August 2024
Welcome to the fourth edition of the Inspire Behavioral Health Newsletter. Please let us know if you knew someone who would like to begin receiving our newsletter and we 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, both 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; living a life worth living 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 so you can achieve and 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 clients a same day or next day appointment. Please visit our website:www.InspireBehavioralHealth.com. And, on behalf of Inspire Behavioral Health, we hope you and yours are enjoying the last weeks of the summer of 2024. Please consider celebrating your life this summer by investing in your mental health today. It is time to free yourself from the obstacles that keep you from living your best life, so call us to schedule an appointment. Happy August!
Mental Health
What Holds You Back from Living Your Best Life?
“Building a life worth living.” (Linehan, 2020)
As I wrote last month, I have been very influenced by the writings of Marsha Linehan, especially her work on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or DBT. So many of us struggle with opposing thoughts and feelings such as in the early morning when we are thinking we will rise early and begin the day on a positive note and with a deep sense of gratitude while feeling at the same time as we lie in the bed that we just need a few more minutes to sleep today and then we can begin our resolution to wake up early tomorrow; to times when we are committed to living a new life in recovery from a substance use or process addiction to experiencing cravings so intensively that we relapse to our old behavior. We are complete enough with a brain large enough to host competing and opposing thoughts at the same time as well as being able to experience feelings that are often not aligned with our thoughts. So many times, most of us find ourselves thinking one way, for example, “I know I need to end this relationship,” and feeling, “but I love this person so much, I could never live if I ended it.” When we are in this dilemma, we tend to think we have to keep our feelings “out of it and just decide to do the right thing, the thing that makes sense.” Dr. Linehan teaches us that we are capable of living with the tension of opposing thoughts as well as with our thoughts even when our thoughts are accompanied by contradictory feelings. She introduces us to what she calls Distress Tolerance, and suggests we allow our feelings to inform our thoughts and our thoughts to inform our feelings, rather than dismissing our feelings and choosing one thought to follow. She calls this merging of thoughts and feelings the “Middle Path” and the “Wise Brain,” and says it is where our best decisions about living our best lives are made.
I think we find ourselves in very difficult places when we are conflicted and in an effort to bring the conflict to a close quickly and alleviate the tension we feel, we often listen to those who told us to decide with our head and not our heart and rush to a decision only to find (when looking back), that it was not our best decision. Further, we may realize we have also made a decision that is irreparable such as quitting a job, making a very expensive and non-refundable purchase, having just one drink that led to so many more, or saying or doing something in haste that an apology cannot erase. We come to know that it would have been wiser to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty or the unbearable feeling of indecision and instead taken time for due diligence and stayed in the rough place for a little longer, not for a second longer than needed, but long enough to locate our Wise Mind and there, realize we are able to decide what is best for us. Linehan teaches us that this is not easy to do and takes practice because we so typically seem hardwired to do the immediate and almost impulsively pick what looks like the answer rather than pondering and “living in the uncertainty” until we can choose and feel the right answer. It is as though we prefer the efficient over the effective solution.
Dr. Linehan knows how rough it can be from her own lived experience. Having pulled herself out of her own “hell,” she decided she would teach others how to pull ourselves out of our own hell and “build a life worth living.” Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is an approach that combines acceptance of the self and of ways to change and grow. 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. We encourage you to call us today to see if working from a DBT approach will help you by learning how the principles of DBT really work and how, using her life skills and techniques, you, too, can build a life 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, negative self-talk, self-sabotaging, questioning ourselves obsessively, losing sight of who we are in the world, drinking excessively, using drugs or engaging in risky behavior that has clearly 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. May of our providers are trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or DBT, and others are trained and credentialed in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT, Rational Emotive Therapy or RET, and many others, all with one goal in mind, to help you.
Our licensed professionals can help you to identify what seem like the dialectical or opposite sides of our thinking and feeling so that you 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 identity or behavioral 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 a 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 (from our last newsletter and free on-line), or consider reading, Almost Alcoholic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Drinking a Problem, (The Almost Effect), by Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D. and Robert Doyle, M.D., 2012, to help you determine some talking points to discuss with a professional.
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. We also strongly encourage attending community-based recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sex Anonymous and other Twelve Step Programs.
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, or 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 more than 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. Substance use is often involved in risky behavior open to potential exposure to HIV, Hepatitis C, Herpes and other Sexually Transmitted Infections.
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 safe and more healthy choices. Many of our providers are licensed and certified to offer treatment for both issues concurrently.
Clinical News: Spravato
There were a few stories in the press again this week about Ketamine and so it seemed important to include this important information for you. The FDA approved Ketamine in 1970 as an anesthetic. Outside hospitals, its ability to induce an out-of-body, hallucinogenic experience made it attractive as a party drug users call “Special K.” In recent decades, doctors have prescribed it off-label to treat mental-health conditions including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinics across the U.S. provide intravenous ketamine treatment under medical supervision. While evidence suggests ketamine can lessen symptoms of severe depression, there is less data on its use for other conditions. In 2019, the FDA approved Esketamine, a nasal spray derived from Ketamine, for treatment-resistant depression. Esketamine, which Johnson & Johnson sells under the brand name Spravato, must be administered in a clinic. Treatment with Spravato is available at Inspire Behavioral Health.
Clinical News: Longitudinal Interplay Between Alcohol Use, Mood and Functioning in Bipolar Spectrum Disorders
A study was published since our last newsletter on the Interplay between Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) which is present in nearly half of individuals with Bipolar Disorder (BD) and is associated with markedly worsening outcomes. The study found that alcohol use, regardless of diagnostic status, was associated with mood instability and poorer work functioning in bipolar disorder, but increased mood symptoms were not associated with subsequent alcohol use. The study urged that given its prevalence and repercussions, dimensional and longitudinal assessment and management of alcohol use are necessary and should be integrated into research and treatment of bipolar disorder.
Clinical News: World Health Organization Declares Global Emergency Over New Mpox Outbreak
The rapid spread of Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in African countries constitutes a global health emergency, the World Health Organization declared on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.
This is the second time in three years that the W.H.O. has designated an Mpox epidemic as a global emergency. It previously did so in July 2022. That outbreak went on to affect nearly 100,000 people, primarily gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries, and killed about 200 people.
The threat this time is deadlier. Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo alone has reported 15,600 Mpox cases and 537 deaths. Those most at risk include women and children under 15. We urge you to take care of yourself and to keep up-to-date on health issues and to check with your doctor for more information.
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 offered at Inspire Behavioral Health by Psychotherapist, Ed Andrews, 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
110 Gallows Road, Suite D
Vienna, Virginia 22182
703-592-4600
info@inspirebehavioralhealth.com
Ed Andrews, LPC, LMFT, Newsletter Editor