Addiction Treatment Blog by Addiction Experts » Entries tagged with "ocd"
Amanda Seyfried Depends on “Liquid Courage” Normal? or a Sign of Alcoholism?
Actress Amanda Seyfried, who has starred in many hit films—including Mean Girls, Mamma Mia!, and the new stage musical-turned-movie, Les Miserables—is just like everyone else. She deals with the same sort of problems that lots of “ordinary” people struggle with. While speaking with David Letterman in an interview on The Late Show, she revealed that she battles a dreadful case of stage fright and takes somewhat of a “liquid courage” approach to dealing with it. A couple glasses of the hard stuff are needed for her to relax and loosen up before chatting it up with the talk show greats such as Letterman or Leno. She expressed to Letterman that she never does a show “after noon without some sort of liquid courage.” At one point she confessed, “I’m pretty drunk,” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Celebrity, Mental Illness
OCD Behaviors Agitated By Dreams
A new research study shows that intense dreams influence waking anxiety in people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions). Often the person carries out the behaviors to get rid of the obsessive thoughts, but this only provides temporary relief. Not performing the obsessive rituals can cause great anxiety. Research on OCD suggests that stress and anxiety drive most of the compulsions involved with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Anger, shame, and magical thinking (thinking that one has super powers or can control other people or things) can also trigger stressful emotions that drive compulsive behaviors. Calvin Kai-Ching Yu of the Department of Counseling and Psychology at Hong Kong Shue … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conditions and Disorders, Mental Illness
The Continuing Saga of the Houston Rockets’ Royce White
Royce White, the promising rookie forward for the NBA’s Houston Rockets, has jeopardized his future with the team and the league by refusing to suit up, get out on the court, and play for the organization that took a chance on him by drafting him in the first round of the 2012 NBA draft. Some think it is the player’s huge ego that is at work, but in reality the NBA player suffers from untreated general anxiety disorder. The basketball player, plagued by panic disorder, general anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), has been habitually absent from team practices and games, and has thus far refused to meet with one of the doctors assigned by the Rockets organization to treat him. Despite the fact Rockets management has gone out of its … Read entire article »
Filed under: Celebrity
Deep Brain Stimulation for OCD
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent thoughts, impulses, or images that are unwanted, distasteful, inappropriate, intrusive and often personally repugnant. These obsessions are coupled with repetitive, ritualized behaviors called compulsions that are intended to prevent or correct some dreaded event associated with the obsessions. Typically, those with OCD recognize that the obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors are irrational – but even so, they cannot be resisted, leading to further distress. People … Read entire article »
Filed under: Mental Illness, Research, Treatment
Nail-Biting Now Considered a Form of OCD
Biting your nails is one of the worst habits a person can have. Not only is it very unattractive, it is also extremely painful when the nail is bitten too low, sometimes causing it to continuously bleed. Being a chronic nail-biter since the day I grew teeth and was able to chomp away at them, I now look at my nails and think to myself, “Why can’t I stop?” The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conditions and Disorders, Mental Illness
Inspirational Songs of Recovery for Addiction
Now, we all know there are no definitive “formal graduation” ceremonies held at rehab and treatment centers. Sure, it would be great to be handed a diploma assuring oneself of perpetual sobriety and bliss but, alas, we all know this would be just too good to be true and lacks practical application. Yet, I was thinking to myself, if there was a somewhat similar ceremony to simply sit back and reflect upon one’s accomplishments and personal strides made in treatment, how about providing a soundtrack to such good news? Cheap cookies and fruit punch are great but how about adding some tunes to the somewhat awkward gatherings of patients and their families held from time to time at treatment and recovery centers? It is bad enough to introduce your family to friends … Read entire article »
Filed under: Recovery
Spending Time with People Who Only Want to Talk About Addiction and Rehab
We all have them: those friends from a treatment or rehabilitation center who want to talk about addiction….ALL OF THE TIME. I am currently struggling with this problem of how to maintain healthy relationships with friends from treatment without getting caught up in defining the friendship on the basis of our common ground of addiction and mental illness. There are times that I really need to share whats going on with me with other recovery people … Read entire article »
Filed under: Life
How Activities Help My Sobriety
As recovering addicts we often face challenging, imposing lives full of new responsibilities and a scary void of empty time to fill. While in rehab and addiction treatment programs, my days were structured for me. At times frustrating, this often all-encompassing mentality of having my time managed by others served me well. I would not have done nearly half of the requirements or suggested practices learned in classes if I had it my way and … Read entire article »
Scientists Uncover Clues as to Why Hoarders Aren’t Troubled by All of Their Stuff
Recently, scientists have discovered an intricate network in the brain that helps us make decisions on whether to keep something or throw it away. This complex system appears to be malfunctioning in the case of someone who is a hoarder. The definition of a hoarder is as follows: Pathological or compulsive hoarding is a specific type of behavior characterized by: acquiring and failing to throw out a large number of items that would appear to have little … Read entire article »
Filed under: Conditions and Disorders, Featured, Research
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