Rehab After Care: What is It?
Getting through addiction treatment can be tough for sure, but keep in mind that following it is no time to let down your guard. Rehab after-care might be a really good idea for you. This type of subsequent care or treatment is a great way to stay sober and get re-acclimated to everyday life with…
All About Self-Care
Self-care refers to an enlightened, ongoing effort taken by someone to preserve and improve their physical and mental health and wellness. Research from the National Institutes of Health shows that awareness, self-control, and self-reliance are central when utilizing self-care to optimize health and well-being. When undertaken correctly, self-care can reduce stress and the risk of…
Psychedelics, Addiction and Mental Health
It’s always difficult to get a consensus among medical experts, especially about a topic such as psychedelic medication, which is freighted with all sorts of cultural and legal significance. Having said that, from depression to addiction, these drugs really do offer hope for those with mental health disorders according to many authorities, such as says…
Illicit Drug Use, the Role of Covid and Attempting New Legal and Medical Approaches
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the United Kingdom has new survey data demonstrating that drug usage jumped and then dropped between 2020 – 2022. It is possible that Covid might have played in these fluctuations. It can be difficult to draw conclusions from just one study, and doctors and healthcare officials often try…
The Side Effects of Antipsychotic Medications
The side effects of anti-psychotic medications are broad and sometimes include conditions ranging from constipation and dry mouth to sedation, hormonal fluctuations that result in sexual problems, uncontrollable movements of the mouth called tardive dyskinesia and general restlessness that causes discomfort called akathisia. Weight gain is also a risk as is an increased risk of…
Anxiety and it’s Effect on Your Health
As a psychiatrist, I see patients every day who have medical conditions that have been triggered completely or in part by anxiety. Anxiety can have a very powerful effect on the human mind and body, especially when it’s chronic. These effects are felt in various parts of the body including the nervous, immune, cardiovascular, digestive…
Some Thoughts on Getting Back into Relationships
There are certainly some special struggles that long-time singles face when getting back into dating or into a steady, long-term relationship. When someone has been single, perhaps for a very long time, they build up a wide gamut of habits that can sometimes be hard to leave behind when they become involved romantically with a…
What is a Sick Day in the Covid Era?
As a psychiatrist, it’s clear to me that Covid has scrambled so many of the social conventions that we used to share. That goes for our understanding of “sick days.” In what now seem like the old days, if you weren’t well, you were meant to stay home and rest. This was largely to make…
Treatment for Crack and Cocaine: A Primer
Although there is confusion around the topic in the general public, cocaine and crack are actually two forms of the same drug and they are almost chemically identical. Powder cocaine comes from processing coca leaves. Crack is powdered cocaine that has been mixed with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and water. It is then cooked down…