Welcome to the third edition of the Inspire Behavioral Health Newsletter. Please let us know if you know someone who would like to begin receiving our newsletter and will be happy to send them a copy. We offer high quality and compassionate mental health care and treatment to people living in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, virtually and in-person with offices in Vienna, Fairfax and Sterling. Our experienced psychiatrists, addiction psychiatrists and psychotherapists strongly believe that we all have solutions within us; it is a matter of learning how to tap into these solutions. Providers at Inspire Behavioral Health help people heal, cope and manage their mental health by allowing them to focus on their strengths and harness their available resources. We work together to treat your symptoms while helping you to identify the underlying causes for those symptoms, and by encouraging the use of more effective techniques for you to cope with life’s struggles. We try to help you in building resilience to help maintain your optimal mental health. Call us for more information and to schedule a convenient appointment in the near future at 703-592-4600. We are often able to offer next day appointments. Please visit our website: www.InspireBehavioralHealth.com. And, on behalf of Inspire Behavioral Health, we hope you and yours enjoyed a Happy Independence Day. Please consider celebrating this special month by investing in your mental health today by freeing yourself from the obstacles that keep you from living your best life, and by calling us to schedule an appointment. Happy July!
What Holds You Living Your Best Life?
“Building a life with living.” (Linehan, 2020)
Marsha Linehan in her remarkable and inspiring memoir, describes how, when she was eighteen years old, she began an abrupt downward spiral from popular teenager to suicidal young woman. After several miserable years in a psychiatric institute, Linehan made a vow that if she could get out of emotional hell, she would try to find a way to help others get out of hell too, and to “build a life worth living.” She went on to put herself through night school and college, living at the YWCA and often scraping together spare change to buy food. She went further to get her PhD in psychology, specializing in behavior therapy. In the 1980s, she achieved a breakthrough when she developed Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, a therapeutic approach that combines acceptance of the self and of ways to change. Linehan included mindfulness as a key component in therapy treatment, along with original and specific life-skill techniques. She says, “You can’t think yourself into new ways of acting; you can only act yourself into new ways of thinking.” Throughout her extraordinary scientific career, Marsha Linehan remained a woman of deep spirituality. Her powerful and moving story is one of faith and perseverance. Linehan shows, in Building a Life Worth Living, how the principles of DBT really work and how, using her life skills and techniques, people can build lives worth living.
What Is Your Story? How Can We Help You Build A Life Worth Living?
We each find ourselves from time to time wondering how we will get to the next step and out from under our own personal struggles. We may have self-doubt and question our motives and abilities, asking if we have what it takes to take action or keep to a plan. Our competence and confidence may be in a vulnerable spot at times and we may be unsure where and who to turn to for help. We may find ourselves engaging in harmful behaviors, self-sabotaging, drinking excessively, using drugs or engaging in behavior that has become out of control.
Let Us Help!
Clinicians at Inspire Behavioral Health are here to help by joining you on the journey toward mental health and recovery from addictions. Did you know that many of our providers are trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or DBT, which was developed by Marsha Linehan? Using the techniques which arise from the Four Pillars of DBT, including mindfulness, this kind of therapy helps us to merge our thoughts with our emotions to create what Linehan calls the Wise Brain, from which our best decisions can be made. Many of our licensed professionals can help you to identify what seem like the dialectical or opposite sides of our thinking and feeling so that we can emerge more integrated and whole. You can come to understand how feelings can inform thoughts and vice versa rather than being controlled by intense emotions, irrational feelings, intrusive thoughts, cravings or triggers. We can help you with talk therapy and medication (if clinically indicated) to live a life worth living and learn to thrive in our day-to-day lives. Imagine living a more meaningful and rewarding life, communicating more effectively and enhancing your interpersonal communication. Let us help you build that life, become more compassionate and strengthen your empathy by calling Inspire Behavioral Health for an appointment today. You can help yourself and when you are ready begin to support the longevity, health, and well-being of all members of our society.
How To Find A Counselor
Once you decide to get professional health for a personal struggle, whether it is about anxiety, depression, grief, a mood disorder, an addiction to a substance or a behavior that has become out of control, a relationship issue, a sexual issue or something else, finding the right type of provider and service can be daunting. Where do you start? Inspire Behavioral Health can help because we are home to many caring professionals with a variety of specialties. We are confident you will find the provider who has the experience to address your particular issues and unique circumstances. Please visit our website to read our providers’ biographies, areas of expertise and their perspectives on how to help you. If you are in a rural area, you may have difficulty finding a mental health professional nearby, so remember that all of our clinicians are available to you virtually.
Substance Use and Addiction
Do you wonder whether your use of alcohol is excessive? Do you worry that you may be heading toward problematic drinking, or has your drinking begun to cause issues or concerns for your health, in your relationships, at work or with the law? If this sounds like you, then take the CAGE to help determine some talking points with a professional.
The CAGE Assessment is a personal assessment for substance abuse. It is not a formal diagnosis. It is simply a preliminary instrument used for assessment. A formal diagnosis requires a thorough evaluation by a trained, experienced and certified professional.
CAGE Questionnaires
The CAGE acronym represents keywords present in each question. It stands for:
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- Cut or Count
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- Annoyed
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- Guilty
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- Eye
The questions represented by the CAGE acronym are:
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- Have you ever felt you should “cut” down on your substance use or “count” your drinks?
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- Have people “annoyed” you by criticizing your substance use?
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- Have you felt bad or “guilty” about your substance use?
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- Have you ever used a substance first thing after waking-up to steady your nerves or to start your day (an “eye” opener)?
Your ”yes” answers will indicate a possible substance abuse problem. Typically, answering “yes” to two or more questions suggests you may indeed have a substance use issue and would benefit from asking for help.
After The CAGE Assessment
If you personally assess yourself using the CAGE questionnaire and find that you may have a substance use issue or concern, what do you do next?
Call us at IBH to talk with one of our providers who can offer you an evaluation by an addiction psychiatrist or a certified substance use therapist. They will then work with you on an effective treatment plan that may include talk therapy, anti-craving medication, or Medication Assisted Therapy, (MAT), such as Suboxone.
Inspire Behavioral Health offers a full range of mental health services as well as treatment options for people struggling with substance use (alcohol and other drugs), and process addictions (food, sex, gambling, spending, Internet, video game, social media addiction, shopping and other behaviors that are marked by poor impulse control), with medications as well as individual, couple, family and group therapy. Nearly eight million adults in the United States experience co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, in fact, of adults with a mental health diagnosis nearly twenty percent also have a substance issue and of adults diagnosed with a substance use disorder, nearly forty percent also have a mental health issue.
Men are more likely than women to use almost all types of illicit drugs, and illicit drug use is more likely to result in emergency department visits or overdose deaths for men than for women. “Illicit” refers to use of illegal drugs, including marijuana (according to federal law) and the misuse of prescription drugs. For most age groups, men have higher rates of use or dependence on illicit drugs and alcohol than do women.14 However, women are just as likely as men to develop a substance use disorder. Further, women may be more susceptible to craving and relapse, which are key phases of the addiction cycle. Women’s substance use is often embedded within personal relationships and many women have overlapping sex and drug use networks that increase their potential exposure to HIV and hepatitis C.
Patterns of substance use among MSM (men who have sex with Men) vary depending on demographic factors, substance type, and MSM subgroup. Bisexual men have higher rates of substance use than other subgroups of MSM. Methamphetamine use is associated with high-risk sexual behaviors and HIV transmission. So, please call us to talk about making more healthy choices. Many of our providers are licensed and certified to offer treatment for both issues concurrently.
Men’s Group
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a compassionate type of therapy behavioral therapy that is intended to help people move toward a more mindful, aware and purposeful life. The key skills addressed in DBT include Core Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotional Regulation and Interpersonal Effectiveness. Members of this group are taught the skills necessary to help deal with life stressors. This is done in a framework that helps people understand that they are doing the best they can while recognizing that there are newer strategies that may be more effective. This group is a safe, confidential place for men who are sustaining their recovery from chemical or process addictions, coping with chronic illness, managing stress, anxiety and/or depression, accommodating change in their lives, coping with loss and transition, and seeking support and growth. Please call us for more information about this important group.
Inspire Behavioral Health
2110 Gallows Road, Suite D
Vienna, Virginia 22182
703-592-4600
info@inspirebehavioralhealth.com
Ed Andrews, LPC, LMFT, Newsletter Editor