Do Both Men And Women Face Body Image Issues?

Body image is widely popularized as a specifically female problem. Citing the high standards of the fashion industry, an entire commodity marketplace focused on beauty, and the objectification of males, the female from falls under a lot of scrutiny. However, the female-identified body is not the only target of scrutinous eyes. The male-identified body also receives high expectations. Pressure to be strong, muscular, lean, sculpted, and more, make up the male body image standard to which many men feel they cannot compare.

Body image issues are not restricted to anyone gender. They also don’t discriminate based on race, age, socioeconomic background, or fashion choice. Body image issues can spring from unseens pressures and obvious ones. For example, receiving commentary in childhood about body, weight, and beauty can create skewed beliefs about the way one looks. Misinformed ideologies about what it means to be a “woman” or be a “man” can cause someone to feel like they aren’t “woman” or “man” enough, forever changing the way that they view themselves.

Social environments and culture during adolescence can contribute to body image issues in both males and females. Being around growing and developing bodies in puberty highlights how different each body can be. As young minds are expanding, they are also being inundated with targeted advertising, telling them how they should look, what defines how they look, and how they should feel if they don’t look that way. Typically in adolescent social settings, social circles are categorized where those who are considered “beautiful” receive more attention. Those who might have body types which differ from the “norm” can be bullied, gossiped about, and ridicules, leading to lifelong insecurities.

Throughout adulthood, the security one feels about their body can be threatened. Ending relationships, sexual rejection, sexual trauma, and other factors can contribute to a sudden insecurity about one’s body and one’s self. Both men and women are vulnerable to hearing the wrong message and developing a harmful belief about how they look.

Too often, body image issues lead to disordered eating and exercise behaviors, causing an unhealthy obsession in the way one regards their image. To cope with the emotional pain of rejection and insecurity, both men and women turn to drugs and alcohol. Co-occurring addiction and body image issues are common in men and women. Thankfully, recovery does not discriminate either. There is a solution. Healing is possible.

If you are struggling with body image issues and have turned to drugs and alcohol to cope, there is hope in recovery. At Enlightened Solutions, we bring together the best of clinical therapy, holistic healing, and 12 step philosophy to help clients heal mind, body, and spirit. For information on our partial care programs, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

Taking Time For Spiritual Healing Changes Your Brain, Changes Your Life

Treatment for drug and alcohol addiction as well as co-occurring mental health issues are often criticized for being too much like a spa or a treat. Alternative treatment methods like acupuncture, massage, and reiki, with yoga classes, meditation, organic meals, and more, sound like a vacation more than work. Treatment programs offer all these healing therapies as supplement to the intense and often exhausting clinical therapy taking place. Recovering from drug and alcohol addiction takes time on a spiritual journey. Full service treatment programs which offer multiple forms of spiritual healing are successful because they provide a retreat for the spirit. After years of abuse, running from the past, and neglecting needs, each client is in need of a deep healing and spiritual transformation. What brings an addict or alcoholic to treatment is considerable compared to what might inspire people to attend a spiritual retreat or spa vacation. Restoration of the mind, body, and spirit, feels life changing. According to Bustle, it truly is life-changing because it can change the brain.

Published in Religion, Brain & Behavior the study is possible the first of its kind to examine the effects of taking a spiritual retreat on the structure of the brain. Studying the neurophysiological effects of spirituality is becoming a more popular field in science as people increasing lean toward the spiritual rather than the scientific.

Participants, aged 24 to 76, attended a 7 day spiritual retreat which had Christian ties. Using clinical scales and questionnaires, the participants were interviewed before the retreat as well as a week after. A brain scan was also conducted before and after.

The retreat included hours of meditation, personal reflection, prayer, mass, and working with a personal spiritual mentor. After the retreat, participants felt less tension and fatigue in their lives, while expressing feeling more spiritual beliefs than they did before. As for the neuroimaging, there was “a drop of between 5 to 8 percent in dopamine and serotonin binding, meaning that even more of these feel-good chemicals could be accessed by the brain.” Both serotonin and dopamine are associated with happiness, emotion, mood, and even spirituality.

Creating spiritual meaning in life is essential for addiction recovery. The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are called a spiritual program of living, where one can grow along spiritual lines. Finding a spiritual healing in recovery creates purpose and meaning, while reducing the painful effects of addiction. Research has proven that physical pain is registered as more intense depending on the negative mood someone is in. Spirituality changes the way the brain regulates positive emotions, helping clients become more resilient to emotional pain, physical pain, and the pain life can sometimes cause. Spirituality in treatment isn’t about retreat, it’s about stepping fully into life, clean and sober.

Enlightened Solutions brings together traditional clinical treatment with holistic alternative therapy and 12 step philosophy. Healing mind, body, and spirit, we strive to show clients how to start their recovery as a new way of life. For more information, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

Mania, Not Depression, Is The Hardest To Deal With In Bipolar

Bipolar disorder can feel like living two different lives. Defined by episodes of mania and depression, bipolar is defined by experiencing shifting mood swings in the extreme of each category for extended periods of time. There are two different kinds of bipolar. Bipolar 1 includes more manic episodes than depressive episodes. The episodes can last for weeks or even months at a time. Bipolar 2 includes more depression and can change much more rapidly. Depression in bipolar is similar to other kinds of depression. What someone with bipolar experiences in mania, however, is unlike any other condition. Sometimes it is possible to feel a manic episode coming on. Thoughts might start to change, energy increases, and ideas become bigger over a short period of time. Most of the time, someone with bipolar wakes up at 1,000% instead of 25% and the energy doesn’t stop.

Symptoms Of Bipolar Mania

Bipolar mania will look different for every individual. Generally, there are shared symptoms which include:

• Feeling “up” or elated

• Having an abundant amount of energy

• Feeling overly optimistic and positive

• Coming up with high standard plans and ideas

• Feeling invincible, often accompanied by a heightened sense of ego

• Acting without consequence or consideration

• “Jammed speech” or talking so fast as though there hasn’t been conversation for weeks

• Insomnia or restlessness

Shopping beyond budget, participating in reckless behaviors, substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, and other thrill seeking behaviors are common during mania.

What Makes Mania Difficult

After spending a period of time in a depressive state, mania can feel like a welcome relief, if not an escape from the doldrums. Unfortunately, mania can quickly get out of control. The brain can become so rapid fire that it turns all the positive energy in a different direction. People in manic episodes might experience psychosis and paranoia because their mind is moving so quickly.

Mania is not an upside to depression in bipolar. It can mean feeling out of control, unable to trust oneself, and not knowing when the madness will end. It can mean not knowing mania is even happening until money is spent, arguments are started, and reckless behaviors take a toll.

Bipolar and addiction often go hand in hand. To treat dual diagnosis problems, there is a solution. At Enlightened Solutions, we see the holistic approach to treatment work successfully in bringing peace and serenity to our client’s lives. Our integrative partial care programs fuse together spiritual wellness, clinical therapy, and 12 step philosophy. For more information, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.