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Mental Health

The Powerful Connection Between Mindfulness and Mental Health

In our frantic, digitally-driven world, many of us find ourselves constantly multitasking, overwhelmed by stress, and bombarded by a never-ending stream of thoughts and worries. As the demands of modern life take their toll on our mental well-being, it becomes essential to explore practices that...
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Mental Health

4 Ways Exercise Can Benefit Your Mental Health

This May at Scottsdale Providence, we are continuing our focus on all things mental health. As you may have heard, it’s Mental Health Awareness Month, when annual awareness campaigns flourish and aim to reduce the stigma, educate people, and foster hope. Here, we’ll dive into...
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Mental Health

It’s Ok to Not Be Ok: Mental Health Awareness Month is Here

Every year around this time, we honor Mental Health Awareness Month – a time when we take a moment to recognize the importance of mental health and its profound ability to impact our daily existence. This May, we are seizing the opportunity to raise awareness,...
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Mental Health

How Fear Works (and How to Outsmart it)

Fear. Like it or not, many of our lives are ruled by it. Fear of not getting what we want, or fear of losing what we have, has spurred countless questionable decisions for so many of us. In our modern society, many of us live...
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Mental Health

Depression Symptoms or just the blues? Here is how to tell

Especially around this time of year – late winter, before the signs of spring spark some joy – feeling a bit blue is common. The thrill and magic of the holidays are past, and the warmth and promise of summer is still a way off....
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Mental Health

Learn How To Give Up Your Phone Addiction

Smartphones – and the wonders of information and distraction they contain – are powerful tools that were supposed to make our lives better. In theory, having the world at your fingertips and the ability to instantly connect with people everywhere is helpful. Yet, more and...
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Mental Health

Why Self-Compassion is the Medicine You Need

Turns out, “tough love” isn’t so loving. For generations, as a culture, we prized a stiff-upper-lip ethos that celebrated toughing it out, never complaining and never explaining. This stern, rather ruthless approach to self-improvement seemed like the surest way to self-discipline ourselves through challenging times...
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Mental Health

Home for the Holidays: Advice for Dealing with Difficult Families

It’s a tale as old as time: braving the holidays with families that are less than, say “perfect.” Perhaps yours is so far from perfect they might be considered positively dysfunctional. Maybe there is a history of alcoholism or mental health struggles, or maybe they...
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Mental Health

Can You Be Addicted to Shopping?

Ah, ‘tis the season. Yes, for holiday celebration, but also for an unbridled consumer free-for-all, when most of us overindulge in our national pastime, shopping. While shopping during the holiday season can bring the warmth and cheer that comes with gift-giving, it can have a...
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Mental Health

The Science of Gratitude

This Thanksgiving, why not give the holiday some added meaning and connect to something deeper? More than just a feel-good platitude, numerous studies have been published over the last decade singing the praises of gratitude for improving everything from mental well-being to physical health and...
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Mental Health

Is Neurofeedback Therapy Right For You?

What is Neurofeedback Therapy? Neurofeedback is an evidence-based therapeutic intervention that has a number of benefits. It uses technology to re-train the brain to function optimally and helps people become more adaptive, resilient, and efficient. Neurofeedback therapy has been effective in treating a wide range...
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Mental Health

Everything You Need to Know About Seasonal Affective Disorder

Have you been noticing a bit of malaise creeping in as fall rolls around? If so, you’re not alone. But is it more than just a case of the blues? It could be signs of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Read on to find out…. About 5%...
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Mental Health

More Than a Feeling – Why Gratitude is the Cure for What Ails You

“I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion we can ever know.” ― Bill W., Co-Founder, Alcoholics Anonymous Gratitude,...
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Mental Health

Anxiety in America is Skyrocketing

For the first time ever, a panel of US experts is urging those under 65 across the country to get screened for anxiety. The draft recommendations come from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an influential group of medical experts, and were created to help...
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Mental Health

Jump for Joy: Mental Health and Your Workout

By now, you don’t need to be convinced that exercise is good for you. You’ve probably heard it is the single greatest thing you can do for your overall health and longevity; that it can help you look better, sleep better, and feel better. But...
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Mental Health

May Is Mental Health Awareness Month

In the US, nearly 1 in 5 adults live with mental illness, and according to researchers, almost two-thirds of those affected never seek help. This May, we are honoring national Mental Health Awareness Month to raise awareness of the challenges faced by those experiencing anxiety,...
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Mental Health

What is EMDR and Can it Help You?

People with PTSD often have a hard time making sense of what happened to them after a traumatic event. It’s believed that past traumatic experiences continue to cause problems in our lives when the memory of that experience is not processed properly. EMDR is a...
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Mental Health

Managing Co-occurring Disorders in Recovery

A co-occurring disorder is defined as having a substance abuse disorder as well as one or more mental health issues. These can be tricky to navigate while still in the throes of addiction as one issue often amplifies the other. Many people resort to self-medicating...
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Mental Health

Mental Health Outlook Remains Grim Post Pandemic

A recently released report indicates that mental health worldwide continues to be on a downward trend. The Mental Health Million Project of Sapien Labs last week issued its second report that compiled data from over 34 countries. All over the world, it found a continued...
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Mental Health

Why You Should Take Slowing Down Seriously

When I stumbled into a 12-step program in my twenties, in an effort to salvage what was left of my life, I found myself overrun by feelings of panic, remorse, and general anxiety. I sought out help because I was tired of feeling broken and...
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Mental Health

Are the 12 Steps Enough? Debunking the Stigma of Outside Help

Are the 12 Steps A Cure-All? When I first arrived in a 12-step program, at a tender young age, I had a truckload of issues tailing me. I felt broken and irreparable, and as if I qualified for every 12-step program under the sun. My...
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Mental Health

The New Meth Crisis

For years now, we have heard about the seemingly never-ending scourge of the opioid epidemic. In fact, on this blog, we have written extensively about the soaring rates of overdoses associated with opioids that break records each year. Turns out, a parallel crisis exists, but...
Featured image for “4 Ways You Can Reduce the Stigma Around Mental Health”
Mental Health

4 Ways You Can Reduce the Stigma Around Mental Health

This year alone, over 47 million Americans are reportedly experiencing mental illness, according to Mental Health Alliance, a US-based non-profit. As common as they are—judging by the numbers—mental health issues often remain taboo or shameful, and often elicit little of the empathy and support shown...
Featured image for “How Somatic Experiencing can Help You Treat Trauma and Addiction”
Mental Health

How Somatic Experiencing can Help You Treat Trauma and Addiction

Many people on the road to recovery have discovered that taking a deeper dive into the underlying drivers of their addiction is core for contented, long-term sobriety. While many 12-step groups offer great foundations for addressing these issues, many have found that therapy and complementary...
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Mental Health

Can Somatic Experiencing Help You?

Josie* had been in recovery for many years and thought she was doing pretty well. When she started dating seriously, she suddenly found herself grappling with intense anxiety, seemingly out of nowhere. Her years of clean and sober living and solid foundations in recovery weren’t...
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Mental Health

 How, Where, and When to Try EMDR

EMDR, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a powerful treatment modality often used with people who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related distress. Research indicates that trauma and addiction often go hand in hand, making EMDR a natural addition...
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Mental Health

Everything You Need to Know About EMDR

Here at Scottsdale Providence, we believe in offering our clients the best range of evidence-based, research-backed treatment modalities to help them find lasting recovery from substance abuse, mental health and behavioral issues, and trauma. EMDR is one such modality our team is passionate about. Otherwise...
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Mental Health

Who is Neurofeedback best suited for?

Curious about what neurofeedback can do? From 4 to 80, no matter your age or situation; this powerful tool can make an impact. Neurofeedback, also known as EEG biofeedback, is a type of biofeedback. During this therapeutic intervention, non-invasive sensors are attached to your scalp,...
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Mental Health

What Are The Benefits of Neurofeedback?

What are the Benefits of Neurofeedback? Neurofeedback is an evidence-based therapeutic intervention that has a number of benefits. It uses technology to help train the brain to function more optimally and help people become more adaptive, resilient, and efficient. Patients report improvements in their memory...
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Mental Health

How Does Somatic Experiencing Work?

Most people who struggle with alcohol and drug addiction have a long history of attachment or developmental trauma. Treating this directly provides the best chance for a patient to thrive beyond treatment. Somatic Experiencing® helps people move beyond a fight, flight, or freeze response to...
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Mental Health

What are the Benefits of Somatic Experiencing?

The Somatic Experiencing® method is a form of therapy that seeks to relieve the symptoms of trauma and other stress disorders through a body-oriented approach. This modality seeks to re-set the nervous system and address traumatic shock, essential to recovering from previous trauma. Somatic Experiencing...
Featured image for “Treatment Modalities: What is Somatic Experiencing?”
Mental Health

Treatment Modalities: What is Somatic Experiencing?

What is Somatic Experiencing? In short, Somatic Experiencing® is a powerful type of trauma resolution therapy that heals the mind-body connection. Psychology Today defines trauma as “anything that is too much, too soon, or too fast for our nervous system to handle, especially if we...
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Mental Health

The Role of Trauma in Addiction Treatment

What does trauma have to do with addiction or substance abuse? Consider this—incredibly, 75% of people receiving treatment for addiction report a history of trauma. The risk for substance abuse rises by as much as four times for people who experienced trauma early in life....
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Mental Health

4 Ways to Stay Sane During COVID-19

For those who are new to sober living, and those who have been in recovery for some time – these are challenging times. People around the world are experiencing unprecedented upheaval and uncertainty. Collectively, we are experiencing conditions that would make even the sanest and...
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Mental Health

Staying Connected While Social Distancing

For many of us, when we enter recovery from substance abuse, we have it drilled into our heads that we must avoid isolation at all costs. People regularly tell us that isolation is the enemy, and will put on us the road to relapse. So,...
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Mental Health

Stress Test: Dealing With Anxiety in Recovery

In these crazy times, how can we deal with feelings of overwhelm and panic without our old ways of coping? How do we learn to show up to whatever comes with grace and calm? Many of us in recovery—especially early recovery—have been overcome with intense...
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Mental Health

How Addiction Affects the Brain

First things first: understanding what drives addiction is not generally enough to beat it. However – an understanding of the way addiction hijacks the brain can help to explain why so many people who want to quit find themselves totally powerless. Cognitive researchers have made...
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Mental Health

Does Rehab Work?

As Shawn took a seat on his first day of treatment, the group counselor stood up and issued a dire warning: “Look to your left. Now look to your right. According to the statistics, two of you won’t make it.” In Shawn’s case, it was...
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Mental Health

The Science of Gratitude

Welcome to November, when those throughout the recovery community celebrate Gratitude Month! More than just a hollow reminder to be more thankful, gratitude is a principal that many claim is key to a happy, contented recovery. Unsurprisingly, recovering addicts and alcoholics weren’t the first to...
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Mental Health

Autumn Anxiety is Real: Four Ways to Deal

As the fall months roll in, our bodies recognize it. The days get shorter, the weather gets cooler, and the whole world seems to take on a “back to work” feel. Maybe this has to do with back to school schedules, but even for those...
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Mental Health

Choosing the Right Treatment Center: 10 Things to Ask

Long-lasting recovery from compulsive and self-defeating behaviors is possible, and seeking treatment is a perfect place to start. Although, admittedly, choosing a treatment center can be a daunting and overwhelming prospect. Here we offer some guidance you can trust to help you find your way to...
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Mental Health

5 Ways to Stay Sane And Sober Through the Holidays

The holiday season can be hell. It can also be an opportunity for joy, connection, and wonder. For people in recovery, the holidays often come with some extra challenges—stress, expectations, family, commitments, and booze everywhere. It can be tough to weather this whirlwind with any...
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Mental Health

Finding Peace at Last: How Neurofeedback Therapy Helped Samantha Get the Help She Needed

By Megan Krause Believe it or not, your brain really does want to be healthy. It might not always seem like that, we know. Sometimes it seems like our brain is attacking us from a million different angles. We’ve been there, too. Our brains have...
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Mental Health

The Healing Power of EMDR: 2 Women Share Their Experiences

By Megan Krause Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of therapy that helps people heal from their past traumatic experiences. Experts believe that past traumatic experiences can continue to cause problems in our lives if we haven’t properly processed the memory of...
Featured image for “Healing Through DBT: The Life-Changing Effects of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy”
Mental Health

Healing Through DBT: The Life-Changing Effects of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Darcy Van Dyke felt broken. After years—decades—battling substance abuse and bipolar disorders, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hang in there with life any longer. Her relationships were in shambles. Her life was a mess. She didn’t get it. Other people were living happy,...
Featured image for “How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Changed Cherie’s Life – and It Can Change Yours, Too”
Mental Health

How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Changed Cherie’s Life – and It Can Change Yours, Too

Cherie McMahon had always been a nervous kid. Her anxiety increased in her 20s, compounded by bouts of depression and obsessive-compulsive behavior. She was plagued by stress and self-doubt. She had insomnia. Her relationships began to suffer. Last summer, the 34-year-old Phoenix native finally had...