Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is one of many anxiety disorders that have been identified. OCD involves irrational, frightening, worrisome thoughts and the excessive repetition of behaviors to address the thoughts, anxiety and fear. OCD behaviors disrupt normal functioning in life, making it hard to hold down a job, maintain relationships and other important tasks and functions […]

When a person who is struggling with addiction also has problems with unstable moods, the person is said to have a dual diagnosis mood disorder. There are many conditions that fall into the category of dual diagnosis mood disorder, all of them involving a history of depression and/or manic moods in a person. Causes and […]

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is the term used to describe a condition where a person imagines and fully believes that an aspect of his or her body is disfigured or defective when, in fact, it is not. The disorder interferes with the person’s daily functioning. Body Dysmorphic Disorder affects men and women equally. BDD is […]

Panic attacks are part of an anxiety disorder known as Panic Disorder (PD). Panic attacks cannot be predicted and often come “out of the blue” or they are triggered by something in a person’s environment. Panic attacks create feelings of extreme anxiety, dread and fear in the person experiencing the attack. Physical symptoms associated with […]

The diagnosis of co-occurring disorder means that a person has an addiction to drugs or alcohol and also has some other mental health condition. Other mental health conditions can include things like clinical depression, bipolar disorder and mood disorders, among many others. Having a mental health condition significantly increases a person’s risk of having problems […]

Binge eating disorder is not the same as “compulsive overeating”. A person with binge eating disorder will eat exceptionally large amounts of food uncontrollably in a very short period of time. In a person with binge eating disorder, the binge eating and normal eating occur in cycles where the person will eat normally for a […]

Bulimia is a type of eating disorder where a person eats a large amount of food very quickly then removes or “purges” the food from the body by vomiting, using a laxative, diuretic or enema. Purging is a way of getting the food out of the body as quickly as possible. Compulsive exercising, taking stimulating […]

Codependency is a concept that addresses the tendency for a person (the “codependent”) to be become controlled or manipulated by another person or group (the “controller”). Ironically, a codependent person will depend on the control of the other person. Often times the controller has an addiction or some other dysfunction(s) that the codependent person is […]

Self-harming behavior is sometimes referred to “self-mutilation” or “self-injury”.  People who engage in self-harming behavior purposely hurt themselves to varying degrees depending on how serious the self-harming has become. Self-harming behavior takes many forms. Self-harming usually begins in adolescence or the early 20s. In the majority of cases, the act of self-harm is not for […]