The Importance of Early Detection

Depression screenings are mental health checkups. While they are not a substitute for an official depression diagnosis, they can be vital for getting you connected with a therapist and managing your symptoms. Here’s why you should consider getting screened for depression.

1. Early detection: Recognizing a mental health issue at the onset can drastically curb its escalation and detrimental effects.
2. Holistic well-being: Tackling depression can also bring about a marked improvement in your physical health.
3. Universal occurrence: Depression doesn’t discriminate; it can affect anyone, anytime, making regular checkups beneficial for all.
4. Combating stigma: With a persistent societal stigma shadowing mental health issues, screenings can normalize and encourage discussions on the topic.
5. Preventing substance abuse: Without proper treatment, some people may resort to drugs or alcohol as coping mechanisms.
6. Saving lives: Untreated, severe depression can lead to tragic outcomes, including suicide. Regular screenings can be a lifesaver.

Identifying Potential Risk Factors

Anyone can experience depression, regardless of age, cultural background, or socioeconomic status. Still, some people are more vulnerable:

• Those with a familial history of mental health issues.
• People with other mental health challenges, like anxiety.
• Routine substance users.
• Those recently navigating stressful life transitions or traumatic incidents.

Warning Signs to Look For

Depression often manifests in specific behavioral or emotional indicators. If these symptoms seem familiar to you, a screening might be beneficial:

• Persistent feelings of sadness or heightened irritability.
• Emotional numbness.
• Drastic energy or motivation depletion.
• Diminished interest in day-to-day or leisure activities.
• Overwhelming feelings of guilt, hopelessness or worthlessness.
• Sleep disturbances – either hypersomnia or insomnia.
• Notable appetite or eating behavior shifts.
• Difficulty focusing or concentrating.
• Having thoughts of suicide.

Integrative Mental Health Treatment

National Depression Screening Day underscores the significance of proactive mental health care. At Recovery Without Walls, we advocate for regular screenings to prioritize your mental well-being. Remember, acknowledging a problem is the first step in solving it. If any of these signs or risk factors seem familiar, consider a depression screening. Your mental health is worth it.

To learn more about our integrative approach to psychiatry, addiction, and chronic pain, contact our office today. Our outpatient treatment center uses innovative approaches to help our clients achieve holistic wellness, specializing in personalized options based on evidence-informed pharmacology research, exceptional psychotherapy, nutritional support and integrative healing methods.

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What Is Lamotrigine?

Lamotrigine is primarily an anticonvulsant, developed to treat seizures. Researchers have found that it also has potential as a mood stabilizer, which led to its exploration and eventual approval for treating bipolar I in dozens of countries worldwide.

The hallmark of bipolar disorder is the dramatic shift between mania and depression. Most conventional antidepressants focus on elevating mood, which can sometimes inadvertently trigger manic episodes in those with bipolar disorder. Lamotrigine stabilizes mood from “below baseline.” In simpler terms, it relieves depression without pushing you into mania. This characteristic makes it especially promising for those with bipolar I disorder. Furthermore, lamotrigine works through multiple molecular pathways, making it a multifaceted tool in managing bipolar symptoms.

Bipolar II disorder, characterized by milder forms of mania known as hypomania, has often been a difficult condition to manage effectively. Given lamotrigine’s unique mood-stabilizing properties, there is growing hope that it may fill the significant therapeutic gap for those diagnosed with bipolar II.

The Benefits of Lamotrigine for Bipolar Disorder

People with bipolar disorder have an increased risk of recurring mood fluctuations. However, consistent lamotrigine use can postpone or even avert these periodic relapses. While lamotrigine’s efficacy is similar to lithium, it’s more tolerable, with fewer potential side effects. When exploring lamotrigine’s capabilities in managing acute manic incidents, clinical studies found no distinguishable difference between the medication and a placebo.

Lamotrigine is available in various forms, including dissolvable tablets and pills you can swallow or chew. Your doctor will set your dosage according to your needs and symptom severity.

Renew Your Life With Functional and Integrative Medicine

Lamotrigine’s potential as a promising mood stabilizer illustrates the advancing landscape of psychiatric treatments. As research continues and our understanding improves, more people living with bipolar disorder can find relief and stability in their daily lives. At Recovery Without Walls, we remain committed to exploring and promoting treatments rooted in scientific evidence, ensuring our community receives safe, effective care.

Bipolar disorder affects every facet of your life, from relationships and work to physical health and daily routines. Such profound impacts demand a nuanced, multidimensional approach to treatment. At Recovery Without Walls, we take a holistic approach with an emphasis on restoring balance, harmony and purpose.

The Recovery Without Walls team uses functional and integrative medicine to bring our clients mental clarity, spiritual resonance and physical vitality. We believe this profound transformation is about reigniting the joy, purpose and passion that makes life rich and fulfilling. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.

The post How Does Lamotrigine Work for Bipolar? appeared first on Recovery Without Walls .

Anxiety and depression are often grouped together in discussions of mental illness. The problems frequently do co-occur: both are associated with feeling powerless, and both manifest symptoms like sleeplessness, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, and obsessive thoughts. If anxiety or depression (or both) are diagnosed as symptoms of mental disorder, medication is often prescribed. While useful for improving symptoms, these medications can also generate dangerous dependence.

Anxiolytics: Major Classes and Addiction Risks

Anxiolytics, or anti-anxiety medications, are used primarily in short-term prescriptions because they carry risk of addiction.

Benzodiazepines, the most frequently prescribed anxiolytics, work by regulating neurotransmitters to reduce excitability. They are highly habit-forming—especially if taken for more than two months—and generate addiction symptoms similar to those of alcoholism. Withdrawal can be life-threatening.

Barbiturates are sedative-hypnotic drugs that reduce anxiety by relaxing body functions. The most common anxiolytic medications during the third quarter of the twentieth century, they carry high overdose risk if taken outside of carefully measured prescriptions, and have been largely replaced by benzodiazepines. As with benzodiazepines, addiction withdrawal symptoms (agitation, fever, hallucinations, seizures) can be severe.

Antidepressants: Major Classes and Addiction Risks

Antidepressants are less likely than anxiolytics to lead to addiction, but still carry potential risks. Most withdrawal problems are associated with psychological dependence or non-addicted physical dependence. (Physical dependence is not officially diagnosed as addiction unless there are also psychological cravings and disruptions to everyday life.)

Antidepressants work by regulating the brain’s neurons to increase availability of neurotransmitter chemicals such as serotonin (responsible for mood stability), dopamine (responsible for generating feelings of pleasure), and norepinephrine (responsible for alertness and energy).

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently the most prescribed antidepressants and have the fewest side effects. They work by increasing the brain’s access to serotonin. (“Reuptake inhibitor” means that the medication keeps serotonin from being reabsorbed faster than it can be used.) Around half of SSRI users who quit cold have reported experiencing symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, mood swings, or nightmares.

Norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitors (NDRIs) increase the brain’s access to norepinephrine and dopamine. NDRIs should not be taken with MAOIs (described below) or antipsychotic drugs, and have been implicated in life-threatening overdoses. Potential withdrawal symptoms include headaches, nausea, and fatigue.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) were the first antidepressants developed for medical use. They increase the brain’s available supplies of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. MAOIs are less frequently prescribed today because they carry high risk of side effects. Quitting cold may mean agitation or low-level flu-like symptoms.

Tricyclic antidepressants increase levels of norepinephrine and serotonin, while also blocking the effects of acetylcholine (the neurotransmitter responsible for regulating the body’s low-energy functions), to restore emotional balance in the brain.

Getting off Antidepressant and Anxiolytic Medication

Most antidepressant use is simple to discontinue by tapering off through increasingly smaller doses; however, always consult your doctor before attempting to discontinue any prescription without a set end date. If antidepressant withdrawal symptoms become serious enough to interfere with everyday functioning, get medical advice immediately. If you have tried to stop using an antidepressant before and failed, consider seeking help from an addiction-specialists clinic.

Anxiolytics are a different matter: their addiction withdrawal effects are severe and can be life-threatening. Quitting should never be attempted without ongoing medical supervision, especially during the first few days. Go to a licensed clinic that specializes in substance use disorders—one with a carefully managed tapering-off program—during the initial physical-detox period.

If you take medication for both anxiety and depression and want to stop, medical advice is even more vital because multiple prescriptions mean drug interactions that complicate matters further.

Post-Detox Management of Anxiety and Depression

Many people resist going off anxiolytics or antidepressants because they fear a return of the old symptoms. While such concerns are legitimate, it’s important to understand that medication is a tool to assist recovery, not the key to success or failure. Long-term recovery requires therapy, stress management, new thinking habits, and good physical health habits. Maintaining such non-drug approaches from the beginning will reduce anyone’s need to depend on medication for anxiety or depression.

Contact Recovery Without Walls for Treatment of Prescription Medication Addiction

At Recovery Without Walls, we want to help you find relief from unhealthy dependence on medication—as safely and painlessly as possible, without return of the original problem or unnecessary disruption of your everyday responsibilities. Our holistic approach will help you not only taper off problem medications, but discover new and better ways to live successfully in the everyday. Contact us for additional information.

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Depressive Disorder

When someone is experiencing the mental health condition known as depressive disorder, they are more than just sad or going through a rough patch in their life. They are suffering from depression, a condition that requires medical care. If the disorder is left untreated, it can be devastating for the individual and for those around them.

Over 19 million adults in the US had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Some people will only have one depressive episode in their lifetime but for most people, it is a recurring condition. The episode could last a few months to several years if it is not treated.

When the disorder is detected and diagnosed early, an effective treatment plan can alleviate the symptoms so the individual can feel better. Treatment usually consists of psychotherapy, healthier lifestyle choices, and medication.

What is Ketamine?

Used primarily in the medical field as an anesthetic, ketamine was first used in the 1960s in Belgium, as an anesthesia medicine for animals. In 1970, the FDA approved the medication as an anesthetic for people in the US. Subsequently, it was used to treat injured soldiers on the battlefield in Vietnam.

More recently, studies have been conducted to determine its usefulness in treating depression. Researchers warn, however, that the drug should not be used casually or misused. Risks of unmonitored use include high blood pressure and dangerously slowed breathing. It can also cause long-term problems when not used properly and under medical supervision.

New Research on Ketamine Depression Treatment

When administered by a healthcare professional, ketamine depression treatment may prove effective in alleviating depressive disorder symptoms. Researchers recently conducted a study on specific parts of the brain in individuals experiencing depression, to determine how ketamine affects the disorder. In particular, researchers have found that it may be effective in treating cases of depression that do not respond to conventional treatments.

The authors of the most recent study conducted research to identify the effects ketamine has on the brain, in hopes of leading to better options for depression that is difficult to treat. Their research consisted of giving participants low doses of ketamine, to give them an anesthetic effect. They then took images of their brains using a PET camera.

The scientists, along with a separate research team, had noticed a low density of serotonin 1B receptors in the brains of individuals who had depression. The PET images would highlight the effects ketamine had on those receptors. Medical experts believe that lower levels of serotonin are linked to more severe experiences of depression.

In the study, researchers found that 70% of the participants responded positively to the ketamine depression treatment. After analyzing the PET images, they found that ketamine was reducing the output of serotonin and increasing the output of dopamine, which has been linked to mood regulation. As Dr. Johan Lundberg, the research group leader, explained, “We show for the first time that ketamine treatment increases the number of serotonin 1B receptors.”

Potential Treatment for Depression

Based on these and other research studies, ketamine depression treatment shows potential, particularly for those individuals with depressive disorder who have not responded to other treatment options. Experts do not completely understand the cause of depression in certain people. It could result from biological, genetic, or psychological factors. They are learning, though, that new evidence-based treatments, such as ketamine administered in a controlled, clinical setting, are effective.

The emphasis is on professionally supervised ketamine use. Individuals should never try to treat their own depression with the drug and ketamine should never be taken with alcohol, as it can be fatal.  Mental health professionals, however, have developed a safe protocol for medically supervised use that can be effective for some people suffering from depressive disorder.

Contact Recovery Without Walls for Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

At Recovery Without Walls, we provide a unique experience to help you heal. Our approach involves exceptional psychotherapy, evidence-informed research, and integrative healing methods, to help you with the treatment of depression, anxiety, phobias, chronic pain, and addiction. We also offer help with anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage you to email or call us for care and answers to your questions. Our providers continue to work to help you through treatment and recovery. Contact us today to learn more about the link between mental illness and substance use disorder and to get help.

The post Ketamine Depression Treatment appeared first on Recovery Without Walls .

Treatment-Resistant Depression

In the US, more than 17 million adults are dealing with depression. Most of those individuals receive help in the form of therapy and medication, but as much as 35% of the affected population does not receive treatment, even after they have suffered a major depressive episode.

People who have been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and who have tried at least two antidepressant treatments but have not responded, are considered to have treatment-resistant depression. These are the individuals who might benefit from the use of esketamine or ketamine for depression.

Ketamine

Major depression is the leading cause of disability throughout the world. Ketamine is a medication that was originally used as an anesthetic, in operating rooms and on the battlefield, but is now showing promise in treating major depression, particularly if it has been shown to be resistant to other treatment approaches.

There are two main types of ketamine. Racemic ketamine is usually given as an infusion into the bloodstream, intravenously. Esketamine, recently approved by the FDA, is administered as a nasal spray. Ketamine is thought to help people successfully manage their depression when other attempts at treatment have not worked and they are diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression.

It is thought that ketamine works by targeting the NMDA receptors in the brain, increasing the amount of a neurotransmitter called glutamate. The process involves activation of another receptor called AMPA and blocking the NMDA receptors, which affects thought patterns, cognition, and mood.

Ketamine may also reduce the signals involved in inflammation which have been linked to mood disorders and may facilitate communication within particular areas of the brain. All of these are being studied to determine whether ketamine actually works in several ways at the same time, making it effective for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression.

Esketamine

In March 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the medication esketamine, which was the first new medication developed and approved for the treatment of depression in decades. Esketamine, derived from ketamine, is administered by a nasal spray.

Tiffany Farchione, M.D., acting director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said, “There has been a long-standing need for additional effective treatments for treatment-resistant depression, a serious and life-threatening condition. Controlled clinical trials that studied the safety and efficacy of this drug, along with careful review through the FDA’s drug approval process including a robust discussion with our external advisory committees, were important to our decision to approve this treatment. Because of safety concerns, the drug will only be available through a restricted distribution system and it must be administered in a certified medical office where the health care provider can monitor the patient.”

Esketamine is a version of the ketamine molecule, making up half of what is found in the anesthetic form of the drug. The two work in similar ways but the chemical makeup of esketamine allows it to bind more tightly to those NMDA receptors, which makes it two to five times more potent than ketamine. Patients will need a lower dose of esketamine and the nasal spray enables the patient to take it more easily, although still under professional supervision, than the intravenous treatment required for the delivery of ketamine.

As part of the FDA approval process, a study was conducted in which 70% of the patients with treatment-resistant depression who were started on the nasal spray esketamine showed improvement. However, it is advised that ketamine and esketamine are most effective when combined with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy that helps patients learn more productive attitudes and behaviors for managing their depression.

Contact Recovery Without Walls for Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

At Recovery Without Walls, we provide a unique experience to help you heal. Our approach involves exceptional psychotherapy, evidence-informed research, and integrative healing methods, to help you with the treatment of depression, anxiety, phobias, chronic pain, and addiction. We also offer help with anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage you to email or call us for care and answers to your questions. Our providers continue to work to help you through treatment and recovery. Contact us today to learn more about the link between mental illness and substance use disorder and to get help.

The post Ketamine for Depression | Esketamine vs Ketamine appeared first on Recovery Without Walls .

The Central Nervous System

Ketamine is defined as a dissociative anesthetic drug. That essentially means that it can produce a kind of disconnection from an individual’s normal way of experiencing or feeling. Ketamine acts on the central nervous system as an antagonist of a receptor known as n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA). It can be a rapid-acting anti-depressant and can also be useful in reducing problematic drug and alcohol use.

It is thought that ketamine works within addiction by enhancing the ability of the neural networks in the brain to change, through reorganization and growth, as well as enhancing the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain. The drug has been shown to disrupt neural networks as it acts to treat depressive symptoms, blocking drug-related memories and increasing the effectiveness of psychological therapy.

Substance Use Disorder

Recent studies have shown the effectiveness of ketamine in the treatment of substance use disorders, including addiction to alcohol, opioids, and cocaine. Seven studies were conducted on the use of ketamine, particularly as part of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy treatments. Of the seven studies, two focused on alcohol use disorder, two focused on cocaine use disorder, and three focused on opioid use disorder.

The studies on cocaine use disorder both found improvements in motivation, cravings, and decreased rates of use. The studies on opioid use and alcohol use disorders revealed improvement in abstinence rates among the group using ketamine as part of their addiction therapy. These studies and their results suggest that ketamine therapy may facilitate abstinence in other substances that are prone to be abused.

In other studies, ketamine was shown to be effective in prolonging abstinence from alcohol in individuals who had successfully completed detox as well as abstinence from heroin in those individuals who had completed their detox from that drug. In addition, ketamine therapy conducted with cocaine users reduced their cravings and their rates of self-administration of the drug.

Mental Health

For individuals who are challenged with emotional suffering such as depression, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy has been found to be effective as well. In fact, ketamine is the only legal psychedelic medicine available for use by mental health providers for treating emotional suffering. Researchers have determined that the treatment can benefit patients with a variety of diagnoses when administered with psychotherapy.

Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy has been shown to provide a unique experience that includes experiential, biological, and psychological impacts. The researchers’ findings suggest that ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can be effective for decreasing anxiety and depression in a professionally monitored and supervised setting.

Co-occurring Disorders

Additional clinical studies have investigated the effectiveness of ketamine therapy for the treatment of comorbid pain, substance use disorders, and depression. These studies have shown the efficacy of the drug in both pain disorders and depressive disorders, lasting three to four weeks after its use. The lasting effects of ketamine therapy have also shown promise for individuals with substance use disorders.

Individuals with opioid dependency or addiction can decrease their cravings, given ketamine’s effects on reducing opiate-induced hyperalgesia. It can also help alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal for those who are detoxing from their opioid use.

While researchers caution that ketamine is itself potentially a drug of abuse, when used appropriately by clinical professionals it has been shown to produce positive results. In particular, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can help those patients who are dependent on substances such as drugs and alcohol to cultivate new ideals and perceptions that are consistent with sobriety in addiction treatment.

Contact Recovery Without Walls for Exceptional Psychotherapy

At Recovery Without Walls, we focus on exceptional psychotherapy, evidence-informed research, and integrative healing methods, to help you with the treatment of depression, anxiety, phobias, chronic pain, and addiction. We also offer help with anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage you to email or call us for care and answers to your questions. Our providers continue to work to help you through treatment and recovery. Contact us today to learn more about the link between mental illness and substance use disorder and to get help.

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Men, Women, and Mental Illness

In the US, about one in five adults live with a mental illness, ranging from mild to severe. The National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) defines two categories of mental illnesses:

• Any mental illness (AMI) is a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder. In 2019, an estimated 51.5 million adults in the US were diagnosed with AMI. The prevalence of AMI is higher in women (24.5%) than in males (16.3%).
• Serious mental illness (SMI) is a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that results in serious functional impairment. In 2019, an estimated 13.1 million adults in the US were diagnosed with an SMI. The prevalence of SMI is also higher among women (6.5%) than men (3.9%).

Drugs used to treat mental illness in both men and women can include anti-depressants, stimulants, anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers, and anti-anxiety medications.

A Protein Known as AKT

These psychiatric drugs are used to modify the activity of a protein that is known as AKT. Recent research conducted by Charles Hoeffer, an assistant professor of integrative physiology at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado, shed some light on how the drugs affect men and women based on the changes in AKT.

The protein was discovered in the 1970s and has recently been identified as a key player in promoting synaptic plasticity. This means simply that it is integral to the brain’s ability to strengthen connections between neurons in response to experience. Previous research has linked AKT gene mutations to issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer’s.

As Hoeffer explains, “Let’s say you see a shark and you’re scared and your brain wants to form a memory. You have to make new proteins to encode that memory.” AKT is one of the proteins that will jump-start other downstream proteins in the memory. Without this protein, an individual can’t learn new memories or get rid of old ones to make room for new, less harmful memories.

Treating Mental Illness

In their report, the researchers emphasize that psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia are important public health issues with large societal and economic costs. The researchers also state that genetics is known to play a significant role in the manifestation of psychiatric illnesses. Though there have been many studies that have led to the development of psychiatric drugs for treating mental illness, many patients remain untreated or the treatments are not effective for various reasons.

The researchers were concerned about the effectiveness of available therapies, including the use of psychiatric drugs and discovered that these drugs do affect men and women differently, based on how AKT responds to the treatments. While investigating the effectiveness of certain drugs on the brain, Hoeffer said, “We found the difference between males and females to be so great it became the focus of our work.”

The impact of this study is important for understanding how psychiatric drugs may affect men and women differently so professionals in addiction treatment can better target the use of certain medications. Hoeffer indicated that, particularly since women are almost four times as likely to experience mental illness in their lifetime, he hopes his work can help by disentangling the nuances between men and women, moving the dial toward more effective and safer treatments.

The researcher noted that “To help more people suffering from mental illness we need much more knowledge about the difference between male and female brains and how they could be treated differently. This study is an important step in that direction.”

Contact Recovery Without Walls for Mental Health Treatment

At Recovery Without Walls, we focus on evidence-informed research, exceptional psychotherapy, and integrative healing methods. We can help you with the treatment of depression, anxiety, phobias, self-destructive patterns, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. We also offer help with anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage you to email or call us for care and answers to your questions. Our providers continue to work to help you through treatment and recovery. Contact us today to learn more about the link between mental illness and substance use disorder and to get help.

The post Psychiatric Drugs May Affect Men & Women Differently | Research Spotlight appeared first on Recovery Without Walls .

A Mild Mood Disorder

The manic highs and depressive lows that are often associated with bipolar disorder can also be seen in someone diagnosed with cyclothymia. The difference is that cyclothymic disorder is considered to be a mild mood disorder, with less extreme mood swings. In between the low-level depressive symptoms and periods of mild mania, if you have been diagnosed with cyclothymia you may feel like your mood has actually stabilized.

Researchers have found that the mood changes in cyclothymia can be a reaction to different environmental stimuli. For example, someone exposed to or experiencing a positive event would react by quickly becoming extremely enthusiastic, joyful, and active. They might even appear to be excessively euphoric and impulsive. On the other hand, the individual would react to a negative event, whether real or perceived, with unusual sadness, extreme fatigue, desperation, anguish, and even suicidal thoughts.

Cyclothymia and Drug Abuse

These researchers have also found that individuals with cyclothymia could be predisposed to drug abuse and addiction as a result of a mix of impulsivity, sensation seeking, and high sensitivity to substances such as illicit drugs and alcohol, as well as hypnotics and sedatives.

In fact, it’s been found that people with cyclothymic disorder are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Almost half of individuals diagnosed with the disorder may also have a problem with substance abuse. To complicate the situation, alcohol and drug use may increase the symptoms of the disorder. When you are diagnosed with cyclothymia and a substance use disorder, it is important that both conditions are treated together.

Treating Cyclothymia

You will require lifelong treatment for a diagnosis of cyclothymia. You may experience periods of time where you feel better, those moments in between the emotional highs and lows, but you will still need to continue treating your condition to control the symptoms. A professional mental health provider and substance abuse counselor can guide you through the treatment, working with you to:

• Reduce the severity and the frequency of your symptoms so you can live a more enjoyable and balanced life.
• Prevent symptom relapses during periods of remission.
• Decrease your risk of developing bipolar disorder, with more intense mood swings.
• Treat your substance use problems, including your addiction to drugs or alcohol.

Psychotherapy and Medications for Treating Cyclothymia

The main treatments for cyclothymia are medications and psychotherapy. While no medications are specifically approved for the treatment of cyclothymia, there are some that can be used effectively, when managed by a professional provider:

• Anti-anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines
• Mood stabilizers such as lithium
• Anti-seizure medications (also known as anticonvulsants) include divalproex sodium (depakote), lamotrigine (lamictal), and valproic acid (depakene)
• Atypical antipsychotic medications such as olanzapine (zyprexa), quetiapine (seroquel) and risperidone (risperdal)

Antidepressants should only be used in conjunction with a mood stabilizer as they may cause potentially harmful manic episodes when taken on their own.

Psychotherapy, including cognitive behavior therapy and well-being therapy, is a vital part of treating cyclothymia. Cognitive behavior therapy will help you focus on identifying the negative or unhealthy beliefs and behaviors you may be experiencing as you learn how to replace them with more positive beliefs and behaviors. This type of therapy can also help you manage your stress and develop healthier coping techniques.

Well-being therapy focuses on improving your overall quality of life. One recent clinical study found that participating in a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and well-being therapy can bring significant improvements to the lives of individuals who have been diagnosed with cyclothymia. Talk therapy, family therapy, and group therapy are also helpful in treating cyclothymia.

Contact Recovery Without Walls for Help with Cyclothymia and Drug Abuse

At Recovery Without Walls, we offer you a holistic approach to your mental health and substance use disorders. We work with you to renew your spirit, shift your perspective, and change your life. We personalize your treatment based on evidence-informed research, exceptional psychotherapy, nutritional support, and integrative healing methods designed to treat your whole body. Contact us today to learn how we can help you.

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