when his wife left him because of his drinking, and his life is spiraling out of control. And it all began with that half-cup of beer when he was 14.

For many people like Michael, alcohol and other drugs provide relief from daily struggles. However, for those who routinely look for something to “take the edge off,” serious problems with dependency may lie just under the surface. What may initially seem like a handy tool for dealing with uncomfortable situations can quickly become an all-encompassing, devastating addiction. Reliance on drugs like alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or painkillers to soothe the mind is nothing short of addiction, warranting a change in behavior and, in many cases, professional help.

Mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder are the most common targets of self-medication, although other conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or various forms of chronic physical distress, can also lead individuals to administer their own form of treatment.

The potential dangers of self-medicating are plentiful, and chief among them is the threat of addiction. A 2007 report in the American Journal of Psychiatry identified a clear correspondence between social anxiety and alcohol dependence. The report explained that people suffering from anxiety are vulnerable to a snowballing reliance on alcohol because as alcohol wears off, the resulting withdrawals can cause greater anxiety, which in turn increases the likelihood of further drinking. Alcohol can also exacerbate feelings of depression as it wears off, tempting users to drink more.

Although self-medicating is often considered to be an adult behavior, young people are also at risk. A 2008 report from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) revealed an alarming link between teen drug use and depression. The study described a common scenario of teens treating feelings of depression with marijuana and other drugs, only to prolong their suffering and develop more significant mental health problems in the future. According to the report, depressed teens are twice as likely as non-depressed teens to use illegal drugs, and many become addicted.

Those who self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs are urged to seek healthier, less dangerous methods of coping with their discomfort. Recommended alternatives to self-medication include improved dietary habits, regular exercise, natural remedies, counseling, and other forms of therapy. Also, a doctor can be consulted to decide whether prescription medicines would be beneficial. There are many healthy, legal options available for overcoming every kind of mental and physical pain, and for escaping the bondage of addiction.

Self-medication with drugs and alcohol may seem like an innocuous way to make it through the day, but in reality, it is not a prudent choice. Alcohol and other drugs mask unpleasant symptoms but never reach the roots of the discomfort. In order to truly conquer chronic pain, experts say the suffering must be courageously faced. Then, strategies for working through the hardship can be considered, and the affliction can be genuinely overcome.

The Dangers of Self-Medicating with Drugs and Alcohol is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment