HealthyLife Articles

Tag: stigma

Recognize Addiction

Substance Use & Abuse

How to tell if you have a drinking or drug problem.

If you are addicted to alcohol or drugs, craving the substance can be as strong as the need for food or water. You are unable to stop using the substance even though it causes or worsens problems for you, family, friends, and coworkers. Your drinking or drug use may put you and others in danger or cause legal problems.

Signs You Have a Problem:

Signs depend on the substance. Common ones include:

* Your use and tolerance of alcohol or a drug has increased. You need more of the substance to get “high.”

* You hide alcohol or drugs at home or at work.

* You often carry drugs and/or items such as glass pipes, straws and needles used to take the drugs.

* You get withdrawal symptoms when you stop using the substance. Examples are:

– Anxiety

– Being very edgy

– Blackouts

– Chills or sweating

– Delirium

– Depression

– Feeling “spaced out”

– Hallucinations

– Panic

– Seizures

– Tremors of the hands or face

Behavioral Changes:

* You develop a pattern of being absent or late for work.

* You have mood swings.

* You have temper flare-ups.

* You keep asking family and friends for money.

* You develop a habit of stealing to support your habit.

* You become very secretive about your life.

* You have a new group of friends who drink a lot or use drugs.

* You have problems dealing with others.

Action Step

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. You may not recognize it at first, but the people around you do. Listen to them. Then ask for help.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Debunking The Myth Of Senility

Mature Health: Over Age 50

Don’t think that you’re getting senile just because you forget someone’s name or can’t remember where you parked your car. Everyone forgets occasionally. The truth is, most people do not become senile. Senility (or senile dementia) is a state of confusion and forgetfulness triggered by mental decline. Almost 100 different conditions mimic the symptoms of senility. (Alzheimer’s disease is the most common. Poor nutrition, hormone disorders, and use of certain medications can also cause confusion and forgetfulness. Even then, senility is misdiagnosed up to 20 percent of the time. So don’t assume that you or anyone else is senile without a thorough medical exam.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
You See A Shrink?

WELL-BEING

It is often the assumption that if you go to therapy that you have serious problems you cannot manage on your own and there is something fundamentally wrong with you. In reality, if someone is attending therapy, they tend to be on the healthier side of self-love and self-awareness.

Because seeing a therapist is stigmatized, many people who want to seek help, either often don’t, or they keep their therapy private so they do not invoke judgment.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Sherrie Campbell, author of Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person, offers this advice:

*Everyone can benefit from therapy.We are not here to do life on our own nor are we equipped to be 100% objective in our own lives. Therapy is the perfect way to get that objective view, get to know yourself more deeply, analyze your habits of behavior and find solutions and resolutions to life’s everyday issues. Even healthy people seek therapy.

*Deniers don’t attend therapy.The unhealthiest people, the people who need treatment the most, are the ones who never consider therapy. In their mind they are never wrong, it is always someone else’s problem, and they should not have to change. The people who end up in therapy are those trying to deal with the relationships they have with these people who deny there is a problem.

*Own your personal journey.If you have chosen to attend therapy, be proud of it. Most people who are seeing the benefits of therapy tend to brag about how much the therapy is changing their lives. We all want to be happy, and when you communicate about your therapy as a major benefit to your life, you will be surprised how many people either ask for your therapist’s information or confess back to you they have also sought therapy. When you own and take pride in your growth, much to your surprise many others will take your lead.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026