Wellness

Drowning in Shallow Waters: A Star is Born Shines a Light on Co-Dependency and Substance Abuse

Due to its pervasiveness, the leaching landscape of substance abuse provides fertile ground to cultivate the dangerous seeds of co-dependency.  As professionals who chose to dive headfirst into all makes of dysfunction, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals likely encounter this behavioral and emotional phenomenon often. It may present itself as the overly avoidant patient who’s loved ones enable their misanthropic tendencies. Or perhaps you have enough self-awareness to recognize the patterns of co-dependency in your own life? Unfortunately, if we look at one particular subset of the population, it is obvious that the number of people who find themselves in such a dyad, far surpasses the number of mental health professionals there will ever be at one time.  According to the WHO, some 31 million people suffer from some form of substance abuse. Of that 31 million, it is estimated that about 4 million of them suffer from alcohol use disorder. 

Using Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves

Using Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves

We spend so much of our lives planning for the future or replaying the past that we miss the only moment we ever have, the present moment. It’s never the past or the future, those are just thoughts in our head; it’s only ever right now. The present moment is the only moment we can ever truly experience real joy or connect deeply with others.