PTSD Awareness Month: Encouraging Treatment

photo of psychologist and despair soldier with PTSD

In the last weeks of May, we covered what we believe to be some very important topics. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), co-occurring mental health disorders and keeping your recovery intact during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Regarding PTSD, we discussed what is at stake for individuals whose condition is left untreated, specifically substance abuse and suicidal ideations. Many veterans who have such thoughts make attempts on their own lives and many of those individuals succeed. With that in mind, it is of absolute importance that everyone showing signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress be encouraged to seek assistance—without fear of social stigma or professional consequence. If you are looking for veteran disability benefits, you should find a recommended increase va disability attorney Kentucky to help you in your pursuit.

At this point, if you are regular reader of this blog, you may be wondering, ‘why all the talk about post-traumatic stress?’ Other than the fact that the disorder is quite common among addicts and alcoholics from all walks of life—military background or not. And given that without a concerted effort to treat both the addiction and the co-occurring mental illness concurrently, recovery is next to impossible; June is PTSD Awareness Month and the 27th is PTSD Awareness Day.

Throughout the course of the following month there will be events held across the country to promote wellness among those affected by this most serious mental health disorder. Even though the Veterans Affairs Department having resources available for the afflicted to access treatment, the majority do not utilize it. A relatively recent study from the RAND Corporation found that 50 percent of veterans who have PTSD do not seek help, of those that do accept treatment, only half of them get “minimally adequate” treatment.

Encouraging Treatment

It should go without saying that the statistics cited above are wholly unacceptable. People who put life and limb at risk for a cause should be afforded the best treatment possible. And everything that can be done, should be done to encourage those who are reluctant to seek help. No easy task, to be sure, yet it is still a goal worth working towards.

“Greater understanding and awareness of PTSD will help Veterans and others recognize symptoms, and seek and obtain needed care.” – Dr. Paula P. Schnurr, Executive Director of the National Center for PTSD.

During the month of June, please join 10 Acre Ranch in the effort to break down the stigma that has surrounded mental illness for too long. Treatment works, it is available, but those who are suffering from any form of mental health disorder need reassurances that they have the support of their community when they make the brave step to recover. There are number of things you can do to propagate the value of seeking treatment, and continued maintenance.

If you click here, you will find a number of materials that can be shared on the various social media platforms in your digital quiver. Once there, you can find information on hosting your own event to further the cause. Below is a short PSA titled, “I have PTSD,” that can be shared on Facebook, Twitter et. al:

If you are having trouble watching, please click here.

“Raising PTSD awareness is essential to overcoming the myth, misinformation and stigma surrounding this mental health problem” said the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Robert A. McDonald. “We encourage everyone to join us in this important effort.”

PTSD Treatment

If you are male, or have a loved one who is struggling with untreated PTSD along with an alcohol or substance use disorder, please contact 10 Acre Ranch. Drugs and alcohol may, for a time, calm some of your post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, but in the long run mind-altering chemicals only make the symptoms worse. And they can actually make the afflicted more reluctant to seek help. Which is why we implore you to seek assistance before the condition worsens and the symptoms lead to irreversible decisions.

Recovery is not an easy task. The road will be trying, but it will be worth it. You can reach out to our treatment center 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We are here to help.

Your Addiction Recovery On Memorial Day

photo of psychologist and soldier during recovery PTSD treatment.jpg

This is Memorial Day weekend, a time to remember all the brave American men and women who gave their lives for our great nation. And like most American holidays, it also a time when friends and family gather to celebrate during the three-day weekend. If you are working a program of recovery and plan on attending such gatherings, it is important that you talk about it with your sponsor beforehand and have plan in place if things get shaky.

You do not have to be in early recovery to experience cravings when you are around alcohol. Individuals with significant lengths of time, people who thought their program was strong, have convinced themselves that having just one or two beers at a barbeque was OK. And while such a slip may not lead to a full blown relapse that goes on for an extended period of time, such is often the case. Relapsing is easy, plugging oneself back into the program, having to identify as a newcomer once again is no small feat. But your life depends upon it.

With that in mind, let’s discuss a few things you can do to protect your recovery over the weekend.

Holidays Can Be Hard In Recovery

Whether it is Christmas, New Year’s Eve or Memorial Day—navigating any major holiday can be a real challenge and test in recovery. Even though we all want to believe that our program is secure enough to go anywhere and not pick up a drink or drug, such a belief can be a slippery slope. There is a reason why we talk about the various obstacles in our life on weekly basis with our peers in recovery. In many ways, it serves as a barometer, showing you if you are doing enough for your program. If you are not, your sponsors or others in your homegroup will enlighten you about what else you could be doing. They may ask you if you are volunteering? Are you extending your hand to newcomers? Are you spending enough time around people who have common goals? If not, some changes are likely in order.

If you answered “no” to any of those questions, it is a safe bet that you may not want to be in place or events typified by alcohol use. If you have committed yourself to attending a Memorial Day barbeque, you would be wise to ask another person in the program to go along with you. What’s more, your addiction does not take holidays. Make sure you get to at least one meeting, either before or after attending an event that involves alcohol. There is never any harm in going to two meetings in one day.

Have your phone charged and always by your side. Finding yourself on uncertain ground without a lifeline is precarious to say the least.

Relapse Back to Recovery

Sadly, there will be people in the program who do not take certain steps to protect their recovery this weekend. If that ends up being your story, please do not make the problem worse due to guilt or shame. That is the beauty of the program, your peers will welcome you back with open arms. Your seat at the table will always be there.

On another note, you may need to consider checking back into to treatment. Some relapses go on for a long time. If that is the case, please contact 10 Acre Ranch to for help.

Methamphetamine Related Overdose Deaths

Methamphetamine also known as crystal meth

Opioid overdose deaths are common. The family of drugs associated with the ever-rising death rates, causes severe respiratory depression. Simply put, a dose that is a little bit too much can cause individuals to stop breathing. Without intervention by way of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, there is a high likelihood of death.

The health care system in America has been put, arguably, to its greatest test in modern times. Hospitals emergency departments have been increasingly bogged down in the last two decades due to opioid use disorder and all that can come with it. Anything from potentially deadly infections, blood-transmitted disease and overdoses. One could say that all other health problems related to other types of drugs had become an afterthought. After all, you don’t hear much in the news these days about stimulants.

However, make no mistake about it, cocaine and methamphetamine while not typically associated with overdose, have not gone anywhere. Kilogram after kilogram of stimulant narcotics makes its way into the United States via the southern border. Trafficked by Mexican drug cartels whose ability to operate with relative impunity is very real. In Mexico can be found huge super laboratories manufacturing methamphetamine on a scale never seen before. The days of Americans buying all the Sudafed available in local pharmacies to make the drug in clandestine labs are seemingly behind us, due to government crackdowns. But in Mexico, the meth manufacturing business is booming.

Methamphetamine Is Still a Threat

A number of states have seen a resurgence in meth use, and federal officials fear that the problem is only going to get worse, KTOO Public Media reports. More and more people are using the drug, and many of them are dying from it. Not just the slow death of addiction, people are overdosing on the stimulant in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma to Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota and beyond.

“The beginning of the opioid epidemic was 2000 and we thought it was just localized,” said Kimberly Johnson, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Now we know that drug outbreaks aren’t likely to stay localized so we can start addressing them sooner and letting other states know of the potential for it spreading.”

Meth Overdose

When most people think of the ugly side effects of meth use, they typically envision weathered looking individuals with bad skin and rotting teeth. This the result of the caustic chemical used to make the drug in inexpensive ways. Beneath the surface, methamphetamine addicts suffer from heart and kidney failure, according to the article. To be sure, the chance of an overdose from opioids is much greater than meth. Yet, people do, in fact, fatally overdose on methamphetamine.

Here are some numbers to consider. Around 3,700 Americans died of a meth-related overdose in 2014, more than double the number of deaths in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If 3,700 deaths were not alarming enough, nearly 4,900 meth users died of an overdose in 2015, an increase of 30 percent.

Treating Stimulant Addiction

Are you struggling with meth addiction, please contact 10 Acre Ranch. We have helped a significant number of people break the cycle of meth addiction and go on to live a rewarding life in recovery.

Treating Soldiers With PTSD and Addiction

photo of psychologist and a soldier with PTSD

It is a well known fact that experiencing trauma can have a serious impact on the course of one’s life. A severe accident, or the loss of a loved one can scar people in seemingly ineluctable ways. If you have ever experienced such trauma, then you know firsthand the scars the event can leave with you, possibly even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An insidious mental illness that if left untreated can lead people to engage in self-destructive behavior. The paradox is such behaviors often take the form of self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, which initially can alleviate some of the symptoms of the disorder, but actually make the symptoms worse in the long run. What’s more, self-medicating can also lead to addiction, and what one finds themselves with is a co-occurring disorder—otherwise known as a dual diagnosis.

Symptoms of PTSD can include:

  • Reliving the event (also called re-experiencing symptoms).
  • Avoiding situations that remind you of the event.
  • Having more negative beliefs and feelings.
  • Feeling keyed up (also called hyperarousal).

PTSD In The Military

While the condition can develop in anyone who experiences trauma, most people you probably associate post-traumatic stress with is the military. Young men and women who go off to fight in armed conflict witness and experience first-hand the horrors of war. In the field of battle even the survivors are victims. After nearly two decades of continuous involvement in the Middle East there are thousands of military personnel who have come home from Afghanistan and Iraq changed.

Ideally, such people would have access to the best treatment money could buy. That is, effective methods of therapy and medication that can counter the symptoms and even repair some of the damage. Unfortunately, the Veterans Administration (VA) isn’t always on top of treating affected personnel, which means many service men and women take to calming their symptoms with substances. In many cases, it is a choice that leads to a dishonorable discharge, which can actually cut individuals off from receiving VA benefits. Therefore, upsetting one’s prospects for obtaining a good job after the military

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that during a four-year period, almost two-thirds of the 91,764 U.S. troops kicked out of the military for misconduct had received a diagnosis for post-traumatic stress, The Washington Post reports. The GAO is urging the Defense Department to do a better job at ensuring commanders consider medical conditions like PTSD when determining how to handle misconduct cases.

Treating Mental Illness – PTSD and Addiction

It is quite common for people with any form of mental illness to suffer from addiction as well. Which condition comes first is not as important as treating both disorders at the same time. Failure to do so usually results in an inability to recovery. At 10 Acre Ranch, we understand that drugs and alcohol can prolong a cycle of avoidance and delay treatment. For more than 25 years, we have treated many clients who courageously served overseas, who self-medicated their PTSD with drugs and alcohol. By addressing both the addiction and the co-occurring disorder they could get back on their feet and lead a fulfilling life.

If you or a loved one is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, and self-medicates, please contact us today. Recovery is possible.

Addiction In America – War In Mexico

quarantine-isolation-alone-drug-use-addiction-recovery-southern-California-drug-rehab-detox

Much of the news these days is focused on the Middle East, with ISIS taking front and center as being many Americans’ biggest concern. We have all seen the devastation in Syria on television and on the front pages. The death toll is staggering. While every one of us should feel disturbed by the carnage caused by this civil war being fought overseas, it is important to remember that the drugs being used and abused by Americans also come with a heavy price.

People die in this country every day from addiction, both from overdoses and the damage done by years of abuse. But, we would be wise to remember that the drugs that feed the fire of the United States’ insatiable drug habit, come to us by a bloody road. The clear majority of illegal drugs used today in this country arrive via Central America—particularly through Mexico.

At any given time, or in any given year, several Mexican drug cartels vie for the power to fuel the fire of addiction raging just north of the border. And negotiations usually take the form of gunfire, not peaceful talks. As a result, a global survey has revealed that after Syria, Mexico has become the second deadliest conflict area in the world.

A War for Drugs

In 2016, there were 23,000 intentional homicides in Mexico. The smaller central American countries have not been left unscathed either, with 16,000 having been killed during the same time in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. But it is important to remember that the deaths are not always the result of one cartel or gang fighting another, in each of the aforementioned countries the military has been tasked with fighting the war against transnational drug trafficking. And the cartels themselves have military grade weapons.

“The death toll in Mexico’s conflict surpasses those for Afghanistan and Somalia. This is even more surprising, considering that the conflict deaths are nearly all attributable to small arms. Mexico is a conflict marked by the absence of artillery, tanks or combat aviation,” said John Chipman, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) chief executive and director-general, in the statement.

The cartels, to be sure, are not going anywhere as long as there is demand. There are millions of Americans with untreated addiction. Each year, those same people spend billions of dollars to maintain the very habit that is, in fact, killing them. Billions of dollars which are destined to line the pockets of cartel bosses south of the border.

Every time a particular cartel or boss, like Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is taken down there is always someone else to fill the void.

Treating Addiction is The Best Weapon

Encouraging people to seek help for addiction not only helps individuals, it helps society. Not just ours. Thousands of innocent Mexicans, with zero affiliation to the cartels, have lost their lives just because of proximity. By ending the stigma of addiction more people will begin to see that recovery is possible, that treatment does work. For too long substance use been viewed as a crime, and that the solution to the problem was incarceration. We know that wars on drugs have little effect on addiction rates, but on the other hand treatment has a huge effect.

If you or a loved one is battling an alcohol or substance use disorder, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today. We can help break the cycle of addiction, and start you down the most important road of life.